Harith was laying down nearby to his family. Maybe not the kind of family he had been expecting to have one day, but his family regardless. He had expected to be a father by now, cozy in his den back in his pride. With the little ones running around happy, safe and secure within his family group and surrounded by the members of his pride.
What he got was thrown out into the roguelands, his pride and family so scattered, he didn't know in which direction anyone had gone. It had all happened so quickly, he wasn't sure what exactly had gone wrong. He had just been running and calling with no one answering. Than he was all alone, turned from many to a single lion unsure of his future place in the world. His security thrown to the hyenas to fight over until there was not a single trace of himself left. He might be dead by now had it not been for Eli and her family, a little piece of something familiar in this strange new world where everything he had learned growing up now meant nothing. Without Eli, he might have just given up. He wasn't a lion who was fit for being out on their own like this.
Now he wasn't alone. Eli had so many children and now grandchildren that Harith felt like he was a part of something, again. And now he had his own kids. Five little cubs of all different colors and patterns. Some of them didn't even look like his. They had markings that were certainly not from his family. Others were more obvious which parent's line they took after, such as the youngest and one of the two boys. It was enough to make him very homesick to see his family's swirl patterns on the backs of some.
It was regretful that he couldn't share them with his parents. And probably never would be able to let them know they had grandchildren. Trying to find two lions in this vast world would be impossible.
