The two runaways immediately shot out into the tall grasses, hoping that it would give them some protection. Luckily for them, the humans didn’t know they had escaped the building yet. This gave them a huge head start, and Lumina and Luna put as much distance between them and the lab as possible.
        Lumina had grown tough very quickly after escaping from the Professor’s lab, and somehow Luna also was able to keep running for most of the day. As the sun began to set, they reached a river and stopped to rest.
        “Do you think that they’re still after us?” Lumina asked as she panted for air.
        “I don’t think so… I no longer sense their presence.” replied Luna, bending her head down and taking big gulps of water from a lazy river.
While the two rested their overheated bodies, a familiar smell came to Lumina’s nose. Her head was instantly up and alert, as tense as a gazelle being followed by a predator. She pointed her nose up and sniffed at the wind. This scent, where is it coming from? I know it from somewhere… Lumina thought as she inhaled more of the scent, trying to place it. Wait a minute… I remember this scent! It’s Emmy! She leapt to her paws excitedly, her long run already forgotten.
Luna noticed Lumina’s sudden behavior and asked, “Hey is something wrong?”
“It’s Emmy! Emmy is somewhere nearby! We’ve got to find her!”
“Who the hell’s Emmy?”
“She’s one of my friends. We were separated because we needed to escape the labcoats. I have to find her!” Lumina started tugging on Luna’s ear like a cub. “Come on, let’s go!” she said excitedly, jumping around like an excited child.
        “Okay, okay… man, I don’t know how you have so much energy.” groaned Luna as she slowly rose to her paws and followed Lumina towards the scent.

                                                            ***

“How much longer? You’ve been following this scent since the sun was setting! Now it’s almost high-moon. Can’t we rest a little?” Luna complained to Lumina as Emmy’s scent wandered through the uncharted savannah.
        “Alright… I guess we can rest a little…” sighed Lumina as they stopped at a small waterhole.
While Luna drank greedily from the waterhole, Lumina was lying on a smooth rock; looking up at the crescent moon, and sighed again. Was that really Emmy’s scent that I followed? Or was it something else? Either way, the trail went cold and I dragged Luna around even when she was exhausted… Feeling that she would never be with her friend again, she laid her head on her paws and closed her eyes, imagining herself with Rain and Emmy - her friends, her only family.
There was a sound of rustling grass and they both lifted their heads in alert.
        “What is it?” whispered Lumina as she slowly crept to Luna’s side.
        “I’m not sure… but its presence isn’t a dangerous one.” Luna whispered back as she looked in the sound’s direction.
        “Still… we have to be careful…”
The rustling sound was heard again, but this time it was louder and closer. They both crouched down as they prepared themselves to fight. Instead, a tan lioness stepped out of her hiding place. Is it Emmy? Is it really her? Or are my senses playing tricks on me again? she wondered. She glanced at the new lioness’s shoulders, and saw her dragonfly wings; Lumina gasped and lifted her head from her fighting position.
        “Lumi..? Is that you?” the lioness said warily, not daring to hope.
        “EMMY!!” Lumina cried out happily.
        “Lumina! I can’t believe it’s you!” Emmy purred; then her eyes widened as Lumina charged at her.
        “Oh God no…!”
        Emmy tried to dodge her but it was too late. Lumina tackled her to the ground and hugged her very tightly
        “Ugh… yep it’s you, Lumi…” groaned Emmy.
        “I missed you so much!” exclaimed Lumina; she was squishing Emmy, but Lumina didn’t seem to notice. Her tail was twitching happily.
“Yeah I missed you too, but do you mind getting off my stomach? You’re kinda crushing me and you’re not all that light.” Emmy muttered as she struggled to breathe.
        “Oh… my bad…” Lumina laughed embarrassedly, letting Emmy go. Luna was pounding her paw against the ground, laughing wildly.
Emmy stood up and dusted herself off. “Hey… where’s Rain?”
“I thought you would know. I haven’t seen her since we split!”
“Dangit. I’ve been watching for her, but no luck.” Emmy sighed.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”
“So… who’s she?” Emmy asked as she looked over Lumina’s shoulder and noticed Luna.
        “The name’s Luna and from all the yelling Lumina made, I’m guessing your name is Emmy,” Luna said, laughing as she trotted over to the two lions.
        “Yeah, I’m Emmy. But I’ve never seen a lion like you, and so much jewelry!”
“I’m actually a tigress and I came from a lab just like you and Lumina.”
Emmy tilted her head in surprise, glancing at Lumina. How does she know we’re from a lab? Emmy asked Lumina telepathically. Lumina’s ears twitched; too many voices in her head tonight! But it was nice to hear Emmy again. Lumina glanced at Luna, and saw the tigress’s eyes were wide in surprise. Of course, she would be able to hear Emmy speaking to Lumina. The blue lioness sighed; telepathy was a bit troublesome, sometimes. So Lumina started explaining how she was captured and how she and Luna managed to escape. Then she turned to Luna and explained her escape with Emmy and Rain.

                                                       ***

“I still can’t believe that you got caught by humans again. I had no idea that you were such an easy target.” Emmy chuckled.
        “Hey, it’s not my fault that my fur is like a flag… blame the stupid Professor for that…” Lumina mumbled under her breath, giving her a glare. Emmy couldn’t help giving a mischievous grin.
        “So… what’s your story?” Lumina asked Emmy, laying on the smooth rock again.
        “A wild lion named Umbar found me, a day after we got separated. Apparently I was in his territory and I asked him if I he could teach me how to hunt. He said that the lionesses in his pride could help me with that and I soon became part of their pride.”
“A pride? What’s that?” Luna asked curiously, her tail swishing from side to side. “A group of lions,” Lumina replied. Emmy nodded in agreement.
“So… they’re teaching you how to hunt, right?” Lumina asked Emmy.
“Yes, that’s right… why do you ask?”
“Well… I was wondering if we can join the pride as well so we can learn to hunt too; they are our only chance of surviving out here.” said Lumina.
        “Yeah, I mean I know we tigers are solitary and all, but it would be a good idea if I knew how to catch food.” Luna added.
“Well… it’s up to the king of the pride, Mansa. I’m not the top lioness around here. But I can ask though, it’s worth a try if it means having Lumina back.” replied Emmy. Lumina smiled at her friend, and the trio fell into a comfortable silence.

A few minutes later, another scent passed by the three felines, but this time it was unknown to Lumina and Luna.
       “Something’s nearby… and it’s coming towards us.” Luna whispered cautiously, looking in the direction Emmy had come from. Emmy sniffed at the scent, then quickly folded her shimmering wings against her back.
        “Oh don’t worry, that’s only Umbar.”
There was a rustling heard and out stepped another lion. Right away they could distinguish that he was a juvenile, the same age as them. His brown fur helped him disappear in the grasslands, and his gold eyes glittered even at night. Ridges of longer fur, slightly darker than his pelt; grew from the top of his head to his shoulders. Lumina recalled the male lions she had seen images of at the lab, and realized this odd ridge of fur was a mane. Eventually it would cover his whole chest.
“There you are Emmy! I was looking all over for you. You’re always wandering off…” his voice trailed off when he saw Luna and Lumina. He was stunned by their pelts and jewelry; but he was even more stunned by Lumina’s blue fur.
        He probably thinks Luna is some dressed up zebra, Lumina thought wryly. Luna shot Lumina an irritated look.
        I heard that. Luna growled.
        Bite me. Lumina retorted.
        “Emmy, what are they? And what are they doing in our territory?” Umbar finally spoke but he didn’t take his eyes off Lumina. The blue lioness could see the suspicion in his eyes.
“Umbar, this is Lumina. She’s one of the three members that escaped from the Lab pride. Unfortunately, we still haven’t found our last member, Rain…” Emmy explained, hoping to ease his shock.
        “Hello…” Lumina said quietly, sitting up.
        “What? No one’s going to introduce me? Fine, I see how it is!” growled Luna, feeling a bit annoyed.
“Oh sorry about that,” Emmy said, “Umbar, this is Luna. And she’s a friend of Lumi’s. From what she’s told me, she also escaped from a pride for the very same reason that we had.”
“Alright then,” Umbar said, not really believing her.
“Umm, they were wondering if Mansa would let them join the pride. They’re lacking the hunting skills they need to survive out here.”  continued Emmy.
“Join… join the Asante pride?” stammered Umbar in disbelief.
“Yeah, why not? Once they learn how to hunt, then we’ll have a greater chance at capturing larger prey.” said Emmy in a low voice.
        “Emmy, can I talk to you for a second?” Umbar growled. He dragged Emmy to the other side of the watering hole. Lumina glanced at Luna, and saw the tigress roll her eyes. Distance would do no good to keep their words secret.
        “Emmy, you know Mansa doesn’t want any more freaks in the pride. And there’s no way Lalibela will stand for it,” he hissed. Emmy narrowed her eyes.
        “That’s the remainder of my pride you’re calling freaks, Umbar!” she spat. Lumina smiled slightly as Emmy defended them.
        “And who are you calling a freak?” Emmy added.
        “You know you’re a little different, you have white marking on your stomach and that weird thing in your ear! You barely made it in. They have no chance!”
        “We’ll let Mansa decide that.” She snapped, and then strode back to Lumina and Luna. Umbar followed more slowly, and looked at Lumina even more suspiciously. Lumina finally noticed him staring at her and started feeling uncomfortable.
        “Umm… can I help you?” Lumina asked him, hoping that he would stop staring at her. He didn’t answer, instead he turned and began walking back the direction he had come. Emmy sighed, and motioned for Lumina and Luna to follow. Luna skipped along, humming. Umbar continued to argue quietly with Emmy, and Lumina followed quietly behind them. Umbar didn’t seem to care that his stinging remarks reached the blue lioness’s ears.
        “I still don’t trust them, especially the blue one.”
        “Shut up, Umbar.”
        “Look at her! She’s obviously not a normal lion like us. She’s just going to draw the attention of those twig-legged creatures if we stick with her long enough.” Lumina looked at him with wide eyes, not believing on what she’s hearing.
        “And maybe for all we know, she’s probably working for those bastards!”
        “Stop it! She’s not like that!” Emmy snapped.
        “How would you know? It’s not like you’re a freak like her!” He snapped back. Emmy fell silent and pressed her wings closer to her back, hoping that he wouldn’t notice. Lumina growled, and darted forward, swiping at Umbar.
        “Don’t you dare talk to her like that! I understand that you’re not comfortable being near someone like me. But don’t you start judging me before you get to know me, or else we’re going to have some problems…” she hissed, her eyes glittering menacingly.
        Umbar was gave Lumina a cold hard stare, followed by a long awkward silence. “So… are you going to let me and Luna join your pride or not?” asked Lumina, finally breaking the silence.
        “I can’t answer that. You’ll have to talk to my father, Mansa about that,” he muttered, annoyed.
        “I would love to sit here and chit-chat all night, but I think we should get going before those blackcoats find us.” Luna interrupted. Umbar turned to Emmy and she nodded in agreement. He picked up the pace, until they were running at an easy pace. Lumina could hear Luna muttering under her breath about everyone having more energy than her.
        “I’ll take you to my father back at the pride, but don’t be expecting a warm welcome.” he warned. Luna and Lumina exchanged worried glances, wondering what was in store for them at the paws of Mansa.