he continued, "I never blamed you for this. I didn't blame anyone for my mother's death but... well, my mother. It's just... well, you're right, she's still my mother, through and through. I wanted a chance to see her one last time, to say goodbye. I never got that chance.

"Coming out here, I felt a connection. I felt close to her. My cubhood wasn't that happy, but there were some good memories. And I always kinda held out hope that... you know, maybe she'd come around. I think years of living close to Scar messed with her mind."

Kiara had stopped crying, but was still quiet, her gaze centered off in the distance. Kovu took the moment to lean down and lick her face, grooming it and cleaning it of that which dirtied it. When he was through, he smiled down at her. "But I was wrong to come out here as often as I have. To worry you."

"Why?" asked Kiara.

"Because you're my family now, silly," he grinned. "Through high water and through any other troubles we might face."

For the first time since the reunification of the prides, or so Kovu could remember, Kiara smiled, planting an earnest lick on his cheek.

"I'm just sad we had to see her that way," Kovu said. "Some of the other lionesses told me she could actually be quite nice when she was younger... like, our age."

Kiara shrugged. "'It's in de past'," she said in the voice of a certain mandrill, smiling. But her features soon turned into a frown. "So... do you want to keep looking? I don't know if something of her is still left, but... maybe?"

Though the invitation seemed promising at first, Kovu quickly shook his head, and turned away from the ravine. "Nah," he said. "I'll need to get over it eventually. Might as well start now."

The future king of the Pride Lands walked from the ravine where he'd spent many of his more recent days, his queen at his side, as they talked, carefree, of things of little importance.

Behind them, barely visible from where they stood atop the ravine, was the bone of a large, feline mammal, sticking out of the mud, around which two vultures were crouched around, scraping off its last remnants of life.