my dear, that can't be right surely? Lionesses don't just 'wander off' with a lion such as you to attend to them."

"Well, Ok, so I wasn't as attentive as I might have been. She's very nice and all that but..." Ahadi felt embarrassed but now that he had his own pride he felt he had to rise above that sort of feeling. He rose straight into Immue's waiting trap. "...but I love Akase you see, I have to mate all the lionesses but I only love Akase, she's the only one I really care about."

"Oh, how awful, I'm so, so, so sorry. Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?" She continued in silent thought. ‘Oh... he is such a dear little cub.’

"You can tell me what you know, I'll do anything to get her back."

"Oh, really? Anything. Well now, let me see. Hmmm - Oh yes, I did see her but she wasn't alone."

"Really? Oh no, one of the other lionesses have found her. I'm done for, you know how they'll talk, I'll never be able to hold my tail high again. Akase will have me for breakfast."

"Oh my dear, no, no, no it's not like that at all."

"It's not? Good. For a moment I thought I was in trouble - deep trouble." Ahadi lifted his head up and for a second looked as though he could head a pride.

"No, no, no, she's with a lion."

Ahadi could not believe what he was hearing, not only had Narala walked off on him but she had gone with another lion.

"At least she's not mating him" he thought doubtfully. The situation could hardly be worse, but he was wrong.

"Oh yes, yes, she's really with this lion, if you see what I mean."

"You mean she walks out from under me and straight under another lion?"

"Well, my dear, you must have been VERY inattentive. What did you do?"

"I..." Ahadi drew his head away and mumbled something into the night.

"Oh my dear, I couldn't quite hear that - now, say it again, a little louder just for me. Yes, yes?"

"I... fell asleep."

"What? On her?" Immue laughed gently. Inside she prepared herself for the pounce on her prey.

"No - NO! We weren't actually... no, I just dozed off and she must have..."

"...Wandered off. Yes you said, no need to repeat yourself. So what's so bad about that. You felt tired yes, yes?"

"Yes, yes. But I took all these lionesses away from the marsh lands, they all look to me as their lion. Akase calls me her king for standing up to her father. I can't go back and say 'I fell asleep on

Narala', I'll never be able to really be her king, the pride would never think I'm a real lion. Lions don't fall asleep with lionesses. Do they?"

Though she was certainly not going to admit it Immue did not really know, certainly the old lion had looked anything but asleep.

"Well now, you don't have to tell them my dear."

"I don't? But surely they'll find out from Narala."

"Oh my dear, I don't think so."

"Why not?" Ahadi narrowed his eyes probingly.

"Yes, yes, yes. You see I know that you'll tell all the lionesses that you are the father of Narala's cubs." Immue smiled knowingly at Ahadi.

"Why should they believe me?"

"Because I will tell them it is true. Yes, yes, indeed I will tell them."

"But you're not a member of my pride. They'll not listen to you."

"My dear, didn't you say you'd do anything? Hmmm?"

"Yes, well I..." Ahadi began to suspect something big was coming.

"Well, you did and what I want, well what I want is to be a full member of your pride."

"Ahhh... a member of my pride, just like Narala?"

"Oh yes, just like Narala, only..." Immue teased him mercilessly, "...only I won't let you fall asleep. No, no, no..."

"If I do this, what will you tell all the others? About Narala?"

Immue thought for a moment then raised a forepaw and, extending one claw, touched her chin gently.

"Hmmm, let me see.... Oh yes, that's simply too easy - I'll just say she's a trouble maker" then she added, accompanied by a vaguely waved forepaw, "...or something."

"Hmmm," he mused doubtfully, "Well, that wouldn't be far from the truth. I mean she always wants to be my queen, she'd take my Akase's place any time if she felt she could - Ok, I'll promise."

"Well my dear, it seems your problem is solved, is it not? Yes? Now all we have to do is find your Narala and makes sure she doesn't cause any more trouble. Yes my dear?" Then, once Ahadi had turned his back, Immue went on with a slight chuckle under her breath, "Simply too easy my dear, yes, yes, yes."

The pride had a shock a day or so later as Ahadi walked in, his tail held high, followed by a strangely subdued Narala and a eerily quiet stranger.

Immue never talked about her arrival in the pride. Narala never told about the days when she was with Ahadi. No one asked her as they knew such times were private. Soon Akase took possession of her great love and a week or so later Immue's time came and Ahadi, as he had promised and as busy and tired as he was, responded to her demands and made her a very full member of his pride.

In time, after the pride had arrived on what quickly became known as the Pridelands, Narala's cubs were born, all female. Ahadi made it known that despite their appearance; ranging in colour from dark sand to almost hazel brown with delicate spots of only slightly darker brown; one even had dark marks on the rim of her ears, she inherited her mother's powerful yet sleek build and grew day by day to move with all her grace and elegance; they were Ahadi's cubs and were to be treated just like any other cubs. This was not difficult as all the cubs in the pride were to be Ahadi's....

      ***

Ahadi looked around for any signs of Scar. He could see a few tracks, distinct and clear, leading away; the depth increasing and the stride length extending as the ape and cub had sped up as they ran off. That would be the best way to go: to follow and hopefully catch up with Scar and Rafiki. Ahadi knew that Rafiki would take care of Scar, so his fears of earlier now subsided. The only problem was who was looking after Rafiki? It seemed, thanks in no small part to his ceremonial stick which he carried at most times, that Rafiki could look after himself well enough but would the pair be safe from those hyenas? Then again, Scar seemed to act as a deterrent to even the worst of the pack. One, the young and particularly troublesome female, Shenzi, had even been seen talking to the cub on vaguely friendly terms. Ahadi had tried to get to the bottom of whatever had been going on but had merely ended up with a set of scratches on his hind legs that made sitting less comfortable than it had been.

The hyenas still hunted the Pridelands of course, and from time to time the ever present tension between lion and hyena flared into violent bloodshed. One night a few weeks before a particularly bitter argument erupted over a hartebeest carcass Ahadi was guarding. He had stood his ground until overwhelming pressure of numbers had forced him to release the meat. It didn't end there however and Ahadi found himself surrounded with the hyenas closing in relentlessly. Akase and another of the lionesses, Falasha, had arrived just in time with flying claw and ripping teeth to break the line of hyena. A couple of hyena had been killed in the ensuing bloody brawl, one of whom had apparently been Shenzi's mother.

Ahadi pushed aside the memories of the hyenas and broke into a run, his pads landing alongside the prints of his son. It was not long before he entered the thicket, slowing to a steady and cautious walk through the trees that could hide almost any animal. This was leopard country and he was taking no chances. He looked to both sides as his paws fell rhythmically on the thicket floor. Ahead he thought he heard a sound, a voice... a mandrill's voice, followed unmistakably by Scar's:

"You don't like Zazu much, do you?"

"Zazu? Well, he's all right. He is rather nosy eh? You know."

‘All right Rafiki,’ thought Ahadi as he approached unseen from downwind, ‘that's enough of that.’

"But he thought I was still Scar - a lion cub."

"What? No? You are a mandrill. Listen, you do trust Rafiki?"

"Yeah, well, Dad does so I guess I should too but sometimes it's hard."

"Yes, it can be hard to trust others."

Ahadi padded quietly into the pair's field of view.

"See, now do you trust him?" said Rafiki quietly into the cub's ear. Scar did not answer, he just shrank down fearfully as he realised that Zazu must have found his father as sent him here to collect him and take him back to Priderock.

"Well now Rafiki. Who's your fine mandrill friend? I've not seen him on the Pridelands before?"

Scar lifted his head up in surprise.

"He is my brother, Makedde. He is visiting me."

"Your brother? Well now, Makedde, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Rafiki whispered into Scar's ear,"Better say hello to the king, Makedde. He's a very nice lion when you get to know him."

"Your majesty, I..." but Scar could not finish, after a few moments Ahadi broke the tension.

"Don't worry Makedde, we can talk more later. I'd best