Animation Source Forums

Split into even more parts due to size!

Götterdämmerung (1)

“... And again, I apologize you had to miss out on my little speech, and for that unfortunate incident involving Kiuma...”

“No problem sir! Just glad to be doing our duty,” the Graymane orated, inducing quite a few sighs with her fellow guardsmen who were getting pretty tired of her over-zealous behavior.

“Now now, there's no reason to start lying; you know that's just not true. Most of you'd rather be having the night off, getting some sleep,” Vincent yawned, “That is to say, I sure could use some sleep by now... isn't that right, comrade?”

“Spot on, sir!” one of the other, less responsible hyenas replied grinningly, greatly annoying the Graymane that was supposed to be commanding her. At least, Vincent considered, they had stopped posing annoying questions about what had happened to Kiuma, which allowed Vincent to stop the apologizing for what some had come to consider an excessive use of force against the hyena in question, and come to business.

“Hehe, right... but eh... I've got to be square with you guys, I didn't actually come her to apologize, or look at your exemplary work. I actually came to check on our captives here...”

“The one called Nala, to be more precise,” Tiko added from Vincent's shoulder, “She's the pride's queen. We heard she was one of the survivors...”

“And that pretentious poultry is...?” one of the more suspicious guards frowned.

“Ah yes, sorry, I should have introduced him. He's Tiko, my new Legal Advisor,” Vincent quickly replied, “You can speak to him as you would to me...”

“Right... What do you need the lioness for?”

“Not that it concerns you... but we considered she'd be the one in charge of the lionesses,” Tiko replied.

“Whatever... Alright lions, you heard the bird, which one of you is Nala?”

“Who's asking?” Kani growled defiantly.

“The hyena-in-chief,” Vincent replied laconic, stepping from behind the guards, into the lioness' sight.

“You!?” one of the larger lions suddenly exclaimed as if she had seen a ghost.

“Eh... yeah, me. Do I know you?”

“Don't you remember me? It's me, 'the Princes'...” the lioness replied, a bit disappointed.

“Sorry lady, you must be mistaking me for somebody else,” Vincent mumbled, feeling a bit awkward.

“So your not Mikhail the hyena?”

“Wait... you're saying you knew him? You knew my dad?” Vincent frowned.

“I used to know him, a long time ago... you look a lot like him.”

“Yeah, I know... hmmm... this is awkward... what did you say your name was again?”

“I am Nala,” the lioness replied as she lift up her head, obviously proud, “Queen of all Pridelands.”

“Well, maybe not all Pridelands,” a hyena noted ironically, inducing quite some laughs with his colleagues. For the sake of courtesy, however, Vincent chose to ignore that remark and not laugh along.

“Ah, so you are Queen Nala. Let me introduce myself: Vincent, hyena head of government. And he's Tiko...”

“I am honored to meet you, ma'am,” Tiko bowed.

“What, The Tiko? Zazu's nephew?” Nala asked in surprise.

“The same...”

“Well well... Zazu never told me of your new employer... but he did mention firm convictions weren't really your style...” Nala smiled.

“What can I say, hyenas need legal advice too...”

“Indeed we do. I am sorry to be so blunt, your majesty,” Vincent interrupted overly polite, “but I am quite tired and would like to get this over with; I can imagine we'll have more time to chat up tomorrow. And seeing as you apparently knew my father, we'll have a lot to talk about too... But first things first: I'm releasing one of you.”

“What?” almost all animals gathered in the cave shouted out as one.

“You heard me, I'm letting one of the lions go.”

“Eh... all right... might I ask why?” Nala inquired.

“Well, it's quite simple really: I want to send a massage to your King. The only way we'll get out of this mess without everyone ending up in that Royal Tomb of yours is if we negotiate, and I need someone to convey that message too him. As I sign of goodwill, I decided that one of your lionesses could carry out that task, granting her her freedom while she does.”

As a sign of goodwill, and because I'm not too happy to send one of my own clanmates to his or her death.

“I don't see what there is to negotiate... you killed our friends and family, you stole our land! Again!” Nala replied annoyed and combative.

“Look, miss, I understand you must feel a bit bitter over all what has happened, but it's not like you've always treated us with a velvet glove either, all right?” Vincent sighed, quickly letting go of his politeness in the face of a lack of cooperation, “Now, you can either face facts and let me send someone to negotiate so we can try and get out of this mess with minimal brutality, or you can just sit here with your stiff upper lip 'till your mate comes over to 'liberate' you and we are forced to butcher the whole lot of you.”

Nala didn't seem impressed, nor did her fellow lionesses. Tiko quickly noticed they'd rather stay proud and stubborn than to face facts and go for a more pragmatic approach. Unless...

“Your highness, I know this must all feel rather insulting, humiliating even; if I had been in your stead, I wouldn't be anxious to make dealings either. But there are still a whole lot of cubs up there, in the main den, maybe it'd be best if you focused on their best interests...” the green hornbill silently suggested. Nala seemed rather insulted at that remark (which sounded more like a threat), and Kani could be heard muttering all sorts of profanities in the background. But even though Nala was appalled by Tiko's suggestion, she feared he was right nonetheless; she had no choice but to agree with Vincents proposal, for the cubs’ sake.

“All right, you win... I have no choice... you want me to head over to Simba and break the news to him?” Nala whispered eventually, and it was pretty obvious she didn't feel all to well in having to do so.

“You? Spirits, no! My goodwill only goes so far, you know...” Vincent grinned, “Besides, you look too mangled, I need someone in good shape. Just pick one of your lionesses to do the job in your stead. And do make sure you make the right pick; sending back a warmonger won't get you anywhere, save in the Royal Tomb.”

Well, that ruled out Kani, Nala argued as she felt very annoyed at the arrogant tone Vincent was taking. But there was one lioness who fitted the profile almost perfectly: Anana. She was pretty much the antithesis of a warmonger. Besides, getting her away from here would be for her own good: if she stayed to endure Kani's insults a while longer, she'd probably break down completely (if such hadn't already been the case).

“All right, release Anana, she's nice enough...” Nala suggested. Kani suddenly broke out in laughter.

“What, you can't be serious? You're letting her, of all lionesses, the traitor, go?” she chuckled cynically.

“You've got a problem with that, Kani?”

“Hey, the quicker I'm rid of her, the better! I'm just afraid that if she meets Simba, she won't exactly be talking for all of us... only for the ones of us that tend to befriend scruffy scavengers. But I can imagine you won't mind that, now will you, my dearest queen?” Kani sneered, reffing to Nala just having admitted she knew Vincent's father. Nala, however, chose to ignore Kani from here on, turning back to Vincent.

“She's the young lioness in the corner of the cave, over there...”

“Ah... I take it your friend over there doesn't like her, is that why she's been put apart?” Vincent asked as he looked at the lioness in the corner of the cave.

“Pretty much. Will you release her now?”

“Sure. What did you say her name was, Anana? Right, Anana, I'm letting you go free, are you okay with that?”

Anana just nodded, although she didn't seem at all convinced: she was still upset because of her argument with the rest of her pride (mostly Kani). Vincent didn't seem too enthusiast about her reaction, but as he was tired and thus decided to hasten things up a bit.

“All right, works fine for me. Shatani, bring that lioness back there with us!”

Immediately, Shatani and a handful of her Graymanes appeared in the cave to escort Vincent and Anana out. Whilst Anana was lead out, Kani managed to insult her one last time as her way of saying goodbye. Meanwhile, Vincent nodded one last time at Nala.

“Right. Thanks for your cooperation, highness. I'll get back to you for more talking as soon as my duties permit it. Goodnight.”

“Your highness,” Tiko also saluted just before leaving. Nala limited her response to a brief nod, still surprised to see Zazu's nephew here, especially around his new 'friends'.
The group escorting Anana quickly hurried out of the cave, down to the plaza and finally onto the open Pridelands. Standing just outside of Priderock, Vincent ordered his company to halt and turned to Anana. Seeing her sit in the dry grasses, he couldn't help but notice she looked a bit like Vitani; she had the same outlandish characteristics of a darker fur and a way sleeker built than the rather bulky Pridelanders.

“Alright, this is far enough... How are you, Anana?”

“I've been better,” she whispered for the second time that day.

“Well, look at it from the bright side, at least you're out. Now, as I said I need you to transfer a message to Simba. You know where he is now, and how to get there?”

“Yes, he's at the northern den, with prince Kovu...”

“Excellent!” Tiko continued in Vincent's stead, “Now try remembering this, Vincent needs you to tell Simba the following:
Through a chain of unfortunate but seemingly inevitable events, it has come to be that the Clan has taken control over Priderock and all lands surrounding it. Unfortunately, a great deal of lives, both lion and hyena, were lost during this takeover. Lion survivors remain, however, and they are being held captive by the Clan, receiving a fair and decent treatment. They have not been harmed in any way, although most suffer from various battle-related injuries. Among these survivors are Nala, Queen of all Pridelands, and all of the Pride's most junior members. Although our claims on these lands as well as our cause is just, the Clan is willing and even pleading, to start civilized negotiations on a fair and equal basis, to avoid further needles loss of life. Through these negotiations, we, the Clan, are hoping to reach a fair and balanced conclusion concerning the ongoing territorial and legal disputes between our two Clans/Prides, once and for all eliminating the threat of new violent clashes over these issues, allowing our two Clans/Prides to co-exist on a peaceful but most of all equal basis... you got that?”

“The essence of it,” Anana coolly replied.

“And what might the essence be?” Vincent asked yawningly.

“Because of reasons that don't concern us, you stumbled into a war and took Priderock almost by accident. You didn't want a war, and you didn't want Priderock, but now that you've got it, you're not planning on giving it (along with some hostages you made along the way) back until Simba coughs up a exuberant amount of land and recognizes you and your clan as equals instead of treating you like vermin that is best exterminated,” Anana thoroughly summarized.

“Clever girl!” Vincent grinned satisfied, and a bit surprised too: it seemed this timid lioness had some linguistic skill in her after all, “Nala obviously handed me the right material in sending you... now, for the practical issues... Shatani, where do you suggest we stage the meeting for these negotiations?”

“There's a dried-up river separating our part of the Pridelands from theirs, I say we do it there. It also minimizes the threat of an ambush, as the whole dried riverbed is apparently infertile and thus empty; any unwelcome newcomer is thus clearly visible, especially if we pick the widest part of that dried-up river...” Shetani suggested, as she had in, contrast with Vincent, a very thorough knowledge of the surroundings.

“You mean the Golden River?” Anana asked.

“If that is what you mean by the dried-up river north of here: yes, the Golden River.”

“All right, sounds good enough. Tell Simba I'll meet him at the widest part of the Golden River, at next sundown (that ought to give me some time to sleep). Also tell him to only bring as much company as is required for a negotiation...”

“You know he'll just bring the whole pride,” Tiko noted.

“There's no harm in asking. Besides, So will I... Anyway, next sundown, at the widest part of the Golden River, you got that, Anana?” Vincent concluded.

“Pretty much...”

“All right, than you're off!”

“So I can go now?”

“Yes... or no, wait,” Vincent suddenly hesitated, “Do you know a lioness called Vitani?”

“Sure, everyone does; she's Kovu's sis, after all...” Anana replied, confused at the sudden change in Vincent's tone and look in his eyes.

“Right, right, I knew that... eh... if you meet her, and make sure you do, tell her I said hi. Or no, wait, tell her I eh... tell her I kinda miss her. Would you do that for me?”

“Okay... no problem,” Anana grumbled hesitatingly, feeling a bit awkward because of the sudden shift in Vincent's behavior, “I'll tell her Vincent misses her. Anything else?”

“No, that'll be all. All right, you're free to go now. But do hurry.”

“Okay then... bye, I guess...” Anana mumbled as she started hesitatingly walking north, looking back after every step to make sure the hyenas weren't coming after her (you never knew). But they didn't, they just headed back for Priderock. Last thing she heard was Shetani mentioning she'd position some sentry's (who knew Anana was coming, of course) at the Golden River to make sure Simba wouldn't retaliate by surprise. In doing so, she unintentionally mirrored Kovu's actions, who had done just the same in sending Vitani and Enyi to guard the new border.

*

Götterdämmerung (2)

“Bah, leave me alone...”

“But ma'am...”

“No, bugger off! I'm sleeping...”

“No your not, otherwise you wouldn't be talking to me. Now would you please get up? This is really important.”

“So is my sleep...” Vitani muttered as she slowly stood up, blinking with her eyes because of rising sun. From the look of her face, it wasn't hard to tell her mood had reached a new low now that Enyi had waked her up, for some reason. Vitani yawned ostentatious as to show exactly how tired she was after the worst sleep she had had in years, then she stretched in a manner that is common to all cats, great and small.

“Now, what's up? And it'd better be either good news or very serious news...”

“We've coma across a visitor crossing the border,” Enyi replied. Vitani just stared at her for a few seconds as if she were expecting something.

“... and? Come on Enyi, I haven't got all day here...”

“It's a lioness, one of our lionesses to exact. Says she came all the way from Priderock...”

“Yippee... She came all the way from Priderock as in 'I am a rurvivor from the slaughter that supposedly took place at Priderock' or as in 'false alarm, there are no hyenas at Priderock and it was all just a nasty dream'?” Vitani yawned cynically, “And it'd better be the second one...”

“Sorry ma'am, she said the hyenas sent her. They have a message for Simba.”

“Like hell they do,” Vitani grumbled, “She's telling Simba squat. I bet Kovu hasn't even bothered to tell our good King his ancestral home has been overrun by his arch-enemies... Imagine the look on his face when that lioness of yours just walks up to him and casually mentions a hyena probably is sleeping in his very cave as we speak? Then imagine his paw on our faces when he finds out we've been hiding it from him!”

“Don't worry ma'am, my lionesses are keeping her on a short leach until you have had the time to thoroughly explain the situation to her...”

“Ah, so you want me to explain the situation to her? Gee, how considerate of you...” Vitani frowned sarcastically. Much to Vitani's surprise, Enyi returned the favor with equal irony.

“My pleasure ma'am, always glad to be of service!”

“You know, Enyi, you should watch out with that newfound sense of humor of yours, it doesn't become you...”

“I'll go get the lioness, ma'am...”

She may have taken a liking to humor, but for all else she is still an apathetic bore... And she still refrains from using names. Who the hell is that lioness the hyenas sent anyway? I bet Enyi didn't even ask her name!

After a few moments, which Vitani put to good use to preform a much needed emergency-wash, Enyi reappeared, accompanied by another lioness much younger than her. From the looks of it, she was an outlander too. Vitani recognized her pretty quickly: it was Anana, the youngest of the Outlanders.

“Here she is...”

“Okay, I'll take it from here, Enyi,” Vitani yawned, “Good morning to you, Anana!”

It was pretty obvious to Anana Vitani didn't really meant what she said, and that she had very little patience.

“Vitani,” she briefly saluted.

“I'll cut to the chase here, if you don't mind,” Vitani commenced hastily, “We already know the hyenas attacked Priderock yesterday. Don't ask how we know, that's pretty irrelevant, at least to you. But even though we have some basic knowledge on what happened at Priderock, we still lack most of the details. So I suggest you start by telling us the more important details of what actually happened yesterday, right?”

Anana, however, seemed to have some doubts about that.

“Eh, wouldn't it be best if I did that when we've gotten the whole pride together, especially Simba? I'm mean, not that I wouldn't want to tell you guys...”

“Yeah, about that,” Vitani suddenly interrupted, “I forgot to add that when I said 'we know about what happened yesterday' I didn't exactly mean the whole pride but rather... a limited group including me, Enyi, Kovu and very few others...”

“Huh?” Anana replied a bit confused, “But why...”

“Look, I'll be frank with you: we'd have preferred it if we would have been able to bring Simba the news at a time that was... most suiting for that kind of an announcement... I mean, it would be rather blunt to just walk up to him blabbing 'Hey, sire, Nice day isn't it? Gee, sure was bad luck that some hyenas just took over your ancestral home, eh?'. You do agree with me on this, I hope?”

“Yeah... probably,” Anana mumbled a bit wary; she was getting the feeling there was more to it than that.

“Furthermore, there are a few more things we have to sort out before alarming the king because... well... eh... that hyena attack didn't exactly occur spontaneous, you know...”

“Wait a minute, you don't mean that...”

“I mean to say that Kovu had planned to, after a minor incident involving some hyenas, do some dealings with the hyenas behind Simba's back,” Vitani reluctantly admitted, “If Simba found that out, he wouldn't exactly be amused, I reckon, especially not if word got out that those dealings indirectly caused the hyena attack...”

“What?” Anana gasped in shock.

“I mean, it's less sever than it sounds. It's just that when I was over there negotiating (by the way, Simba thought I was away to be spying, another thing we'd like to keep under wraps), some hyenas chose to topple their leader and blame it on me, a lion, thus setting the hyena clan on a path to war... and to Priderock...”

“You mean to say you are the cause of the hyena attack?”

“No, not at all! I mean, if any other lion had been sent to talk with them, it would have turned out pretty much the same way...” Vitani mumbled in her own defense, “But it is true that if Kovu hadn't sent anyone over there to cut some deals, the hyena attack wouldn't have occurred as it has now...”

“But it probably would have occurred eventually,” Enyi quickly added.

“Sounds like a whole lot of excuses to me,” Anana grumbled, “You're going through a great deal of trouble to save your own skin here... and you expect me to lie for you too? For the Kings' sake, we just lost half our pride, Vitani! And if it turns out you had anything to do with that...”

“But that's the whole point,” Vitani interrupted, sounding quite annoyed by now because of Anana's lack of cooperation, “I didn't have anything to do with it! But we just don't want Simba to be getting the wrong ideas here...”

“Sorry, Vitani. I mean, I like you, your a good friend, but you can't just ask of me to lie to our King for you, that's wrong of you.”

“But...” Vitani wanted to reply, when she was suddenly cut short by Enyi.

“Anana, you do realize that your attitude could get Kovu in a lot of trouble?” she asked, taking a very serious tone, almost threatening.

“Oh... right, he wanted to cut a deal with the hyenas,” Anana remembered, “Yeah, but...”

“So you say you are willing jeopardize your own King’s position?” Enyi snapped.

“But Kovu isn't a k...”

“Anana, are you an Outlander? Well, are you? Answer me!” Enyi suddenly growled.

“Yes, I am!” Anana replied, startled at Enyi's sudden outburst.

“And who is our King, Anana? Who is the King of the Outlanders?”

“Well... eh... it's Kovu...”

“Who is your King, Anana? Tell me, who is your King?” Enyi relentlessly continued, as if she hadn't even heard Anana's first answer.

“Kovu!”

“Who is your king?”

“Kovu's my king!”

“And do you want to betray your king, Anana? Do you want to betray the King of the Outlanders?”

“No, I don't!” the young lioness shouted back, sounding both scared and outraged at the same time.

“Are you a traitor, Anana?” Enyi growlingly asked. Without knowing it, she had stuck a chord with that remark: it instantly brought Anana back to the cave at the Priderock where she had, during her detention, had to endure an endless stream of insults, suggestions and accusations of her being a traitor. Failing to differentiate between what had happened in the cave and the present situation, Anana found herself wanting nothing more than to dismiss those false rumors of her being a traitor of any sort.

“No! I am no traitor! Don't you dare calling me that!” she shouted.

“Well then, are you loyal to your king, are you loyal to Kovu?”

“Yes! I am not a traitor,” the young lioness firmly stated.

“If you want to serve your king then, if you want to serve Kovu, you'll have to do as we say. Remember, we're all doing this for our king; for Kovu, King of the Outlanders; it’s his skin we’re saving here. We couldn’t care less about our own reputation. Got it?”

“All right... I think I understand now...”

Behind Anana's back, Vitani signaled Enyi she was quite impressed by her performance; thumbs up! After that little round of convincing, it wasn't hard to persuade Anana she had to tell whatever it was she had to say to Vitani, Enyi and Kovu first, in stead of walking right to Simba, as she had previously envisioned.

“Okay, now that we've got that over with... now, about that info we needed... first of all, how many of us actually survived the battle? What happened to the survivors?”

“We've been beat up pretty bad: only me, the queen and about four others remain. Except for me, all other survivors were badly injured...”

“Ah, some good new at last! Nala's still alive! And what about the others? I don't suppose anyone is missing?”

“No, I'm sorry,” Anana whispered, “We're the only ones left: Nala had gotten the chance to identify all the deceased before they were taking to the Royal Tomb... All others are gone, no doubt about it.”

“That is bad...” Vitani sighed, “And I suppose all survivors were detained? You wouldn’t happen to know what the enemy… well… eh… man, the thought of it alone makes my stomach turn… what… what happened to the cubs?”

“Oh, darn, I forgot, right!” Anana suddenly exclaimed, “There's some good news too: they spared all cubs, each single one of them! They're all fine!”

“What? That’s unbelievable! Great! Phew,” Vitani sighed, clearly relieved, “That's something at least... I mean, you were the only Outlander near Priderock anyway, so now that you're here, at least I know all my friends are safe... Still, glad to hear the Queen and the cubs are okay; we might still be able to resolve this as long as they're around. I don't even want to imagine how Simba (or Kiara, for that matter) would react if we told him Nala was gone... Now, one more thing. About the hyenas...”

“Oh right, I almost forgot!” Anana suddenly interrupted, “There was this big-shot hyena asking about you...”

“Really? Who?”

“I think his name was Vincent...”

“Really? So he made it to Priderock?” Vitani eagerly questioned.

“Yeah, that's the least you can say...”

“How do you mean?”

“He didn't exactly make a quiet entrance... As soon as he appeared, the hyena clan seemed to fall apart in two groups... And one of those groups got it really bad...”

Anana could still feel her stomach turn when she remembered what had happened to that poor hyena called Kiuma that had tried helping her. She still couldn't believe someone as nice as her could have done something so bad to deserve the fate to have befallen on her.

“That figures; Vincent was the hyena that got toppled in the coup I told you about, the starting of this war was supposedly about him. He was probably taking care of the idiots that started this whole mess. Good riddance...” Vitani noted coldly.

“I suppose...” Anana mumbled, not at all convinced of Vitani's outlook on things.

“Anyway… Vincent was okay?”

“Okay’s a pretty modest way of putting it: from what I heard and saw, he was pretty much in charge, him and that corpulent green hornbill of his. Being the de-facto ruler of a clan that controls the Priderock ranks pretty high on the ‘okay’-scale.”

Now that Anana mentioned it, Vitani indeed remembered Tiko as having a rather full figure when compared to Zazu, for example. She always figured it had been his feathers, though.

“That's good to hear. With him in charge, we might still get out of this without more fighting...”

Or so I hope...

“If you say so,” Anana frowned, again not at all convinced: from what she’d seen of him, that Vincent-guy wasn’t exactly scared of a little violence. And that had only been against his own kind… Then again, she still remembered the almost naïve look in his eyes when he had taken her separately to give her his little message for Vitani. That reminded her…

“Anyaway… He also wanted me to tell me that eh... he wanted you to know he… eh... he misses you... kinda... I didn't really get it...”

“Oh, now isn't that sweet?” Enyi grinned deviously, finding that corny remark utmost amusing, to Vitani's annoyance.

“I liked her a lot better when she never smiled...” Vitani muttered to no-one in particular, “Okay... that's good... that's nice of him... eh... anyway...”

Vitani was obviously embarrassed, but pleased at the same time: after having hit Vincent in the face because of the incident at the river, she wasn't too sure he still… well… liked her. But she was now sure he obviously did. Why that mattered to Vitani, seeing as her and Vincent were now part of two warring factions, she didn't really know. She just didn't like the idea of Vincent hating her, even though chances were they'd never see each other again, save for the possibility of encountering each other on the battlefield (something she desperately hoped to avoid). And quite frankly, she missed him too: she had after all pretty much enjoyed every moment with him, especially the cuddling at sunset whilst munching rotten fruit. It had all seemed so surreal, ideal even... the eternal enemies at peace, if but for a day… But that was all over now: she was back in the day to day reality of constant feuding between Pridelanders, hyenas, Outlanders and pretty much everyone else that happened to venture in between hem. But that was how things were, nothing to do about that. She'd just try making the best of it all.

“Now... hmmm… actually, that's all I needed to know... I guess I'll hear the rest once Kovu questions you; he’s better at all this secrecy-stuff. We should get going; no time to waste. Enyi, keep a lookout here, ” Vitani quickly concluded, “Make sure no-one passes the river unseen...”

“Why, you're expecting company? Your spotty admirer, maybe?” Enyi chuckled.

“Uh, turn dull again already...” Vitani mumbled as she and Anana started walking away from the still giggling Enyi.

*

Sometimes when you get up in the morning, all the world seems to smile at you. The most beautiful of sunrises to the east, slowly creeping over the scarce but majestic savannah vegetation. A lone bird uttering it’s song of love, even though no-one is listening. A gentle breeze, rustling the tall grass. The lioness you cherish most of all things in the world lying at your side, her soft paws lovingly wrapped around you. Sometimes, when you get up in the morning, you experience the best moments of an entire lifetime, and best of all: you realize it.
The worst moment in your entire lifetime usually follows right after that, when you remember that yesterday’s sorrows have nor magically vanished overnight. When you realize last night wasn’t just a bad dream, but reality. When you notice your sister appearing on the horizon, and your loved one does so too.

“Kovu…”

“Hmmm?”

“Kovu!”

“Huh? What? Something wrong?” Kovu mumbled, his eyes still covered under a veil of sleepiness. Kiara didn’t seem patient enough to wait for it to spontaneously disappear, however.

“Kovu! Will you get up already? Look, there’s Vitani! Did you know she made it back already? No?” Kiara frowned suspicious, “For being worried about her so much for such a long time you sure seem to not care too much…”

“What? Vitani where? She’s back already? Gee, what a joyful surprise,” Kovu yawned not entirely convincing. It was way too early in the morning to start lying convincingly, certainly to Kiara.

“You’re a poor liar, Kovu,” she smiled.

“Tell that to your dad,” Kovu mumbled, “Bah… where’s that Vitani?”

“She’s right there...”

“Right here, wee brother.”

“Huh? Oh, there you are… I’d prefer if you didn’t just come barging in here. Some lions are still oblivious to your return, you know.”

“I think he’s referring to me,” Kiara guessed, “And why exactly is it a bad thing that I become aware of Vitani’s reappearance?”

“A very long story. And it’s to early for long stories,” Kovu suggested.

“Come on now, Kovu, seriously now, what is going on? Where did Vitani come from all of a sudden, and why shouldn’t I know?” Kiara asked again, now without a humorous tone to her velvet voice.

“Can’t it wait ‘till we tell Simba and he beats the crap out of me because of it?” Kovu grumbled ironically.

“Kovu!”

“All right, all right…How should I put this…” Kovu considered, “What’s the last thing I told you that Simba shouldn’t know?”

“You don’t mean about… Taka?” Kiara asked a bit wary: she was still upset about the reactions she had got from Kovu in their first conversation about that rather touchy issue.

“No, no, not that… although we should get back on that sometime somehow… No, I was talking about our other little conspiracy, the one you hadn’t informed daddy about yet, or so I hope,” Kovu sneered, though it hadn’t exactly been his intention to sound nasty in any way. It just popped out. Shallow end of the gene pool, probably. Vitani didn’t fail to notice, and gasped as she heard the barely concealed reproach. That’s not how she remembered Kovu and Kiara. Then again, a lot had changed in the fewest of days.

“Sorry… that… that was uncalled for…” Kovu apologized a soon as he realized what he had said. Kiara seemed to expect more apologies than that, though.

“Oh no, please, don’t apologize,” she sneered right back, “After all, I am just the one who’s always followed you in what you do, who’s always believed you and loved you, even if all others had abandoned and rejected you. I should be the one apologizing!”

From the tears to appear in Kiara’s eyes, it wasn’t hard to tell that saying what she had just said had hurt her more than it had hurt Kovu. And that knowledge, in turn, proved extremely hurtful for Kovu, who was for a moment stunned and unable to say anything.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” he stuttered as he tried moving loser to Kiara, “I just…”

For obvious reasons, that didn’t suffice for Kiara, who had in fact been the principal victim of Kovu’s ever deteriorating mood since that one futile but fatal hunting incident days ago.

“I think it’d be best if you just left…” she sobbed as she gently blocked his attempt to considerately embrace her, “You just go ahead and conspire some more, I don’t even want to know about it anymore…”

“But…”

“Kovu, I think the lady needs some time alone…” Vitani whispered. Kovu reluctantly agreed, acknowledging that solving his ‘conspiracy’-problem was arguably the first step to what seemed to become his relational problem. Or how one problem created another, after which both began to intertwine. What a mess.

“Thanks a lot…” Kovu grumbled in a rather hostile manner at his sister as they had gotten out of Kiara’s hearing distance, “Just when things start looking up a bit, you show up again!”

“Hey, cool it!” Vitani growled back, “Take your personal problems out on someone else! I can’t even count how many times I’ve had to put my life on the line these last few days, all to try and make up for your little plan that went haywire.”

“Oh yeah, blame Kovu! Why not!” Kovu sighed, annoyed at Vitani, angry at the whole situation, and a bit desperate as well for obvious reasons, “Just blame me for trying to make the best of a rotten situation… But don’t ever dare blame those responsible for the rotten situation!”

“Please, Kovu, stop it: this discussion is going nowhere. I know what you mean, and I know you’re right. But face it: whether we like it or not, we too are at the base of all the current mess, and we’ll have to sort it out, ‘cause no-one else will. Now please, try leaving your personal problems behind you for one second and follow me, all right?” Vitani responded.

“Sort out this mess! Now there’s a good one! The only thing I’ve come up with so far is politely asking the hyenas to return Priderock free of charge, or just come clean with Simba altogether and have my head bashed to a pulp. Neither seems appealing.”

“The solution will probably be something in between those two, even though I for one think you deserve a good trashing. But my priority now is problem-solving, and you’re the one to be doing most the work. And to help you with that, I’ve brought a friend of ours who’s come all the way from Priderock.”

“What?” Kovu frowned, “You mean a scout?”

“No, I mean someone who survived the battle to have taken place around Priderock, who was subsequently captured and then released by the hyenas as their way of saying ‘let us negotiate’,” Vitani smiled amused, “And I that wasn’t sarcasm, by the way. Meet Anana.”

“Sire,” Anana greeted, suddenly appearing from behind some bushes. Although Kovu had been more or less expecting a sudden appearance, it once again induced a short roar of fright.

“Aahrgh! Dammit, didn’t I tell you and your friends to stop doing that? Do you want me to die of hearth-failure? All right… easy now… eh… So she’s the… the eh… negotiator?”

Anana nodded as Kovu tried recognizing her. After a couple of seconds, he finally noticed.

“Hey, but you’re an Outlander, aren’t you? I recognize you! You’re that wee lass that took of for Priderock to learn how to hunt properly… Anana, isn’t it?”

“That’s me, sire.”

“Always great to see a familiar face, of course… Hmmm… Good thing you made it out alive. I mean, not that I wouldn’t want the others to get out alive too, mind you. But the more Outlanders the merrier, of course. Now… the polite thing to do would be to ask you how you are. But I think you wouldn’t mind if we cut straight to business, am I right?”

“Whatever is fine by you, my liege,” Anana bowed submissively.

“Now now, no need to get formal ‘round me,” Kovu frowned, “You’re among equals here, don’t treat me like I’m a king just yet. Now, could you please tell me what the hell happened out there, to the details, ‘cause all the info I’ve got so far is sketchy at best.”

As ordered, Anana started giving a thorough summary of what had exactly happened during what would become known as the second Battle of Priderock. During her report, she also mentioned who exactly had (of the lion pride) survived and who hadn’t, getting a clear sign of relief from Kovu when she noted both Nala and the cubs had made it out: their survival had more or les been the conditio sine qua non for Simba’s cooperation (or so Kovu hoped). During her version of the facts, Anana was quick to leave out any mention of her part in the battle, though, keeping in mind what hateful reactions it had produced before. Kovu nor Vitani failed to notice.

“And exactly what part did you play in all of that?”

“I eh… I stood right in the front-line, I guess…”

“Hmmm… You’re quite lucky to have made it out pretty much unhurt,” Kovu noted. Indeed, the only scratches on Anana’s body where those she had gotten from the struggle with Kani and her accomplices. Kovu didn’t bother to inquire further into the matter, though, as he wasn’t really bothered too much.

“Good enough for me. Vitani told me you were released as a negotiator? So… what’s there to negotiate about?”

Anana quickly summed up the hyenas’ proposal the way Tiko had stated it, mentioning it had been Tiko’s exact words, which Vitani found rather amusing, after which she translated all the buzzwords into her version of the proposition, which was in turn pretty amusing to Kovu.

“Haha, vermin that is best exterminated! I should remember that one,” Kovu giggled, “But seriously… those claims are, of course, unacceptable given the current climate… Letting the hyenas exist will be hard enough on Simba as it is, let alone give them some of the Pridelands and treat them as equals… still, at least the hyenas are willing to talk in stead of continue their aggression, that’s a start. But one problem remains: Simba. If we inform him on the current situation, he’ll do two things: break all four of my paws and exile me, after which he’ll round up all of what remains of our Pride to try and retake Priderock by force…”

“I doubt it,” Vitani replied, to Kovu’s surprise.

“Huh?”

“I mean, the retaking Priderock by force part: as long as the hyenas have his Nala, he’ll not try anything; after all, Simba isn’t exactly cold-blooded. But I am pretty sure you get beat up any way this turns out, though,”

“Thanks a lot,” Kovu mumbled, “Still… we can’t rule out he’ll try using force. And I can’t blame him; if only it wouldn’t have been suicide to face the hyenas while they hold the high ground, even I would have considered a counterattack an option. I’m not really too fond of those mongrels myself…”

Kovu unintentionally cast a glare at Vitani, who then looked away slightly ashamed: she had to admit it, she had grown fond of one of those ‘mongrels’, and considered his well being one of her priorities.

“Then again, we have to face it: they beat us; we were too occupied with ourselves, allowing them to come out here and thoroughly trash us. The result is we’ll never be able to beat them by use of force alone, and the logical consequence of that is that we have no choice but talk. And we can’t expect to get Priderock back for just a pad on the shoulder and a friendly ‘thank you’; we’re going to have to cave in. But, unlike me, Simba will never accept that.”

“You’re a lot better at summing up our problems than you are at solving them,” Vitani yawned, as she had pretty much heard all that before. ‘Maybe, but you’re the one who’s better at creating them’, Kovu had wanted to reply, but he realized he had already offended way too much of his close friends and relatives, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Either way, you’ll have to inform Simba sooner or later. And preferably sooner, because did I already mention the hyenas want to start talking this very evening, right about at the spot where I met Vitani this morning?” Anana suddenly mentioned. As she did, both Vitani and Kovu uttered an enormous sigh.

“There go our chances for prolonged procrastination…”

“If it goes on like this for much longer, I’m afraid I’ll just forget how good news ever sounded,” Kovu mumbled, “Right… guess that leaves us with little choice, now does it?”

“So you’re going to look for Simba?” Anana wondered.

“Quite frankly, I would have preferred if you and Vitani did. But I have to amid, that would be rather rude of me. So what if we all went together? Sounds good?” Kovu grinned, deliberately and grossly enthusiast.

“Eh… No… what if you went to see Simba, and we just hid, for a while?”

“Nice try, sis, but Anana, for one, will have to come because her message is, in fact, intended for Simba. And you have to come because I order you as brother and King. Now get going,” Kovu smiled deviously.

“But you’re no king…”

“Yes he is! He’s Kovu, King of the Outlanders,” Anana stated firmly, to Kovu’s satisfaction. She hadn’t forgotten her little conversation with Enyi. Vitani only muttered ‘***** Enyi’, though it wasn’t loud enough for anyone to hear.

“You heard the lady. Come on, big sister, time to, at best, let ourselves get yelled at for at least a couple of hours on end.”

So, as reluctant as reluctant gets, the trio set off towards the general direction of the Outlander’s main den, where Simba would usually hang out most of the time he spent with his newfound subjects. Vitani had the urge to turn around and walk in the other direction quite a few times, but Kovu always made sure she stayed on the right path; he wasn’t about to confront Simba all by himself (because chances were that Anana would be spared of most blame, which was only fitting, of course, as she hadn’t been the one lying to Simba). Halfway to the den however, a lone lioness appeared. It was one of the three Pridelanders that had taken residence among the Outlanders as a means of keeping tabs on them. She seemed a bit upset.

“Sir Kovu? The King has requested your presence. If you would follow me, please?”

“Eh… and might I inquire as to…” Kovu tried asking, but the lioness cut him short.

“The King has very little patience, sir, I believe he is quite upset with you. I implore that we not linger.”

“Uh-oh…” Vitani mumbled at Kovu, who had by now already turned pale behind his fur. It was pretty obvious, wasn’t it: Simba had somehow found out what happened on his own. It would have been bad enough if it Kovu would have personally given him the news, but now that he had found out without Kovu telling him in person, things were looking pretty disastrous for him. And yet the day had started of so well…

“This is bad, real bad…” Kovu whispered at Vitani, “Do you think I would make it out alive if I just made a run from it now?”

“Not likely. You’ll have to bite the bullet.”

“By that, you of course mean we…”

“Please, don’t remind me…”

With their mood now dangerously close to point-zero, Kovu, Vitani and Anana kept following he other lioness. Everyone had a bad feeling concerning what was about to happen, and that was only fitting. As they suddenly reached a clearing, it appeared things were even worse than Kovu or Vitani had imagined: not only did they meet Simba at the clearing, but pretty much the whole Outlander-pride was gathered there, sitting in a semicircle. The Pridelander to have been guiding Kovu and Vitani quickly took post along her pridemates, right next to Simba. From the looks on pretty much all of the outlanders’ faces, it wasn’t hard to tell their gathering had been everything but spontaneous, I’d even dare say it was rather compulsive. Nonetheless, the current setting proved ideal for a genuine inquisition directed at Kovu, Vitani and Anana, in that order. Even Kovu, who was pretty adept at pretending to not-care-the-least couldn’t help but swallow in awe and terror. And Simba’s grim stare didn’t exactly help either. Kovu’s panicking eyes sought and quickly found Kiara, at the edge of the group. She looked both saddened and ashamed at the given situation, but as soon as she noticed Kovu was looking at her, she signed ‘I didn’t have anything to do with this, I swear!’. Kovu wasn’t too inclined to believe her. Meanwhile, Vitani looked around for a sign of Rafiki and Kiruhu, but they were nowhere to be seen.

“I presume you know what this is about?” Simba suddenly asked with his calm yet powerful and charismatic voice. Kovu felt like shriveling to the size of a mere ant. Talking about awkward…

“Eh… yeah… spot-on presumption…”

“Nice to see Vitani has returned as well, by the way…”

Vitani just grinned silly and deemed it an absolute must not to say anything unless asked.

“I suppose her scouting duty is over then…”

No-one could really tell whether that had been ironic or serious, but Kovu and Vitani presumed it had been a classical case of suppressed-rage-sarcasm; Simba was covering up his suppressed rage with a fake smile, a critical tone and hard-hitting sarcasm. A long silence, long in relative terms, ensued. And as much as he’d have hoped to postpone the verbal clash that was about to follow, Kovu considered this particular wait even worse than what was to follow. He decided he’d just try and get it all over with quickly.

“Sire… what is this all about?” he uttered barely audible, feeling as if his throat had been pressed shut.

“I was hoping you’d tell me… after all, you’ve been the one to be occupied with all sorts of dealings and hedgings behind my back,” Simba replied without the faintest hint of emotion, “Or did you think I wouldn’t notice? I’m warning you, don’t take me for a fool, Kovu…”

“Then what is it you want of me?”

“The truth. I’ve been hearing all sorts of things, shocking facts… but I have to separate fact from fiction, for both our sakes. I’m eager to hear your version of the story…”

“I wouldn’t know where to start,” Kovu admitted. He had already come to face the fact he’d have to confess everything to Simba now; any further delay would probably just complicate things further. Still, he’d have tried avoiding it if he could.

“Why don’t you start by telling me how it came to be that you sent Vitani up north for what you called a scouting mission, and make your way down from there…” Simba suggested. Kovu remained unable to read anything in his facial expressions, so could only he guess what the king’s mood was.

“Well… let’s just say she didn’t exactly gone scouting… you see, the night before, there had been this little incident…” Kovu started explaining carefully. After having mentioned the so called ‘hunting incident’ and his decision to send Vitani to the Wastelands to try and appease the hyenas, Kovu paused for a second, allowing Simba to absorb the new information. He was by now more or less expecting the first reproaches, but Simba remained surprisingly calm. He just asked one or two questions to clarify some misconceptions, and then just asked Kovu to continue.

“Of course, it didn’t stop there. Please, continue,” he ordered. Just like that. No shouting, no fighting, no lecture. Just ‘please continue’. Kovu didn’t like it one bit, tasted too much like a deep breath before the plunge. Still, he obeyed and continued his explanation: Vitani (unwillingly) getting involved in a plot, sending out Enyi to go find her and in the end seeing them both return with Rafiki and the cheetah. Then, in what probably wasn’t his best choice of words that day, Kovu concluded: “That’s when things got bad…”

No response from Simba. He just sat there, looking iner as ever (while in fact, his heartbeat had elevated to dangerous levels as he started getting some pretty bad feelings about what Kovu was telling him).

“That’s when things got bad indeed,” the king uttered barely audible as his throat had gone dry, only barely being able to keep up his act, “I need you tell me everything…”

“Yes… Hmmm… I don’t quite know how to say this… Lets take a step backwards first: remember when I said Vitani became the scapegoat for that assassination-attempt on one of the hyena-leaders by his subjects?”

Simba nodded, seemingly calm. The only thing to betray his anxiousness were his claws, scratching inches deep into the dirt.

“Well, the fun didn’t exactly stop there…”

Kovu told of how the hyenas had vowed revenge, after which they had gone after the Priderock. He then tried his best to recount everything Anana had told him of the battle that had followed, up to the point where she had been retained. He mentions Anana’s name quite a few times, trying to engage her into the conversation as well, but Simba wasn’t bothered for anything but Kovu. Much to Kovu’s surprise, each and everyone had remained stoic during his version of the facts, even Kiara and Simba (even though it would have only been natural if they had reacted somehow emotional to the loss of most of their friends, as well as their home). Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Kovu had mentioned, prior to describing the Battle of Priderock, that Nala was alive and well, which was of course the primary concern for Simba and Kiara.

“And… that’s about it… I don’t know what you’ve been hearing, but this is the whole truth (or as close as it gets to it anyway),” Kovu concluded hesitatingly. The awkward silence returned. Kovu looked at Kiara. He could see tears welling up in her eyes, but still she remained static; she wasn’t moving or talking before Simba had said so. Suddenly, Simba spoke again, barely restraining his obvious anger.

“How does it feel being lied to, Kovu?” the king grumbled in the most menacing manner. Kovu shrugged instantly, as he didn’t even get what that question was all about. But Simba was quick to clarify it.

“You don’t know? Well, this is what it feels like. You wondered what I had been hearing? I’ll tell you: nothing. Absolutely nothing. I just became aware you were up to something; even a fool could have noticed that. But I didn’t have a clue what it was about. But then I just pretended I did, and you were eager enough to cough up the details, fearing someone had been rating you out with a story that placed all the blame on you. I suppose I should be thanking you, for your own stupidity that is,” Simba explained, still calm, but his tone just oozed with anger, contempt and indignation. Meanwhile, Kovu whished he could have one way or another turned invisible, as the whole pride’s piercing eyes were directed at him in his moment of shame. Not that he hadn’t been there before, of course.

“Unbelievable…” Simba suddenly sighed, “After all I’ve done for you, after having taken you into my pride, after having granted you your own dominion… And you still manage to betray me in ways I didn’t even deem possible…”

He had a point there, Kovu couldn’t really argue with that. Still, he felt like he should at least say something.

“But…”

“Silence!” Simba roared angrily as he started menacingly prowling around Kovu, “That you even dare opening your mouth in my presence! I mean… Aargh, this is simply unbelievable! First you lie to me, right in my face, time and time again… and then you, of all lions, try cutting a deal with the enemy!”

“Well, someone had to,” Kovu snapped back, letting pride and his unwillingness to just sit there compliantly get the best of his common sense. This, of course, enraged Simba even further.

“What did you say?”

“I said someone had to…”

“Unbelievable, simply unbelievable!” Simba shouted, “You’re actually defending what you did? You’re actually trying to say that your actions, actions that just lost us half our pride, our ancestral home, our queen and our younglings to those bloodthirsty scavengers, were justified?”

“My actions lost us half our pride?” Kovu grumbled rhetorically.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Simba asked as he halted in front of Kovu, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“From the looks of it, you already know what I mean…” Kovu sneered, “And you know I’m right too…”

“Kovu, don’t…” Vitani, who was still sitting next to her brother, whispered in warning, as she could already guess where her brother was going at: in stead of trying to minimize his conflict with Sima, he was going to pull it wide open, bringing the past into he mix as well, the dark and always best forgotten past. And all that because of his newfound pride, the one that had caused a still lingering conflict with Simba about Kovu’s parents, and the revised image of them that Kovu had started to advocate. And as much as Kovu had wanted to avoid an argument with Simba (as was happening now), he deemed finding out the truth (his truth) about his parents, Taka and Zira, and then spreading the word (if possible even rehabilitating their image) just as important. Vitani considered that a noble goal, of course, it were her parents too after all, but she was just having doubts whether this was the right time to bring it up. Her attempt to shut Kovu up was brutaly cut short by Simba, however.

“Don’t interrupt us!” he growled at Vitani, “Your turn will come soon enough; don’t think you’re getting off any easier… you’re even worse than your brother; at least he didn’t engage with those skulking mongrels. But you still reek of hyena…”

Vitani just glared angrily, smart enough not to answer Simba’s provocations. Yet. After one last stare of contempt, Simba turned back to Kovu..

“And you were saying?”

“Please, Simba, you asked me not to treat you as a fool, so don’t play dumb,” Kovu frowned, “You know ***** well it’s not my attempted negotiation with them that set the hyenas on the path to Priderock. Don’t blame the final drop for the flood.”

For the attentive listener, it was pretty clear what Kovu meant by that, and Simba didn’t miss the hint either, as could be derived from the enraged glare he cast at Kovu.

“Don’t you dare…” Simba grumbled menacingly.

“Come on, dad, we both know well enough who is to blame for what happened yesterday…”

“Don’t you dare say it…”

“… it’s you.”

“Oh, this is good, so I am to blame?” Simba frowned angrily, creeping intimidating close to Kovu.

“You and Mufasa…” Kovu uttered. Suddenly, with an incredible roar of rage, Simba struck out with both his forepaws, hitting Kovu’s head so hard he was thrown back, landing in the dirt head first. All the pride gasped in shock, while Vitani and Kiara immediately rushed to Kovu’s aid. Meanwhile, Simba just looked down on Kovu with contempt, breathing heavily.

“If you ever dare insulting my father again…”

But Kovu, who declined any help from Kiara and Vitani, didn’t seem impressed, even though bloody drool dripped down from his chin. He even mustered a deformed grin.

“Now, did that make you feel better?” Kovu hissed, trying to get up, “Your words couldn’t quite cut it anymore? But I’ve still got plenty of words left, no beating is going to shut me up, dad. You want to know who is to blame for the hyenas attacking us? It’s those of us that have always tried their best to exterminate them, to treat them as vermin that is best eradicated, those of us that always try our best to maim and kill them when we come across them, those of that keep ‘em confined to living on lands of which we know cannot support them. It’s those of us that, day by day, fuel their hatred and nurture their thirst for vengeance and yet expect them never to raise a paw against us. Those of us that react in shock and dismay when they are treated themselves as they treat the hyenas.”

“You’re a despicable waste of breath,” Simba replied in indignation, “How dare you even call yourself a lion, picking sides for that kind of, as you put it yourself, vermin that is best eradicated?”

“You are as ignorant as you are hard hitting,” Kovu sneered, whipping blood from his chin and dirt from his manes, “I do not pick sides for them, I wouldn’t even shed a tear if they were to disappear overnight. But I understand them though, I understand why they do what they do, and I can’t blame them for it. They’re not any less reasonable then we are, and will react as we would. So unless we want them storming Priderock every now and then, we have to stop handing them reasons to do so. If you want to make and live in peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. Taka saw that…”

“Ah, so the truth finally comes floating on the surface,” Simba laughed ostentatiously, “So I was right, you are planning to thread in your parents’ pawprints.”

“And why would that be a bad thing? At least he saw this coming! Taka saw this coming more than a decade from now, he knew something like this was going to happen sooner or later. Why do you think he even bothered including the hyenas in his kingdom during his reign? The Kings know he didn’t have to; his hyena accomplices could be counted on the fingers of one paw, yet he opened up his realm for their entire clan. And he didn’t need them to enforce his rule either: for all the lionesses knew, he was a legitimate king after all; why would they oppose a legitimate king? He did it for the good of his own pride, that’s why, to spare us from tragedies the likes of which happened yesterday!”

“Oh right, Scar’s reign was one of peace, love, happiness and sunshine!” Simba replied cynically (which was against his nature, by the way), “Pity he turned our lands into a wasteland and almost starved our Pride, though, that was probably one of his lesser accomplishments…”

“Please, now you’re blaming a drought on him as well?” Kovu smiled grimly, “Look up, Simba! Look at that beautiful sky above us! You see any clouds there? No? Gee that’s funny, I could have sworn the raining season should have at least started one month ago. I guess we’ve got a drought on our paws here! But I don’t see Taka around here to have caused it, now isn’t that peculiar?”

“That might be, but the fact is Priderock has been lost to hyenas, that’s reason enough for a drought,” Simba mumbled in his defense, not entirely convinced of that explanation himself. Kovu had a point.

“Yeah, but I don’t recall the being there one month ago. Face it, dad, droughts just happen from time to time, whether we like it or not, Taka’s got nothing to do with that…”

“Not that it matters now, with so little mouths to feed,” Anana suddenly whispered. Talking ‘bout a cold and unexpected remark.

“Who the hell is she anyway?”

“The hyenas sent her to negotiate…”

“Did they now? Then I’ll guess we’ll talk later,” Simba told Anana, “But don’t think I’m through with you yet, Kovu. Quite frankly, I couldn’t imagine how you could ever further aggravate things: you’ve been dealing with our enemy, caused an attack on Priderock, openly sympathized with Scar, a power-hungry and treacherous traitor to his pride, usurper, tyrant and murderer…”

“You make it sound as if all Taka wanted was to inflict harm upon our pride, whilst he just wanted to shield it from even greater harm, like we experienced yesterday. That took some sacrifices, yes, but as they say: you can’t bake an omelet without breaking the eggs…”

“… but it’s amazing how many eggs he broke without ever baking one decent omelet. And if you ever compare my father, the greatest king of our time, to an egg again, you’ll live to regret you’ve ever been born. That aside, you’ve also lied to me on numerous occasions. If Zazu were alive to hear it, he would have agreed with me that each of those facts on themselves would legally be enough to get you banished…”

Simba suddenly paused, as to let his rage slip away a bit, taking a deep breath. What he was going to say next, he would say with enormous reluctance.

“But we’re a clan at war, and I’ll have to be frank with you: now’s when I need you the most. That’s why I’m giving you another chance, the last one in a long line of disappointments… I’m willing to forgive you, maybe even try and reason with you about your father, once this is all over. If you stick by me.”

“Stick by you? Total submission?” Kovu wondered.

“No. I don’t require you yield or bow, just that you support me in our pride’s darkest moments, for both our sakes. Can you do that?”

“I could… but not for the prospect of a pardon, for I believe I did nothing that needs pardoning. But I will do all within my power to assure our pride’s well-being. If that requires me to stand by me, I will gladly do so…”

That answer was of course utterly inadequate for what Simba was concerned, but given the present crisis and Simba’s recent return to a state of relative calm, the king deemed it best not to push their conflict any further just yet.

“All right then. Now… our negotiator. So you were present at Priderock during the battle?”

After a thorough inquiry concerning the details of what had happened at Priderock (even though Kovu had already told him everything there was to know), paying special interest to what had happened to Nala and the cubs, Simba also wanted a detailed report on the time Anana had spent in captivity. She was wise enough to cut out any details concerning herself, though. Finally, Simba brought up the proposed negotiations, though he didn’t seem that enthusiast about it. Anana sticked to their formal proposal.

“Unacceptable and impossible,” Simba immediately declined, “The only thing they can hope for is that I spare their lives, after which they pack up and disappear from our lands again.”

“I take it that is your first counter-proposal?” Kovu wondered.

“Counter-proposal? It’s my only proposal. They taka it or leave it.”

“I could have guessed diplomacy isn’t your strong point…”

“What now?” Simba sighed at Kovu’s remark, “What on earth is wrong with that?”

“Well, first of all, if it is ‘take it or leave it’, they’ll leave it, and nothing happens…”

“Not exactly. They take it and leave what belongs to us, or they leave it and we take what belongs to us.”

“Very bad idea. For one, they have hostages. If we as much as wave our paw in their general direction, they’ll kill the hostages. Or is it okay with you if Nala…”

“Absolutely not!” Simba gasped, “We can’t do anything to endanger Nala!”

“Well, then I’m afraid you’ll have to negotiate; offer and counter-offer.”

“But you can’t expect me to…”

“Yes, I do expect you to. And so do the hyenas. In fact, they’ve already arranged for a meeting. Tonight. You’d have head that if you’d have let Anana finish, in stead of interrupting her.”

“Out of the question! Who do they think they are to invite me to talk? It should be the other way ‘round. And that is if I were planning to talk in the first place,” Simba replied, but his reply invoked an ostentatious yawn from Kovu’s part.

“This is pointless. I’m going to meet the hyenas, whether you like it or not. Feel free to come along, though,” Kovu yawned, after which he suddenly got up and started walking south. Simba wasn’t at all pleased with that, as one could have guessed.

“What do you think you’re doing? Get back here! Don’t you turn your back on me!” he shouted, “I do not allow you to deal with those scavengers again! Get back here! I order you!”

But Kovu did not halt. In response, the three Pridelanders present at the gathering rushed towards Kovu and took post right in front of him, denying him passage. He noticed one of them limped.

“The King orders you to get back!” the most zealous of the lionesses growled at Kovu.

“Your king, perhaps…” Kovo replied laconic.

“Let my king pass!” Anana suddenly shouted, to pretty much everyone’s surprise. At the mention of the words ‘my king’, Vitani could almost see lightning bolts flash from Simba’s eyes towards Anana. What blasphemy, calling Kovu a king!

“He is no king,” the Pridelander in front of Kovu noted as soon as Anana had taken post next to her king. But then, the most peculiar thing happened: another one of the Outlanders spoke out.

“She said ‘let our king pass’,” the lioness shouted, after which she got up and walked over to Kovu. Both Simba and the Pridelanders stared at her with a mixture of shock, dismay and anger. But the, another Outlander got up and walked up to Kovu. And another. And another. Pretty soon, all the Outlanders stood gathered ‘round Kovu and the tree Pridelanders, their backs turned at a petrified Simba who seemed to be shaking with anger. Kovu grinned, satisfied, almost literally feeling the aura of power and legitimacy the lionesses around him created. He cast a superior smile at the three Pridelanders still sitting in front of him, who were by now feeling extremely uncomfortable. Facing them up-close, he suddenly noticed that one of the Pridelanders, notably the one with the bad limp, seemed to have a somehow deformed lower lip. A limp and a deformed lower lip, now where had he heard that before…

“I recognize you…” Kovu suddenly remembered, “You’re the lass that got mangled by those hyenas, all them days ago. You and your friends were the one not to cause, but at least kick of this whole mess… I always wondered why an Outlander would ever bother to waste her time chasing after hyenas… but then again, I guess you guys weren’t Pridelanders… Now, before you find yourself at the base of even more bloodshed yet again, could you please move? Now!”

The tree Pridelanders, scared finding themselves surrounded by at least he triple amount of Outlanders, immediately backed away in the direction of Simba. Kovu turned around and briefly looked at Simba, then at the still present but obviously shaken Kiara.

“Are you coming, Kiara?” he asked in hautein voice. But Kiara, hardly even recognizing her Kovu, shook her head, her eyes filled with sadness and fear. This wasn’t the Kovu she knew anymore.

“I’m staying with my father…” she uttered barely audible and with broken voice.

Him I recognize at least…

Kovu just shrugged. Not that he didn’t care, it was just he had no idea what to do else. After having cast a last glance at Simba, he took of to the south again, followed in his wake by his pride, by the Outlanders.

*

Götterdämmerung (3)

As Vitani saw her brother and her pride leave, she suddenly realized that in stead of just watching them, she should be joining them; she was the only Outlander left around Simba and his clique. But before she got a chance to join her brother, she found her path blocked by Simba, who towered out above her. She slowly looked up, hesitatingly and even frightened. Before her sat a lion who was abandoned, desperate, angry and twice her size (as a figure of speech). He crept closer to her. Vitani had wanted to run, but found herself paralyzed. His heavy breathing echoed through her ears, his powerful musk penetrated her nose. As his head moved closer, Vitani didn’t even dare to breathe, let alone move. The eyes that glanced at her were filled with hate and contempt. Simba slowly moves his head towards Vitani’s neck. For a moment there, she considered the option of squealing desperately. But Simba only snuffed, briefly, then backed of with a scornful grimace.

“Repulsive…” he frowned, “Now get of my sight, hyena.”

That one she hadn’t head before. First careful, but than faster and faster as the three Pridelanders left on the scene looked at her ever more menacing, Vitani took off, leaving behind Simba, Kiara and the three Pridelanders. Simba looked at Vitani as she raced away towards Kovu, then turned around with a long and deep sigh and stared at the ground in front of him, locked in silence. The three Pridelanders seemed a bit lost without further directives from their King.

“My liege?” one of them asked hesitatingly. But Simba didn’t even bother to look up.

“What are you still doing here?” he uttered, his otherwise clear, powerful and charismatic voice now weak and void, “Follow prince Kovu… And leave me in peace…”

Shocked because of the state of their king, the Pridelanders lingered for a few seconds, until Simba reminded them again he’d prefer to be left alone. They hesitatingly took off. Simba stayed behind, still staring at the ground. Kiara suddenly noticed little dark specks appearing in the dirt below him. Was her dad, the king of lions, crying? She carefully moved closer, one step at a time, afraid to upset him even more.

“Daddy?”

Simba slowly lift up his head, which seemed to have taken him great effort. He looked at his daughter with reddish, swollen eyes and a face that spoke of helplessness and despair. The authority he had radiated just moments ago had all but vanished. Kiara had never seen her father like this, except maybe for the time his mother had passed away after a long and painful struggle against a disease even someone as strong as her could defeat, months ago. Not knowing what else she could do, she hesitatingly moved closer to her father and put her paws around him. Simba responded by in turn wrapping his paws around her, firmly pressing Kiara to him, holding his muzzle to her neck, now letting his tears run freely.

“Oh dad…” Kiara sighed with a voice of sorrow, as she too now felt tears welling up in her eyes and tightened her embrace. Somehow, their intimacy stressed their current loneliness, seemingly being abandonned by their pride (both morally and physically). And for what seemed like an eternity, none said a word, both lions just wept silently, holding each other in an attempt to find comfort. Eventually though, in a voice that still had a distinct taste of tears and sorrow, Simba spoke up, which cost him great effort, hesitating, stuttering and at times sounding incoherent.

“Why, Kiara? For the Kings sake, why?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Kiara tried whispering, hindered by the fact she was still weeping, whilst carefully stroking Simba’s thick manes. Her fathers chin felt heavy as he rested it upon her shoulder.

“I did everything I could… always… I always tried doing the right thing. I ruled the pride as best I could…”

“You’re the best King a pride could ever hope for, dad…”

“I’ve always tried being just, being kind… I’ve always shown mercy, even when I shouldn’t have. I’ve always been forgiving… ***** it!” Simba sobbed, “I’ve even forgiven the offspring of the lion to have killed my father, even after they tried to kill me…”

“No-one could have ever asked for more…”

“And all of it I did for you and our pride…

“You‘ve been the best father a daughter could ask for, and even beyond the best king a pride could even dream of…” Kiara whispered

“And yet… it is my pride that is being held hostage as we speak, my home to have been overrun by savages… my… my Nala…”

Before having the chance to finish his sentence, Simba broke out in tears again, and Kiara with him. She hadn’t tried thinking about it to much, but she had to face it: her mom was gone, held captive by relentless killers, her life only hanging by the thinnest of threads. Chances were Kiara’d never see her again, and there was nothing she could do about it, she stood utterly powerless. One would cry for a lot less.

“And now… Kovu has…it’s just…”

Simba couldn’t even bring himself to finish his sentence, and Kiara felt too upset to reply; Kovu’s sudden turnover had hit her hard too, even though she had gotten way more indications than Simba (her increasingly numerous fights with Kovu for one) concerning the recent changes to have taken place within Kovu's mind. The more Kiara thought about it, the more she started to pity her father: he had indeed done nothing to deserve this; if there were ever one king who had always acted as he considered just, even though he had wanted to do just the opposite, who had always put himself aside for his pride, who had always striven to do the right thing, who had always shown forgiveness (even towards the worst of his enemies, Taka, who had slain Simba’s own father). What happened to Simba today was uncalled for, unjust, unfair!
Life's not fair, is it?

After an eternity of sobbing under the scorching sun, both Simba and Kiara seemed to have regained their calm somehow what, which made them realize that they were still alone, and that life had just run its course even as they wept. In other words, whatever problems they had had before remained at large and needed to be confronted regardless of their mindset.

“Thanks, Kiara… I needed that…” Simba smiled with a certain sad undertone as he got up again.

“No problem, dad,” Kiara smiled back, “I needed it jut as bad. It’s good to know your still the father I knew… and the father I’ve grown to love… but what happens now?”

“That, I am afraid, is not ours to decide…” Simba sighed, as he snuffed, “But then again… I don’t think it ever was. What happens now, only the Kings of Old know…”

“Nah, I think even they have lost track of what’s happening here…”

“Yeah, probably,” Simba grinned hesitatingly, “We’ll just have to take it as it comes along from now on… all my life I have done what I could, now I presume it is time for me to suffer what I must.”

“You’re not the one to deserve any such suffering…”

“I sure hope not… but I’m starting to fear the worst,” Simba frowned, “But I try taking comfort in the knowledge that, in the end, the Circle of Life always restores itself…”

“The Circle of Life…” Kiara sighed, “I thought I knew what it was all about one day, but now… I don’t know what to believe… You remember what that one lioness told about what had happened on our Priderock, all those dead, all that suffering? Where did that fit into the Circle?”

“I don’t know… quite frankly, I’m as lost as you are. But hush, don’t tell the lionesses!” Simba grinned, “But now… let’s go look for prince Kovu…”

“You want to go look for Kovu?” Kiara wondered, “Even after what happened back here?”

“We can’t just leave him by himself, can we? Our entire pride is with him. Besides, if he’s planning to go talk to those scavengers, we’d better make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid…”

“So you’re going to try and talk to them after all?”

“As I said, I have little choice… anything to get your mother back with us safe and sound, and all other captives as well…I guess Kovu was right, in a way…”

“Dad…” Kiara suddenly asked, a bit wary and hesitating, “Could you… not be too hard on Kovu… please?”

Even though Kovu had shocked them all, Kiara’s love for him still ran deep; it had survived one war, and if Kiara could help it, I’d survive the next just as well.

“That’s easier said than done… but again, I have little choice,” Simba shrugged with disappointment, “I need Kovu, now more than ever. And besides… What kind of king would I be if I just ignored the wishes of my princes?”

“Thanks, dad. You’re…”

“Hush, my darling, save the praise for later. Lets first get back to Kovu and see what he’s up to. Where did he say those hyenas were meeting him? Down south?”

Kiara cast a fond smile at Simba, and he smiled back with equal warmth. No matter what hardship awaited them, they could be assured of one thing: their mutual bond, which had suffered since the events of the Reunion, would prove strong enough to stand anything to come, and even come out stronger. And nothing, absolutely nothing, seemed to be able to get in the way of that.

“Come on then, let’s go.”

And so, father and daughter set out for their walk south, towards the Golden River, strolling side by side, close together, Kiara proud to be Simba’s daughter, and Simba glad to be Kiara’s father. Needing neither further words nor plans, they made their journey in silence, contemplating on the past and possible future events. I'd still take them some time to get to the Golden River (especially the widest part of it), even though they kept a steady pace. Along the way, came across one of the three Pridelanders that that still stood by Simba; the lioness had lingered behind just in case Simba were still coming and needed a guide. Knowing his way around his own kingdom, Simba obviously didn't need a guide, but he was thankful nonetheless for the company the lioness provided. After a walk which took them a few hours, they met with the other two Pridelanders at a small watering-hole, where the party paused for a drink. On a small hill in front of them, which was covered in relatively lush trees for that time of year, Simba spotted the rest of the pride, or rather Kovu's pride. Why oh why did Kovu have to choose a hilltop to rest upon, Simba considered: now Simba would be looked down upon all the way up the hill if he wanted to joint Kovu; how humiliating. But he cared less about that now than he would have before, as his previous confrontation with Kovu had proven to be a real and hard lesson in humility for the king. Besides, the small ensemble he had gathered around him (Kiara and the three Pridelanders) at least gave Simba a certain regal aura. Still, it wouldn’t do his prestige much good, ‘crawling back’ to Kovu. But what mattered it: on that hilltop sat no longer his pride, but Kovu’s; they had already openly rejected him, how could they ever humiliate him any further? After taking that into consideration, while having a drink at the watering hole, Simba reluctantly walked up the hilltop towards Kovu. Looking at Kovu, Simba found it hard to tell whether the dark-maned lion was somehow what remorseful of his behavior earlier, or still proud of it.

“So you decided to come anyway?” was all Kovu smiled when Simba had waked up the hilltop to come sit next to him.

“Yeah. If anything is to happen, I might as well have a say in it...”

“Even if that means talking with the hyenas? Well, glad to see you've turned around a bit...”

“Talking with the hyenas? I doubt one can go as far as to cal that talking,” Simba frowned, “They'll probably have nothing to say; a whole lot of nothing to say.”

“Well, at least you're willing to talk; that counts for something, I guess... By the way, they haven't showed up yet...”

“I noticed. Hey, they said nightfall, not late-afternoon,” Simba noted, “That aside, are you sure they wanted to meet us here?”

“If not, I've put some scouts along the border: they'll alert us if need be. Try not to worry too much.”

“Not worrying sounds kind of hollow if you've just lost pretty much your entire pride, land and most of all your Chosen Mate,” Simba snapped.

“Touché,” Kovu yawned, trying his best not to let his sympathy show too much, “Anyhow, I'm taking a quick nap; there are more than enough lionesses to wake me up if and when necessary... I suggest you do the same, until our spotty friends get here.”

“I’m not taking suggestions from you just yet. I’m staying up…”

“As you please, my liege…” Kovu replied. The way Simba and Kovu looked at each other, their tone, their choice of words… tensions were high, and it showed. Maybe that’s why Kovu wanted to take a quick nap, to avoid yet another standoff with ‘his’ king. ‘t Was either that, or his lack of sleep he still hadn’t gotten rid of. Either way, Kovu kept his word and sat down under the nearest tree for a nap. But before closing his eyes, he quickly cast a glance at Kiara, who was still sitting at the foot of the hill, near the watering hole, along with the three Pridelanders. It was obvious Kiara knew her lover was staring, but it seemed she purposely ignored him. The reason for that was of course just as obvious: although Kiara still loved Kovu with all her heart, she couldn’t bring herself to face him just yet, not after his run-in with Simba; she wouldn’t be forced to have to choose between her father and her love ever again, certainly not now, in the pride’s hour of need. This didn’t go unnoticed to Kovu, whose only regret so far had been that his verbal assault on Simba had somehow alienated Kiara. This saddened him, of course, but he took comfort in the presumption that, once this whole hyena-mess was over, most of the problems between him and Kiara would be too. That view was rather optimistic, even naïve, to say the least, but at least it came to show there was still more to Kovu than cold and calculated pragmatism and bitter revisionism. With a gloomy mood because of the lack of Kiara at his side, Kovu closed his eyes to try and daze off. As one could expect in the given situation, Kovu did not fall fast asleep but in stead entered a state of half-conscious slumber in which past, present and future all seemed to intermingle. It didn’t even take half a touch to wake him.

“Huh? What?”

Before Kovu sat an agitated Vitani, her blue eyes vivid as ever.

“They’re here!” she exclaimed, nearly loud enough to be shouting. For a moment there, Kovu considered asking who was where, but he wasn’t really in the mood for those kind of self-evident question. Considering Vitani had spent all her time ever since her arrival anxiously looking at the southern horizon waiting for that one scavenger she had apparently befriended, it was not hard to guess she had meant the hyenas had arrived on the opposite shore. With a ostentatious yawn, showing off his impressive set of fangs, Kovu got up, stretched his paws and turned his look towards the Golden River.
Ah, the Golden River… Neither a river, nor made of gold, the Golden River derived it’s name from the fact it used to be a wide river, but had now degenerated to a yellowish (some would say golden) stretch of desert that sliced through the Pridelands, as no single drop of water had flown trough the Golden River for decades. Between one riverbank and the other lay nothing but hot, golden sand. What had once started out as a vivid and fertile river had one day, during the years of Twilight, turned into a river of death, a lethal stream seemingly breathing poisonous fumes. Now, the stream was gone, but death remained: no single plant would ever grow in the Golden River’s bed, as it was still drenched in the poison that had once befouled the waters above. A strip of barren wasteland in the middle of the lush Pridelands. Perfect for a meeting: there were no places to hide an ambushing party in these dead sands.
Kovu extended his vision to the other riverbank. On it, he quickly perceived a few dozen of brown and yellowish figures with the most irregular spot-patterns. It made them blend in well with their surroundings, and made thus them hard to see. Kovu didn’t consider that a bad thing; for what he was concerned, the less hyena he saw, the better: he didn’t really consider their kind eye-candy. The better part of their clan seemed to have gathered, anticipating that the lions too would have been out in force. The lions had done pretty much the same.

“Well what do you know, they actually came. And they didn’t storm us yet… maybe they actually are out to negotiate,” Kovu mumbled, when he suddenly thought about Simba: the king had made his way on the hilltop too, and his retinue (including Kiara) had followed whilst Kovu had been asleep. They sat separated from the Outlanders. Kovu signaled Enyi.

“Enyi, could you please ask the king to get over here? We don’t want the hyenas to think we don’t get along, now do we? We have to look like one big, happy family.”

Enyi nodded compliantly and strode towards Simba. Even from a distance, it wasn’t hard to tell Simba became pretty annoyed when he heard Kovu, through Enyi, was telling him what to do. But because he could only agree with the assessment Kovu had made, he complied, be it reluctantly. Ostentatiously slow, Simba walked over to Kovu, followed in his wake by the three Pridelanders and Kiara (who still refused to acknowledge Kovu, by the way).

“Anything else you desire?” Simba asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, how ‘bout a smile and a pat on the back every now and then?”

“A pat in the face is what you’re going to get if you keep this up,” Simba grumbled. As him and Kovu were staring at the other bank of the river, it suddenly struck them: they had no idea whatsoever where to go from here. The same seemed to apply to the hyenas: how on earth do you start peace talks with your worst enemy?

“Well this is awkward…” Kovu noted as he cast a quick glance at the by now setting sun, “We could sit here like this ‘till midnight…”

“I don’t see the prisoners anywhere…” Simba mumbled, “I think they…”

“Keep ‘em out of sight as to prevent arousing us? Absolutely,” Kovu interrupted, knowing more than well that hadn’t been what Simba had wanted to say. The problem of inertia remained, however.

“Any suggestions? *****, where is that ***** baboon with all his wacky advice when you need him for a change…”

“You mean Rafiki?” Simba replied with a faint smile, “He’s down there, by the watering hole. Appeared while you were asleep. I’ve already talked to him, bringing him up to speed. He didn’t seem all that surprised though…”

“Well, isn’t it nice being kept up-to-date,” Kovu mumbled as he turned to look at the watering-hole. Indeed: there were Rafiki and that odd, short tailed cheetah of his, having a drink. Kovu quickly summoned Enyi to go get Rafiki. Enyi, however, who was pretty tired of playing Kovu’s private messenger, in turn delegated that order to one of the other Outlanders. Nothing like a chain of command to get those pesky little tasks done without having to lift a paw. Rafiki, still using the cheetah as his own personal transport, made haste to join Kovu and Simba. One could tell from the fog in his eyes that the ape was still blind as a bat.

“Still no improvement in the field of vision?”

“To the contrary, I haven’t ever been able to see things clearer!”

“Eh… you’re blind. How on earth could you see things clearer when you can’t even see them in the first place?” Kovu wondered, a bit absent.

“Haha, me blind!” Rafiki suddenly laughed, “I know what you are, you blind lion, but what am I?”

“Hmmm, this is starting to have a very distinct taste of pointlessness to it,” Kovu frowned, “But at least this complete nonsense proves it is indeed you. Now, try making that insanity of yours useful and come up with a suggestion as to what to do about this stalemate; how do we start the talks with the hyenas?”

“A good start would be to turn your head,” Rafiki suggested grinningly, and who was Kovu to ignore such hint? Both hopeful and indifferent at the same time, Kovu casually turned around to look at the other side of the Golden River. Nothing peculiar there, apart from the overwhelming amount of hyenas. His gaze moved to the golden river itself. Lot’s of sand there, obviously, but also a lone figure that seemed to be making his way down to the center of the wide, dried-out river, where he halted and sat down. The hyena’s most prominent fearure were probably his thick manes, and the green hornbill that sat on his shoulder. How peculiar.

“Ah, a negotiator! They probably want us to send someone down there too. Sounds easy enough.”

“Smart thing to meet in the middle of the river; that way, no reinforcements from either side could reach the enemy negotiator before his own kind could,” Simba considered, “But still no sign of the prisoners though…”

“One step at a time,” Kovu replied, obviously less concerned about the prisoners, “We’ll get them back sooner or later. Let’s just start by sending someone in to start negotiating the terms of their return.”

“I think it’s a bit late for that,” Rafiki chuckled as he pointed towards the Golden River, “Look!”

One lioness was already making her way down, into the sands of Golden River, awaiting neither orders nor instructions.

“Aw, for the love of… Vitani!” Kovu shouted, both embarrassed and agitated, “Get back here this instant!”

“I think she’s not listening,” Simba grinned, perceiving the current situation as embracing for Kovu, and thus hilarious for himself, “But hey, what better way to talk to a hyena than sending in your own?”

Kovu found that remark not at all amusing, especially when he considered that the last time Vitani had been sent out to negotiate something, it had resulted in one of the bloodiest wars of the decade… Besides, what use was it to send out a negotiator who is not aware of the terms on which she is to be negotiating?

“Let’s just hope she does more than just make out with that hyena of hers…” Enyi, who had been at Kovu’s side almost all evening, suddenly noted.

“Enyi, next time you say something, try not making us throw up while you do, all right? Could you manage that, just for once?” Kovu sighed. Enyi’s assessment hadn’t been too far off, though.

*

“Vincent!”

“Hi, Vitani…”

“Miss Vitani,”

“Good seeing you too, Tiko.”

Now what? Both Vincent and Vitani had been anxious to meet each other again, but now that they had actually met, they seemed to have forgotten what is was they wanted to say.

“Eh… Tiko? Could you… kinda… leave me and Vitani alone for a second?” Vincent suddenly asked after a long silence.

“Huh?” Tiko wondered, “Oh, sure. Just call for me when you need me again…”

“No, this place has got pretty poor acoustic properties, you won’t hear me from back there. I’ll just waive when I need you to come over here again, all right?”

“Fine by me. I’ll eh… I’ll just leave you alone for now, then…” the green hornbill mumbled, after which he took for the skies. Now Vincent and Vitani sat alone, with no-one around who could hear them. Still, their conversation felt anything but private, as they had the eyes of both their clans and prides staring at them from their respective riverbanks.

“We should probably be careful what we do; everyone’s watching… we don’t want to upset anybody…”

“Vincent, I couldn’t care less,” Vitani grinned, “The worst we could do is set a good example for the rest of them.”

“Hehe, yeah, true,” Vincent smiled, feeling genuinely good for the first time in days, “Spirits, it’s good to have you back, Vitani!”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“I mean, going back to the clan made me realize how much I actually enjoyed myself whilst you were around… and how much I missed you when you weren’t.”

“I heard,” Vitani smiled, “That was real sweet of you, by the way, that message you gave Anana. I appreciated it. And I missed you too.”

“You did? Really?” Vincent wondered, “I mean, you looked kind of upset when you smacked me in the face the other day – which was the right thing of you to do, by the way; I was behaving awful – so I was afraid you’d…”

“Fear not, as long as you stay yourself, you’re the best company a lioness could wish for. It’s just that you scared me back there, ‘s all. But I’m sorry I hit you.”

“Don’t be, I deserved it.”

“What was it that got into you back there anyway?” Vitani asked.

“I don’t know,” Vincent sighed, seemingly a bit upset, “It’s just… sometimes, when I have to take care of my clan it just feels like someone else takes over… But then when I’m around you… you’re the only one around whom I feel like I can really be myself, you know?”

“Yeah, I think I get what you mean… Glad to have you back.”

“If only it could last…”

“Hey, come on now, why the sad face? We’re together again, aren’t we?” Viatni asked when she noticed how Vincent was staring at the ground with a gloomy look. He looked up.

“That’s just it… We’re together again, but for how long? In front of me sits your pride, in front of you sits my clan; when this is all over, we’ll just return to our respective clan and pride. You’ll be just a lioness, me just a hyena. And in the given situation, where both our clans and prides have suffered so much at the paws of each other, I couldn’t imagine how we would ever meet again without invoking their wrath… Maybe you were right, maybe we should have turned back at that river crossing to leave all this behind…”

“Well, it’s too late for that now, so lets just make the best of it. Besides, what do you think we are here for in the first place?” Vitani smiled, tender and understandingly, “We’re going to solve this, you and me, we’ll sort this mess out, all right?”

“I guess so…”

“Come on, put some more spirit into it!” Vitani encouraged him. Vincent was still staring at the ground, though. She suddenly licked his muzzle, from his chin up to his nose. Now he did look up at her, clearly in a better mood than moments before.

“We can do this!” she reassured him.

“All right then, let’s give it our best. Knowing that I’ll at least won’t have to face you on the field of battle makes me feel like we’re halfway there already anyhow…”

*

Götterdämmerung (4)

“Did she just…?”

“Un-believe-able…” Kovu sighed, “Man, why can’t I have any normal relatives for a change?”

“Yuk, gross!”

Simba just stared in utter disgust, the thought of it alone made his blood boil. There sat no lioness, but the most degenerate life form imaginable. To betray the Circle of Life, her heritage and her pride so, it was just… Simba couldn’t even find words for it. His precious Nala was being held hostage by those abominations, and Vitani just… it was simply beyond belief. If she’d have been within the range of his paws, he would have probably stuck Vitani down where she sat. But for now, Simba tried staying calm, tried his best not to storm down towards Vitani and give her what became her for her most foul betrayal.

“What’s the big deal, ‘t is not like they haven’t done that before…” Kiruhu, who was still carrying Rafiki on his back, suddenly yawned. All the lions around him started looking at him with a mix of anger and disgust; quite scary, actually.

“We really, really didn’t want to know that,” Kovu mumbled.

“I’m sorry, young price Kovu, my apprentice still hasn’t quite yet learned when to keep his yaws shut,” Rafki quickly replied.

“What, so now he’s been promoted form a fuzzy form of transportation to an apprentice?” Kovu wondered.

“Indeed he has…”

“I have?”

“What did I tell you about keeping your yaws shut?” Rafiki grumbled, “Being blind is the first step towards being dead, and it would be a crime of me to just let my wisdom die with me… Fast-thinker here is smart enough to at least get the gist of it all, I reckon.”

“Oh yes, wouldn’t it be a crime to let all that infinite wisdom of yours go to waste…” Kovu chuckled, “Your body might be blind, but your ego hasn’t ever felt better.”

“Young prince Kovu, … Cram it.”

“Kovu, look, they’re doing something again!” Enyi reminded.

“Is it something gross again? ‘Cause if it is, I ain’t looking…”

“No, the hyena is just waving at his pride (or what’s it called, clan?). There’s that green bird again.”

Kovu could see the green bird soaring down to Vitani and her hyena, after which they seemed to have a small conversation. Then, th bird flew up again, towards the other hyenas. Now what was that all about?

“You think they reached an agreement already?”

“On what? The number of times they’re gonna…”

“For the Kings’ sake, Enyi, shut up! Would you please shut up!” Kovu roared, after which he took a deep breath and turned his gaze to the hyenas again, “I think the agreement might be pretty important… Look, the hyenas are on the move, or at least some of them…”

“Look, a lion!” Kiruhu suddenly shouted.

“Well if it isn’t captain obvious…” Kovu wanted too mumble, when he too suddenly noticed Kiruhu was talking about a lion among the hyenas, not about the lions surrounding himself. There appeared a lioness among the hyena-clan! And another one, and another… Kovu counted a total of six, and each one of them seemed to be carrying something in between their jaws; small, fuzzy golden bundles. It were the survivors from Priderock, and five of them were each carrying a cub with them. Finally, some good news! It was hard to distinguish the lionesses at such distance, but Kovu was pretty sure Nala was walking up front. Simba hadn’t failed to notice either, as he now anxiously sat at the edge of the riverbank, almost unable to stand any more waiting for Nala now that he’d seen her.

“Nala!”

The lioness in front of the five others, surrounded by hyenas, lift up her head. Because of the cub she was carrying, she was unable to respond, but it was pretty obvious she had heard him.

“I can’t stand too see her surrounded by those mongrels anymore…” Simba mumbled, “I’ve got to go get her!”

“Wow, easy there, patience, dad,” Kou replied soothingly, “Let’s just wait and see, I’m sure she’ll be coming our way. No need for us to go get her…”

“Good thing for them they’ve got my Nala, or I would have already let ‘em have it…”

Meanwhile, all the lionesses, surrounded by a vast escort of hyenas, had already started hopping into the sands of Golden River (which took quite some effort as all lionesses were hurt one way or another) . It was by now pretty obvious they were about to be released.

“Now would you?” Kovu wondered, a bit wary of Simba’s aggressive tone, “But now that they seem willing to just return your Nala free of charge, you are of course les inclined to eh… let ‘em have it?”

Simba muttered a response, but Kovu didn’t quite get it. He considered the fact Simba didn’t seem all too appeased by the release of his queen and pride rather disturbing; if even that didn’t improve his mood, the negotiations could prove to be rather… unrewarding… A small voice in the back of Kovu’s head told him he might want to prepare for the possibility of Simba choosing not to talk but to in stead ‘let ‘em have it’. He ignored the voice for now, however, and turned his attention to the prisoners down in the sands of the Golden River. They had already advanced halfway, halting when they reached Vitani and her hyena. The guards surrounding he prisoners seemed to be gathering around the hyena Vitani had been talking to, whilst the lionesses themselves advanced further towards the riverbank upon which their pride sat gathered. Nala, however, lingered around Vitani. She even put the cub in her mounth in the sand so she could to seemingly exchange a couple of words with Vitani’s hyena, after which she seemed to give him, how shocking, a pat on the back. Kovu couldn’t help but smile when he saw the look on Simba’s face caused by Nala’s little gesture. After her little chat with the hyena, Nala picked her cub up again and headed for her pride. As soon as the last lioness had made it to Simba’s riverbank, the hyenas who were now surrounding Vitani left again, probably to give her and her spotty friend some minimal privacy (minimal because they were still the center of attention, for pretty much all could see them). Kovu focused his attention on the lionesses to have returned, however, particularly Nala. First thing she did was turn her cub over to another lioness, after which she turned to Kiara and Simba. Kiara was of course overjoyed at the return of her mother and greeted her likewise. Needles to say tears flowed abundantly. Simba too was ecstatic at the return of Nala, though he still seemed a bit upset. And after the first few minutes of crying tears of joy, asking whether everyone was okay and recounting of how horrible Nala’s experiences around Priderock must have been, Simba suddenly popped his blunt question.

“Say, Nala, I was wondering, what were you doing with that hyena just now?”

“Huh, what?”

“It’s just… I saw you pause to talk to hyena, when you came over here…”

“I just stopped to say ‘thanks’,” Nala casually replied, which seemed to bother Simba for some reason Nala didn’t quite grasp.

“Ah… I didn’t know you started going around thanking hyenas…”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite get what you mean, Simba…”

“Well, I mean, don’t you think it’s pretty strange to go around thanking those scruffy ******* after they butchered our pride? Seems pretty strange to me,” Simba sneered.

“Hey, calm down, I just got back from captivity and you’re already…”

“Nala, what was it you said to that hyena and why?” Simba suddenly asked in loud voice, shocking Nala, Kiara and all lionesses around him.

“What’s it to you?”

“Nala, we’ve got enough trouble as it is without you getting friendly with the likes of them, now tell me what you said!”

“All right, all right, don’t yell at me!” Nala hissed, “I just told him ‘thanks for letting us go’, after which he replied ‘told you I’m not a bad guy, consider this a favor’. Then I patted him on the back and said ‘you’re a good kid, better hyena than your father was’. There, satisfied?”

“Better hyena than his father? I never knew you knew any hyenas…” Simba muttered, slightly disappointed and upset.

“Simba, during Scars reign we all did, like it or not, even me. Now can we please leave that behind us?”

No wonder the hyenas beat us, all of my lionesses (even my dear Nala!) seem to have befriended one…

As the argument between Simba and Nala withered down and the sun was in it’s final stages of setting, Kovu suddenly remembered Viatani was still down in the Golden River with her hyena. He took a quick look. They were just talking a bit whilst sitting down. Nothing gross this time around, no licking each others muzzle; nothing worse than touching each others paw every now and then. Although it was of course nice that the prisoners had all suddenly been released, it didn’t really look like they were trying to negotiate a way out of the current stalemate which would endure as long as the lions hadn’t gotten Priderock back. Maybe Kovu ought to bring that to everyone’s attention before night fell.

“Eh, my king, my queen… I hate to interrupt you but could we… resume trying to get Priderock back from the hyenas, for I am afraid the talks my sister is holding now are less than productive. Maybe send someone over there with specific directives?” Kovu asked carefully. It was obvious who Kovu had in mind to go bargain for Priderock: himself; he’d love going through life as the lion that restored peace and order to the Pridelands. And it would also give him the much needed prestige to give him that extra edge over Simba now that they weren’t exactly on friendly terms anymore. Simba, however, seemed to have a radically different plan.

“For once, I have to agree with you: it’s time someone told those scavengers who’s boss, in stead of your hyena-loving sister.”

“That wasn’t exactly…”

Kovu didn’t even have time to finish his sentence, for Simba already sat at the edge of the Golden River. He looked back to address his pride.

“So far, the hyenas have refrained from using force during this meeting, so I will say this: I shall not be the first one to lift the paw against the hyenas,” Simba orated, just before hopping into the Golden Sands and strolling towards a surprised Vitani. It had only taken mere seconds for Simba to go from proposing someone walked over to the hyenas and actually doing it. Kovu was pretty much caught by surprise, and still had his mouth opened to finish the sentence he started before Simba had announced he would try holding peaceful peace talks. First thing he did after closing his mouth again was assessing the current situation: when the prisoners had been released, peace had still seemed a possibility. But now that Simba had decided to take it upon himself to lead the peace talks, Kove became less and less sure things would work out fine. What to do if things suddenly escalated? With both the lion pride and hyena clan gathered, any spark could light of an enormous clash, and Kovu wasn’t too sure whether the pride would come out victorious if that clash were to come. Even if they would somehow win, their victory would be Pyrrhic at best. Then again, in the event of hyenas suddenly pouring into the Golden River, he would have little choice but to fight, for in a fight of lion versus hyena, Kovu would automatically become a participant, having to defend all those dear to him, like Kiara. Her well-being remained a top-priority, even if she momentarily chose not to acknowledge him, and if a fight with the hyenas was needed to safeguard that, so be it. Unless… suddenly, a grim but plausible scenario played of before Kovu’s eyes. He felt ashamed by only thinking about it… but then again… one has to prepare for the inevitable… maybe he ought to make some limited preparations, just in case…

“Enyi?” he whispered.

“Sir?”

“Who is your king? Tell me, Enyi, who is your king?”

“Eh… you are, sire?”

“Indeed. And that goes for all Outlanders, I am their king, right? Me, not Simba.”

“Well… yeah, you are…” Enyi replied with certain confusion. What was this all about all of a sudden?

“Well then if you value the word of your king, I need you to do the following,” Kovu whispered still, his voice now cold, determined and calculated, “I need you to tell all Outlanders this…”

Enyi gasped quite a few times as she received her new directives, for they were both cold and grim.

“In those words?” she uttered, “I need to tell all our fellow Outlanders those exact words?”

“Yes, those exact words, and be sure to mention they have the obligation to obey them, no matter how hard they might sound and no matter how hard it will be to follow them, for not doing so could well mean our demise, our complete annihilation,” Kovu replied with a grim stare.

“And the Pridelanders? What do I tell them?”

“You tell them nothing, for we cannot trust them. We can only count on ourselves. If, however, the Pridelanders value their lives and existence, most of them will prove wise enough to conform with us Outlanders, especially the wounded ex-prisoners, who will have little choice in the matter. Now, when you are done informing our sisters, I want you and some of your most trusted lionesses to go over to Kiara and…”

*

“Uh-oh…”

“What, ‘uh-oh’?”

“That huge lion with his impressive set of brown manes is coming our way…”

“What?” Vitani gasped as she looked around. Indeed, there he was: Simba, slowly striding towards her. At least he came alone, that could only mean he wasn’t out to pick a fight. Still, the thought of having Simba around her didn’t really appeal to Vitani, as their last meeting had been rather… unpleasant… scary… creepy. Oh well, at least now, Vincent was with her (though she doubted he could ever prove any good against a lion as powerful as Simba). But Simba’s appearance did mean Vitani and Vincent would be unable to work out a solution for the present standoff by themselves, though..

“Is he good news or bad news?”

“Neither… he’s the King…”

“Ah…” Vincent mumbled, as he signaled his fellow hyenas he needed no help just yet: the sudden descent of Simba into the Golden River had nearly provoked a hyena counterattack (which was set to occur if Vincent’s life ever came in any danger). But that didn’t seem to be the case just yet. It came to prove how twitchy everyone was, however. From both sides of the river, dozens of eyes watched anxiously as Simba slowly made his way towards Vitani and Vincent. Everyone hoped no-one would at this point do anything stupid… would their hope prove idle? With ponderous tread Simba closed in, and Vitani moved back a bit, now sitting next to Vincent in stead of standing in front of him. The hyena and lioness now awfully stared at the king, as he graciously sat down before them.

“Vitani,” he quietly nodded with certain reservation. Vitani just returned the nod, but didn’t really feel anything for a verbal response: no matter how you turned it, Simba’s mere appearance remained mightily impressive and even intimidating.

“And I take it you speak for your kind?”

“Good guess,” Vincent replied, feeling very uncomfortable and puny around Simba, “And you are…?”

“I am the King of all Pridelands,” Simba replied with certain disdain, “I rule over these lands…”

“Well, that ought to be enough ‘meet ’n greet’…” Vitani noted, hoping to skip past all those formalities. Her remark, however, did not exactly bring forth the reaction she was hoping for, as Simba apparently considered Vitani’s remark an insult.

“Do not interrupt me. In fact, do everyone a favor and only speak when spoken to…”

“Hey, hey, easy there, it doesn’t hurt being polite…” Vincent mumbled, still a bit wary because of Simba’s sheer size.

“I need no lecture in politeness from your kind, hyena,” Simba sneered. Although he obviously took some offence at that remark, Vincent argued that he’d have to stand taking a few sneers; if that was what it took to ensure peace, so be it. His and Vitani’s loved ones were more than worth having to stand that minor inconvenience. Vitani, however, who wasn’t too fond of authority ever since the Reunion, and who had little love for Simba ever since their last (scary) encounter, wasn’t just going to let that insult slip.

“If that’s what you came down here for, I suggest you leave again,” she hissed, “We’re here to put a stop to the horrible effects those kinds of remarks have always fueled… not perpetuate this pointless war by never-ceasing insults as you seem to be trying now, my king.”

“I dare you to take such tone to me again…”

“Come on now, that’s no way to talk to a lady…”

“Stay out of this!” Simba snapped at the hyena, “You should be grateful to still be around after what you did to my pride, and my home!”

“Oh yeah, great way to be thanking him for letting Nala and all other prisoners go free of charge…”

“Thanking him?” the lion shouted in indignation, “I should be thanking him? After his kin butchered my pride and stole my Pridelands, my Priderock? Their release of the prisoners was just a conditio sine qua non for the hyena-clan’s mere survival; now I might consider sparing them. But thanking them? Over my dead body.”

“Un-fucking-believable!” Vitani suddenly cried out, “What kind of blockhead are you? Spare them? For the Kings’ sake, it are the hyenas who are sparing us! Look around you, we’re in a war, and we’re losing badly; it’s about time you start acting in concordance with that one simple fact. It is not up to you to spare anyone, can’t you get that through your thick skull? You are a king without land and without a pride!”

Those remarks already got the lioness some pretty nasty glares from Simba, but now that she was on a roll, she wouldn’t be put off by some gloomy stare.

“Imean, my mom used to tell me some pretty painful stories about Musafa’s hardheadedness… but your unfounded pride and mindless stubbornness makes his pale in comp…”

Maybe it was the still lingering heat that hung over Golden River, maybe it was the unexpected feeling of hunger, maybe it was his relative lack of sleep that day, maybe it was the fact he couldn’t stand any bad word about Mufasa, but probably it were just his nerves finally snapping after an endless day of shocks, fear, disobedience and the trauma of losing and then being reunited with Nala. Regardless of the causes, Simba did something he nor anyone else had thought possible in the given context, and worst of all was he did it not at all voluntarily: it felt as if someone else were occupying his body, a takeover by his own pride, hate and common annoyance over level-headedness.

“Don’t you dare befoul the name of my father again!” Simba thundered, in the midst of Vitani’s sentence, and already his front-paws had swung up to hammer down on Vitani in an unfortunate and untimely outburst of impulsive violence.

*

“My princes, my queen.”

“Oh, hi, Enyi,” Kiara replied a bit off-guard. Enyi could still see her trying to blink away a single tear. Meanwhile, without Kiara or Nala noticing, Enyi’s lionesses discretely took post around them; as always they acted flawless.

“You look upset, is there something wrong?” Enyi continued, “And how is my queen?”

“We were just going over old-times,” Nala replied a bit avoiding, “About how she was as a kid, you know, the kind of things I thought about when I was deprived of my daughter…”

“…and about what happened too mom just now, on Priderock, of course,” Kiara quickly added, “I was just upset because I was afraid I’d never see my mom again, and now that she’s here I cried out of pure relief.”

“I can imagine. You’re lucky to still have each other,” Enyi noted as she turned to Nala for some more small talk, “Pardon me for saying so, ma’am, but you look rather…”

“Beat-up? Mangled? You have no idea! I’m still hurting all over; that fight at Priderock took it’s toll. I don’t think I could stand another one, not for some months at least. Unless my leg-wound gets any worse, then my fighting days are over…”

“Let’s just hope…” Enyi had wanted too reply, when she was suddenly startled by Simba’s booming roar echoing behind her. As if it were synchronized, she and all other lionesses turned their heads towards the origin of the sound. Enyi spotted Simba in the Golden River just in time to see his paws come down on Vitani, one on her head, one on her shoulder. Enyi gasped as Vitani crashed down in the hot sands, she felt her mouth go dry, and her heart seemed to skip a beat. But she hadn’t seen the worst of it yet. For the blink of an eye, it looked as if Simba was going to leave it at that, doubting whether he should stay put or just get away from Vitani. In any case, he wasn’t going to hit Vitani again; he hadn’t even wanted to hit her in the first place. But the hyena alongside Vitani didn’t know that, and after his initial shock and paralysis, his head lunged at Simba and he caught one of the lion’s forepaws between his bone-crushing yaws, in an attempt to protect Vitani from further harm. The king cried out in agony as he felt his bones being grinded into splinters, and mauled his opponent with his free paw on instinct. His paw hit the hyena’s chest with the force of a sledgehammer. Enyi imagined hearing the sound of the hyena’s ribcage being crushed all the way to where she was sitting and turned pale behind her tanned fur: this was what Kovu had been talking about, no doubt. Although she should have acted immediately to comply with the rest of her orders, something seemed to force her to stay and stare at the fight unfolding in the Golden River just that tiny bit longer, as if mesmerized by its violent cruelty.
As the hyena still held Simba’s paw (and the only way he seemed to be willing to let go was if the paw came off), Simba snapped at the enemy’s broad neck and buried his fang inches above the shoulder, somehow hindered by the hyena’s thick manes. But before Simba got the chance to finish him off, Vitani had gotten back on her feet. Still a bit stunned, she sprung up and launched herself at Simba in a desperate attempt to free Vincent. Her force and weight, however, made Simba fall over, and as he still held Vincent’s neck tight in between his yaws, the hyena turned ‘round as well, neck first. Seeing as he felt Vitani was more of a threat than the hyena, Simba tossed Vincent aside as soon as he had come to a halt as if he were but a mere gazelle. The hyena rolled over once and then came to a stop on his side, his head tilted outward, completely motionless.
Meanwhile, the world around them hadn’t just paused to look at the fight unfold, however, and both the lion pride and hyena clan had sprung into action.
As soon as Enyi had seen the hyena take a bite at Simba’s paw, the orders she had just distributed among her fellow Outlanders at Kovu’s request immediately came to mind.

“I need you to tell all Outlanders this… tell them that they will not move, not even as much as raise a paw unless they are told so by me. Unless I tell them otherwise, they will stay here, no matter what happens or what anyone else tells them. They will listen at my commands and my commands alone, regardless of any circumstances, whether they seem plausible at this time or not. If they do that, and just that, they will live to see the next sunrise. If not, they are already dead. No matter who or what it is they would be able to save by ignoring this directive (with strong emphasis on the who), those things are futile when compared to what they would stand to lose: our pride and family, our legacy and even our very existence…”

Now she realized what Kovu had exactly meant: if Simba’s descent into the Golden River could somehow endanger his life, the Outlanders were barred from intervening; they would not come to his aid, in spite of his dreadful cries of pain and desperate calls for help. But it didn’t just stop there, for Enyi had also received a set of personal guidelines: she was to protect Kiara, the love and life partner of Kovu, from any danger whatsoever, but especially from herself. Enyi had been told to keep Kiara at this side of the Golden River no matter what. If possible, she should also prevent other Pridelanders from endangering their own lives, but Kiara’s safety was her top-priority.

*

Kovu almost felt his pupils widening when Simba hit his sister, and he imagined hearing his claws burry themselves in the dry savannah-floor when he saw the hyena attacking. No exit. How much as he had hoped for it not to have happened, it had. The red button had been pushed, the bombers launched with no return. But even now, there was still one lion who stood between the lion-pride and it’s apparent fate. That lion was Kovu himself; he still had the power to change destiny. But to do that, he’d have to do the unthinkable, the unspeakable even. If there had been any food in his stomach, he’d have regurgitated it at the mere thought of what he was about to do, of what he was about to do onto Kiara and all other remaining Pridelanders, especially Simba. But his staunch determination to save his pride (the Outlanders) and as much Pridelanders as possible left him with no other choice.

“Outlanders, lions, stay put!” Kovu roared as he turned his back to the Golden River and faced his pride, “I order you not to interfere!”

All lion eyes turned away from the fight, towards Kovu. What did he say? Most Outlanders quickly remembered the strange orders they had received only moments before, and they were quick to place those in the right context; the current context. And whether it be because they too realized the dilemma Kovu was facing and voluntarily sided with him on the subject, or because they blindly followed the orders of him whom they had come to consider their de facto king, the Outlanders obeyed. None moved, although each and every single one of them braced just in case Kovu would still decide to order the charge. But in stark contrast to the Outlanders who were able to interpret Kovu’s command and obeyed it, stood the Pridelanders, to whom Kovu’s call for inertia sounded nothing less than surreal, and thus the first thing they did was stare at Kovu in utter disbelief. The first lioness to vocalize that feeling was Kiara.

“Kovu?” she cried, hovering somewhere in between despair and disbelief. Kovu didn’t respond however; how could he ever explain to the love of his life he just ordered her father to be abandoned, pretty much signing his death-sentence. He couldn’t even stand to look her in the eyes. But in looking away, he told Kiara all she needed to know. As Kiara’s throat went dry and tears began welling up in her eyes, she cast a quick glance at the other side of the Golden river. She could see the hyenas pouring down into the dried-up riverbed, poised to strike at Simba.
The hyena clan had reacted considerably more predictable to the events that had unfolded in the sands of the Golden River than the lion pride had. This was of course somehow what a result of the purge to have taken place prior too the meeting with the lions; there was no internal division comparable to the Pridelander-Outlander rivalry within the lion pride. Not anymore, that is. Anyway, their reaction to the unfolding events had been, as stated, perfectly by the book: any lions observing them had, the moment Vincent had engaged Simba, seen a first wave of hyenas, headed by a strangely grey-maned female, storm down their riverbank, towards the fight in the middle of the Golden River. After them, more hyenas followed, probably the less watchful ones. Not before long, almost all hyenas had made their way down into the golden river, save for a small contingent of wounded that were still recovering from the Battle of Priderock (but had insisted to come along to the ‘negotiation’, in stead of stay behind with the pups at an undisclosed location). But in spite of the hyenas quick response, they were unable to get to their leader on time.
After Simba had tossed aside the hyena, he had turned his attention to Vitani. Thanks to the tunnel-vision he had by now developed, he was pretty much oblivious to the fact that a genuine wave of hyenas was coming his way: he only focused on Vitani, who was putting up quite the fight. One should of course expect no less of her: she had been trained from infancy to fight not hyenas, cheetahs or leopards, but other lions, and she had gathered a lot of experience at the Battle of the Reunion. Plus, she was extremely agile, young and in better condition than the aging Sima. But she would soon find out all those qualities would not be enough, for she faced no ordinary lioness, but Simba, the Lion King. Apart from being much stronger and heavier built because he was a lion and not a lioness, Simba too possessed an incredible amount of lion versus lion combat-experience: he had fought and defeated Scar, he had fought his way out of an ambush involving the entire Outlander pride and he had also faced Zira, Vitani’s mother and tutor. And although Simba was older than Vitani, his short-term condition was vastly superior to hers: the lioness still felt the effects of her exhausting journey she had been on with Vincent. In short: she was no match for Simba (even though one of his fore-paws was so mangled by Vincent’s bite it was a miracle it hadn’t come of yet).
After he created some distance in between them by kicking Vitani in the abdomen with his back-paws, Simba viciously lashed out with his paw that still worked. As Vitani had taken a serious blow when she had been hit in the stomach, she was unable to shield her face from the next hit. She yelled in agony as Simba’s claws penetrated deep into her flesh. Then, in a sudden upwards sweep, his claw moved up, ripping through the tissue above Vitani’s left eye-socket. As the pain became unbearable, all turned black before Vitani’s eyes, and she imagined she had fainted. She was wrong, however, as she lost consciousness moments later, when Simba, having to make up for his useless left-paw, knocked Vitani out with a violent head-but. Vitani’s now limp body flew backwards, leaving behind her a trail of falling blood drops in the air as her severely bleeding head fell down. As Simba bowed towards the frail Vitani who lay in the tussled, red and brownish discolored sands, he doubted whether he should strike at her defenseless and feeble body yet again to finish her. In suppressing his instincts and adrenaline rush, however, he decided not to: he had never been a killer, and wasn’t planning on starting now. He’d spare the rebellious lioness. But then, suddenly, as he still stood bent over Vitani, he was once again jumped at, albeit with limited success this time. It was the hyena: he had somehow managed to get up again! But Vincent’s attempt at stopping Simba, whom he presumed had been on the verge of killing Vitani, was more of a symbolic act aimed at distracting Simba until anyone else were to show up than an actual effort to disable Simba: even now, as he tried snapping at Simba, the hyena coughed up entire pints of blood out of his rib-punctured lung. Aware of the pathetic state his foe was in, Simba wasted little time at finishing him: one well-aimed punch at the hyena’s throat shattered his windpipe. With smothered, spastic gulps, Vincent collapsed, able to take in air nor cough up blood. Left as is, his death would be a slow and terrible one, Simba considered, and although he was facing a hated enemy, it was also a living creature that deserved no such suffering. But Simba’s attempt at ending the hyena’s suffering was brutally cut short, for Shetani and her company had just arrived on the scene… too late.

*

Götterdämmerung (5)

Realizing all those hyenas were headed towards her father, Kiara turned back to Kovu, more desperate than ever.

“Kovu, what is this? Do something!”

But Kovu just bowed his head in silence for a second, after which he lift it back up an finally looked Kiara in the eyes. That was a face she hadn’t seen anyone make ever before: Kovu’s eyes were cold as stone yet gleaming with tears, his stare utterly desperate yet determined. Kiara needed no further explanation, and neither did any of the other Pridelanders: Kovu had betrayed and abandoned their king.

“No! Dad!” Kiara screamed just before running towards the Golden River in a poorly conceived and desperate attempt to safe her father. But before she had even taken two steps, Enyi’s weight already pressed her to the ground. All lions around them watched in shock as their princes was being pinned down by two Outlanders. Despite her screams and struggling, none came to free Kiara from the protection against herself she was experiencing. Now that it became clear the Outlanders weren’t planning on providing Simba with any help, the Pridelanders didn’t waste any more time and collectively tried surging forward. The three Pridelanders that had been stationed with the Outlanders and thus hadn’t taken part in the Battle of Priderock were the first to rush forward, and despite some decent attempts, the Outlanders were unable to stop them. The former prisoners, however, were not able to break to the Outlandish cordon surrounding them, mostly because of the bad shape they were in after having been wounded at Priderock.
One lioness, however, proved determined enough to reach the Golden River. As with most Pridelanders, Kovu didn’t know her name or even recognized her. Al he could see was that it was a young lioness that rushed towards the Golden River, a young, limping lioness with the most elegant figure, despite several fresh wounds that covered her body, and a bitterly determined stare. Incredibly fast despite her wounds, the lioness slipped past Kovu before he even realized she was there, and jumped of the riverbank into the Golden River.

“My king!” was all Kovu could hear her yell as she was about to make her way towards Simba. It seemed no-one would be able to stop her from reaching Simba – and a certain doom; noble and courageous… but a certain death nonetheless. Suddenly, however, one of the Outlanders broke the ranks and started pursuing the runaway Pridelander. Kovu immediately recognized her lean, typically Outlandish appearance: Anana. Halfway to where the fight in which Simba was involved in was taking place, Anana caught up with the other lioness. With one swoop, she knocked away the other lioness’ back-paws, causing her to trip and come to a sliding stop in the sand. Before the lioness got the chance to get up again, Anana already had her paws on the lioness’ back, pushing her onto the ground. And even though the lioness struggled and yelled to be released, Anana did not yield, but in stead kept the Pridelander firmly pressed to the ground.

“Aah! Let me go! Get of me, I’ve got too…”

“No! It’s no use, I’m not letting you throw your life away in vain!”

“You!” the lioness gasped in anger as she recognized the other lioness’ voice, “How dare you, backstabbing rat! Does your treason know no boundaries? Let me go, I have to help my king!”

But as she was yelling at Anana, it became apparent the lioness was starting to realize she was going nowhere. No-one would be saving her king. The mere thought of it made her voice turn from enraged to filled with sorrow.

“Let me go, I have to help my king! Let me help him… why doesn’t anyone help him…” she wailed desperately, as her gleaming eyes stared at the still struggling Simba “No! My king… Simba…”

As Nala was the only one to immediately recognize both lionesses, both the bold Pridelander and the Outlander that tried keeping her from harm, only she could actually realize the absurdity of the situation to the fullest, for the runaway Pridelanders was no other than Kani. The same Kani that had viciously terrorized Anana for hours on end had just been saved the very lioness she had insulted so. And the most awkward part was she didn’t want to be saved at all. And meanwhile, all Outlanders around Nala still stood idle as Simba fought for his life…

“Oh my poor Simba… this is madness!” Nala cried out in tears, “Kovu, please, I’m begging you, help him! Help your king!”

But Kovu didn’t even do as much as turn around to respond to the desperate queen’s plea; he had already declined one request from Kiara, why not decline this one as well? The queen had had a point though: this whole situation was indeed utter madness, his own inertia most of all. Kovu was perfectly aware of the seemingly cruel and cowardly nature of what his actions (or non-actions); how else could one describe what Kovu was doing? What other words could fit him as he sat there, silently staring at the tragedy taking place right under his very eyes?
For that was what Kovu did: he just stared at the events unfolding. He stared as Simba hit Vitani’s hyena on the throat. He stared when the other hyenas reached Simba and immediately engaged him, the first wave counting no less than ten adversaries. Six years ago, at the first Battle of Priderock, he might have just been able to deal with that kind of opposition. But Simba had aged since then, and the hyenas he had defeated six years earlier were radically different from those he was facing now, trained and disciplined as they were. Simba fought valiantly and ruthlessly, but it was of no use: more hyenas reached him with each passing second, among them a one eyed hyena that Kovu somehow seemed to recognize, though he couldn’t tell from when or where. By the time the three Pridelanders that had broken loose from the pride made it to the fight, Simba had already been surrounded, and the lionesses couldn’t even breach the outer pack of opponents. Pretty soon, they too were engulfed in enemies. Kovu found it hard to tell exactly how much enemies Simba was able to slay: he hit and bit a lot of foes, but never seemed to have enough time to focus on one particular hyena. His kills could probably be counted on the toes of one (perhaps two) paws, for the barrage of bites he was subjected to quickly brought the mighty king down: in mere moments, he disappeared below a mass of enemies. Kovu respectfully bowed his head, fearing the worst. Then, suddenly, he heard the most awful of roars, one that sent a shiver through Kovu’s entire body. He looked up again, just in time to see Simba rise up out of the flood of opponents once again.

“Kovu!” the king roared. For a split second, both lions seemed to be looking each other right in the eyes. Staring at Simba’s blood-stained face, Kovu imagined he saw signs of acceptance: as the king looked at his most likely successor, he finally realized that no help was coming, no charge of Outlanders would save him, and no Kings of Old would descent from the heavens to come to his aid; they’d probably only be waiting for him to join them any time now. And as Kovu saw that Simba had accepted his course of action, he could only pray that the king understood it as well. He hoped Simba realized just why Kovu could not come to his aid, and even barred others from trying.
It had not been an easy decision to make, far from it, make no mistake about it: standing and waiting while his king got butchered had not been easier on Kovu than it had been on anyone else. The only difference with other lions (save for a few extremely bright and pragmatic lionesses) had been that Kovu knew why he did what it was he did; he did it out of pure necessity. Cold and calculated necessity. Of course, Kovu’s one true desire at the time hadn’t differentiated that much from that of the lionesses around him: he too had wanted nothing more than to storm down in one last heroic charge to safeguard his king. But he realized that would have been foolish, despite all it’s heroism. True, a dedicated lion-charge might have momentarily saved Simba. But then what? Their entire pride would become embroiled in a slaughter without precedent, another clash with the same hyenas that had only days before scored a historic victory over the lions. The ensuing battle would have been one they could not have won. And even if, by some slim chance, the lions would have defeated the enemy, too few lions would have been left to claim victory. Was that what Kovu wanted, yet another bloodbath to claim the lives of so many fine lionesses, a bloodbath that would destroy their pride, even in victory? No. He couldn’t let that pass, ever. He was not about to sacrifice the pride simply because it would be the honorable thing to do, even though doing what was honorable would have been so much easier to do, and so much more easier to accept for his pride. Indeed, sometimes it takes a lion more courage to be a coward than it would take him to become a hero. That knowledge did little to soothe Kovu’s enormous feeling of guilt, though, for choosing not to give in to the urge for heroism had also meant sacrificing Simba. One could state Simba’s downfall had been the king’s own doing and his own fault, but he to claim such thing would have been wrong, for Simba befell no blame for what Kovu was concerned. Simba had always been a just and merciful king, and he had always done what was right in his eyes and based on his knowledge. His minor shortcomings, like his sporadic impulsiveness, did nothing to change that. Even his harsh stance for what concerned the hyenas could not really be blamed upon him: that had only been the logical consequence of his course of life and thus lay beyond his will. In effect, Simba was just another victim of the tragedy called war. And the thought of voluntarily leaving Simba to die made Kovu sick to his stomach.
As she realized her life partner could not possibly be saved anymore, Nala inevitably burst out in tears (not unlike most other lionesses, even Outlanders, who bowed their heads and wept in silence as Simba’s fate became sealed), but not before venting her thoughts about Kovu one last time.

“Kovu, you monster! You left Simba to die, you heartless *******! You couldn’t care less, you let all this pass just so you could call yourself a king!”

Kovu slowly turned his eyes away from the battlefield, towards Nala, not knowing whether he should burst out in anger or in tears. It became anger.

“My sister is out there!” he shouted at the still heartbroken Nala, whilst ostentatiously pointing at the fight behind him, “How dare you even consider I would just leave her to her fate? I wouldn’t even give that as much as a thought, even if it would make me the lord and master over all the plains of Africa. What I do here, I do for you, all of you! I do this for our pride! Don’t you think I too feel grief at what is happening to our poor king?”

For the first time in days, he was able to pronounce the words ‘our king’ without a distinct ironic taste to it whilst referring to Simba.

“But as much as my sister and Simba’s fate troubles me, I have no choice but to accept it. If they are what it takes to save all of you, our pride, than so be it! Such is a choice no-one should ever be forced to make… but I was, and I have chosen my path. You may scold me all you like for making the decision I made, I deserve no better, but don’t you dare even suggest I did this for personal gain, or for the mere title of ‘king’!”

***

How strange a thing that, even though their coming had been aimed at saving him, none of the hyenas seemed to care for Vincent as soon as they reached the scene: they immediately went after Simba, who stood over their leader’s body, poised to deliver a finishing bite. As he lay suffocating on the ground, losing parts of consciousness at rapid pace, it didn’t take him long to realize his hours were numbered, regardless of his clanmates’ intervention. Realizing you will never again be able to look upon the stunning grace of an African sunrise, the simple joy of a young pup messing around or the soothing smile on a loved one’s face is not at all agreeable, nor is bleeding to death and choking at the same time. But for all the things he stood to lose forever, there was still one joy Vincent could live before darkness were to take him. With the little strength he had left in his broken and mangled body, he slowly dragged himself towards where Simba had just been standing. Meanwhile, the fight with the lion king raged on relentlessly, with fellow hyenas crashing down in the sand all around Vincent. A few of them never got up again. As he got closer to his target, Vincent felt the pain in his chest and throat intensifying beyond what he had thought tolerable, whilst most other sensory perceptions started whittling down and even disappearing altogether. His vision blurred rapidly, and even his memory started to fade, forgetting all that was happening around him. There was only one thought left that still dominated his mind and actions.

Almost… just give me those few second to get that bit further…

Then, finally, after what had seemed to be an endless ordeal (but was in fact jut traversing no more than two meters), he made it: by extending is right left paw, Vincent’s toe-tips touched one of the unconscious Vitani’s stretched-out paws. In that one last touch lay all the courage and comfort Vincent needed to let go… so he did.

*

After and endless stream of bites and scratches, Simba finally disappeared out of sigh, collapsing because of pain, blood-loss and who knows what else. Kovu lost sight of him as he collapsed and seemed to become covered in hyenas. This was the end for the lion king. About simultaneously with their king, two of the Pridelanders to have come to his aid were defeated as well; one had her neck broken between hyena-jaws, the other her entire forepaw torn off, after which she quickly succumbed because of her massive bleeding. The third one, however, seeing as how her king was gone, her allies killed and no help was coming, was able to, in a desperate rush, break through the hyena lines. As soon as she had broken free, getting severely wounded whilst she did, she tried sprinting towards the riverbank upon which sat Kovu and his pride. This was something the black-maned lion had not been expecting: if the lioness made it back to his riverbank, they’d have to engage the handful of hyenas that were pursuing her, and the battle he had so desperately been avoiding would still take place. But this time around, the hyenas themselves solved the problem, and by that I did not mean the hunted down the lioness: from somewhere within the mass of hyenas, a single order resounded.

“No, stop this! No further!”

And just before the hyenas reached Anana and Kani, who still lay in the sand, Anana still holding Kani, they hesitatingly slowed, and eventually came to a stop, looking back at their clan.

“This has gone on for way too long, all of you back off!”

The hyenas seemed somehow what confused, and apart from the hyenas that had been pursuing the surviving Pridelander (who had by now already made it up the riverbank again), no-one really backed off as ordered. That is, not until one particular hyena, the one with the strange, grayish manes, who was by now covered in scratch-marks from her prominent role in taking down the Lion King, repeated that order.

“You heard our matriarch, back-off! Take twenty paces in the direction of the southern riverbank and regroup. This fight is over…”

Now with considerably more confidence (and more specific directives), the hyenas started moving back, regrouping into some sort of formation, dragging along the wounded that could no longer stand on their own paws. What remained were the dead, who only now became clearly visible. At the center of the battlefield lay Simba’s enormous body, surrounded by four hyena carcasses. Towards the lions side of the Golden River lay the two Pridelanders to have fallen, along with three more hyenas. And finally, a bit more towards where the clan sat, lay the two figures that seemed out of place: nd Outlander and a hyena, their paws seemingly extended at one another, the toes of their left forepaws just touching. Both the pride and the clan silently watched the blood-stained scene for a moment. Seeing their king, their Simba, actually laying down in the now brownish discolored sands, the surviving Pridelanders could no longer escape the hard truth: the king was no more. Even the Outlanders seemed affected by the current state of their former ruler, and quite a few looked away in tears. On the other side, feelings were no different: the hyenas too had lost one of their most prominent leaders, and he too now lay dead in the sands of the Golden River. In spite of that, the hyenas remained calm enough to back up their cohort even further, until all of them once again sat on their respective riverbank. That made one thing clear: they had understood Kovu’s intentions. And even though they had not hesitated to spring to their leader’s aid when he had been in danger, now that he was dead and now that they had seen what Kovu had gone through to distance himself from the fight that had caused his demise, their current actions gave a clear message: what just happened was a mistake, a terrible and tragic mistake, but for the sake of both our clans, let us not repeat it. Kovu was more than willing to see to that, but first things first: his pride had just lost their king, and it would be monstrous not to allow the lionesses to mourn his passing. The hyenas withdrawal from the Golden River was more than helpful in the matter, giving the lions a chance to reach their leader without risking too much provocation.
Kovu walked over to Kiara and Nala.

“My queen, my princess… please, follow me…”

The stare he got from Kiara surpassed all other things to have hurt Kovu in his lifetime: it was cold and full of hatred, and no attempt was made to hide her utter despise for Kovu. He was quick to realize why she looked at him like that, but that knowledge made his one true love’s hateful stare no easier to bare. Kiara looked at him not as her beloved Kovu anymore, but she looked at him as the lion who had stood by and did nothing as her father had been slaughtered. Kovu would from now on have to learn and live with that; yet another sacrifice he had to make for the pride’s continued existence. That being said, it was no surprise the lionesses were reluctant to follow.

“We’re going to see the king…” Kovu sighed to convince them. It worked, but in stead of following Kovu, both lionesses independently started walking towards where Simba lay, not even granting Kovu as much as a stare. That hurt. But he’d have to learn and live with it. With a discrete gesture, Kovu ordered Enyi to follow him as he too started walking towards the center of Golden River, where Simba still lay. The rst of the lionesses he ordered to stay put. On their way down, the four lions passed Kani and Anana, the grimly frowning Anana still on top of the weeping Kani.

“It’s over, there’s no need for you to keep her pressed down like that. Come on, get up, both of you…” Kovu grumbled, “Lets go see the king…”

Looking at each other with saddened yet suspicious eyes, both lionesses hesitatingly got up and followed Kovu as he walked towards the fallen Simba. Nala and Kiara had already sat down next to their partner and father, carefully stroking and embracing the huge lion, whilst letting their tears run freely. Kani, who had always seen her king as some sort of demigod, was equally moved and shuffled closer to Simba as well, and both Nala and Kiara allowed her to come sit alongside them, seeing in Kani the representative for all the pride. As all three lionesses knelt at their deceased king, the red sun that had been bathing the entire seen in a ghastly reddish light, finally set, and with it ended the last day of King Simba's reign, one that would be remembered for generations to come, and strangely enough not only by the lion pride. Simba's years would over time become a concept onto themselves, but until that time, the lionesses were left with nothing than their grief.
It goes without saying, however, that Kovu and Anana were allowed nowhere near the body of the deceased king by the other lionesses; Kiara and Nala felt resentment against Kovu, and Kani couldn’t stand the mere presence of Anana (ignoring the fact it had been Anana to save her life). Then again, Kovu hadn’t really come down into the Golden River to mourn Simba (though he would most certainly do so at a latter time), but had in stead come to check on that other lion who lay down there: Vitani, his sister. He cautiously moved closer to where she lay, followed by Enyi and Anana in his wake. All three of them were ecstatic when they saw Vitani’s chest was still gently moving up and down; she was still breathing! That of course didn’t mean Vitani was perfectly all right, however, as the area around her left eye had been completely devastated by Simba’s claws. But that was only of secondary importance; what mattered was that Vitani lived, for now. And even though she had lost quite some blood, she’d probably make it anyhow, that is if she were to receive adequate care from her pride. Her brother would certainly see to that. Careful not to hurt her, Kovu gently stroked Vitani across her forehead. She groaned gently at the feel of his touch.

“Hush, it’s okay… don’t push yourself…” Kovu whispered. As was to be expected of her, Vitani paid little attention to what her brother said and hesitatingly opened her eyes. When she recognized Kovu, she tried getting up, which took her great effort. Kovu was quick to step in and support her side with his strong paws as she tried sitting upright.

“Easy now, easy now… don’t hurt yourself…”

“Kovu, is that you?” Vitani uttered exhausted, “I… I can’t see you that well… It’s… aah! My eye! It hurts!”

“Calm down, I said calm down!” Kovu grumbled as he tried keeping Vitani from reaching up with her paw towards her wounded eye, “Night has fallen, your eyes probably have to adjust... and you’ve got a nasty wound to the head. No, don’t touch it! Wait, here let me just…”

Whilst still keeping his holding his sister tight, Kovu moved his head closer to hers and started licking clean Vitani’s wound. She of course squealed in pain as he did, but Kovu’s muscular paws prevented her from backing away. But as he was licking her wound clean with his rough tongue, Kovu suddenly felt his emotions welling up, and got a sudden urge to hug his sister whom he had presumed dead.

“Oh Vitani… thank the Spirit’s your still okay!” Kovu mewled quietly as he pressed his head tightly at his sister’s neck.

“Aw!”

“I’m sorry! Did I do something wrong? Are you hurt?”

“I’ts nothing – but don’t hug me so tight… I’m still hurting all over…and my eye…”

“I’m sure it’ll be all right,” Kovu lied, “It’s just got some blood in it now. Once we’ve cleaned that out, you’ll using it again in no time.”

Kovu licked Vitani’s wound again.

“It’ good to see your okay; you’ve been living way too dangerous – I don’t think I could stand almost losing you again.”

In stead of using words, Vitani chose to thank her brother for his concern with an embrace. The fact that her brother had not come to her help when she had been fighting for her life didn’t even spring to her mind, probably because she didn’t know what had happened after she had lost consciousness yet. But she quickly found out: as he head rested in Kovu’s shoulder, she got was able to look at the scene behind him. She saw Simba, the mourning lionesses and all the dead hyenas. She abruptly backed away from Kovu.

“Kovu… what has happened here?” she gasped as she looked at all the carcasses, and the lion pride sitting on their riverbank. She slowly turned around. First thing she saw was the clan, sitting on the other riverbank. And then, a lot closer to where she sat, right next to her even, she noticed a messy pile of spotted fur.

“But that is…” Vitani uttered in dismay, “Oh no… no… that can’t be…”

“I’m sorry, Vitani… he was already gone before we even got here.”

“Oh no… no, please no…” Vitani wailed as she hesitatingly tried to touch the paw that Vincent had tried extending at her. Only being able to see out of one eye, she found it difficult to estimate just how close the dead hyena lay. His paw still felt warm. She moved closer and sat down right in front of him. She gently stroked first his paws, then his neck and eventually his manes, somehow hoping he would suddenly let loose a single groan. But she knew that wasn’t happening; Vincent wasn’t breathing, he wasn’t moving, his eyes were shut and his otherwise yellowish fangs were colored red because of his own blood.

“No… please, no…” Vitani still wept, even in the full knowledge Vincent was gone. She carefully took his head between her forepaws and preeded her nose onto the manes on the top of his head, between his ears.

“This is all my fault…” Vitani sobbed heartbroken.

“Don’t blame yourself…”

“But it is my fault! I provoked Simba, he attacked because of me. And Vincent died coming to my aid…”

“No, it’s not your fault; this was all bound to happen anyway. This had been bound to happen for years. You just had the bad luck of being at the wrong place on the wrong time,” Kovu replied, putting on of his paws on Vitani’s shoulders, gently rubbing hence and forth, “We all had the misfortune of being at the wrong place on the wrong time…”

As Kovu pronounced those words, he could suddenly see one of the hyenas that had been sitting atom the riverbank coming their way, slowly and carefully. She looked quite big, for a hyena, and had a strange, greenish bird on her shoulder. Seeing as she came alone, Kovu remained calm, and he signaled at the pride to do the same. The hyena to approach them looked a bit like the one Vitani was mourning over, except for her longer manes and her unusual grey eyes, gleaming in the pale moonlight. Save for Vitani, she was the first mammal Kovu had ever come across to have bluish eyes. She halted at a respectable distance.

“You can come closer if you want to,” Kovu mumbled at her, “We won’t bite. Seriously, we won’t.”

That being said, the hyena moved closer, still careful though. As she did, Kovu noticed her eyes too were gleaming with tears. It made her more or less look like Vitani, Kovu considered. After a first hesitation, which was removed when Vitani nodded at the newcomer, the blue-eyed hyena also sat down next to the dead body, equally mournful as Vitani was. Meanwhile, the green bird hopped on the ground and moved closer to Kovu. Kovu considered having seen the green hornbill somewhere before.

“Have we met?”

“No, I’m afraid we haven’t, though I’m pretty sure I know who you are… Kovu, right? Son of…”

“Son of Taka and Zira, yeah. King of the Outlanders,” Kovu grumbled a bit annoyed, “And how come I recognize you but can’t tell who you are?”

“I’m Tiko, Zazu’s nephew. You probably knew him. We sort of looked alike, except for the obvious difference in color…”

That, and you look a bit more plump…

“Ah… that’s odd… and you work for her?” Kovu frowned, “Isn’t that a bit unusual for Zazu’s nephew, working for hyenas?”

“I get that question a lot, and no, I don’t consider ‘working’ for them any weirder than ‘working’ for lions. And it’s not really working, they just tolerate me and I give them some advice if necessary. As matter of fact, I had been assigned by Rafiki to try and help him out,” Tiko explained, pointing at Vincent’s body.

“Sorry to hear that…”

“Thanks… I didn’t really know him that well yet… but we got along pretty good… until further notice, I’m helping out his sister.”

“So they’re related? I figured as much…,” Kovu frowned, “So that’s his sister, I presume?”

“Indeed, his sister. Shenya, Matriarch of the Clan.”

“That’s me…” Shenya suddenly sniveled as she looked up from Vincent’s body, still stroking his back with one of her paws, “Some matriarch I make…”

“So you’re the one who’s calling the shots in all this?” Kovu wondered, “Shouldn’t you have some protection with you?”

“You went to immense troubles to prevent your pride from clashing with her clan, so much even we could tell from looking at you. I doubt you’d let that all be in vain now by attacking her,” Tiko noted coolly.

“Touché. Well… I guess, seeing as you’re the hyena in charge I should be congratulating you and your clan with a historic victory,” Kovu spoke at Shenya not at all without cynicism.

Shenya looked up from the remains of her dead brother to stare at Kovu with eyes devoid of all hope.

“You call this a victory?” she snickered, “My brother is dead, your king is dead, my clan has been decimated, and so has your pride. And for what? All because we wanted stupid vengeance, all that for that blood-drenched rock? This is no victory… this is… it’s just insane!”

“Finally something we can agree on…” Kovu smiled in sorrow, “It is insane, isn’t it?”

As Kovu had been speaking, Rafiki and Kiruhu had discretely crept closer, having noticed the arrival of the hyena matriarch after Rafiki had just briefly paid his respects to Simba. But as he still considered the living a priority over the dead, he had postponed his mourning to go check out what it was that Kovu and the hyena exactly had to say. Kovu suddenly spotted Rafiki.

“Ah, the baboon… or was it mandrill? Bah, that doesn't really matter, now does it... I have been expecting you...” Kovu grumbled, “You know, Rafiki, I think I finally figured it out. Just now. I think I finally figured out the Circle of Life. Are you all listening? Rafiki, hyena? Sis? You want to know? I figured out just what the Circle of life is all about… On first glance, it is simple: each of us, all things to live and breathe, all of us, we live only by the death of others, but when our time comes, we too give life to something else in our demise. When we die, we become the grass that feeds the zebra, and the Zebra is what feeds us. But the Circle goes much further than that: it also encompasses the never-ceasing alternations that make up our lives. Life and death, day and night, rains and drought… they are all exteriorizations of that same ongoing Circle. This, we can not hope to fight for it holds the very essence of life…”

Rafiki was impressed. Kovu was the first one to have reached such a thorough understanding of the Circle of Life with so little education in the matter. But To Rafiki’s surprise, there was more.

“… as such, it seems almost impossible to grasp why one would ever want to try and betray the Circle, how can one betray the essence of life, as my parents supposedly did? The answer is simple: one cannot. It can never have been my parents intention to betray the Circle of Life. But what was it then they supposedly betrayed? To know that, one must first realize something else: much like water in a river in which one swims, the Circle of Life surrounds us all, in all we do, at any time. But water drenches our fur and gets stuck to it, and it’s weight slows and even drags us down, making the life-giver that is water also a menace. So is it with the Circle of life: because we are always surrounded by it, the Circle too gets stuck too our fur, and it too slows us down. Because of our constant exposure to it, we have started internalizing and applying the Circle’s principals onto things that need not at all follow it’s logic, thus creating corrupted processes that seem a part of the Circle, but are really nothing but our own inventions, our own flawed models. The Circle of Life becomes an excuse, unintentionally, to explain and support our self-invented theories.”

This part Rafiki already liked a whole lot less. What was it young Kovu was getting at, what was it he thought to have discovered? It didn’t sound like anything good. To Shenya, however, who had only briefly heard of the Circle of Life and previously saw it as nothing but a distant lion-contraption, Kovu’s explanation felt enlightening: someone finally bothered to explain the Circle to a hyena, down to it’s very finesse. Meanwhile, Kovu carried on, seemingly only having eye for his own thoughts and theories, forgetting about the world around him.

“It are these corrupted theories that use the Circle as a shield we often mistake as being the essence of the Circle, even when they are perverted and flawed. This is why my parents tried combating the Circle: they saw only our own flawed models and theories that used the Circle as a mere excuse. And these flawed, corrupted theories are very persistent, two of them most of all: the first one being that a king always has to be followed by his son in order to keep the Circle going; whilst this has absolutely nothing to do with the Circle of Life, which by definition stands above such futilities as succession within a simple pride of lions. The second persistent theory which hided behind the Circle is the ongoing, never-ending duality between lions and hyenas. Is it not right, hyena, that you have always been taught, from infancy, to consider us lions your enemy?”

Shenya nodded. Kovu was right.

“Well, the same goes for us. We are raised to hate your kind, it is as if we have to fight you. And when we stop to ask why it is we fight continuously, all we are told is it’s because of the Circle of Life, and we cannot ignore the Circle, we have to live by the paths it sets… but whatever does that mean?”

“It means hyenas are no part of the Circle,” Rafiki coldly noted, “How can you do anything else than detest that which is no part of the Circle?”

What nonsense was it that Kovu was making up, Rafiki silently thought.

“They are not? Strange... Are they not born as we are, don't they live as we do and, eventually, don't they die as well? And if they die, do they too eventually not become the grass that feeds our prey? Well, don't they? Because if they do, why on earth would they too not be part of the Circle, because you say so, maybe? I think what you and I say has very little influence over the Circle... No, my friend, hyenas too are part of the Circle.”

“I thought you understood what the Circle was about, but apparently I was wrong…” Rafiki muttered, annoyed at Kovu’s defiance, “How dare you even doubt the most basic of knowledge? Hyenas are no part of the Circle.”

“I could sit here and argue,” Kovu smiled defiantly, “But I could also tell you why you are so reluctant to accept the fact hyenas are a part of the Circle. It is because you are afraid to face the consequences. Because if they are a part of the Circle, the only way to explain our rivalry whilst blaming it on the Circle is if our rivalry were to follow it's rules. Have you ever tried that, Rafiki, actually putting the lion-hyena rivalry in the Circle's context?”

“This is preposterous!” Rafiki sighed, “Our king lays dead in the sands and you are lifting his killers up into the Circle of Life!”

“No, you are preposterous to still defend this perverse theory that has already claimed so many lives!” Kovu sneered, “Now, since you seem unable to do so, I shall explain the consequences of your theory when you actually apply the Circle's logic to it. If our rivalry with the hyenas is a part of the Circle, it follows by the Circle's rules... and is thus first and foremost alternating... this means, in our context, that the supremacy over Priderock and the lands to surround it does not belong to one of our races, but in stead alternates. It may take generations, but when a Lion King sits atop Priderock, it is only a matter of time before he is replaced by a Hyena Queen. Lion and hyena will then switch, not unlike day and night follow each other in sucession, and with it male and female supremacy will alternate as well. If this whole mess we are in now is indeed caused by the Circle, than we can stop arguing: Priderock belongs to the hyenas from now on... well, how does that sound, hyena?”

“I'd rather see my brother and all my fallen sisters by my side than sit atop that stupid piece of rock...”

“I can imagine. But wait, there is more: if we fight each other because of the Circle, our fight will be as a circle; it has no beginning, no end and no pauze in between. It just goes on endlessly without end. Hyena, you may today sit atop Priderock, but know this: even now, the next cycle in the Circle is already being prepared. Look behind me, where our once mighty king now lays dead: at his side sits my partner, Kiara, daughter of king Simba and only heir to Priderock. She will become the mother to my children, the heirs to the both the Outlands and the Pridelands. Kiara has lost her father and Priderock to you hyenas, and the cubs that she will one day give birth to will be raised by her to have but one desire: take back Priderock from the hated enemy. If we lions are to lose Priderock today and you become the new rulers of the Pridelands, know that somewhere in the wilderness to the north a new king will one day be born, and his only goal in life will drive you hyenas away from the Rock. Me and you may not live to see it, but if our rivalry is indeed a part of the Circle, it will one day happen that lions will take back the Pridelands, driving the hyenas into the wilderness again. And so, the cycle will start all over again, and our descendants shall know nothing but hate and bloodshed from here 'till eternity...”

“But that is... pointless!” Shenya shouted, “That is just cruel, pointless madness.”

“It is, isn't it? I think my father saw that too... but the only one who would know would off course be Rafiki here,” Kocu nodded, “Well, Rafiki, was that what drove my father to break the Circle, among with so many other reasons? Did he realize the pointlessness of it all?”

Kovu had more or less expected an aggressive outburst, or a flood of insults aimed at Kovu's father Taka. But none of that; the mandrill just looked away. For the first time Kovu could remember, the ape seemed to have nothing to say.

“Some tales...” Rafiki ultimately responded, “Some tales are best left untold, for history is complex enough as it is...”

“We'll see about that,” Kovu frowned, “You obviously have a lot to tell me, when the time comes... but that matters not, for the time being...”

He turned back to Shenya.

“What matters now is me and you. You now know what would happen if we were to continue our rivalry that has torn these lands apart since the times of Ahadi, what would happen if we kept cultivating our hatred as if it were a part of the Circle...”

“It would take a madman to still keep up this madness in knowing what you told me,” Shenya sighed, looking Kovu directly in the eyes. Again, Kovu couldn't help but think of Vitani when he saw Shenya's mesmerizing gray eyes.

“Then it is time we broke this corrupted abomination that is our mutual rivalry based solely on the Circle,” Kovu concluded, “Are you prepared to do this?”

“I'd be prepared to do anything to stop all this bloodshed... your pride and my clan deserve better than this. And I'm sure this is what Vincent would have wanted...”

“Alas, I wish I could say the same about Simba...” Kovu considered, a bit down, “My father, Taka might have known what we too know now, known about the pointlessness of keeping up our rivalry, but for all else he wasn't ever half the king Simba was; Simba was a wise, understanding, compassionate, merciful and just king, was always good at heart... But even if this is not what he wanted while he lived, I'm sure he'd have understood.”

“If he was truly the king you say he was, I'm sure he would... But now... where do we go now, from here, to break this vicious circle, not of life, but of hate?”

“Well, let me put it this way: we, the leaders of the Clan and the Pride, have agreed to end our hate here and now. This is farther than anyone has ever come, for not even my father Taka achieved this: the peace he forged between us had been forced rather than agreed on, and thus had no chance to stand long,” Kovu argued.

“That onto itself is already historic,” Shenya smiled for the first time that day, “The road to eliminating the hate between us will be long and hard... too many of us have suffered at the paws of 'the other' side. For each three steps we take towards final peace, we'll have to go back two steps... And that is only if we are not beset by an unexpected twist of fate...”

“But at least we now know both sides want it to end,” Vitani suddenly whispered, engaging in the conversation for the first time, “At least now there is hope. I can imagine your brother would be proud of you...”

Vitani's remark once again brought tears to Shenya's eyes. The mangled lioness slowly moved over to the sobbing hyena. Carefully and perfectly predictable (as to avoid any misunderstanding), she put her paw on the matriarchs shoulder. Looking into each other's bluish eyes, they momentarily recognized themselves. A long, tight hug. A symbol of hope for all lions and hyenas to see, even though some found the thought alone repulsing. Hate was still dominant, and would continiue to be for generation. But at least now there was something else as well: hope.

Epilogue

A soft, cool breeze blew through Kovu's dark manes. It felt remarkably pleasant. He sat and watched as the crowd slowly passed by, and endured their angry stares. Before him walked all remaining Pridelanders, including Kiara and Nala. Each of them carefully held in her mouth a part of Simba, slowly carefully dragging forth his body over the dry savanna-floor. They were on a journey towards Priderock, towards the Tomb of Kings (also known as the green den that had served a a mass-grave for all those fallen at the Battle of Priderock). They would entomb Simba alongside all lionesses that had died defending his pride, near their ancestral home. Of course, Kovu and all other Outlanders had volunteered to help carry the deceased monarch, but their request had been turned down, that of Kovu with a punch to the face from Kiara. They, the cowards and traitors, were not worthy to help carry the fallen hero that was Simba.
Kovu could understand why they were mad at him, but the punch Kiara had given him still hurt, if not physically, then mentally. Simba had not been the only sacrifice Kovu had had to make on the altar of peace – his relationship with Kiara was now purely ceremonial; she'd never forgive him for what he had done (or rather not done; like not saving her father). For the time being, Kovu tried not to think about it. He felt upset enough already without having to realize he had lost the one thing that had, more than one year ago, reunited the fractured lion-pride: Kiara's love. But if the greater good meant losing Kiara's love... so be it. In an attempt to divert his thoughts, he turned back to Enyi behind him.

“So, are the hyenas already done moving?”

“Yes, sire. We're free to go anytime.”

“Good. Well, what are you waiting for then, get the pride to Priderock,” Kovu yawned, “Oh, and Enyi, post some guards outside the tomb, okay? Make sure the Pridelanders don't start messing around inside; it is still a tomb after all.”

“Messing around, sir?”

“I'd prefer if they not took the hyena-cadavers that still lie in there out. That'd be in very bad taste... and not in compliance with the new direction we want our pride to head in.”

“I will see to it, my liege.”

Good, so Enyi was back to her old self – or maybe just not in the mood for joking. For the better. As Enyi walked away with all other Outlanders, towards Priderock, Kovu couldn't help but feel a bit lost. What to do now? He didn't feel comfortable going to Priderock whilst Simba was being put to rest, and he wasn't really invited either. Well then, why not seek out his sister again? She was probably around the Golden River, and in her current, wounded state, should not be left alone. Plus, she needed someone to clean her wounds. Off to the Golden River then... although off to 'the border' would be a more appropriate term now that the Golden River was what separated the 'Clanlands' from the 'Pridelands'.
Indeed, a new and well defined border between their lands had been the first thing Kovu and Shenya had agreed upon; recognizing a border is recognizing the clan our pride that lives across it. Of course, their first thought had been to simply share the lands, but they had quickly realized their subjects were not at all ready for that, and forcing it on them would do more harm than good, as Taka had already proven in the past. But just returning to the status-quo they had before their latest war was just as folly: it would mean a gross denial of the unjust distribution of lands between them. So they had agreed to partition the Pridelands: the lions got all the lands south of Golden River, the bulk of the Pridelands, as well as the most fertile part. The hyenas in turn got all lands north of it, accounting for about one third of the Pridelands, plus the Outlands. That was about an equal split, which still allowed the lions to retain their precious Priderock. No need for one side to be envious of the other, that was a good start.
Kovu slowly walked over to Golden River with a slack pace. Upon arrival, he noticed the river had already been evacuated, save for three lone figures: Vitani, Shenya and the deceased Vincent. Kovu imagined he saw them trying to drag Vincent's carcass onto the riverbank.

“Might I inquire into what it is you are exactly doing?”

“Huh?” Vitani startled, “Kovu? You startled me. What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the very same question. But what I find stranger than your presence is hers,” Kovu replied, signing at Shanya, “Hyena, shouldn't you be with your clan?”

“I should. But there is something I have to take care of first...”

“Even so, you shouldn't wander off by yourself. Even now, while we are at peace, you should still avoid coming near some... bitter lions, especially not a matriarch like you...”

“You're right,” Shenya admitted, “I shouldn't be out here by myself... But this was something me and Vitani had to do alone... and I can imagine being safe now that you're around around.”

“Quite. What exactly are you doing?”

“Vitani thought it'd be best if we laid Vincent to rest somewhere appropriate... so we're taking him there now.”

“Ah. And where might that be?” Kovu wondered.

“The tomb near Priderock...” Vitani silently whispered, fearing Kovu wouldn't agree with her decision. But strangely enough, he did.

“That is indeed fitting... more than a Royal Tomb, that green den has become a symbol; in it, lions and hyenas are laid to rest side by side. Your friend fits in perfectly, so to speak,” Kovu nodded, “But you'll never get there at this pace. Here, let me help you...”

Kovu slowly knelled down, signaling Vitani and Shenya to put the body over his back; Vincent was only a male hyena, they're not an incredible burden to carry.

“Thanks, Kovu...”

“Don't mention it... we should get going – but let us not make too much haste, for we would want to avoid bumping into Pridelanders... It would be very awkward if we were to interrupt them as they say goodbye to Simba...”

That said, the small group silently set out for Priderock, advancing at very slow peace, hardly ever talking. Eventually, after hours of walking, they reached the vicinity of the Royal Tomb. Not before long, one of the Outlanders patrolling around the Royal Tomb noticed them. She looked a bit confused when she saw the unusual trio.

“Don't ask,” Kovu yawned even before the lioness got the chance to open her mouth, “We're heading for the Tomb of Kings. You wouldn't happen to know if there are still Pridelanders present, would you?”

“Eh... no, sire. Most left after an hour or so spent mourning... Queen Nala and princes Kiara were the last ones to leave, 'bout half an hour ago...”

“For the better... all right then, let's go. And you,” Kovu instructed looking at the lioness, “Make sure no-one interrupts us, all right?”

“Will do.”

The Outlander stepped aside and let Kovu, Vitani and Shenya pass. They slowly neared the Tomb. Strangely enough, no eerie smells cluttered the air. Not yet anyhow. Maybe that was because the Tomb always stayed quite cool, the warmth kept out by the lush vegetation surrounding the cave.

“Did she just say Queen Nala and Princes Kiara?” Vitani suddenly asked, “Shouldn't that by now be Queen-mother and Queen?”

“No, not until I'm inaugurated as the new king,” Kovy replied, “And that might take a while; Rafiki isn't too motivated. Word has it he wont even make me king, but just name me regent until Kiara's son is born...”

“Oh...”

“I care little; I'm not in it for the titles. Well, here's the place...”

Vitani carefully pushed aside the vines that obscured the low, rocky entrance to the den they now called Royal Tomb. She more or less expected to be greeted by files of corpses all around her, and swarms of flies as well. But to her surprise, she entered a small, empty antechamber. The air felt cool, dry and cool. Still, despite feeling pleasant at first, it was impossible not to recognize the faint yet ever-present atmosphere of death all around her; the place gave her the creeps. Kovu requested both his companions stopped.

“The actual tomb is further down; I'll go alone. You girls shouldn't have to see what's down there...”

How patronizing, Vitani considered, like she hadn't seen anything gruesome before... then again, if she could help it, she'd indeed rather not see what was down there... she'd have trouble enough sleeping as it was.

“Your probably right,” Shenya agreed as well, staring at the ground, sounding a somehow what sad, “Just let me say goodbye one last time...”

To accommodate Shenya's wish, Kovu walked over to her and ducked a bit. Now, Vincent's head and paws that hung down Kovu's flank were on equal hight with Senya. She carefully moved closer, and once again, teras sprung to her eyes as she talked.

“Bye, baby brother... I-I know we didn't always get along... I know you did some terrible things. But so did I. Just know... know that I never stopped loving you, even though it didn't always show, “she sniveled quietly, carefully stroking her brother. Right after the Battle of Golden River, she had groomed him up a bit, licking away most blood. It made him look peaceful, hanging over Kovu's back. Shenya gently kissed her brother on the forehead.

“Bye...”

Kovu understood Shenya was finished, so just before heading towards the tomb, he addressed his own sister.

“Vitani, you want to say something?”

But Vitani had her back turned at Kovu, and she shook her head. She too way crying, and the tears getting in her wounded eye hurt her, making her cry even more. She wasn't saying anything. She wasn't good at farewells anyhow. Looking at Vitani, Shenya smiled, and bowed her head towards her brother one last time.

“The lioness says 'hi'...” she whispered. With those last words, Kovu walked away, deeper into the cave. Shenya and Vitani stared as he disappeared into the darkness, reappearing a few minutes later, now without Vincent's body hanging over his back.

“Let's go...”

the trio silently walked out of the cave again, into the starlit night outside. They all took a deep breath once out, feeling much more comfortable in the warmth they had previously experienced as unpleasant.

“Do you have kids, hyena?” Kovu suddenly asked.

“It shows that bad already?” Shenya smiled absently, “I'm expecting...”

“Congratulations,” Kovu replied, “I'm expecting my first kids too... well, not me, Kiara. But you get the point...”

“”What magnificent coincidence...”

“Indeed... Maybe it means something.”

“Ah?”

“Well... I don't know,” Kovu mumbled, “I mean, maybe our kids will be the first to carry on what we started here...”

“That'll be up to us, and that can only be agood thing.”

“Yeah... you know, hyena... or no, Shenya, was it? You know Shenya, really not so long ago, I still looked upon your kind as a nuisance... a nuisance we had to take into consideration, sure, but only if that were in the best interest of our Pride. But above all a nuisance. But now...”

Kovu sighed, and took a big breath, looking at Shenya.

“But now... you're so much like us. But then again, you're not. True, we are different. But even so, that didn't stop us from talking to one another, befriending and even helping one another, as my sister and your brother have proven. Both our races belong here, on these lands, at the same time... wouldn't it only be logical then if both our races belonged here together?”

“That's an encouraging thought...”

“You've said it,” Kovu grinned, “Maybe one day, the children of our children will sit side by side at Priderock, listening to the stories of our time being told, considering them nothing but a bad dream, unable to conceive how it could have ever happened... but I guess that's just a naive dream...”

“Maybe it is,” Vitani smiled, with hope glistering in the one still mesmerizing blue eye she had left, “But even so, we should still try to accomplish such future, naive and impossible as it may be. You both owe that to your children, for only in fulfilling that seemingly impossible dream will we be able to assure lasting peace. Only by fulfilling that dream will our children be spared from all the tragedies to have befallen us. That, and that alone is the single greatest achievement our races could ever amount to...”

Looking at his sister and Shenya, sitting together, having heard Vitani's passionate plea of hope, Kovu cast a fond smile at both of them. With their help, Kovu's dream might just come true... The dark-maned lion looked up at the by now star-spangled night sky, his head full of thoughts. Were his parents looking down on him from there? Had Simba already joined them? Impossible to say, the stars numbered in the thousands, it was impossible to see if Simba's star had already joined them. Were they proud, both Taka and Simba, despite all Kovu's flaws and wrongs he had wrecked upon them? No-one to walk in the world of the living can tell. But as for me... I choose to believe so.

It has been a while, but here it is: TCOL in it's finality, on Taka's request. Of course, the version that I will soon post on fanfic.net is more readable because I can't copy/paste any italic or bold text here.
These are the polished-up vesrions.
Appologies for the splitting-up; they just didn't fit in one post![/i]

Finally I read all tCoL and for the my impressions:
In one word: masterful!
I’m not kind of modest guy and I consider my writings as very good (I mean my state of mind, not necessary the reality). However, after reading tCoL, presuming possibility that I’m somehow biased against tCoL because:
1. I have my own, totally different vision of story, characters... etc.
2. knowing about your quite different meta-political Weltanschauung I could be subconsciously prejudiced to any of your work (I hope not, but I’m thinking about all possibilities)
3. as ffic-writers we are also some kind of (maybe not “cut-throat” but still) competition (I hope not, but I’m thinking about all possibilities).
I still consider it as masterpiece and as... (beware!: almost as good as TSH, equally good as TGQ and... better than TRN (it’s hard to admit it, but I think that)!
I’ll write more about it, but for now short list of main tCoL advantages:
1. Language – technically surpassing (in my opinion) every ffic author on LK/B-S. Your style I describe as “elegant” because it’s sometimes hard to follow and very sophisticated (what makes it harder to read than most of stories here), but overall effort put in reading pays its price. I had some aesthetical feast event not counting the advantages of plot. Especially description of storming and defense on Priderock. The best part of story, mainly because of excellent style of writing.
Killer-quotes are common all along the tale.
2. Originality – as I once wrote, the idea of story, especially of “hyenas-perspective” is one of sharp claws of tale. Even some elements I initially considered as too weird or even a bit embarrassing (i.e. relationship between Vitani and Vincent) in the end defended themselves well. In whole story it match perfectly to the rest of plot.
3. Epic-verve. Story as a whole is masterfully designed. Plot is rousing and stunning, in some way – in spite of dark atmosphere – touching. I think that “bravery” and “sacrilegious” of some events in tale (i.e. slaughter of Pridelandres, death of Simba) helped a lot, but... well, vide: paragraph 2.

Shortly: I refuse to participate in your forum-pool, unless You add [Excellent] option.


Long Live the King // Long Live the Matriarch!

I took me some time, but I have gotten my next project on the rails. Starts as a sequel to TCoL, but quickly turns into a prequel for TLK I & II.

Foreword

To whomever it may concern,

Here it is, part one of a new issue in my fanfic-saga about the Pridelands. As you can see, the Prologue more or less picks up where 'Dawn and Dusk' left off. The same is true for the first few chapters. However, since the story will quickly switch to become a prequel, I made sure you don't have to read 'Dawn and Dusk' to understand what is going on. So don't worry, just read and enjoy.

Special thanks to: Taka_PL and MinisterSweetGoodKid [Brown Wolf] (pen-names) for their support.

The corrupter

Prologue

It takes two to corrupt – the corrupted and the corrupter.
Mobutu Sese Seko Koko Ngbendu Wa Za Banga

*

“Fast-thinker…”

“What is it you ask of me, my master?”

“My pupil… what is it you see… tell me what it is you see.”

“Sure, whatever… wait… that was meant metaphorically, right?”

Rafiki sighed profoundly, then hit his cheetah-mount on the head with a clenched fist.

“Aw!”

“Great Kings of the Past, why is it, that in the battle of my patience against the rest of the world’s stupidity, my patience always seems to be on the losing edge?”

“You really didn’t have to hit me, you know, you could just say ‘No, son, I need you to describe what your eyes see, for I am blind, and I have pitted my trust in you to be my eyes from now on’.”

“Or I could just hit you on the head and get exactly the same results,” the mandrill chuckled, “Let this be a lesson: if you can get the same results by brute force an asking nicely, chances are brute force works just as quick, and is more fun.”

“That sounds awfully immoral…”

“Enough complaining, don’t drive me towards the ‘brute force’-argument again. Just tell me what it is you see, and by that I mean describe the scene in front of you to me, preferably in an agreeable manner.”

“Sure, if you insist…
As the red sun creeps over the horizon, our golden plains awaken. All trees stand proud and tall, their lush green leaves basking in the gentle morning sun. The yellow grasses are swept up by a soft breeze, undulating gracefully below my mesmerized eyes.
Then suddenly, like thunder, it rolls down the lands.
Deafening,
Intimidating,
Majestic,
Regal,
The lion’s roar. It engulfs us all, forces us to listen, bids us to turn our heads.
Then there it is, standing tall, casting a long shadow across the lands, a shadow that seems to cross the boundaries of time itself, a shadow of the past. Priderock. Cold and grey, still seemingly dark in the early sunlight, yet strangely appealing too. Hypnotizing, as if it draws and centers all life around it. The hearth of these lands. The Throne to the Kings, in life and beyond, being so much more than can ever been seen or felt. Words do not begin to describe it, save for one, maybe: it is Priderock.
As the lion’s mighty roar still echoes across the lands, all heads are lift up in awe. They turn to stare. Is it the new day they are greeting? Or the sun, our lifegiver? No, all heads turn and stare at Priderock. All animals turn and stare, not to the new day, not to the eternal lifegiver. They look upon their Leader. They look upon The Leader. The King of Beasts, the Lord and master of Priderock, the Sovereign of the Plains. Before them sits the Lion.
Another roar shatters the sky.
The beasts of the plains now know what to do. One by one, they turn towards Priderock, they start to move. Forming up in lines, columns and close formations, they begin their march towards the center of the lands which pulls them like rain is pulled towards the earth. Herd, horde, family or pack, all of them instinctively form up in orderly closed order. No commands, no instructions, no talk. As if guided by invisible paws, the enormous animal mass forms up. If one was to see, he could only agree: this just was what had to be.
Drawing ever closer, side by side, oblivious to one another, the crowd grows ever more compact, in an unnerving display of ever growing discipline.
Elephants, zebra’s, vultures and leopards, gazelle or buffalo, it didn’t matter who: they surged forward as one, their eyes fixed forward, their faces all locked in the same resolute expressions. For that one single day, race or fur mattered none, for in the end, everyone just became part of one huge anonymous mass, jackbooting forward until suddenly, they all came to a stop. All in fixed ranks and lines, there they stood, in front of the Rock.
And as if they too seemed obliged to blend into the mass, the few clouds up in the sky formed up as well, covering the entire crowd in shadow as the sun rose above them, save for one, thin line of divine light running right through the middle of the crowd, all the way up to Priderock…”

“… and that’s our cue. Ceetah, forward!” Rafiki grinned, kicking the cheetah in the flanks. The big cat let loose an annoyed snarl because of the mandrill’s redundant arrogance, but he started slacking forward all the same, towards the huge animal crowd in front of them.
As the cheetah trotted down the hill he had been sitting on at ever increasing velocity, Rafiki had trouble suppressing his urge to shout ‘Yeehaw’, but he reasoned that would probably get him thrown off. Besides, it wasn’t really appropriate for the occasion.
As they reached the animal mass, it suddenly split open upon their arrival, not unlike a moving herd would upon encountering a tree while running. This huge herd in front of them, however, was standing perfectly still as it split into two. The cheetah felt rather intimidated actually, he hadn’t ever seen anything like it before, and chances were he’d never see anything like it again in his lifetime. Rafiki, however, had already gotten quite accustomed to the this particular occasion, and thus had no trouble in picturing it exactly, even without being able to see it.

“Don’t flinch, Cheetah, just move forward. Move into the light…”

It was only now that the cheetah noticed the crowd had parted along the thin line of sunshine; before him lay a empty sun covered boulevard in an ocean of living, breathing shadow. As a slight shudder ran down his spine, the big cat put one paw into the light, then another, and another, until he found himself nervously striding through a dense animal mass.
Upon the passing by of the Shaman and his apprentice, the crowd did not only part, but it bowed as well, still locked in an eerie silence. When the Shamans had passed, the animals got up again and closed the ranks once more.
The cheetah cautiously moved forward for what seemed to be the better part of a lifetime, until he finally reached Priderock. He was greeted by four lionesses standing guard at the ramp onto Priderock, and they too bowed as the Shaman passed.

I never thought I’d live to see a lioness bowing before me, let alone four of them!

After having clambered up to the plaza at the base of the Rock, more lionesses greeted them, about ten of them. They seemed to form some sort of corridor to guide the cheetah towards the way up to the Rock. Once again, all bowed down. Much to his own embarrassment, the cheetah noticed he started panting of fatigue as he moved further up.
Then, finally, he reached the Rock, the huge promontory from which all the Pridelands could be seen and governed. Before being able to climb up, though, he still had to pass by one lioness standing in his path, grand in her demeanor, rather large and intimidating, with a sandy fur.
For the first time in months one could detect certain traces of joie de vivre on that grand lioness’ face, although it couldn’t mask out the fact she was getting old, and her recent past had certainly contributed to that. She gently smiled a the cheetah, then slowly moved aside to let him pass. As the Shamans moved up to the Rock, the lioness followed in their wake.
About halfway the Rock sat a tanned lion, not particularly tall though certainly quite muscly, with peculiarly dark and fashionable manes, a calm demeanor and a hard stare in his deep green eyes that gave him the air of a true, determined leader. It gave him the air of a King. He protectively stood before a smaller, golden furred and lively, but obviously tired lioness that lay a bit further away on the Rock, seemingly huddled around something or someone still obscured from view.
Before they could reach the tanned lion, however, the Shamans still had to pass by two lionesses that were flanking the promontory, both lean Outlanders. The one on the right seemed surprisingly bored at the entire happening, staring out in front of her as if she couldn’t care less, in spite of the obvious spectacle going on all around her The other lioness, easily recognizable by the out-off-bed tuft of hair on her head, however, was staring at the dark lion, obviously moved by what was going on. Upon hearing the Shamans approach she turned her head towards them.

*

Kiruhu almost startled again as he saw the lioness’ face. He’d seen it countless times already since that one awful day, but he still hadn’t gotten used to it. Not that she looked all that different though, she still had that same old mischievous look she’d always had, except that she seemed to have rapidly aged a bit in the past months, starting to get more and more of the patrician looks her father had had. But her once famous blue eyes… only one remained. The left eye, however, was now tainted in grayish white, devoid of all color, and possibly all life. The deep scars around her eye-socket healed rapidly, but that one blind eye would always stand testimony of the many hardships the lioness had already endured in her still young life.
Vitani smiled at him. And to Kiruhu’s content, it was a smile of sincerity. What else could he do but grin back as he passed by, even if that didn’t fit the solemn duty he had to fulfill at all?
As Kiruhu kept slacking forward, the dark lion started approaching him and Rafiki. The cheetah couldn’t help but think the lion grew with every step of his striding paws. The look on the lion’s face was unmistakably that of one with regal ambitions. In front of the lion, however, hopped a rather large green hornbill, who stopped only inches away from the cheetah. As he bowed, his wings swept in circular motion, pointing at Kovu.

“Your Grace, Revered Mister, I present to you: His Royal Highness The Prince Consort Kovu, Regent of the Pridelands.”

Both Shamans humbly bowed their heads as the hornbill moved out of the way to let pass Kovu. Their heads were still bowed down when Kovu stopped in front of them.

“Good, Kiruhu, you have done enough. I’ll take him from here,” the lion smiled as he put his paw on the mandrill’s shoulder. Obediently, Kiruhu bowed trough his knees to accommodate for Rafiki getting off, whilst keeping his head bowed in the process. As soon as Rafiki stood on his own feet again, the ape’s hand grabbed the lion’s paw, and slid up until he found the lion’s shoulder.

“Lead the way, your Royal Highness.”

As Rafiki and the lion slowly and carefully made their way forward, Rafiki and the hornbill in turn groveled further back, until they were at the same position as the two lionesses standing guard in front of the promontory, by now accompanied by the older, larger lioness Kiruhu had passed whilst still down on the plaza. He sat down next to Vitani, and observed the rest of the spectacle in silence.
Now guided by Kovu, Rafiki slacked forward until they reached the lioness that was still lying down. Once they had arrived there, Kovu slowly put Rafiki’s hand from his shoulder onto the head of the lioness.
As Kovu went and sat down next to the lioness’ back, lovingly placing one of his paws on her abdomen, Rafiki moved around the lioness, towards what it was she was huddled around. It actually looked kind of silly, since he kept his hand on the lioness’ head all the way through. Once he was close enough, however, he could feel the lioness urging him to stop, after which the ape could feel her taking his hand of her head and guiding it down gently. Then Rafiki suddenly felt it: a soft, short fur from which seemed to radiate a tender warmth. He could feel a little paw, a little tail, and eventually a soft little head. From here on, he’d be able to pretty much operate on instinct.
He put down the staff he’d been holding in his free hand, then tried getting hold of one of the few pieces of fruit he had attached to top of his staff the previous evening. As he could only rely on his touch, it took him longer than usual to get hold of the right fruit. Eventually, he did find what he was looking for however. Using his keen mind that was adept at estimating distances without being able to see, he remembered the position of the little lion-head he’d been stroking, and then used his both hands to crack open the fruit he had selected. Careful not too spill to much of the goo inside, he used the bigger half of the cracked fruit-shell to store the liquid. Whilst still holding the improvisatory cup, his hands scraped together some of the scarce dust from the rock below him. Whatever sort of dust that was, was entirely up to the winds of destiny that had blown it up the Rock.
The Ape now mixed both ingredients together carefully. He then scraped some of the now yellowish brown substance from the improvisatory cup with one hand, whilst the other one located the little lion’s head again. Then, in one fluent though careful motion, he smeared the substance on the on the little cub’s forehead.
The King had been crowned.
Rafiki picked up the cub, which had remained quite (and probably scared) throughout the entire ceremony, then turned to where he suspected Kovu to be.

“Your Royal Highness?”

Kovu smiled and nodded (although Rafiki couldn’t see that, of course). After helping up the mother, he directed Rafiki where to go. The mother followed.

*

Kiruhu, who had never seen anything like this before, continued to watch anxiously as Kovu and Rafiki moved further up the Rock, towards the end of what looked like an enormous balcony. Suddenly, the cheetah felt the lioness next to him softly tapping his paw. He turned to her.

“This your first time, Cheetah?” Vitani whispered when Kiruhu looked at her, “Yeah? Mine too...”

Nala, the sandy lioness that had followed Kiruhu onto the promontory, was awfully annoyed hearing Vitani speaking to Kiruhu the way she did, disregarding all protocol. But she decided not to interfere; no point in making a scene, not now anyway. Maybe later, once the spectacle was over. Much to Nala's horror, Vitani just kept on talking, although it was just one line.

“And I bet it's their first-timer as well,” she smiled at the cheetah as she discretely pointed north. Kiruhu tried finding out what she was pointing at , without missing too much of the ongoing event. Then, he suddenly noticed: a small hill to the north, just at the outer edge of the gathered animals, with some trees on top of it. He could detect a handful of brownish-yellow figures standing at the trees' base, keeping some distance from the great masses of animals ahead. High visit from up north; a delegation from the Clanlands. So the hyenas too had come to see the presentation of the new heir to Priderock; that was indeed the first time in decades. With a contemplating smile, Kiruhu turned back to the events unfolding on the Rock, as the presentation now neared it's climax.
He was just in time to see Rafiki near the outer end of the Rock, still holding the cub. The proud parents followed at arm's-length. Then, in a slow but fluent motion, he held up the newborn lion. The silence that followed was deafening. Thousands and thousands of eyes just stared up at the petrified little golden ball of fur in the ape's hands.
Suddenly, Kovu stepped up into the spotlight.

“Hail... to the King!” he roared, pointing up at the cub with his right paw.
And the crowd responded, each animal to his own ability: howling, roaring, stamping, shouting... Their cries of loyalty could be heard echoing all over the Pridelands, and beyond.
Amidst the roaring, the clouds suddenly broke up, and a broad beam of light hit the outer edge of the Rock, right where Rafiki was standing. The crowd fell silent instantly. Then it happened. One before the other, all animals started to bow down. From where Kiruhu sat, it looked almost as if a giant wave swept over the animals. He noticed the lionesses around him beginning to bow down as well, so naturally, he followed their example. He still managed to get a glimpse of what was happening at the outer edge of the rock, though.
The mother of the new king had by now bowed down as well. It only left Rafiki and Kovu standing.
Kiruhu could only imagine what the look on Kovu's face was right now, only being able to see the tanned lion's backside. But as he stood there, gazing over the groveling crowd, the cheetah figured it 'd probably be a wide grin, even though it wasn't Kovu the crowd was bowing down for.

*

For a moment there, he literally felt as if he were King of the World; how else to describe the overwhelming feeling you get when being able to admire the submission of a crowd numbering in the thousands? He knew they weren't bowing for him, though, but still... if they had to bow for anyone but him, it had best be his own son.
Kovu scanned the crowd again. Zebra, antelope, wildebeest... countless animals, countless species. Suddenly, to the north, he imagines seeing a handful of figures independent from the main crowd, under a couple of trees, yellowish of fur with irregular dark spots.

Hyenas attending the ceremony? That was unexpected...

From what Kovu could see, they were all bowed down as well, save for the largest one of their group, who seemed to hesitate. But in the end, she too bowed down, be it only briefly. Kovu felt his grin widening even further. The new King had truly ushered in a new era.

*sighs* The prologue to this new story of yours was even better the second time. Just so you know it's me, Baltoluver. I changed my username as you can see. I figured this would fit. Anyway well done on this. It was just as moving the second time around. I look forward to Chapter 1.

Glad you sitll liked it! It would probably intrtest you to know that chapter 1 is as of now available on fanfic.net. I'll post it here once I find the time (posting on a forum is a mess; copy-paste just doesn't cut it when it comes to italic and bold).

ps: when are you going to update one of your fanfics again?

I read chapter 1 on ff.net. Well done.

I'm getting the feeling that even though Kovu has done what his father did he only wants to make sure that history doesn't repeat and that the mistakes of the Past Kings don't come up again. He's right to do this. So Rafiki wants to talk with everyone about this. This is gonna be interesting. Kiara doesn't look too happy with what her husband has done but I haven't seen her do anything and she is technically the heiress but she also has a cub to think about but still I feel a confrontation between her and Kovu coming up.

About my fanfics, the reason I haven't updated is due to a troubling chapter of my first story, 'Of Legacies and Cycles' I feel that the chapter should be up on site soon but I keep putting it off. Don't worry about 'Grudges and Prices' I'll be updating on that story as soon as I'm done with this chapter. I promise. Take care.

~ Brown Wolf

[Author's notes at the bottom of the document, can be read before reading the text, but I put them at the bottom so as not to make them seem obligatory.]

Doves and Hawks, hornbills and vultures

Kovu slowly stretched his numb body as he slacked down. Sitting through most of the ceremony had been surprisingly tiring. He stopped to look back at the dispersing crowd, seeing thousands and thousands of prey casually shuffling off.
It sure would have made a spectacular hunt though; he could already envision tens of lionesses throwing themselves at the enormous herd of animals, forcing the beasts to trample each other in utter panic and despair as they would try to fruitlessly escape the huntresses. Yes, that sure would have made a good show.
But it would forever remain a show only in Kovu's imagination, however, for the predators were bound by a sacred oath. It was forbidden to hunt, or kill in any other way, on the day of the Presentation of a new heir to Priderock. Kovu smiled faintly as he considered how that took all the fun out of what was supposed to be a joyous day. Well, not all the fun...
They were still allowed to eat, though; as the restriction only mentioned hunting, not consuming that which was normally hunted. And on a memorable day like this one, eating had little to do with the body's need of food, and everything with feasting, gluttony and other fun, hedonistic pastimes. You could of course wonder where, if not from a forbidden hunt, the food needed for any excessive banquet would have to come from. The answer is quite simple really, although not at all appetizing if you prefer your meat still warm.
You see, if one amasses thousands of instinctively driven herbivores on a precariously small space, they tend to become a bit stressed. And an animal lacking in intellectual capacities that gets stressed too much has a tendency to... well, drop dead on the spot. Literally. And then there are still all the unfortunate grazers that simply get squashed between their colleagues, or in any other way trampled. In short, after the Presentation-ceremony, most of the Pridelands surrounding Priderock looked not at all like a place of celebration, but more like a killing field – to the herbivores that was. For the lions, however, it was a three-day all-you-can-eat banquet.
Already starting to enjoy the thought of munching down pound after pound of succulent meat, Kovu started regretting all the formalities and obligations he still had to attend to in the aftermath of the ceremony. But what has to be done, has to be done, and procrastination never helped anyone. First to deal with the not-so-unexpected visitors. The first lioness he addresses as he descended the Rock would have to take care of them.

“Hey, sis,” he discretely signaled Vitani.

“My Royal Highness?” she asked ostentatiously polite, bending through her knees. Her eye, however, as well as her hardly suppressed chuckle, was quick to give her away.

“Ha-ha-ha...” Kovu sighed with a frown, “How do you reply to such feeble attempts at humor again? Wait – I know; 'Everyone's a comedian', no?”

Vitani just kept on chuckling.

“That wasn't very regal of you, Highness.”

“I couldn't care less. Now, get your act together and try making yourself useful,” Kovu grumbled. Somehow, although this day was supposed to be one of the highlights of his lifetime, he didn't exactly feel enthusiast, nor in the mood for humor. Chances were it was another one of his premonitions; they tended to bring him down quite a lot. Worse yet, they tended to come true every now and then too.

“All right, I'm listening. What's up?” Vitani replied, still grinning. Kovu looked around, and saw that most others had already made it down from the rock. For the better, Kovu considered.

“Right, now that I have your attention – I presume you too noticed our... extraordinary visitors, waiting on a hill north of here...”

Vitani nodded.

“Well, how to put this... lets just say they didn't come at all uninvited...”

“What, you mean you...” the lioness replied. It was quite a surprise to hear Kovu invited them, but then again, it wasn't – Kovu's ambitions ranked above just sitting atop Priderock and getting fat as his son prepared to become the next official King. No, Kovu didn't plan on just being an idle caretaker during his regency; he wouldn't be remembered as just another righteous and flavorless ruler in a line of many. If it were up to him, he'd be remembered a visionary, an urge he had inherited from the 'wrong' side of the family.

“Yeah, I kinda asked them to come over. I figured now would be a good time to discuss some pressing issues, while everybody is still a bit numb because of the celebrations,” Kovu acknowledged, “And since you're about the only one who knows the hyena leader except for me, I was hoping you could go and keep them... company until I get things evened out around here.”

“I figured you'd say that,” Vitani yawned, “So what, you want me to give them a tour around the Pridelands or something until you send for us?”

“You decide, be creative. Just try staying out of sight, if you catch my drift...” the dark lion shrugged uninterested.

“Yeah, sure, piece of cake. Easier than what you're up against now anyway.”

“Don't remind me...” Kovu frowned. The one thing more awkward than inviting the enemy for dinner is having to break the news to the relatives just before that dinner.

“Anyway, I'm off, going to do all the stuff a regent is supposed to do on a day like this – whatever that might be. And you better get moving too.”

“All right already, I'm going, I'm going. I know when you're tired of me,” Vitani mumbled with a whim of irony to it as she started walking away. But she suddenly halted and turned around.

“Hey Kovu!”

“What?” glared the regent with a tired sigh. Why was she still here?

“Congratulations, little brother...”

The dark lion couldn't help but chuckle upon seeing his sisters silly smirk as she uttered 'little brother'. She'd always be there to keep him right in his place, even when all others were at his paws.

“Thanks, sis. Now get at it already!”

*

“Phew, that was a genuine bore...”

“As always, your enthusiasm is overwhelming,” Vitani sighed, “You do realize this was a once-in a lifetime occasion, I hope.”

“For the better; that means we've already had our share for this decade – unless of course that little runt takes a wrong step when atop the Rock and we need a new king...”

Vitani found herself glaring at her friend with a deep and profound frown. As always, Enyi just glared back with empty, hollow eyes and a face so indifferent it'd make a leopard seem cheery. Sure, Enyi had found out how black humor worked, but smiling was still above her league.

“I'd say 'be serious for a moment', but judging from the look on your face...” Vitani grumbled, “Now... what was I going to say... Oh yeah! You noticed the spotted visitors up north?”

“Not really. I fantasized about hunting down every last one of those grazers down below for most of the ceremony – that and your brother. He can hunt me down anytime...”

“And thank you for that utterly useless, not to mention gross, information,” the one-eyed lioness replied with a scowl, “Since you obviously weren't paying attention, I'll fill you in: Kovu secretly invited a delegation from the hyena clan. Worse yet, he expects me to be the welcoming party...”

“Right, like you don't know your way 'round with...” Enyi smirkingly replied when she suddenly halted, realizing her mistake, “Ah, dang it, sorry, I didn't mean to...”

“Yeah,” Vitani whispered back, looking at her paws, “Obviously...”

Vitani's eye wasn't the only part of her that had gotten hurt all those months ago, and most former Outlanders had quickly learned to talk around those more sensitive issues when with Vitani, especially the hyena-issue. This in great contrast to what remained of the Pridelanders, who still looked on Vitani with scorn and disgust. Luckily, they seldom or never spoke nor voiced their opinions, as Vitani had most of the Outlanders, not to mention Kovu, behind her. But it couldn't be avoided that, every now and then, a little mistake happened, as Enyi had just demonstrated.

“Eh... right... maybe eh... you ought to... just tell me what to do...” Enyi replied a bit embarrassed. Luckily for her, Vitani got a hold of herself again pretty quickly.

“Oh, yeah... well, I kinda wanted you to keep my brother company. Right now, he's on his way to inform the pride of the 'unexpected' visitors, and I'd hoped you'd be able to make sure our sisters supported him.”

“Easy pie,” Enyi replied with a forced smile. It made her look older, Vitani considered.

“I don't doubt that. But it ain't our sisters that are going to give him trouble; it's the Pridelanders you'll have to work on. Not exactly easy pie. But I'm sure you'll manage; you've gotten me out of tougher situations than this.”

“You can say that again. Anything else?” Enyi asked, with a surprising sincerity, considering the near impossible nature of her first assignment.

“Could you maybe find Anana for me? I could use even more company, if possible, but lionesses that can keep their cool around hyenas are kind of far and few in between.”

“I guess that rules Kani out then,” Enyi noted excessively sec.

“That's the least you could say,” replied Vitani with a fabricated smirk. Each and every time she ran into Kani, they ended up in argument, if you can at least call baring your teeth and insulting each other like there's no tomorrow still arguing. The other Pridelanders at least still had the decency, or arrogance, to keep a stiff upper lip and pretend Vitani just didn't exist, although the wince around their nose usually betrayed them.

“Well, I don't know if it helps, but I think I can dig up another lioness except Anana. You remember Karimu?”

“Sure. Wait, isn't she the one who always hangs out with that fat hornbill lately, Tiko?”

“The same,” Enyi nodded, “We had a hunt together last week, and while we were cleaning ourselves up after all the bloodshed, she told me what exactly it is that fat bird is up to. It appears he splits his time between us and the hyenas; he, Kovu and the hyena matriarch seem to be working on something. Whatever it is, it seems to fascinate Karimu.”

“Probably one of the reasons we're getting this visit, I bet,” Vitani grumbled, “Oh well, that means Kovu at least knows what he's doing, that's a start. And now we just have to hope he doesn't mess up...”

“That's where we come in, right?” Enyi smiled faintly.

“Indeed. It doesn't matter what Kovu, the Pridelanders or the hyenas do, in the end, it'll be up to good old Vitani and Enyi to clean up the mess. Again. And again. And again...”

“We 'd better get to it then. I'll go fetch Anana and Karimu.”

“Right, I'll be at the watering hole. Send them there,” Vitani concluded as they both got up.

'Enough with the celebrating Vitani's getting back to work...' grumbled the one-eyed lioness to no-one in particular as she started walking away.

*

“Well if it isn't my favorite king and queen!”

Kiara carefully put the cub down in the far end of the dim cave, then slowly turned around to face the tanned lion.

“You make it sound so awkward,” the lioness said as she tried her best to smile, despite her immense fatigue.

“But technically, I'm right. He's already a king – but you're still my queen,” Kovu grinned as he calmly approached Kiara. They briefly nuzzled.

“You're dead-tired, aren't you?”

Kiara just smiled in response, but the exhaustion could be read of her face. It had indeed been a very tiring week for her, and this blessed day was just the final drop. Kovu was well aware of this, and he tried seeing the upside to it: with some luck, his partner would sleep right through the upcoming and highly controversial visit. Better that than risking a fight with her.
Creeping closer together, Kiara laid her head on Kovu' shoulder, and the regent couldn't help but notice how heavy it felt. As to not to tire her out any more, Kovu lay down and invited his queen to come lay next to him. As was to be expected, she immediately plumped down and nestled herself against Kovu. For a moment, they both stared at their first child. The young cub too was utterly exhausted, and had pretty much fallen asleep the moment Kiara had put him on the rocky pedestal where it now lay all curled up into a small golden ball of fur, partly obscured in the dimness of the cave.

“Have you already thought about a name?” Kiara suddenly whispered.

“Nope. Too much work if we want to do it by the book; we still have to ask Rafiki for advice, and he still has to speak to the stars, listen to the winds, and who-knows-what-else...”

“We better do as he says – we wouldn't want our son to start off under bad signs.”

“Not that that would be an utter disaster – I proved it doesn't have to be,” Kovu grinned out into the darkness, “The little guy sure looks tired...”

Kiara didn't respond. Kovu looked down, at his mate. Her eyes were closed. Must've fallen asleep as well.
For a while, Kovu just sat there, listening to Kiara's soft breathing, not really wanting to get up and leave this temporally idyll behind.

“This should have lasted forever,” Kovu yawned, “Or at least for a couple of hours...”

He then carefully tried getting up, doing his best to try and move around Kiara, which worked surprisingly well. He quickly cast one last glance at his son, who slept a couple of feet away, then slowly sneaked out. Before exerting his cave, he decided he'd look back just once more. Both Kiara and his son were still fast asleep, a peaceful image he'd try his best to remember, for it might always be the last, or so claimed his resurgent premonition.
Proceeding outward, he reached the entrance of his Royal cave. The bright light outside felt a bit blinding.

What to do now?

Suddenly, Kovu noticed a lean, grayish sandy lioness just outside the cave, obviously a former Outlander, judging by the looks of her.

“Enyi? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be out helping haul all the meat over here? Or were you waiting for me?”

“The second,” confirmed the lioness, “Vitani thought you might want some help with whatever it is you are supposed to be doing now; she told me it had something to do with some 'visitors'.”

“That's an awfully nice gesture of Vitani, but I can handle things myself, thanks,” Kovu smirked, a bit annoyed at his sister's tendency to take that teeny bit too much initiative. But Kovu wasn't too proud too see when an extra set of paws could indeed come in handy either.

“But now that you're here, you might as well make yourself useful.”

The dark lion walked ahead, up to the ridge from where he could see onto Priderock's plaza. The lionesses had already dragged two corpses of zebra up there, nice fat ones too. Probably elderly zebra that had died from hearth attacks or somthing. That feast, however,would have to wait.

“All right... Enyi?” asked the lion as he looked onto the forming banquet.

“Highness?”

“'Sir' will do,” grumbled Kovu; for some reason,he didn't really like the sound of 'highness', “I want you to go down there and tell every lioness individually to gather in the main cave. Make sure to mention that they ought to stay away from the royal cave, we don't want them to wake up Kiara. What else... Ah, right, make sure you inform the Pridelanders last. And tell four of our most trusted sisters to wait outside of the main cave. I'll need an escort when I come in.”

“Done and done. Anything else, sir?”

“Yeah, be sure to alert me when you're done with all that. I'll be in the eh... spare cave.”

“Spare cave? What, you mean Taka's former den?” Enyi asked casually. It earned her an amazed stare from Kovu, who thought it was quite peculiar she seemed to be the only one to be able to casually refer to Scar by his actual name.

“Eh... yeah, Taka's cave. Shout if something comes up.”

With that, both the regent and the lioness took off, in opposite directions. Kovu immediately headed for Taka's former cave, as he had yet another meeting planned that day, though this one wasn't what you'd call controversial. It was more like a boring obligation. Trying not too attract too much attention, he casually crept over the small rocky trail that lead to the back of Priderock, where Taka's former cave was located. Tiko, who was supposed to be some kind of royal advisor (although 'independent advisor for whomever he pleased' would be a better suiting tittle), was already waiting there for him.

“Your Royal Highness!” called out the hornbill as he noticed Kovu.

“Yeah, good afternoon to you too,” Kovu yawned, “Do a lion a favor, drop the 'Royal Highness', will ya?”

The regent suddenly noticed another bird in the cave, a rather huge one too. At first, Kovu only saw the huge bird's mottled brown, nearly black back, close to a meter in length.

“And who's the vulture?”

The enormous bird immediately turned around upon hearing someone mention him. It turned his curled beak towards Kovu and stared at him with his black, beady eyes.

“Ah, howdy, sir! You must be the king 'round 'ere, sir!” cackled the bird as it made a bowing gesture with its wide wings, “Honored to meet you, sir, my name is Mzugu.”

“King in all but name,” Kovu nodded upon hearing the bird address him as 'the king', “Prince Consort Kovu, Regent of these lands. So, Mzugu, what brings you to my realm; who died?”

“Haha, if I got a meal every time I heard that one, sir,” the bird chuckled not at all too convincing, “But as much as it may disappoint you, sir, I didn't come here to eat; no sir! I was, in fact, invited by that good sir over there.”

As Kovu had come to expect, the vulture pointed at Tiko, who just sheepishly grinned.

“Is that so? Well than, why don't we let our good friend Tiko explain why exactly it is you are here?” grinned the lion in a way that told 'Come on, Tiko, enlighten me as to why it is you are wasting my time with this oddball.'

“Well, eh... my pleasure, your sir... – I mean, your highness,” the hornbill replied hasty, “I invited Mzugu here at the request of his king.”

“From that I take it that his king isn't the same one as your king?” the lion quickly added, “Come on Tiko, cut to the chase, while we're still young.”

“As you wish, highness. Mzugu is an envoy from the Southern kingdom...”

“What, he's from the swamps? Why would that swamp-cat of king...”

“Ahem!” coughed Mzugu upon hearing Kovu refer to his lord as 'that swamp-cat'.

“I mean, why would the King of the South want to send us an envoy, on the day of the presentation-ceremony, to meet me only when the ceremony itself is already over?”

“Well, he didn't exactly come for the ceremony...”

“Why then is he here? The banquet?” interrupted Kovu

“If you would let me finish – highness,” replied the hornbill a bit annoyed, “As I was saying, he didn't come for the ceremony; he came for the meeting we – that is, your highness and me myself – arranged later this day...”

“Are you serious?” frowned the tanned lion, “You're telling me a vulture came all the way here,from deep down south, so he could get to see some hyenas? Doesn't he get enough of those while eating?”

The vulture himself didn't seem at all too happy with the scornful remarks of Kovu, but remained surprisingly silent. Tiko, on the other hand, found himself clarifying his responses once again.

“No, wait, lets start over... It has now been several months since the end of the second hyena-war, right, and as we both know, we have been, through me as a mediator, trying to bring the pride and the hyena clan closer together ever since,” Tiko started elaborating, deliberately slow and loud, as if he were addressing an oblivious cub, “Now, when I told you I frequently met with some colleagues of mine, all educated in the field of the law, to discus the technical issues, adapting the royal laws and such, I usually referred to Mzugu here. Now, as one could expect, he kept his king informed about what it was he was doing when debating with me. And for some reason, his king, the King of the South, took particular interest in the reconciliatory efforts between us and the hyena clan.”

“And so the King of the South would like to have his bird around when we make the proposed agreements with the hyena clan official, right, I get the picture,” Kovu nodded, getting a bit tired of Tiko's elaborate explanations, “Say, Mzugu, what business has your king with how we deal with hyenas in our own realm?”

“Well, sir, lets just say the borders in the swamps aren't what they used to be, and the same goes for our king's health. Therefore, sir, my king is a bit wary of hostility, regardless of the aggressors race; if the times are bad, both hyenas and lions can descend upon an empire like vultures, if you pardon the pun, sir. The attempts you are making at establishing somehow what normalized relations with your previously hated enemies might be a good model to combat my lord's worries in the matter of outside aggression, or that's at least what my king thought.”

“He did, huh?” Kovu smirked, letting a certain disdain shine through his otherwise neutral voice, “Well, I hope your king realizes it took us decades – who knows, maybe even longer – of merciless carnage and pointless bloodshed only to define mutually recognized borders between our pride and the hyena clan. He shouldn't get his hopes up too much, we don't work miracles over here, just careful diplomacy.”

“Still, anything you pick up concerning the technical issues might prove useful, violence and bloodshed aside,” Tiko chuckled cynically, invoking a grin on Kovu's face; he definitely preferred Tiko over the late Zazu. Mzugu didn't seem to find the remark at all funny, though.

“Anyway, I suppose I don't mind you watching the upcoming meeting, just don't...” Kovu tried saying to the vulture in conclusion of their short talk, when he was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a lioness in the cave.

“Kovu!”

“What, no 'highness' this time?” grumbled Kovu sarcastically before he even got to see who it actually was he was addressing. If only he had payed a bit more attention, he would have recognized Nala's voice, whose emerald eyes now peered directly into Kovu's.

“Ah, my queen! So, what brings you here, uninvited, interrupting my meeting?” sneered Kovu as he noticed who exactly had just appeared. He soon regretted his remark, though, as it came out sounding quite aggressive, almost like a reproach. The last thing he needed was another argument with Nala, considering how it had taken him months to get her just to talk to him again after the tragedy of the Golden River. Luckily, Nala's indignation prevented her from immediately responding, which in turn gave Kovu the opportunity to apologize. Whether that would be of any help, though, was another question.

“Oh – ***** it, sorry. I didn't mean it like that. In fact, I didn't mean it at all. Sorry. All this mess surrounding the ceremony is just getting a bit too much...” sighed the tanned lion as he tried approaching Nala as amicably as he could manage.
The sandy lioness, on the other hand, was trying to decide whether she should either just ignore what had happened or walk out of the cave without saying a word, outraged. She chose to do neither, as she suddenly noticed the vulture Mzugu.

“Who's the vulture?” she just asked in neutral voice.

“Howdy, ma'am. The name's Mzugu,” replied the huge bird of prey, retaining an awkwardly casual tone, not to mention his outrageous accent.

“Eh... yeah... howdy to you too...” Nala hesitatingly mumbled, as if she had forgotten what it was she had come search Kovu for in the first place. She seemed to need a minute to grasp her thoughts again. As Kovu found this rather amusing,he just waited, careful not to smile too obviously. Then in a flash, Nala seemed to have remembered.

“Kovu!”

“Yes?” replied the lion, ostentatiously slow.

“I'm afraid we've got other scavenger-problems, aside from the vulture over there.”

“No way...”

“Yeah, I'm afraid so,” nodded the elderly queen, not aware of Kovu's sarcasm, “Kani went to take a look at the assembled herds from the Rock right after you left there, she figured it'd be the only time she would be able to see something amazing like this morning's gathering ever. But she was able to make out something other than just the regular guests for the ceremony, just a glimpse.”

The queen paused a moment, as for dramatic effect. Kovu, however, just remained stoic.

“So...?” he eventually asked.

“Kovu! There were hyenas on a hill up north!”

“Ah, hyenas! Some news indeed. Say, Kani didn't happen to try and chase them off on her own, did she?”

“Of course not! She came straight to me, and I spent the rest of the time looking for you!”

“Right, nice,” Kovu sighed, a bit relieved; you couldn't ever be sure with Kani around, “I'll deal with this immediately. Meanwhile, you go to the main cave, we'll gather the lionesses there.”

“Okay, we could do that...” Nala frowned, obviously a bit suspicious. This wasn't exactly the response she'd been expecting. And her trust for Kovu wasn't that impressive to begin with. But before she could ask more, yet another lioness entered the cave, this time Enyi. Everyone turned around and stared at her as she came in. Enyi, in turn, looked at Nala with a certain surprise on her otherwise infamously inert face.

“Eh... Kovu, sir, we eh... I mean, I gathered everyone in the main cave. Except for Queen Nala. Who appears to be... right here,” stuttered the sandy lioness.

“What do you mean everybody is already in the main cave?” questioned Nala, “Kovu, did you already...”

“That's not important right now. What is important, is my request to you to head over to the main cave yourself, and wait for me to do the explanation to the whole pride there, all right?”

Nala had wanted to keep hearing Kovu out, as was her good right, being the Queen-mother, but her gut-feeling already answered most of her questions. None of the answerers turned out to be satisfactory. Thus, with an overall bad feeling, she just followed Enyi to the main cave, casting a last suspicious glare over her shoulder, right at Kovu. The dark lion, however, had already turned his attention to someone else, notably Tiko.

“I get the feeling this'll get tougher as I delay more, so we better speed things up. Go get Vitani, she'll probably be 'round our 'guests' by now. I'll be in the main cave, preparing the pride for the upcoming meeting. I don't expect this to go smoothly, so alert me when you return with the hyenas, got it?”

The hornbill nodded and took off; no need for further delay. Now, only Mzugu remained in the cave.

“All right, vulture, as for you, you just follow me. That isn't so you could have front-row seats, but for your own safety: no one knows you around here, and they might just mistake you for a snack.”

“Sir, yes sir,” agreed the bird, as he began wobbling behind Kovu as the lion made it's way to the main cave. As he had requested, four lionesses sat posted at the entrance. The regent immediately recognized them as true supporters to his cause, which couldn't quite be said of all his subjects.

“Greetings, sisters. If you would lead the way, please?”

Kovu thus slowly entered the main cave. The cave itself had three levels, in the form of three more or less concentric circles, all of which now hosted scores of lionesses. Although quite full already, the cave could easily host even more lionesses, probably up to forty, give or take. Because of the cave's specific makeup, Kovu found himself stared at by tens of eyes from all directions as he entered, at the bottom level. Everyone fell silent when they noticed the regent entering.

“Afternoon, ladies...” he mumbled under his breath. Kovu briefly looked around to locate Nala. He quickly noticed she'd taken position on the second level of the cave, just opposed to the entrance where Kovu himself sat. Next to the queen sat another lioness, sleek, beautiful and with a lush golden fur. So, it seemed Nala had teamed up with Kani; that wouldn't exactly make it easier on him, considered Kovu.
Seeing as no-one stepped forward to pose a question, Kovu reasoned they expected him to do the talking. At first, anyway.

“Great, I see everyone is here,” he spoke up, now with a loud and relatively confident voice, “I presume most of you are wondering why I called you here, drawing you away from the imminent feast. Alas, I am afraid the banquet will have to wait just a little bit longer; there is still something else we have to take care of on this memorable day...”

Nala and Kani' stares by now almost burned a hole in Kovu's forehead, or so it at least felt to Kovu.

“As some of you might or might not have noticed, there were some 'unexpected' visitors for the presentation this morning...”

At this pint, almost all lionesses just blankly stared at Kovu, as they had no idea what he was talking about. All lionesses except for Nala and Kani, that is; they already got where he was going at, and didn't like it one bit.

“Now, for those of you who don't have a clue as to what I am talking about, there were a handful of hyenas watching the ceremony this morning...” Kovu continued, leaving a pause for the obligatory gasping and mumbling as he uttered 'hyenas', “... and from all those surprised reactions, I take it most of you hadn't noticed. But now you all know they did in fact attend the ceremony...”

Kovu hesitated. Now came the hard part. For a moment there, Kovu considered beating about the bush some more, but that would be postponing the inevitable. His best option really was to just bite the bullet.

“Now, what I am about to say may come as quite a shock to some of you, and I do not blame you; you have earned your right to be shocked and appalled, you have paid for that right in blood. If you, at any time, want to voice those opinions, you are free to do so...”

Mzugu, looking at all this from behind Kovu's back,, couldn't help but notice how hollow that statement sounded: there sat Kovu, surrounded by four muscular lionesses who seemed ready to lash out at anyone who as much as looked at Kovu in a way that displeased him; that sure was encouraging for anyone who wanted to voice any opinion.

“Now, what I actually had to say: the hyenas who attended the ceremony had no malign intentions. Quite to the contrary; I... invited them...”

Those last words Kovu almost hissed, reluctant as he was to utter them. And with good reason: where the cave had moments before still been filled with the soft buzzing of lionesses mumbling at each other, she was now filled with an eerie silence, weighing down heavily on everyone inside. Kovu exploited that to quickly finish his explanation before the shouting would kick in.

“Not only that, I also invited the hyena matriarch here, to appear before us on Priderock today.”

There, he said it. That was part one of the show. And now for act two. Kovu slowly lift his head up, looking at the two lionesses whose stare he had avoided all that time.
Kani seemed to be the most upset, having her claws out, gritting the stone floor. From the cold stare in her eyes, as well as the tension building up in her body, Kovu could tell she was ready to pounce at him, and beat him to within an inch of his life – possibly even further. Since the cave was filled with lionesses, however, most of whom would disapprove strongly of an assault on their regent, she just kept sitting there, angrily staring at Kovu, cursing at him between her bared teeth.

“You filthy, treacherous swine,” she viciously hissed, “After me and my sisters gave up our blood, our lives and our king to keep Priderock safe from those mongrels, you invite them? Stinking Outlandish rat!”

At this, almost all Outlanders growled in unison, but Kani didn't as much as flinch, being both too proud and too tough to do so. Before the situation got further out of hand, Nala intervened, however. In contrast to the outraged Kani, Nala was on the verge of bursting out in tears.

“Kovu, why?” she asked barely audible, “Why do you do this to us?”

“Because I have to,” Kovu stoically replied, “Because this is my duty as a leader of the pride.”

“What did you say?” Nala gasped, her eyes still gleaming of sorrow.

“I said I am doing my duty as a ruler.”

“Your duty as a ruler,” repeated Nala scornfully, “Many great lions have ruled their realm from this cave, Kovu, and now you befoul their names and heritage by counting yourself among them? By inviting hyenas? What on earth gives you the right to think...”

“Because I am your King!” snapped Kovu, “I do what I have to do for the benefit our pride and our lands.”

“You are no king,” spat Kani, “You're a regent, a pathetic caretaker of a throne once occupied by greater Kings from a far more noble bloodline.”

“Ha, greater Kings!” smirked Kovu in contempt, “Those 'greater Kings' merely created the mess I am trying to sort out now. I always thought we had well established that fact already.”

“Don't you dare...” Nala threatened, making it very clear that any mention of her late husband's name would make her resort to more forceful, less talkative arguments.

“If you insist, my queen,” replied the regent with played politeness, “I'll leave the kings be, for the time being. If you two, on the other hand, stubbornly go on digging up the past, that's your choice. I myself, however, am prepared to move ahead, along with anyone ready to follow me, towards the future...”

A slow, shrill yet hollow laughter suddenly arose from the third-level of the cave, near the dim far-end. Looking up, Kovu could see a figure laboriously getting up and moving out of the shade, slowly and carefully jumping towards the second-level, next to Nala and Kani. Light from outside the cave now shone upon the lioness' dull, sandy fur.

“Would you mind letting all of us in on the fun, Sarafina?”

Sarafina, Nala's mother. The oldest lioness in the pride, and the only one to have been adult at the time of Scar's takeover. By now, old age had broken her voice and was steadily consuming her body, slowly covering her previously green eyes with a grayish gleam. The same went for her mind, as it was not uncommon for her to forget even her daughters name every now and then. But now, she was obviously experiencing a rare moment of lucidity.

“Kovu, Kovu, Kovu...” she slowly uttered, “I can see your mouth moving and I'm sure I can hear your voice bark. But for all that, it's not you who's talking...”

She paused for an instant. No-one really know whether it was so she could catch her breath, or if it was just for dramatic effect. She started laughing again.

“Moving ahead, towards the future? Ha! Ahead, towards a 'glorious future', along with your hyena friends? Maybe it's just my age, but... that sounds ***** familiar. Like father, like son, I guess...”

“And I suppose that is supposed to shut me up then?” Kovu sighed, “How on earth would you like me to reply to that? An apology for being born perhaps, for not having been able to pick the right father? Well, you ain't getting' it. Maybe it seems to you I'm following in Scar's paw-prints... well I don't give a *****. I do know one thing though, I won't make the mistakes he made. But I won't make the mistakes Simba or Mufasa made either...”

“I don't have to listen to this!” Nala suddenly growled, her eyes bty now swollen and read of the tears she tried fighting back. All this talk about Simba and hyenas apparently brought back some really bad memories. The lioness sprung down towards the cave-floor, upon which Kovu now stood upright. Expecting Nala was about to jump their regent, two former Outlanders quickly hopped in front of Kovu, ready to defend him. But Nala had no intention of picking a fight; she just disdainfully stared at Kovu and the lionesses in front of him, and shoved one aside as soon as they had realized she just wanted to get out.

“Out of my way!” she hissed as she pushed another growling Outlander aside, “I'll be in Scar's cave... for old time's sake. Yell when your scruffy scavenging friends are gone, regent.”

Once Outside, Nala was quick to notice another lioness that was making her way towards the cave. She immediately recognized the half-blind Vitani. The queen-mother reasoned she had probably brought the hyenas; that was a job which fitted Vitani fine.

“And I suppose you brought the spotted cavalry?” grunted Nala as she trotted off, “Simba, my love, what a disgrace is this...”

Vitani was bright enough to recognize a bad sign when she saw one. She turned around, towards the plaza upon which now sat both her two companions and three hyenas.

“Did I already mention you shouldn't exactly expect a warm welcome?”

With that, she continued onward towards the cave, to alert Kovu of her return. Truth be told, she herself didn't expect a warm welcome either. As she entered, she was greeted by shouting; now that Nala had left, Kani and Kovu were enthusiastically flinging insults at each other, with Kani receiving some support from the remnants of the once numerous Pridelaners, and Kovu getting some, though little, backing from the unnervingly quiet Outlanders. “We aren't 'one' quite just yet,” Vitani sighed to herself.

“Ahem...,” Vitani introduced herself as she entered, “Ladies, Kovu – they're here.”

“Hurrah...” Kovu mumbled, “Okay, send 'em in. I could be shouting my lungs out 'till nightfall without accomplishing anything like this...”

“Oh, this is grand, you're letting 'em in? You're actually letting them into our cave?” Kani yelped.

“I think I'm going now...” Vitani whispered, quickly disappearing again, off to get the hyenas. Meanwhile, Kani continued her verbal barrage.

“As if it wasn't enough you let those dirt-bags onto our sacred Priderock, you actually expect them to come in our main cave, the same cave in which they killed my friend Kausha and wounded me? How considerate!”

“Please, Kani, drop it already, this is getting old...” Kovu yawned, intentionally cold, after which he addressed the lionesses who sat on the ground level.

“Now, everyone but me onto the ridges, come on, clear some room here...”

“Like hell am I moving for those mongrels,” Kani spat, as she jumped onto the ground, “I'm out off here. Anyone care to join me?”

As Kovu had expected, most former Pridelanders almost immediately followed Kani and jumped onto the ground as well. To Kovu's surprise however, three Pridelanders remained seated. Of two he knew they didn't support Kani's radical views and were, despite everything, still somehow what loyal to their regent. The third Pridelander, however, was none other than Sarafina. She quickly removed his doubts, however.

“Kani, sweetie, I would have followed you out if it weren't for my tired old paws. But I suppose I'll be condemned to lying here and watching the whole ***** travesty...”

As she and her followers tried walking out, Kani suddenly bumped into Vitani, distracted as she was by Sarafina's comments. She turned around to growl at Vitani when she suddenly noticed the three figures behind her.
So there they were, the dreaded hyenas. The lioness unsheathed her claws and bared her fangs, then slowly started stalking past the enemy. First past the hyena with the long, thick manes, then past the one with the deformed face. When she was about to pass the last of the predators, though, Kani suddenly froze. She recognized the last one, the one with the grayish manes. She had been the one to...

“Y-you...” she hissed under her breath., backing up a little. Unlike her two companions, the gray-maned hyena wasn't at all intimidated by the lionesses all around her, and thus had no trouble replying.

“Do we know each other?”

Kani seemed to flinch for a second, but than rushed forward out of the cave with an angry growl. Her few fellow Pridelanders to support her followed her example. The hyena, on the other hand just shrugged and continued to follow Vitani into the cave – not that she didn't know her way around there, though.
In contrast to the guests she accompanied, Vitani wasn't at all upset about the lionesses leaving the cave. To the contrary: she realized the temporary departure of the Pridelanders would save her a lot of being boo-ed at, something she didn't really appreciate.
Just before the newly arrived group appeared in the cave, the hornbill Tiko, who had been sitting on the first hyena's shoulder all the way there, suddenly hopped off and flapped towards Kovu, who sat in the center of the cave.

“I guess I should do this – highness,” grinned the bird as he landed next to the tanned lion. Kovu just shrugged.

Lets just hope he don't make it sound too much like a game-show.

“Miladies, your highness, allow me to present to you: her Majesty Shenya, Matriarch of the Graveyard-clan, ruler of the Clanlands!”

Then, with a sweeping bow, Tiko groveled a bit backwards as to allow the first hyena to step up towards where Kovu was sitting. And she did, hesitatingly, not lifting a paw before the previous one had been put back on the cave floor. When she was about three feet away from Kovu, she stopped to look around, her gentle gray eyes flashing from one end of the cave to the other. You could tell she was all but at ease, sitting in the middle of a cave filled with almost twenty full-grown lions and lionesses. And the deafening silence certainly added to that.
Tiko had to suppress a giggle when he thought of how hilarious it would be if he would step up and whisper 'Awkward!'... they should have invested some more time in protocol.

“So eh... yeah, that's me. The Matriarch 'n all...” stuttered the hyena in her characteristic, high-pitched yet coarse voice, “Hi...”

“Greetings, Matriarch,” Kovu suddenly boomed back in response, “I, prince Kovu, regent of the Pridelands, welcome you to my home.”

“That's your cue...” whispered Tiko when he noticed the hyenas didn't respond.

“Oh, right,” on of them hissed, after which all three of them briefly bowed down.

“It is an honor to be here, your highness,” proclaimed the Matriarch while still bowing down her head.

“I bet it is...” grumbled Sarafina under her breath, earning her the angry stares of Vitani and Enyi. Kovu, however, didn't even bother to look back, as he still had his gaze fixed upon the groveling hyenas.

“Please, Shenya, you need not bow before me; I have invited you here today as an equal – and a friend,” replied Kovu with the necessary theater, putting on his most regal face as he strode closer towards the hyena Matriarch. Someone had obviously been rehearsing better than the hyenas.
As Kovu approached her, Shenya got up with the most sincere smile she could muster in the given circumstances. Kovu could read from her face she was happy she had gotten that over with.

“All right, now that we've gotten the formalities over with, why don't you introduce us to your retinue, Shenya?” Kovu suddenly suggested in the most casual manner. It had to be said: with regards to the protocol and formalities, Kovu was an even bigger slacker than Simba, although that arguably had a lot to do with the passing of the strict Zazu as advisor to the royal court, and his replacement by his easy-going nephew Tiko.

“Sure, if you insist,” shrugged Shenya, recognizing more of the Kovu she had met before, “One-eyes here is Banzaï...”

“Hey!” protested the one-eyed hyena with the scarred face, “It's called visually impaired!”

That of course earned him a chuckle from the just as 'visually impaired' Vitani.

“And that one's Shetani, ruler of the Northlands, and my lieutenant.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Kovu nodded, “I could introduce everyone in this cave, but that would take me a bit too far, I'm afraid. And since you have already met my sister Vitani, that's about it for my right-paw lioness. Now, onto business, shall we? I believed you had prepared a little speech for this...”

“Right,” Shenya nodded, “I suppose all you lions know what I'm here for; Kovu must've told you by now...”

All lioness simultaneously shook their heads.

“Well, to be frank, I didn't quite get there yet...” Kovu admitted.

“Oh, great, let the hyena do all the work,” Shenya sighed, “All right... eh... I came here today, on Kovu's invitation, to officially redefine the relations between the Pride and the Clan.
As you probably all know, those relations are not good, to say the least. Quite to the contrary, for as long as any of us can remember, relations were defined by two words: hate and warfare... and over time, little has changed, as your friends who just left this cave illustrated. But we know all to well where this behavior has led us. It led to clash after clash, each one more violent than the other, culminating in the tragedies that took place here, at Priderock, and at the Golden River, the current border between our lands. A border drawn in blood...”

Sarafina yawned ostentatiously, earning her a genuine evil-eye glare from Vitani; these matters were not to be mocked.

“I came here today with one message: it has to end. This feud has already dragged on too long; too many cubs and pups have been raised to hate each other without even realizing why. Besides, do we even realize why? What could possibly justify this endless carnage to span generations? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It took me a while to see that; in fact, only months ago, it was me who led the charge against your pride, assembled here at Priderock, blinded by my own hate and sorrow. But I've learned my lesson, at tremendous costs. The father of my yet unborn children died because I wanted to fight lions, my mother died while fighting lions, my father had his whole life consumed because of his hatred for lions. And my brother... he died trying to end it all, trying to stop what evil I had unleashed. I owe it to him to try and finish what he started. We have to end this pointless rivalry between our races, or our hatred will end us in stead, as our latest war brutally illustrated.”

Shenya paused. It was obvious she had a hard time continuing, as mentioning her late family always made her rather emotional. Kovu cautiously looked around the cave. Everyone was locked in silence. One of the few Pridelanders to have stayed behind in the cave could be seen averting her eyes in tears; she had lost her older sister in the war, which made the hyena's words all the more relevant to her. Most Outlanders, however, just stared inertly, as their part in the war had been marginal, and so had their losses; they didn't exactly feel the hardships others had suffered. Except maybe for one Outlander: Vitani. She could feel Shenya's pain; they mourned the same casualties. Kovu felt relieved to see Enyi trying to comfort the silently wailing Vitani.

“Beautifully said, Shenya. Sad but true words,” Kovu calmly spoke, first towards the hyena, then towards the crowd, “From your reactions I take it me and the Matriarch do not stand alone with our concerns. Good; I am prepared to do everything it takes to make sure my children will not have to live through what most of us have suffered. The same goes for Shenya. But we cannot achieve this alone, and we cannot achieve this through mere words. We will have to make this work, together. And I, in my position of regent, assuming the powers of the King, will herein take the first step. Tiko?”

“All right, pride, listen up,” the plump hornbill yelped, “What his highness meant, was that he is going to officially end the war with the Clan by ceremonially making peace. After that, he'll alter some of the Royal Laws, so you better listen carefully.”

As Tiko had, on previous occasions, explained to Kovu and Shenya, the deceleration of peace would involve a little ceremony. Both the lion and the hyena prepared themselves by stepping closer together and facing each other.

“All right, a little more to the left – there you go. Now, both bend over a bit, come on, bend over. 'till your foreheads touch. Nice,” Tiko instructed the two predators.

“Awkward?” Shenya whispered as she stood with her head touching than of Kovu, feeling his thick manes caress her ears.

“Extremely awkward,” Kovu grinned.

“Okay, lovebirds,” Tiko chuckled, much to Banzaï amusement, “I hope you remembered the lines?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kovu muttered, “All right, here goes... ahem... With the Kings of the Past as my witnesses, let it henceforth be known: peace at home, peace with the Graveyard-clan, for as long as the Circle of Life may endure...”

“With the Queens of the Past as my witnesses, let it henceforth be known: peace at home, peace with Priderock, for as long as the Circle of Life may endure...”

“And amen! Nice!” Tiko grinned with satisfaction.

“Really romantic too,” commented Banzaï with a hardly suppressed chuckle,,” I was kinda expecting the bird would conclude with 'You may now kiss the bride'...”

“Haha, real hilarious, one-eyes,” Shenya grumbled.

“Oh, but he wasn't joking, your majesty,” Tiko suddenly commented in an unusually serious manner, “Protocol states you have to seal the deal with a firm embrace, and a kiss on either cheek...”

“I'll seal your deal...” snapped Kvou, as he mockingly lashed out at Tiko, who hopped away.

“But your highness! I'm serious!”

“Go fool the other one, Tiko...”

“Highness, why would I lie about this?

“Are you really serious?”

“Highness, I swear on my mother's grave!”

“Your mother is not dead yet...”

“You're not fooling anyone, you know,” intervened Shenya.

“But for the Kings' sake, I'm dead serious! You have to kiss!” shouted Tiko in frustration.

“You sure you ain't lying?”

“Absolutely!”

All... right...” replied Kovu, turning back to Shenya, “You eh... prepared to make another offer on the altar of peace?”

“It's not like it 'll kill us, I suppose,” shrugged the hyena reluctantly. She moved her head toward Kovu's when suddenly...

“All right, folks, ye can break it up already, protocol don't say anything 'bout kissing...” giggled Mzugu the vulture, who had lain low throughout most of the meeting, “I know something 'bout protocol, and this sure ain't no part of it. He's just pulling both yer paws...”

“What?” shouted Kovu and Shenya in indignation, “You mean...”

All their doubts were removed when Tiko started snickering out loud.

“Well isn't that considerate of you, ruining this solemn occasion with your clearly misguided ideas about humor,” Kovu hissed, somewhere between anger and amusement, “You're lucky I still need you to proclaim my new laws, or I'd beat you to a feathery pulp instantly...”

“... but now I guess he'll have to wait 'till after your proclaiming 's done,” noted Shenya.
Meanwhile, Tiko was regaining some of his breath, though he still chuckled a bit.

“Aw, come on, comrades, highnesses, majesties! There's no sound to symbolize peace better than the sweet caress of a sincere laugh...”

“If you don't want to engage in a not-so-sweet caress with the wall over there, I'd suggest you get back to what it is we're actually keeping you 'round here for,” Kovu grumbled under his voice.

“All right, I'll get to it,” huffed Tiko, still exhausted from his laughing spasm. He hopped towards the center of the room.

“Okay, eh... Lets see... As I said, I'll be proclaiming some new laws now. This'll take a while, official stuff and all, I hope it doesn't bore you that much,” Tiko preemptively apologized to the gathered lions and hyenas, “But hey, I'll still have to recite this for about a hundred times, 'till every puny critter in the entire Prideland has heard it, so cheer up! You only have to listen once.”

[Skip this, unless you're a Lion-King Legalist]
“Ahem... Hear ye, hear ye! To all those who are, have been or have yet to be, his Highness Kovu, Regent of the Pridelands, has decided and I declare:
That the Royal decree of his Majesty King Mufasa of the Pridelands, stating that the King of Priderock rules all the lands the sun touches, is as of now void.
That, by decree of his Highness Kovu, Regent of Priderock, the King of the Pridelands rules all the lands in between the White-Pass-River in the east, the Golden River in the North, the Swamps in the south, and the Great Gorge in the west.
That, by decree of his Highness Kovu, Regent of Priderock, the King of the Pridelands will at all times respect the sovereign rule of the Graveyard-Clan Matriarch over the lands North of the Golden River.
That the Royal decree of his Majesty King Ahadi of the Pridelands, stating that all hyenas who trespass onto the Pridelands are to be killed on sight, is as of now void.
That the Royal decree of his Majesty King Ahadi of the Pridelands, stating that it is never to be considered a crime to kill or harm any hyena, is as of now void.
That, by decree of his Highness Kovu, Regent of Priderock, while in the Pridelands, any hyena from the Graveyard-Clan shall be treated as a Priderock-lion for what concerns protection against and treatment for bodily harm.
That, in a mutual and binding agreement, Regent Kovu of Priderock and Matriarch Shenya of the Graveyard-Clan, have decided that in case either realm has depleted it's natural resources, the Pride or Clan of that realm will be allowed to live of the other realm for so long as it does not threaten the original inhabitants of that realm.”
[Done. Some explanations will probably follow, but this was a must-have for realism]

“You're about done?”

“As a matter of fact, I am. Do you all understand – or should I repeat it, slowly and naggingly?” Tiko grinned maliciously.

“No, please, spare us!” Vitani yawned.

“Although I would never dare doubt any of you when it comes to your superior intellects, my dear sisters,” Kovu mockingly declared to the assembled lionesses in a similar tone as Tiko had just employed, “Maybe a small explanation would not fall bad. After all, it's hard to abide by the law if you do not know what it holds. The most important thing is this: from now on, killing or harming any of Matriarch Shenya's underlings will be treated as killing or harming one of our own lionesses. The bottom line here is: just don't! As of now, harming hyenas is illegal. The Matriarch has made similar declarations to her clan with regards to lions...”

Smart move, Vitani considered: now a lioness should, in theory, feel just as safe in the Clanlands as she would in the Pridelands, same for the hyenas. That should create a certain bond, a common ground, and a good step towards a more enduring peace.

“As for all that yapping about the new border...” Kovu had wanted to continue, when he was suddenly interrupted by some muffled sound of protest coming from the entrance to the cave. As the regent turned around to see what it was, Anana and Karimu, who had been blocking the entrance, moved aside. A golden lioness slowly walked in, carrying a small golden cub in her by its scruff. As soon as the lioness noticed the hyenas, however, she froze. Her reddish brown eyes flashed from the hyenas to Kovu, who opened his mouth as to say something bu seemed to hesitate.

“Kiara, honey, I...”

But before Kovu could utter any excuse whatsoever, Kiara stareted slowly pacing backwards, out of the cave, speeding up the moment Kovu tried to approach her. As Kiara again left the cave, still carrying her cub, Kovu abandoned the idea of trying to go after her, which left him standing in the middle of the cave. Everyone just stared at him.

“I still hadn't congratulated you on the birth of your son...” Shenya suddenly whispered.

“Yeah,” Kovu sighed as he pointlessly stared ahead, “Thanks...”

*

“And now she's coming out again. I don't think she liked what she saw, to say the least. Nope, definitely not. She's on the verge of crying.”

“That's what he gets for always trying to do things his way,” Rafiki noted.

“Come on now, that ain't fair. Kovu is trying his best, and he just does what he thinks is right.”

“That's what I'm afraid of. The worst of things are done with the best intentions. He's too much like his father. We ought to have a talk.”

“With Kovu?” Kiruhu asked.

“No, with all of 'em.”

“What?” Kiruhu frowned.

“Hush, I'm trying to think here,” Rafiki muttered, thinking. He remained silent for a couple of seconds.

“Yes, I need a long talk with all of 'em. I should have done this a lot sooner...”

“Better late than never,” Kiruhu suggested, not having a clue what Rafiki was on about, which seemed to annoy the ape greatly. That would have explained the trashing he gave the cheetah with his staff.

“I said hush...” grumbled Rafiki as he sat down on the floored Kiruhu.

*

Author's notes
Just for the fun of it, I decided to add some author's notes. Maybe I'll do this more often, maybe I won't.
Let's see here... Well, this chapter sure is a long way from the prologue, isn't it? I have to admit, the contrast is a bit intentional; we move from theatrical mass-scenes to small, dark caves and tense conversations. And no magic either this time; the cynical comments on the banquet right at the beginning make that clear right from the start.
That said, although it isn't bad, this isn't one of my finest chapters either. Mostly going over the characters and the events of TCoL, really. And since this is a prequel, that wasn't really peasantry (so we'll get new characters and new backgrounds!). But hey, it might just encourage some new readers to take a peak at 'Dawn and Dusk in the Circle of Life'. But don't let this passage put you off, it'll get better from here on; once Rafiki starts his talking, I'll deliver another one of those nice atmosphere-chapters again, not unlike the prologue of TCoL, maybe with a bit of fighting thrown in the mix.
Thanks for reading, and if you haven't: enjoy.

Due to requests: a new chapter from Cogitor's 'the Corrupter'

Magic Mushrooms

Lounging casually in the shade, stretched out in the soft grass, Kovu apathetically watched hundreds of vultures soaring high above the Pridelands, making their way down every now and then to feed of the numerous carcasses that had remained in the wake of the Presentation-ceremony.
At least they were happy, thought the regent, remembering the tense atmosphere that had descended over his pride since he had introduced them to the hyenas. Not unlike his pride, Kovu too was a bit distressed, notwithstanding the self-assured face he had managed to keep up during the day. It just wasn't easy ruling a pride when half of it constantly seemed to disapprove of whatever it was he decided.
Suddenly, a small, brightly colored butterfly landed on Kovu's nose. Normally, he would have found this both pleasant and relaxing. Now, however, he found it somehow-what annoying, for reasons he couldn't quite point out.
The lion sluggishly lift up his paw to chase the small insect away. Looking at the butterfly as it flew up, his gaze followed it all the way 'till it landed once again, a few yards away, this time on a hyena's nose.
Shenya, previously walking towards Kovu, halted, not wanting to disturb the little insect. After a few seconds, however, the little animal took to the skies again, leaving Shenya staring at it for a moment.
Kovu yawningly got up and moved over to the hyena, who was accompanied by Vitani.

“Thanks for giving us some time alone, Kovu,” the hyena smiled as she noticed Kovu, “We really needed a moment of remembrance.”

“'t Was no trouble, the least I could do was let you come visit your brother,” Kovu tried smiling back, as the trio slowly walked away from the 'Royal Tomb', an extensive cave-system where most of the casualties from the recent war, both lion and hyena, had been put to rest, including King Simba and Shenya's brother Vincent, for whom Vitani and Shenya had visited the tomb.

“This place, it's so beautiful,” Vitani noted, commenting on the lush environment of the Royal Tomb, “Yet the shroud of death hangs over it, even before we started using it as a tomb...”

“Yeah, I agree; let's get out of here...”

“By the way, Kovu, sorry for all the trouble I gave you,” Shenya suddenly said as they walked towards Priderock, “Especially with Kiara...”

“Bah, don't worry, she'll get over it in a day or two,” Kovu replied, though he didn't sound like he believed what he said, “She's just a bit sensitive now that our son has been born...”

“I can imagine that; from what I've seen of him, he's a cute kid.”

“He sure is... Talking of which, I couldn't help but notice you look... kinda... you know, larger than the last time we met. I presume you too...?” Kovu inquired.

“Yeah,” Shenya confirmed, ignoring Kovu's blunt demeanor, “I'm expecting, 't is bound to happen soon. I even doubted whether I could risk coming here, to your celebration; I shouldn't mess around too much with a pups on the way. 't Is a scary enough affair as it is.”

“Try not to worry too much... I'll ask the Kings to make sure everything goes fine,” Kovu tried reassuring her, although he knew the only thing hyenas feared even more than lions was having to give birth.

“Thanks... but I'm not sure if they'll be too inclined to help a hyena,” Shenya grinned.

“It won't hurt to try.”

The trio slacked on, towards Priderock, where the rest of the Pride was by now enjoying a huge banquet in honor of the Presentation. Kovu had figured the best time to go visit Shenya's brothers resting place would be during the banquet, so they wouldn't be disturbed.
The fact than no-one would disturb them also allowed Kovu to discus something with Shenya (and Vitani) away from overly curious ears. To that end, he requested both the hyena Matriarch and his sister to wait a moment before walking up to Priderock.

“Hold on ladies, there's something I'd like to exchange thoughts about before we join the others...”

The party came to a halt.

“Can't we discus it during dinner?” Vitani suggested.

“No, this is something I only want you two to hear, for now...”

“Oh no, not another conspiracy,” Vitani sighed, not at all serious, “Don't you remember what happened last time?”

“Haha, very funny. No seriously, it's a problem I've been worrying over for quite some time now...”

“Okay, shoot,” Shenya shrugged.

“All right, let me start by asking you a question: what exactly is the territory your clan officially controls nowadays?”

“Well, that'd have to be the Elephant Graveyard, the Outlands, the Northern part of the Pridelands, the Wastelands and my lieutenant Shetani officially still rules the Northlands...”

“Sounds like that's a lot,” Vitani commented.

“Yeah, but we don't use most of it; it's mainly barrens. Only the Outlands and our part of the Pridelands are decent sources of food. Except maybe for the Nortlands, but those are too far out...”

My point exactly!” Kovu suddenly pointed out.

“Huh?”

“Shenya, the Clanlands, though only half as fertile, are more than twice the size of the Pridelands. How do you control all those lands?”

“We send out border patrols – but most of us just live at your northern border. The rest of our land is kind of empty...”

“See, that's what I wanted to talk about. We have the same problem here, only different; I'm supposed to rule over all the Pridelands, from the swamps in the south to your land in the north. But I'm currently managing that with a pride of under thirty lions, while this place could, in a pinch, probably hold as much as three times that amount. Our lands are too fertile to rule with the amount of paws we have now, and your lands are too vast.”

“For the better, it means we've got some room to expand without having to worry about starvation for a long time,” Shenya argued, “So what's the big deal?”

“The big deal is that starvation isn't what we should worry about. It's something Mzugu, that vulture who was with me, the southerner, said to me this morning. 'If the times are bad, both hyenas and lions can descend upon an empire like vultures', those are his exact words.”

“Ah, you mean the outside world...” Shenya deducted with a worrisome frown.

“Indeed,” nodded Kovu, “The rest of Africa. For a long time, we've been preoccupied with each other, or with internal conflicts; splitting up and reuniting the pride and such. But that vulture from the swamps reminded me that there are other borders than that between our lands...”

“Ah, come on now!” Vitani suddenly exclaimed, “For the Kings' sake, Kovu, now that we've finally made peace and solved all of our longstanding problems, you just invent new ones! What is it with you and worrying? Loosen up for a change. The outer borders weren't a problem before, why would they be now?”

“Well, just to name a few reasons...”

“I think her question was rhetorical.” Shenya grinned politely yet a bit mockingly.

“I was aware of that,” grumbled Kovu, sounding slightly irritated. He cast a nasty stare at the hyena. “But I will name the reasons why there should be problems nonetheless, 'cause you two should be well aware of 'em. For one, our southern border: the old Swamp-cat is losing his grip. The Southerners always ignored us, and we returned the favor, but if their king is really on the way out, rogues might take over. I will not have a kingdom at my border harboring or supporting rogues!”

“I'm sure that old geezer will have produced a handful of heirs by now,” replied Vitani, shelving Kovu's argument as unlikely, “Besides, rogues are after lionesses, not land.”

“Yeah, and that's our second problem. Lionesses. Or lions. Or hyenas for all I care. The problem here is...” Kovu seemed to need a few seconds to carefully consider his words, “The problem is... we're short of all three, to put it bluntly.”

“Bluntly indeed...”

“Yeah, but a sad truth nonetheless. Years of killing each-other have decimated both the clan and the pride. Before the last war, we both had large – though not huge – prides; big enough to scare the potential 'vultures'. But we decimated each other in the war. Plus, you also banished a part of your clan to the east...”

“I didn't banish them, my brother did,” snapped Shenya, suddenly quite vicious, “And I'd prefer you not mention the... 'Westclan-issue' anymore, got it?”

“Okay, okay, calm down, I meant no offense...”

“Just getting the record straight, 's all,” replied the hyena, now neutral again.

“Anyway, what I meant to say was, that for the coming five to ten years – that probably includes all of my time as regent – we'll both be suffering from a lack of good jaws to defend ourselves, just in case we were to face a new threat.”

“Yeah, I thought about that too,” admitted Shenya after a short moment of silence, “But what can we do about it? I mean... it'd be pretty absurd to start proclaiming laws that state we should be making more pups...”

That last phrase she uttered with a giggle, soon joined in her laughter by both Vitani and Kovu. After a few moments, they calmed down again.

“Yeah, good point. Well, at least we're giving 'em the right example. But we still need a solution for the short term. And I'm afraid that for the short term, we're condemned to help each other...”

“I know. To tell you the truth, we have trouble monitoring and marking our borders as it is, let alone defend them,” Shenya shrugged, sounding a bit fatalist as she did.

“Exactly what I meant. If we want to defend these lands we've spilled so much blood over, I'm afraid we won't cut it on our own anymore. By fighting each other, we've weakened ourselves up to the point where the only way to defend ourselves is to work together, us former enemies...”

“The irony of fate,” smirked the hyena, “All nice words, but from what I've seen of it, neither your pride nor my clan are ready for an alliance. Just making peace already split your pride in half!”

“'t Was just a thought, just a thought. I don't have to be as far reaching as an alliance, by the way. A defensive pact would do, preferably a secret one. But those are just thoughts for the future, I realize that,” Kovu admitted. He yawned, stretched and got up.

“Come on ladies, enough talk, let's go get something to eat already.”

*

“I don't know, I just don't feel like leaving him alone...”

“Come on now, Honey, you won't be leaving him alone. Now go, the little guy will survive five seconds on his own, I assure you.”

“It's just that I haven't left him alone before...”

“But you ain't leaving him alone,” sighed Nala, obviously a bit frustrated. Who wouldn't, around a daughter like that; where had that girl's adventurous spirit gone? “Look, I know it's hard to let go when they're still this young. But you got to learn to have some confidence, both in your friends and your kids.”

“Besides, there's no use in thinking you can hold them at an arms length all the time; I tried it with your mother and failed miserably,” Sarafina suddenly noted.

“And I tried it with you too, and as you well know, it only ended up with you bumping into Zira.”

“Okay, Okay, cut me some slack already,” Kiara grumbled as she slowly got up, “But you better take good care of him, you hear?”

“It won't even blink,” Kani reassured grinningly as she carefully nestled herself around Kiara's son.

“And with her, you'd better take that one literally,” Nala chuckled, blinking at Kani, “We'll be back soon.”

“Take good care of him!”

“We will, girl, please, get going already... Bye now, queenies!”

With that, mother and daughter got up and left the cub in the care of his grandmother and Kani, the friend of the family. That is to say, friend of one half of the family.

“What do you think old Rafiki needs us for anyway? And why couldn't I bring my kid?” Kiara asked as they both made their way up the Priderock, towards the cave where Rafiki had wanted to meet them.

“I have no idea. Maybe he's got some real nasty herbs with him, or 'shrooms, the kind unsuited for children...”

“That would be a pleasant surprise... Anyway, it'd better be good. It's bad enough having to leave my little sweetheart behind as it is, but there are still those rotten hyenas around too...”

“I wouldn't worry too much about them.” Nala cast a quick smile at her daughter. “With Kani around, it'll take more than three of them to get to the kid. Believe me, if need be, she'd even take on a hundred of those mangy poachers, if that were what it took to keep my grandson safe.”

“Really?”

“You bet. She actually did, last time the hyenas 'visited'. She nearly got eaten alive that day, but she didn't as much as squeal. She didn't even fight back, just to keep the cubs safe; it's easy to fight for something, but to just sit there and take it for the greater good – that takes a Pridelander.”

“The Pridelander's pride,” Kiara giggled, “Pridelander kinda has two meaning when you think about it...”

“And don't you forget it. Ah, here we are, Rafiki is supposed to be around the bend here. Now it's just through there...”

“I wonder why he picked this eerie cave to meet us,” Kiara mumbled, commenting on the fact they had been asked to come over to Taka's former cave, or the 'spare cave' as it was called nowadays, as no-one seemed to be willing to take up residence there.

“Your highnesses,” suddenly resounded behind the lionesses. The both startled, unsheathed their claws and turned around, only to find Kiruhu standing behind them.

“For the King's sake, Kiruhu, don't do that!” Nala sighed, “A future shaman should know better than to sneak up on us when there are hyenas around; we might just mistake you for one of them.”

“But you didn't, lucky me,” noted the cheetah, “If you would be so kind as to proceed further into the cave...”

Kiara considered asking Kiruhu why he was standing behind them, in stead of leading the way, but seeing as she wasn't as paranoid as Kovu was yet, she just silently followed her mother into the cave. She'd soon find out Kiruhu's main purpose was to block off her escape route.
As Nala unsuspectingly moved into the cave, her nose suddenly caught a familiar yet unnerving scent. But before she had the chance to comment on the smell, she already found herself standing in the middle of Taka's cave. Apart from the expected Rafiki, she didn't really appreciate the others she saw.

“Oh no! No, no, no!” shouted the queen-mother as she noticed who Rafiki had brought as his company.

“Sit down, your highness!” commanded the ape in a surprisingly strict tone, not really how one was expected to address the queen-mother.

“Like hell I am. Come on, Kiara, I've seen enough.”

But before Nala and Kiara got the chance to back up out of the cave, Rafiki had already somersaulted towards the entrance, blocking their exit along with Kiruhu. The ape had certainly grown quite accustomed to being blind. Either that, or he had planned and practiced that very stunt beforehand. Probably the latter.

“I'll ask again: sit down, highness!”

For a moment there, it almost looked as if Nala was considering sweeping the ape aside with her paw and moving on. But after a few moments she seemed to come to her senses again.

“You forgot the magic word...” Kiara suddenly noted.

“Sit down, please.”

With that, both Nala and Kiara shuffled a bit deeper into the cave, although they were carefully not to come too close to the origin of their malcontent; they sat down as far from the also present Kovu, Vitani and Shenya as they could.

“Okay, we're here. Now tell us what it is you want so we can be on our way again.”

“What I want? You being a bit more polite would be a start,” Rafiki suggested.

“No, seriously, why'd you bring us all down here?” Kovu suddenly asked, “I mean, you know we don't get along, so shoving all of us in this small cave must at least serve some purpose.”

“Indeed. And that purpose is related to you all not getting along...”

“So, what, you're going to make all of us hold paws or something?” Vitani smirked, which earned her the obligatory hit on the head with Rafiki's staff. Suddenly, to everyone's amazement, Kovu got up.

“Look, I appreciate the effort, Rafiki, but I don't need this; I'm not the one who's being the intolerant warmonger here. If you want to solve this pride's issues, have fun talking to her majesty Nala, but I've got better things to do...”

“Sit down!”

“No, Kovu's right,” Shenya suddenly agreed, “I've more than done my part to further understanding between us already, and yet queenie over there still treats me like dirt. She's the problem, not me. I'm leaving.”

With that, Shenya too got up, which seemed to please Nala greatly.

“And so the hyena ran away, as is becoming of her...” she sneered. Shenya, who had been well on her way out, suddenly stopped and turned around.

“What did you say?”

“No, please, run away, that's what your kind does best...”

Shenya started growling, inching closer to the queen-mother. Fortunately, Rafiki intervened before the situation escalated.

“Enough, break it up, both of you!” he shouted, “Shut up and sit down! You too, sire.”

As everyone reluctantly sat back down, Rafiki started pacing towards the end of the cave, guided by the rock-wall.

“You're smart enough, the whole lot of ya, yet even after decades of blood-soaked lectures, no-one seems to have learned anything,” spoke the ape.

“My point exactly,” added Kovu, uninvited.

“That goes for you too, sire!” sneered the ape, “You speak of peace, of cooperation, alliances, changes... but in the meantime, you don't seam to have noticed you're losing touch with parts of your pride. You don't see, or you don't care. That's one of the gravest mistakes a ruler can make; being a king or a regent is more than just pushing through your dictates; keeping your pride together is one of the kings most invaluable tasks, even if that means not always doing things the way you'd want to. Your pride does not have to follow you; you have to make them follow you, all of them, not just a select portion. In that, you are not at all unlike your father...”

“It's about time he heard it from someone else,” agreed Nala.

“... but that works both ways,” continued the shaman, glaring at Nala, “Subjects are not supposed to just mindlessly obey all that their king tells them. To the contrary: for both their king's and their pride's sake, it is a subject's duty be critical of what their leader does. But being critical does not mean you have to automatically disapprove of everything your king does, nor does it mean you should just criticize from a distance. You offer a lot of criticism, dear Nala, but I have yet to hear your first possible solution to our kingdom's problems. Are you even concerned with finding solutions?”

“Of course not, she's just bitter, vengeful and prejudiced...” spat Shenya with obvious satisfaction.

“... says the Matriarch who had no qualms about starting a war of extermination to avenge her family,” noted Rafiki as he put Shenya in her place as well, “And do not try and tell me that was all in the past, for you still uphold the banishment of a large portion of your own clan. A banishment whose only backing seems to be a thirst for vengeance against those who betrayed your brother and put you on the path that ultimately led to his death. No, you are just as vengeful and flawed as anyone else in this room.”

“And I guess that makes you perfect, doesn't it?” Vitani suddenly commented, after a long and uneasy silence.

“No. It doesn't,” sighed the ape. For a moment there, he let his own emotions shimmer through and seemed genuinely upset. “I've made my share of mistakes in the past. Mistakes we still pay for, all of us. In fact, that's what I brought you all up here for; there is something I want to show you...”

Kovu took a quick glance around the cave, but he saw nothing out of place; no objects, no paintings, nothing out of the ordinary. Like anyone else in the cave, he was left guessing what exactly it was Rafiki wanted to 'show' them. The ape seemed to have predicted their reaction.

“I said I'd show you something, but that doesn't mean I'll show you something you can actually see...”

He paused, probably for dramatic effect.

“No, I'll show you something entirely different. I'm about to show you that which is lost forever, I'll show you our very own past!”

All predators in the room briefly stared at the shaman, then at each other. Subsequently, most of them shrugged. Vitani took it upon herself to voice everyone's opinion.

“Well, eh... that's... that's very neat of you. But... well, you know... why?”

“Well, I figured that if I couldn't get you guys to get along, I might as well try the next best thing. I'll make you understand.”

“Understand what?”

Vitani yelped as she was once again hit on the head.

“I'll make you understand. No more, no less. Come to think of it, it's something I should have done a long time ago already. But I guess I just wasn't ready then...”

Silence.

“Okay...” Kovu suddenly mumbled, “So... what do we do now?”

The black-maned regent instantly cowered when he saw the mandrill reach for his staff once again. But to his surprise, the obligatory blow on the head never came. I stead, the ape just fiddled around a bit with the vegetation he always kept tied up at the top of his staff. After a while, he seemed to have found what he was 'looking' for (he was still blind, after all).

“Ah, here it is. Right, Cheetah! Get over here!”

Kiruhu obediently slacked over towards Rafiki, who handed him whatever it was he had in his hands.

“Now, make sure yo don't swallow this. Not yet anyhow. Give everyone some of it...”

Doing as he was told, the apprentice shaman deposited some of what he was holding in his mouth before each animal. Kiara had trouble identifying it at first, but then she recognized it as being some sort of dried-up mushrooms.

“Mom, you were right: 'shrooms,” Kiara giggled under her breath.

“Are these what I think they are?” Kovu noted disdainfully.

“I told you I'd show you the past,” replied Rafiki, “But I can't do that without some help. What we're gonna do here is that I'll recount the tale of our near past, while you work those mushrooms down. In doing so, you will be able not only to hear what I tell you, but also to live it whole. You will be able too live and feel the joy, but you'll also suffer the horror. When that is over, I can only hope you'll understand. Are you all prepared to do this?”

“Is declining an option?”

“No.”

“I figured you'd say that,” mumbled Vitani, as she looked down on the scrimpy mushroom at her paws, “Well, here goes nothing...”

“Don't forget to chew!”

Everyone ate his share. When all mushrooms had disappeared, the animals all looked at each other more or less expecting to see something different. As one could expect, the effects of their snack still had to kick in.

“All right, we can begin,” said Rafiki, his voice suddenly awfully potent and booming to the other animal's ears, “For starters, I'll take you back to a strange meeting I had a while ago, a few months after the Reunion. After that, we'll get to the real story, but somehow, I feel it is appropriate I tell you this first...
Probably because, now that I look back on it, I should have been able to see it then already... but I didn't, unfortunately.
Now, the meeting... It happened on a cold and rainy day...”