When she’d gotten the order, she hadn’t been sure she’d heard it right. Nina-dini hurried through the brush, brows furrowed and eyes searching. Where had he gone to? Where could he be hiding? How did a lion that big manage to vanish? Letting out a growl, Nina-dini burst through some bushes, only to crash right into another body. “HEY! Watch where you’re-” She stopped, eyes widening. “KIN!”

Kin gave a start as somebody crashed into him. When he looked at who it was, his eyes grew wide and he backed up. “Oh no. Oh no no no… I have to go!” He turned, hurrying off through the trees. Behind him, he heard Nina give chase, her smaller size being to her advantage. He knew she’d catch up, but it was still an effort he made. If she was tracking him down, that meant Shangyue had sent her, which meant he was unhappy about the historian defecting. His thoughts cut off as Nina’s smaller body crashed down onto his back, sending both tumbling.

Cousin or not, her claws sunk into the skin on his back, face reflecting her anger. “TRAITOR!” She let go as they tumbled, jumping up and striking at his face. “You swore your LOYALTY! You shed BLOOD for our CAUSE!” Her claws grabbed at his mane, raking through it. “WHY? WHY did you turn your back?!” Nina felt more than just angry, she felt betrayed. When it seemed so little of her family had sided with Shangyue, the hope he gave her as being more than a low-class slave, more than a lion to be protected and sheltered and kept safe for being born while the Great Lion’s eye was closed, Kin had stood by her, stood with the few who took Shangyue’s side. Now he’d defected, changed what side he was on.

He let out a roar of pain, trying to roll away. His paws raised up to block her claws, only for her attacks to swap to his mane. “I’m not a killer, that’s why!” When the swats suddenly stopped, he peeked out at her. She was watching, taking in how he was laying. He hadn’t even gotten up to fight back. Swallowing, Kin said, “Shangyue sent me to kill Nyeusi. I got there, and I couldn’t DO it!” He raised a paw, trying to placate her. “Nina, I’m a HISTORIAN, I keep HISTORY! I don’t MAKE history!”

”You knew what it might mean when you took sides, Kin!” She raised a paw, ready to hit him again, only to stop, trembling. “You knew what it meant to ME. That somebody as high-up in rank as you, would choose to side with somebody down at the bottom like ME. You knew why it meant so much!” Her anger slowly dissipated, as her paw lowered and she sank to her haunches. Hurt and betrayal replaced it, causing her shoulders to hunch and head to lower, ears folded back. “You abandoned me.”

Sitting up, Kin watched Nina. After a moment, he went over and hugged her, letting out a sigh. “Is the answer really to try and kill me, though?” He frowned, ears folding back. “Surely that’s not what the Great Lion wants. Shangyue’s turning family against family.” He closed his eyes, chin resting on Nina’s head. “He’s starting to have trouble holding on and he knows it, if he’s actively aiming to kill.” He fell silent, staring off into the night. After a moment, he leaned back and looked at Nina. “Are you really willing to do that, to kill family? What if he told you to kill one of your own brothers? Or your mother? Would you do it?” He thought he could do it with somebody NOT related. Nyeusi held little interest in him before, and now she REALLY had his attention, from a historian’s standpoint.

Nina remained silent, before she buried her face in Kin’s mane. “No… I couldn’t kill my mother. Or one of my brothers.” She then leaned back, looking up at Kin. “But I can’t betray Shangyue.” Her face hardened as she stood and stepped away, intent clear. “He gives me hope, hope to get more than PITY. More than lions feeling SORRY for me because I was born when there’s NO MOON, when the Great Lion wasn’t LOOKING. But it’s easy for you to change sides, isn’t it? You, born under the watchful eye.” She let out a snarl, raising a paw and taking a swipe at Kin’s face. “You who got all the FAVOR!”

Letting out a pained snarl, Kin’s ears folded back. He had tried reasoning… The time for that had passed. He looked up at her, lip curled back and bleeding where her claws had raked his muzzle. “I asked for it no more than YOU did, but if that’s how you’re going to look at it, then FINE!” He rose, lifting his head to fully glare down at her. Their family lines didn’t diverge much, shared genes from a lion that had long ago left the lands. He’d heard once that, supposedly, a god was in the bloodline, of some sort or another. He wasn’t sure if he believed it, he only knew that somewhere in the line was a big lion, and Nina-dini had NOT taken after that lion. “I guess it’s time to use my paws instead of my words, isn’t it?”

Every lion had a moment where they knew they’d messed up. Some had it earlier in life than others, others had it much later, and most had it somewhere in the middle. Nina-dini was now facing that moment, as she began to shrink down, realizing what kind of mistake it had been to strike Kin in anger, and spit the words she had spat at him. “Wait, Kin- I- I-” She started to back up, tail tucking between her legs like a wild dog. He only advanced closer, anger reflecting in the usually warm gold eyes. They now burned, like the fire of a hot mid-day sun. Instinct told Nina to turn and run, but her body reacted slowly, too slowly, as she started to move.

Anger coursing through his veins now, Kin gave chase. Despite the bulk of their manes, and the muscle they possessed, adult male African lions were surprisingly fast, especially if they were in a terrain they had known their entire lives. It took nothing for him to catch up to Nina-dini, tackling her and striking at her shoulders, her face, her legs, her back. Anywhere that was non-vital, that wouldn’t kill her, but would surely hurt for some time coming. As if for good measure, even as she fought back, he threw in some bites. He only backed off once she kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of his lungs as he rolled away.

The opportunity was clear to Nina-dini. With Kin winded, she struggled to her feet and ran as best she could. As she ran, she wondered… How could she have been so stupid? First, to trust Kin would actually stick by her side. Second, that she thought she could actually go after an adult male lion on her own. She ran blindly, a limp to her step, not focusing quite on where she was going. The moon was hanging low in the sky by then, a sign of the night soon coming to an end. She just hoped, things for her hadn’t come to an end.

When he finally caught his breath and sat up, Kin found Nina-dini gone. The only sign of which way she’d gone was some blood left on a leaf, and the rapidly fading sound of rustling bushes. He let out a sigh, picking himself up. In the fight, she’d gotten at least one good kick to his back leg, scratching it enough to make it sore enough to limp. He stared at where she’d gone, then turned and began walking. He hoped it didn’t get infected, and that somebody didn’t pop out of the bushes at him right now.