[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano blinked in surprise when he heard Muroki's voice from right next to him, not having noticed his brother lean over. "I- it's about Lina," he finally replied quietly, glancing nervously around the cave to make sure that only Muroki was paying attention. When he felt confident enough that there were no eavesdroppers, he continued.

"She doesn't know that it's going to happen today... and she's already worried enough as is. I don't even know which will be worse, telling her before we go... or not telling her at all." Finally turning to face Muroki, he added, "and when we talked in the morning, there was something she mentioned. What if... what if one of us don't come back?" As much as he played off that situation to Lina as unlikely at worst, now that he had time to think about, Delano felt much worse about what they were going to do, as well as much more afraid of what might happen.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki listened to his brother quietly, nodding his head as he did. "I see..." It made sense for Lina to be worried knowing what her mate was planning to do. "But even if I'm still not sure about this lion who's with Hatari right now, it seems as though we won't be taking any risks at all..." Heck, by he time the two of them would get there with Delano's slower pace, the ambush team would have most likely already restrained their target.

"You're right, though." he continued after a short silence. "I imagine Umeme would have a rather similar reaction..." It was then that he suddenly remembered. Not only did Umeme not know they were going after the former Chief today, but she had no idea about his brother's plan to begin with! Earlier he'd told her that he was going off with Delano and that he would be back later, but... He cursed under his breath. "Ugh, Umeme doesn't even know anything at all about this!"

[DGFone]

Delano blinked in surprise at what his brother told him. "What? You mean she doesn't know... anything?" That certainly went a long way in explaining why Umeme had seemed much calmer compared to Lina. Initially Delano had assumed it was simply because Muroki would be much more able to defend himself, and therefor at less of a risk, but if she didn't know anything at all...

"Are you going to tell her?" He finally asked. While it looked like Muroki had already made up his mind about that, to Delano, he was once again left wondering if telling would be a good idea or not. But then he guiltily remembered that eventually, Umeme would start to wonder about where they would go, and Lina would be the one to tell her, making everything worse. "Should we go and tell them now then? We have the time, and it might be too late to do so soon..."

Even though he really didn't want to do it, Delano started to feel like informing Lina about what they were going to do was for the best. Perhaps, with the change of the plan, she will be much more relaxed about them going knowing that he won't be bait anymore.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki brought a paw over to his forehead, feeling more than just simply frustrated about the situation he now found himself in. The last thing he wanted was to hurt either Umeme's trust or her feelings... What would she say about him just going off to do something so dangerous without her knowing of it, especially if he ended up not coming back? "I-I thought we were simply meeting here to work out a plan; I had no idea we'd be acting so quickly!"

[b"I figured, because of the chance your plan won't be carried out, that there's no reason in telling her right away. I mean, why make her worry if we end up not doing anything?"[/b] In the end, it seemed as though his best intentions ended up working against him. Earlier he'd considered they might even act later on in the day, but this? For all they knew, the former Chief could arrive at Hatari's place at practically any moment now!

"I want nothing more than to let her know, but we can't tell when that lunatic's going to show up..." if they went, they might miss the whole thing and he wanted to be there to make sure the lion was caught and that Hatari made it out in one piece.

[DGFone]

Delano remained silent, not really sure about what he was able to say. Even if Muroki found the time to rush over and tell Umeme about what was happening, how would she react to the news? It was one thing if he went and told Lina about the changes to the plan, and the fact that it was going to happen soon, but at least she already knew that it would happen. But since Umeme didn't know anything about it, it would come as a complete shock...

"If you go and tell her right now," he finally muttered uncertainly, "you should have enough time to tell her." He stared at the hole in the wall that lead to Hatari's cave. While Muroki might have enough time to do so, would he also have enough time after that to tell Lina? "I guess... you should tell her at least something. Otherwise, what if she finds out from Lina? Lina's already spooked enough about it as is, and she- I don't know what she might tell Umeme in this case. I think it will be better if you go now."

[TheWhistlerify]

The problem was, even if Muroki did have enough time to quickly run back home and tell Umeme about all of this, that's just about all he had time for. He didn't know whether just showing up, breaking the news to his mate and then simply disappearing again before she got the chance to so much as react would be a good idea. She'd obviously want some kind of explanation, especially as to why he was telling her at the last minute...

But not telling her anything at all seemed much worse. She needed to know about what he was going to do... "I'll try to get back as fast as I can..." he finally said before turning around and running in the direction of his own den. In a way, it seemed as though he trusted Kato enough considering how he knew he might not be able to get back in time.

[DGFone]

As soon as Muroki left, Delano found himself feeling very alone, most likely due to his own uncertainty as to what would happen soon. With his brother next to him, he felt much safer, and now, even though he was surrounded by the king's guards, not to mention the king himself and Kato, he still felt very vulnerable. Unsure of what else to do, he continued to stare at the wall, not really thinking about anything as he waited for the time to simple pass.

----

By this point in the day, both Umeme and Lina were wide awake and watching over the cubs as they played together, waiting for their fathers to come back from wherever they went. Even though she didn't ask about it, Umeme couldn't help but feel like something was going on between Lina and Delano, based on how she looked lately. Granted, she was hiding it very well, far more because of the cubs than because of her, but Umeme knew Lina too well to know to know that something was up.

So when Muroki came back, looking like he had run as fast as he could to get here, she immediately started to suspect that something was up, especially since Delano wasn't with him. He had said that they went to do something together, and yet here he was alone. However, he also looked far more guilty about something rather than afraid or worried, so Umeme was also very quickly able to figure that something bad didn't happen with her brother in law: Muroki looked far too calm for that to be the case. "Muroki?" she asked, rather curious at his sudden appearance, "What's going on? Is it about that thing you went to with Delano?"

[TheWhistlerify]

When Muroki finally neared his den after what felt like forever he was all the more discouraged upon seeing that Lina and Akili were there outside as well. His sister in law might have already told Umeme everything and, while what he was doing making it a last-minute-announcement wasn't all that better, he still wanted his mate to hear about this from him.

However, when he reached her side, he was able to calm down to a certain degree when her questions made it very much clear that her sister hasn't said a single word to her about the ordeal. Well, now he had to break the news. Hopefully she'd understand why he was being so sudden. After all, how could he have known that they'd be acting so very soon? She'd understand that he only didn't want to worry her for no reason and that things just didn't work out the way he'd planned... Maybe.

"Uh, yeah..." he said quietly, pausing briefly to clear his throat. Thankfully the cubs were distracted enough not to notice their father was now there, because this wasn't something to discuss with them listening and it would take time for their excitement over him to die down and for them to go back to their games. "Delano came up with a plan to lure the lion out of hiding and catch him before he makes a move of his own and comes after one of us or you and the cubs..."

He saw no point in telling Umeme about Delano's original idea, seeing how it wasn't going to be carried out and since the new plan didn't put them at so much risk like the old one. "The thing is I didn't want to tell you right away... I thought, since the plan had such a high chance of not being carried out if Kato's father never agreed to it, that I shouldn't make you worry until I knew for sure we were going to do it..." Did any of what he was saying make sense? Well, it seemed logical enough to him and he hoped his mate would understand his reasonings.

●●●●●●●●●●

While Delano was definitely off in his own world thinking things over and waiting for his brother to come back, it was probably impossible for him not to notice how it suddenly became quiet inside the small den they were in when the unknown lion Lin was talking to through the tunnel has suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence. "Hello?" the Chief eventually asked, sounding confused. "Are you still there?"

"Someone's coming." Was the response that came a few seconds later. There was a faint sound of someone else talking to him from outside, probably Hatari. "I told you he'd show up, didn't I?" Another brief pause. "Is that so? Well, let him take his time walking here. The more he draws this out, the better for us. Well then, your majesty, I look forward to finally getting to meet you face to face. Oh, and do try to hurry, will you?"

[DGFone]

Umeme stared back at Muroki, her mouth slightly open as she struggled to comprehend what he was telling her. "Wait, so you mean-" Now she was beginning to understand why Lina didn't look like the usual self, but at the same time, she also couldn't help but feel slightly betrayed at only being told about it now.She never really felt like Muroki would hide such a thing from her, so to hear about it so suddenly from him, well it hurt slightly.

"You could have at least said something," Umeme finally muttered, taking a bit of satisfaction from how guilty Muroki looked, "but... what's done is done." Since she didn't know anything about the plan, Umeme was very much confused right now, but her various conflicting feelings left her not thinking that actually finding out the details of the plan as something important. Going over what Muroki just told her again just now, she let out a disappointed sigh, "you're going, aren't you?" She finally asked. After all, why else would he rush out here just to tell her?

She placed a paw on Muroki's muzzle when he nodded slowly, but also looking like he should run right back to wherever he came from. "Look, I... take care of yourself. Come back safe, all right? Both of you..." She really didn't know what else to say. Perhaps if she had more time, she would have given him a stern lecture about keeping these things from her, but now was not the time. Perhaps once he will come back.

Her paw fell back to the ground as her mate stood up. Giving him a quick nuzzle of goodbye, she watched Muroki as he turned and ran back out.

---

Even though he was deep in thought, Delano still caught the announcement that someone was coming to Hatari's cave, his head shooting up to stare at the wall as soon as he heard this. His heart pounding from nervousness, he glanced around quickly, but didn't see his brother anywhere. "Come on Muroki, where are you?" he whispered to nobody as the others around him began to move around quickly, preparing to leave.

Poking his head out from the cave, he finally spotted his brother running back. "Muroki! We- w'ere going," he stammered out as his brother came to a stop next to him. Sure enough, as he said this, Kato and a few other lions left the cave, giving them a quick nod to signal that they should get going as well.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki could see the disappointment in his mate's expression and hear it in her tone. It hurt to know she felt this way - that he'd caused her so much discomfort. He wanted nothing more than to tell her how he wasn't planning to do anything without letting her know first and how the king having a plan of his own going into motion so soon caught him completely by surprise, but there really was no time to waste.

He'd try to explain it more thoroughly when he came back. Hopefully she'd understand that he never meant to hide anything from her and that he would never do anything of the sort... Sighing and briefly returing Umeme's nuzzle, the lion turned around and returned the way he came. When he got back, it looked like everyone was already preparing to leave. "How fast can you walk?" he asked hurriedly, supporting his brother as the others went off at a quicker pace.