A/N well, here I am! Back again to entertain you all. I hope that most of you are returning readers, though I suppose this one will still make sense even if you haven't read "A Song Without Words". Anyway, welcome to my fic, I am very glad to see you. I hope you enjoy it very much (and that you let me know by way of a review).

If anyone has a suggestion for a title, please let me know, because I've got nothing at the moment.

I don't own The Lion King, Timon, Ma (Osono), or Max. Everyone else, though, is completely mine.

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Digging could be a very messy job, particularly with beginners. It definitely wasn't an easy thing to learn without making a mistake or two. However, try as she might, Kesi was having trouble keeping this thought from being replaced by "oh no, he did it again." She had volunteered to take a small group out for a digging lesson. Seeing as the crews were soon to begin construction on a new side tunnel it was the best time for the young meerkats to practice before the real work began. She was wishing fervently now that she had been gifted with patience.

"Maybe x-ray vision wouldn't hurt either." she thought, pulling the pup responsible free by his ankles. She sighed and set him on his feet. "Okay, what's the first thing we went over today?"

"Proper support of the tunnel roof." he mumbled, his voice very low. Kesi frowned, scolding him as she turned to the other two that were there for the lesson, looking for injuries.

"Right. Really now, a pup your ages, can't even keep from bringing the tunnels down around us! I hate to tell your mother..."

"No!" Timon cried, his paws grabbing her arm pleadingly (I hope you realized it was him by now). "You can't tell her, she'll be so disappointed!" Kesi couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He'd been trying very hard, but this sort of thing happened a lot around Timon and it often made being around him uncomfortable for the rest of the colony. She grinned and patted him on the head.

"Tell you what, since it wasn't a big mess this time around, we won't let the rest of the colony know." he smiled in relief and beamed at her. "But we're still going to tell your mother." his face fell and he slumped down to sit on the ground, looking very betrayed. Kesi turned to the other two: a male named Malachi and her own daughter, Hadiya. "You run along home now, Malachi. Hadiya you should stick with us.

The two of them followed her out of the work area, both very interested in examining the floor. Eventually Hadiya tapped Timon's shoulder, walking close to whisper to him.

"Why didn't you tell her it was my fault too?"

"You haven't been doing it as long as I have, you don't need tp get in trouble." he said with a shrug. Hadiya smiled, but his eyes had dropped to the floor again.

"What's your name?"

"Timon."

"I'm Hadiya."

"Yeah, I gathered that much." she giggled, but Timon was looking rather sour. Kesi turned into a small side tunnel, motioning for her to stay put. The side tunnel was something like a hallway that connected Timon's mother's nest to the main tunnel (which was also connected to all the other nests)

"Okay, we're going to downplay the collapse, say it was just some loose sand or something...yeah, nobody could've avoided it. Wasn't even a proper tunnel anyway..." she pulled him along by the arm until they came upon the nest. Timon groaned when he saw his mother at home.

Even in those days Osono was as plump, cheery, ans motherly as ever. She had recently begun coddling Timon with a ferocity that would've scared away a jackal. Knowing that she was never hard on her son, Kesi nudged him forward and cleared her throat to catch his mother's attention. She glanced up at them, somehow seeming hardly surprised.

"Oh dear, what now?"

"I'm afraid the tunnel came down on us. Nothing major, of course..." Timon looked very ashamed as he scurried close to Osono and she began to stroke his hair. Kesi continued, "it was only the beginning of a minor tunnel, hardly worth bothering about really. Just thought you should know."

"Thank you. I hope no one was hurt?"

"Not a scratch on any of them." she smiled, backing through the side tunnel as she waved goodbye. "In fact, I think he's actually improving. We were digging for almost thirty minutes when it happened!" she saw Timon perk up at the comment and he bean talking to his mother, recounting the event from his point of view. Smiling to herself, she rejoined her daughter outside.

"How'd it go?" Hadiya asked. They began walking toward their own nest.

"Very well. Osono's very understanding when these things happen. The smile had faded from Kesi, now that she was nearly alone. "Ever since his father died Timon's had so much trouble with this sort of thing..."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." they were silent for several minutes. After some thought, Hadiya spoke up.

"I didn't know his dad died."

"No, I suppose not. No one really talked about it to the pups."

"Well, they should." Hadiya said, just a little resentment in her tone. The adults of the colony had a habit of keeping unpleasant news from the children.

"Look, it's just one of those things that happen." Kesi said shortly. Hadiya knew that "one of those things" usually meant that it was either tragic or unpleasant and no one really wanted to talk about it.

"His dad got eaten, didn't he?" she asked. Kesi looked a little startled.

"To put it bluntly, yes." Hadiya stopped walking and turned her head back the way they had come.

"Thst's terrible...I'll bet he's so lonely..."

"I daresay he is."

"He helped me today, I should really do something for him." Hadiya said to herself. She looked at her mother. "I'm going to keep him company."

"Alright, just stay in the tunnels!" Kesi watched her trot away, waving over her shoulder. Once she was out of sight she ducked into her own side tunnel, moving noiselessly to the nest. She took a good look around to make sure that it was empty. She would be alone for several hours now. Sleeping was the best that she could do to pass the time.