The weeks slipped through Ashiki's paws faster than she could cling to them. The vessels murmured, some about her missing heir and others about the returned Soul now walking the Earth as if she had never parted from it. There were many things that the Queen needed to do and the larger the cubs grew in her belly, the more sapped and tired she became. She could not rest, not now, no matter how much Azisa pleaded with her.

There are things that need be done before they arrived..

She spoke with her viziers well past the point of exhaustion, emboldened Amachwane as he wrestled with the reigns of the monarchy in the wake of his brother's disappearance, and laid out her plans for how they would move forward as a pride. For, she insisted, they must move forward even if Kethiwe was not there to lead them. The Outlands did not cease to exist because the royal family was experiencing turmoil, she would explain that again and again and again. She was doing it for her children, biological and not, and they all deserved the land they had finally returned home to after so long. A traitor and her ragtag scoundrel horde would not decide their fate.

These thoughts, and many more, were the constant plague upon her mind. Her strength had returned enough that she had taken to slow, shaky paces around the den she claimed. It was not much, she was not truly well enough to do aught else, but it calmed her restless spirit and gave her the illusion that she was not so weak as they all feared. Tonight was no different; she could not sleep or eat and her body felt more restless than her spirit. Even before a sharp pain jolted through her abdomen, the Queen had known the cubs were coming. It was how she had felt the days before the birth of Kethiwe's litter and though it was not quite as long as it should have been, it would simply have to be enough. There would be no arguing with this.

A grimace pulled her jowls tight and caused her to bare her teeth as she half-collapsed into a wall. With her good shoulder supporting most of her weight, she shuffled forward to the entrance of the den.

"Guard," she spoke with every ounce of authority she had ever earned for herself. A orange male was there in an instant, worry flashing across his face as he opened his mouth to begin what she was sure a round of needless questioning. She simply shook her head.

"Fetch my daughter," then, after a pause, "and Mjrn. Hurry."

Although he hesitated, the boy nodded and turned, heeding her warning. What had Azzan said his name was? Telal? He had been appointed here after his loyalty to the family in the battle and she would have to remind Amachwane that he ought to keep an eye on him. Loyal friends were not always easy to find.

She turned then, once he was out of sight, and carried herself to the far corner of her den where she lowered gently atop the mound of furs that had been brought in for her. The cubs would be with them before the sun had risen and the dawn would bring with it new Princes and Princesses.

They only had to survive this, first.