He loved her smile, so found himself smiling back. He lost himself for a moment, partly because of the happiness at Marini staying and partly because...well, it was hard not to get lost in those eyes of hers. He opened his maw to say something, but Siri and Akina quickly ran out of their hiding place. "Mjuvi! You're not even looking for us!" Siri called grumpily. Mjuvi snapped out of it and turned to face his little sister.
"I was having a break! You two were so hard to find. Must be a new hiding spot!" He called back, shooting a smile at Marini. Luckily for him, Akina confirmed that it was a new hiding spot and the two cubs quickly forgave Mjuvi. Not soon after, Nura and Dakari appeared in the small clearing next to the den. Mjuvi padded up to them both, unable to stop his smile. He had almost forgotten about their talk by the waterhole.
"Dakari, is it okay if Marini stays? She'd like to" he said, his voice picked up in a cheery tone. He felt as though he had to ask him, even if he didn't like having a 'leader' of sorts, Dakari was the best possible option. Nura smiled in surprise. So the young lioness was staying? "This group is getting bigger" Nura chipped in, "We're shaping up to be more of a pride!" The suggestion struck Mjuvi. Maybe they were more of a pride. Of course, pride's did have an assigned leader and each pride member had a role to play - but Mjuvi was fine with that.
Spoiler: show