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.
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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?"