Noticing how Kyano looked, Miko smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, the grown-ups won't let Shere Khan do anything" he said. He was as scared as his new friend to find that those stories he'd heard from his aunt of how as a cub Khan was a bully were not only true but he was 100 times worse now, but tried to cheer himself up with his optimistic view as well.
"Yeah..." Namita agreed thoughtfully, "I didn't know Allison was back too, let alone...well...producing Khan's heirs".
Mowgli scowled as he swung down from the tree to the ground that was safe once more, "I don't think we need more evil little miniature Shere Khan's running around" he frowned as he helped Ranjan get down too.
Namita knew it was just the child's innocent talking, so she gave a small smile even if her next sentence might sound like a gently spoken lecture.
"Careful there, Mowgli, you're logic almost sounds like the kind Shere Khan uses against you".
The boy immediately ducked his head, ashamed, "Well...ok sorry" he said, "but you gotta admit, I have some kind of a point!".
~~~~
"Well, I can tell you don't want any of our old friends hurt" Shere Khan admitted with a frown, "So...I'll have to try to get to the man-cub some other time when he's alone, though that rarely seems to happen". Shockingly, Shere Khan found himself becoming conflicted as well by the fact that as much as he still desired to take the man-cub's last breath from him, he also...cared if the means would upset Allison.
It was actually quite bothersome.
"Now, especially with our cubs on the way, we can't afford to have men running around the jungle so much". True, this was an added reason and the indignity he suffered was still the main driving force behind Khan's revenge, but...well the last bit was a point, he figured.