Maua woke to a splitting headache, the likes of which she'd never felt. It was bright, which hurt her head. She moved a paw over her face, but making her head move hurt her head too. One side of her face burned and stung badly, though most of the pain seemed to stem from a spot along the back of her head, behind her ear. She shifted to try and reach that spot with her other paw, but in moving her body, nausea rose fast and fierce. She tried to stem it by stilling, but it was much too late. With a gurgle, she shoved herself out of the shelter of rocks and was sick to one side beyond the entrance.

A soft sound of movement tempted her to look up, but she resisted the urge, as the earth had once more tipped beneath her paws when she'd moved outside. Augh, what was wrong with her?

"Are you okay?" a tentative voice asked beside her, a slender shadow falling across her as the speaker stepped in front of her and leaned down. Maua caught sight of a pale female cheetah, delicate features creased in concern. She tried to growl, but doing so seemed to unsettle her tummy further.

"Go'way," she managed thickly, closing her eyes against the pain, the light, and the unwelcome company of a non-lion. Her memory of last night was very vague at the moment, but she had a sense that whatever this mess was, that cheetah was partly to blame. The shadow retreated, streaking her eyelids with bright light again. Maua almost regretted telling her to leave, but gritted her teeth and focused instead of mastering her stomach.

After some time had passed, she managed to re-enter their shelter, albeit one very slow step at a time, moving as little as possible. She carefully settled herself deep in the shadow cast by the large boulders they were sheltered beneath. She looked around carefully, and found the cheetah hovering over a sleeping (or unconscious?) wild dog that she remembered being thrown by... a lion? What had she done to deserve it? No... wait... that same lion... she broke off the thought confusedly and raised a slow paw to the back of her head. Ah, there was a rather large lump there, opposite the slashes across her cheek and jaw.

"What... happened?" she finally asked the pacing cheetah, reluctant but feeling it was important to know. She hated to admit it, but she couldn't remember much.

Unfortunately, though, the anxious feline took this opportunity and ran with it, babbling on about being captured, forced to perform, a harsh master, a daring escape, and their apparent run-in with her. "Then he came and saved all of us," she concluded with gusto and near hero worship.

Maua had miserably closed her eyes and let the other female rattle on as much as she liked, glad that her voice was at least melodious enough to not hurt her throbbing head. But at this, she squinted her eyes open to peer up in a frown. "Wait, what? Who?"

"Me," answered a deep voice, as a large shape blocked the piercing sunlight. He dropped a few rabbits at their feet, which only turned Maua's already dubious stomach. She made a little noise of distress, which caused him to move closer to her and lean to examine the back of her head. "Wake the dog, see if you can get her to eat," he told the cheetah quietly. Even low, though, his voice was deep enough to vibrate her skull this close, causing Maua to squeeze her eyes shut and clamp her jaw over the groan that wanted to emerge. "You'll need rest," he told her, "but we can't afford it yet. I scouted back, and you three left that troupe camp in an uproar."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he'd turned away. "We'll leave after it gets dark, and put as much territory between us and them as we can. I have heard of a place we can shelter, if we can reach it." He was now leaning over the female dog, examining the numerous gashes she had endured. She was awake at her friend's prompting, and was lapping at the blood from the slashed neck of one of the hares. "Rest while you can," he rumbled to all three of them, "it'll be a long night. I'll be keeping watch outside until then." Before they could respond, he had disappeared out into the sunshine once more, gone like the shadow he resembled.

Maua managed a weak glare over at the other two. "I am not responsible for this mess," she stated clearly, rattling her own brain in doing so but not caring just now. "You two, you are to blame. You... you... augh." She ran out of clarity of thought and settled for growling at them. "I'm gone the moment I can see straight," she mumbled, laying her head back down on her paws gingerly and trying to block out the sounds of the two eating, patently ignoring her and her tirade.

As the lioness dozed back off again, Nimi exchanged looks with Sucana. Neither of them liked the lioness very much, but she was right to an extent. It was their fault, sort of, that she was this injured. Not that they had endangered her purposely... luck had just played a very nasty trick on the black female. "I told her out story," Nimi explained to her friend almost apologetically, "but I don't think it helped her opinion of us any."

Sucana gave the cheetah a weak smile. "At least our rescuer doesn't feel the same way about us," she replied, almost breathless with pain. She carefully ate the innards that Nimi was offering her, knowing that she needed their nutrients to regain her strength for tonight, as well that they were the easiest part to eat. She was grateful for the care the cheetah was taking of her, even to the point of waiting to feed herself until she was certain that the wild dog had eaten all she could. Like the black lioness, Sucana laid her head down and let her eyes drift shut, listening to the cheetah eat much faster and messier than she'd ever done before in Sucana's knowledge. Desperate times brought out odd things in people, and showed them what was truly important in life. Right now, for Sucana, surviving to care for friends and family was paramount. If she'd been on her own, with no one to worry over, she'd have just laid down right here to either heal slow, die slow, or meet her end at the paws of her enraged ex-master. But no, she had Nimi to look after, her brother to find, and her mother to reassure. One thing at a time. For now, survival was first. And to survive, she needed rest. She smiled as she finally drifted off, feeling the light weight of the slender cheetah curl against her back comfortingly. It was good to be loved.