Name: Dulani (meaning 'cutting')

Parents: Keto and Nyuni

Siblings: Kioni

Mate: Kifaa

Cubs: Sumai

Pride of Origin: Nyasi 

History: Dulani was the son of King Makwetu's dearest friend, the General Keto, and he would have assumed his father's position as General had it not been for the birth of Princess Kifaa. 

Makwetu, fearing for his daughter's safety and knowing females couldn't technically inherit, turned to his friend and proposed a match. Dulani and Kifaa would be betrothed to each other and Dulani would become king via being his daughter's consort. Keto, after some time thinking, agreed to the plan and soon Dulani was sent off to live with the royal pride.

Dulani tried his best to befriend his new betrothed but Kifaa but she wanted little, if anything, to do with him. Over time he was able to win her trust but she always remained highly opposed to the idea of one day marrying him. Dulani truly did care for Kifaa and wanted her to be happy with him but eventually resigned himself to the fact that he would have a loveless marriage.

As he grew, Dulani showed great potential for the role he would one day assume. Makwetu would often take the young cub on patrols and personally oversaw his training as a warrior, stepping in whenever he felt Dulani's teachers weren't doing an effective job. As such, Dulani grew up strong both physically and in character. Thanks to Makwetu, Dulani was also popular with the Conclave as he often sat in with the king on his right hand side. Secretly, he agreed with Kifaa's more radical ideas and knew that if the Nyasi Pride was to change for the better then it would have to be a slow process otherwise something catastrophic would need to occur.

When he and Kifaa were finally old enough, the two were married despite Kifaa's protests. Despite their marriage, it was planned that Makwetu would rule for a few years more before handing the reins over to Dulani and Kifaa. 

Soon, Dulani realised that Kifaa was spending more and more time away from the pride. One day, out of curiousity, he followed her and soon discovered that she was meeting up with a rogue male. Conflicted, Dulani returned home, feeling both heartbroken that Kifaa wouldn't even try to make their marriage work but happy that she had found someone who made her happy. Either way, he decided that he wouldn't tell Makwetu of his daughter's trysts and make Kifaa resent him more than she already did. That didn't, however, stop him from revealing to Kifaa that he knew of her trysts and quietly assured her that any cubs she might have he would claim as his own, regardless of whether he had actually fathered them or not.

After the birth of Sumai, Kifaa left the Nyasi Pride with their son to make new allies in the Pridelands. Dulani was left to help Makwetu run the Nyasi Pride as the older lion tried to quietly transition more power over to his successor. 

It was then that chaos errupted within the Nyasi Pride. 

Rubanza, a loyal General, came to Makwetu wanting help to avenge the death of his daughter, Raisa, and the safe retrieval of the Kilima Pride's princess, Hiari, who was to marry his eldest son. Makwetu, however, refused him saying that giving him more warriors would make the other Generals nervous and Hiari's safety was ultimately on his head, as was his daughter's death, seeing as he refused to look for a bride within the Nyasi Pride. Infuriated, Rubanza instead came to Dulani, hoping the younger lion would see his side, and Dulani agreed with him and gave him only a few warriors to back up his pursuit of justice as well as promising to keep his activities secret so long as Rubanza kept his own activities quiet.

Soon after this, more trouble began brewing in General Olushola's pride. Makwetu immediately became suspicious seeing as the pride was home to their former enemies, the Zurura Pride, and their leader, Sokoro. Dulani was hesitant about possibly antagonising their old foes but Makwetu became increasingly paranoid and eventually sent a small group to keep the peace. Dulani personally disagreed with this but stayed silent.

Then, Makwetu was assassinated. The old lion was poisoned and before his body had cooled all hell broke loose within the Nyasi Pride. Sokoro and his pride had been biding their time and suddenly sprung a surprise attack on the royal pride. Still reeling from the death of their king, Dulani scrambled to get the pride to safety and so the Zurura Pride took temporary control of the Nyasi Pride. After this, some Generals declared their allegience with Sokoro to save their own skins whilst others remained loyal to Dulani and Kifaa.

Regrouping, Dulani sent a message to the Pridelands that Kifaa should return just in case assassins were sent after her and planned to leave her with Rubanza's Pride for safety. Meanwhile, Rubanza had found the group that had kidnapped Hiari with help from Dulani's sister, Kioni, who had been posing as a spy and surprisingly, from Sokoro's own son, Gethii. He revealed that Hiari's kidnapping had been a ruse to make the royal pride weaker so that Sokoro could attack them. However, Sokoro had anticipated that all the Generals, once Makwetu AND Dulani were dead (as the assassins were meant to kill him too but failed) would support him.

Deciding to try and fight back and retake their lands, Dulani gathered all the Generals loyal to him and staged a desperate surprise attack of their own. Whilst their attack scattered some of Sokoro's lions, Dulani was overwhelmed whilst trying to escape and savagely mauled before being left for dead on the very outskirts of the Nyasi Pride's lands, where no one would ever find him.

Relation to TLK: Nephew of Sarafina