OOC: Assume, for convenience’ sake, that both are speaking the native tongue of the Hongshan.

The sand felt… Comforting, in a sense. It wasn’t hard, it had a lot of give and shifted every time she walked, but it was… Comforting. Pele sighed, padding along. They hadn’t been in these lands long, having been left by the Horde when they traveled to a new land, a new place to set up camp. Herself, her daughter, two other Hongshan… And that one strange brown lion. Before he’d parted ways with them, in as bad shape as they all were, he had told Pele and Alamea, at least, to head for the desert. When she thought back on it, though, had Adeyemi and Adonna snuck away before them? Or been left like they had? She couldn’t rightly recall now, focused on finding her way around and feeling at a loss.

It was his business to watch others, to spy, to know what was going on. So he hadn’t missed when two familiar faces had come into the lands, looking a bit rough, but still in markings and patterns he knew. It had sent hope through him, hope of seeing another familiar face, another cherished pridemate, maybe more. Maybe several more. But a span of time had gone where he saw nobody else, and for a time he worried that they were it. Until, of course, he heard about two more Hongshan refugees, the last two, entering the lands.

Serkan felt a thrill course through his veins as he hurried to see who it was. Could it be? But then, why were there only two? So many questions!

She was no seer, but Pele knew when she was being watched. She’d felt it for so long, it was a sensation that she didn’t easily forget. Gold eyes passed over the sand, watching, looking, trying to find the source. And then they met eyes the color of a sun-soaked leaf, pale green set against a red face marked in black and white, and she felt her heart skip a beat. “Serkan…” Before she knew what was happening, her paws were moving, carrying her first at a walk and then an outright run toward those eyes, that face, that lion, one she had thought gone from her life forever. “Serkan!”

Oh, gods, it was… It couldn’t be. But it was! Before he knew what was truly happening, Serkan was rushing down a dune, a joy filling his heart that he’d not felt in a long time. Even when he and his brother had found safety here, he hadn’t truly FELT joy, instead feeling… He wasn’t sure he could describe it. Empty, was a word. But now he wasn’t feeling that, eyes upon the lioness he loved, that he’d remained loyal to even when there were so many in the pride he could have been with. “Pele!” He all but tackled her in a hug, the pair rolling the rest of the way down the dune, laughter filling the warm air.

As they rolled down the dune, Pele buried her face in Serkan’s pale mane, inhaling his scent and committing it back to memory. Or was it renewing the memory? It didn’t have to be just a memory anymore, because he was right here, in front of her, his arms wrapped around her, her arms wrapped around him, touching and smelling and THERE. “I thought you were dead! I thought they had killed you!” So many emotions rose up in her, fighting to be the one to come out. As they came to a stop at the bottom of the dune, she let out a choked sound.

White-tipped paws reached up, gently framing the deep burgundy face that had hidden in his pale mane. “Shh, it’s alright, Pele… I’m here, I’m real.” He pressed his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. “And you’re here, and you’re real, and..” He bit back his own joyous sob. “I worried I’d lost you, and all of our cubs… But I heard... You came here with another.” He looked at her, this lioness he’d fallen for so long ago, had never given up hope on. The flame that burned in him for her had never gone out, for this lioness that was his mate, his only mate, the only one he would ever take. If she had died, he would probably not take another. None could replace her, after all. “Did at least one survive?”

”One..” She leaned one cheek to Serkan’s paw, eyes closed. “Only one… She was the strongest. She IS the strongest.” Pele smiled, opening her eyes. “You’ll be very proud of her.” Alamea had her mother’s kind heart, for certain, but she very much had her father’s passion and drive. She was strong in more sense than the fact she had survived when her brothers and sisters had died, strong in her will and strong in her beliefs. “Oh, Serkan, I’ve missed you so much. How many are there left of us?”

Out of five, one had lived. Survival of the fittest, indeed… “I can’t wait to meet her again.” He let out a little laugh, “She probably doesn’t even remember me!” He finally shifted, laying more comfortably. In response, Pele rolled over and lay next to him, pressing into his side. “Nawvlee lives, as do Roho and Mizuka. There’s also Saif’aldin, Suditi, Suli, Isifo, Sjari, Tswana, Thabiti, Zheva, Ukuba! And Roho had cubs, and…” It was Serkan’s turn to bury his face in Pele’s shoulder. “And now you, Adeyemi, and Adanna are here, and our daughter!”

As he listed names, Pele counted mentally. Sixteen, plus four from a new generation, twenty in all. “The Hongshan will live… Our pride won’t die out!” She laughed, the sound filled with so much joy and love and… She was happy, so very happy. It seemed nothing in life could be better. But then… “What of our home? Where will the pride go?” What happened to a pride with no home? Did they find a new home, or did they disperse to the winds? But then, if the Hongshan that survived were all here, what did that mean for them?

Suli now became quiet, ears folding back. “The Hongshan will live, yes, but… Not as we were.” He looked up at the towering dunes, the outcrops of stone not far away and not terribly out of sight. “In taking shelter with the Firekin, we’ve joined them, assimilating as much as we can. Roho’s children, while the only Hongshan children, have integrated the most. We can’t go back to what we were, but we can look to the future and what we can BE, with these new lions, this new pride.” He looked at her, eyes shining. “Can you do that, too, Pele? Become one with the Firekin?”

It was Pele’s turn to be silent, letting the words sink in. Finally, she smiled and pressed her face into Serkan’s mane. “I think I can live with that, as long as I get to be with you to the end of my days as we promised.”