Padding through the savannah in the light of the rising sun, each step taking them further away from their territory, the mood among the pride of eight adult lions was low. Tails drooping, bodies slumped, ears flicking between back and down, they were the very picture of disappointment.

‘That’s the downside of increasing intelligence’, Leo mused in Dominic’s mind. ‘Hopes can be raised too much; disappointment is all the more bitter.’

Dominic couldn’t help but agree – although he hadn’t suddenly become sapient in the way that Leo had and that the lionesses were becoming, he certainly knew the bitter taste of disappointment in that moment.

They’d been making progress. The lionesses had all gained at least one level since he’d chased out the old male – all of those who had survived the other hyena attack, anyway – and the future had started to look brighter.

And suddenly, bam. Chased out of their territory by sheer numbers.

At least we still have our lives, Dominic consoled himself. It worked, somewhat. Every single lion had come out of that mess, even all the cubs, though one was injured. They’d made a good account for themselves too – Dominic was sure that the lionesses had earned enough Prey Points to level up. If he was lucky, so had he. But that would have to wait until they stopped to rest. For now they all wanted to put some good distance between them and those hyenas.

But perhaps they could ensure that they were heading in the right direction.

‘Leo, do you remember which way the Place of Power was?’ Dominic asked, knowing that trusting himself to lead would probably mean they never found it.

‘Yes.’ The lion sounded certain enough.

‘Do you want to take control, then? Lead us in the right direction?’ Dominic wasn’t sure whether he was offering because of the lion’s better directionality, or because he wanted, needed a mental break. Both were true, he decided after a moment of thought.

It had been one fight after another – the hyenas and the hippo, the queerbs, the acid-spitting asleets, then the hyenas en masse. Frankly, even if his body was coping fine, with the new way of regaining stamina allowing him to keep going much longer than previously, Dominic was mentally exhausted.

Perhaps Leo picked up on that as he thought about it as Dominic felt an inclination to decline turn into an assent. Feeling like balloons squeezing past each other once more, the two mental presences changed places.

Dominic wondered whether he should stay connected to his senses or not. Honestly, he just wanted to go chill in their mental space, but Leo had supported him so much in the battle that he felt like he should offer the same.

Apparently Leo felt differently.

‘Aren’t you going to rest?’ the lion asked pointedly after Dominic lingered in his aware state for a few minutes.

‘Do you not want me to help keep an eye out?’ Dominic asked. The lion snorted.

‘We have enough eyes keeping watch,’ he pointed out, deliberately turning his head to show all the lionesses ranging around them, the cubs – no longer held within the lionesses’ mouths – now running and tumbling around too. They, at least, were undaunted by what had just happened. ‘Go rest. You need to come up with some other mad plan to win us the Place of Power. You can’t do that when you’re tired.’

True enough, Dominic thought, feeling touched. The lion might sound grumpy and insulting, but Dominic could feel the concern beneath it all.

‘Alright,’ he said out loud to his co-pilot. ‘Poke me if you need me.’

‘I will,’ the lion promised.

With that, the former-human gratefully slid into their mental space. Opening his ‘eyes’ he saw the pale-coloured study, saw the crackling fire, and heard the sound of birdsong coming from the savannah outside.

When did we get birds here? he wondered. Must have been Leo. The next thing he knew, there would be hippos and rhinos wandering the savannah area.

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Actually, that was an interesting thought. Could he revisit fights? Pull creatures in that he’d already fought and try to find a better way of beating them? Could he practise fighting with Leo if they both ‘slept’ at the same time? The latter, at least, should be possible – they’d already play-wrestled before.

But not at that moment. Exhaustion was hitting Dominic hard now that he wasn’t forced to be on edge every second, keeping an eye out for seven lionesses and seven cubs. As well as himself.

He slumped on the comfortable sofa and just closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure if sleeping was possible here, but he was sure going to try.

*****

Leo was happy enough to take control of his body. He’d also have been happy to rest under a nice tree in their mental space, though perhaps he would be able to do that in reality: they needed to stop. The lionesses were all lower level than Leo himself, and they probably didn’t have as much stamina as he did.

Besides, he remembered what had happened a few times when he hadn’t rested in too long – his maximum stamina had actually decreased. That didn’t seem to have happened yet to him, but perhaps it would affect the lionesses.

Still, his brother had wanted him to direct the pride towards the Place of Power, so he would. He still thought it was a bit of a hare-brained idea, but perhaps he could convince the former-human to instead look for another territory to take over. Or perhaps his brother would come up with some decent plan to accomplish the goal without too much risk.

Moving to the head of the pride, he walked alongside the female his brother had named Isis. She was indeed the pride matriarch, setting the direction. While they were vaguely heading towards the Place of Power, they would miss it if they continued on the exact route they were taking. He needed to correct their heading.

Using his body to do so, Leo stood in Isis’ way until she was forced to go in the way he wanted just to get around him. She tolerated it the first couple of times without too much grumbling, but the fourth time got a snarl from her. The fifth had her baring her teeth.

He bared his right back at her and they locked eyes. She wasn’t happy with him trying to decide their route. That wasn’t how it worked. At least, that wasn’t how it had worked up until then. The males defended and benefited from the pride; they didn’t direct it particularly.

But that was Before. Now was different in so many ways; why not this one too?

Though he could probably use physical dominance to force Isis to submit, Leo didn’t push further with that. Perhaps his brother was infecting him with ideas of ‘equality’ and ‘fairness’, but was it such a bad idea to try another way? If it didn’t work, he could always go back to pushing his size and weight around to get his way.

So, despite feeling a little uncertain about it, he tried first to convince. Connecting with Isis mentally, Leo sent images of prey beasts and increased strength. At the same time, he sent across feelings of safety and familiarity, though different from before.

After a while, Isis let her lips fall back over her teeth, the snarl dying down in her throat. She stood more upright, her ears relaxing a bit. With a sense of grudging acceptance, she waited for Leo to move first, then followed him, standing at his shoulder, though with a body-length between them.

Apparently she was willing to give his promises the chance to prove or disprove themselves. Hopefully the Place of Power would live up to both of their hopes.

They kept going until the sun was starting to get a bit hot. Once they were all panting hard, though, they found a nice shady area under a few trees and lay down for a rest. The cubs, completely exhausted, flopped on the ground and went to sleep almost immediately. The lionesses looked almost as tired.

Since they hadn’t come across any water and they had chosen speed over hunting when they’d encountered decent prey, Leo pulled out some carcasses from his storage space.

He knew Dominic had vague plans for the rhino carcass, so chose to leave that in, even if it was taking up way too much space for what it was. He also didn’t think that pulling out the carcasses of the acidic lizards was a good idea. Instead, he emptied all the other carcasses which were in there.

The females eagerly ate them, and Leo couldn’t resist taking a few bites himself. Even though they had been absorbing carcasses during the fight, he was pretty sure the females would agree with him that there was nothing like just eating the meat, feeling the juices burst over the tongue and the weight of it slide down the throat.

They even attacked the hyena carcasses, even if normally they wouldn’t eat hyenas unless they were starving. From how the females did more worrying at the bodies than actually eating, Leo had to wonder if it was more prompted by a sense of frustration and victory for escaping the jaws of death than actual hunger.

Once they all seemed done, he quickly packed the carcasses away. His brother would have to decide what they actually did with the remnants, but Leo wasn’t keen on disturbing him at that moment. From the feel of his distant mind, he was sleeping deeply. Leo was glad – the former-human had clearly needed a rest.

So did Leo, actually, he decided as he lay down among the females.

This is the life, he said to himself as he flopped onto his back. Meat in my belly, females around me. Even the cubs aren’t annoying me by tugging on my tail. Though he’d better not think that one too loud: no doubt when the cubs woke up, they’d become pests, as always.

Time passed, syrupy in its passage. At once feeling like forever and only a single moment in time, the movement of the sun overhead was barely noticed by the lions resting under a tree. It was only marked by the occasional movement of a lion who found him or herself suddenly being baked by its strength, the shade having moved too much to the side.

By mid-afternoon, though, movement among the lions had started to increase. It began with the cubs who, predictably after having slept through the dinner of their elders, were hungry and insistent on having something to eat.

Leo producing one of the half-eaten carcasses again was enough to earn the adults a little more time to sleep, but soon enough the cubs moved on from eating to playing. And what better toys than the elder’s tails and ears and – in Leo’s case – his mane?

Growling and moving the body part didn’t deter the little blighters, and soon the lions were roused to full wakefulness. While they could probably go back to sleep once the cubs moved onto playing with something else, they might as well do something useful in the meantime.

And the blurring that suddenly took the females one after another proved exactly what they found most useful to do.