Inventive and Adaptable immediately started crying and wailing, trying to run to their mother. Persistence looked sadly at her cubs, then padded up to Courage. He quietly placed his head on top of hers, as she nuzzled his mane.

"I swear, Persistence, that when we exile the murderers, I will come back for you. Just wait," he swore. Persistence let out a sigh, and eventually pulled away.

"Whatever you have to do, Courage. Take care of our cubs," she murmured. She took one last glance at the two families - Clever, Intuition, and their cubs celebrating, while Reliable tried to comfort her cubs as she said goodbye. Then, she tore her gaze away from the Pride, and padded away. The murderers glanced at each other with satisfaction.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The lions settled down for the night, knowing that two more of the Pride would be dead in the morning. Because Persistence's cubs still had to be nursed, Rational and Sense had been assigned to help Intuition. Five cubs were a lot for one lioness to handle, especially since all of them were still nursing.

Meanwhile, Courage, Powerful, Clever, Reliable, and Observant slept right outside the den. As the Pride shrunk, they decided to sleep in a spot where they could easily defend the cubs. It was becoming quite clear, however, that if things kept going the way they were, there would be no cubs left to defend.

However, no cubs were the target tonight. The first murderer stood still over Powerful's sleeping form, a teeth bared victoriously. Diligence had ruined it last time. But this time, they would succeed in killing Powerful. They quickly shoved Powerful into the ground, and sliced his throat open with a clean strike.

The large male began to struggle. He tried to roar, to call his murderer's name, to do something, but it was no use. He was choking on his own blood. He was dying. His last thought was that at least he would get to see Ambition again.

Meanwhile, the second murderer kneeled down in front of Rational. The lioness was snoring soundly, her mouth wide open. They knew that she would be the easiest target for their plan tonight.

They had found a poisoned chunk of meat in a trap after the events of the watering hole. They had sprung the trap with a stick, then wrapped the meat in a leaf and hidden it. They had that meat now. More importantly, they had the poisonous rock-thing that had been embedded in the raw meat. They shoved the poison down Rational's throat and pinned her shoulders to the ground.

The female didn't even wake up as vomit filled her throat, too affected by the poison. Her body convulsed once, twice, as she choked. Then she was still. The murderer returned to their spot and went to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reliable was the first to wake up that morning. She immediately noticed that Powerful wasn't breathing, and let out a cry of alarm. She began to shake Courage awake.

Her cry made Sense shoot awake, completely alert. Then she found Rational dead beside her, and let out a wail of pain.

Soon, all of the lions were awake, gathered outside of the cub den to discuss accusations. Sense immediately swung around to look at Clever, hackles raised.

"I accuse Clever again! It must be him! Powerful killed, twice. He was held down, too. It must be one of the males! And since Courage is our King, it can't be him. Clever is a murderer!" Sense snarled. Clever returned her glare.

"Well, if Clever is a murderer, it would make sense for Intuition to be one too. It would explain why none of the cubs have been killed yet, and she's also Clever's mate," Reliable pointed out. Intuition moved to stand next to Clever, both of them looking outraged at the accusations.

"Very well. My brother and his mate have been accused. Now, we vote," Courage declared.

Murdered: Powerful, Rational
Healed: Intuition
Accused: Clever, Intuition
Revealed: No one
Revived: No one
Murderers Left: 2