side… right to the thigh. Through it even. “I mean it Saffi. Stay down, let me look at it.”

“Get your nose out of it! You’re part of it!”

“OK, I’ve had enough. You want to go taking on fights you can’t hope to win, then that’s your business…” But you very nearly did take him down Saffi. That’s impressive. Bloody, but really impressive. “…but I’m no part of it.”

“Yes! Yes you are! You’re one of them: you’ve got to maintain the honour of the family. That means keeping its filthy secrets. You ARE one of its filthy secrets. You lied to me. You knew who she was all along.”

“No, no I didn’t! I’ve met her before, that I know, but I don’t know her. I don’t even know her name. Please Saffi, believe me I don’t know who is.” Maybe if I clean her wound she’ll settle a bit.

“Ahhhhh.”

It does seem to help. Poor Saffi, for putting yourself through this. Brave. Foolish but courageous too.

“She’s Immue.”

Immue? Immue, not Immali. No, still doesn’t mean anything… wait… It was Mufasa’s presentation. Yes, she was there. There, and… Scar! “Immue! She was Scar’s mother, wasn’t she?”

“She still is Sarabi. Don’t you see? She still is!”

“So what’s Ahadi got to do with it? Why did you attack him?”

“He drove her out of the pride so that her son, Scar, wouldn’t be king. Scar is Ahadi’s first born son, not Mufasa.”

That’s why he took Scar and left Mufasa here. He was her son.

“What are you doing with that trash? I told you she was a troublemaker but no; you wouldn’t listen, would you?”

“Go away mother! Sarafina’s my friend and I’m looking after her. Ahadi told me to. Don’t come any closer!”

“The king… You, Trouble, who told you this?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything.”

Please Saffi. Tell us. Tell us.

“Mother, back off!” Mufasa! So he’s the one Ahadi’s sent. Look he’ll get here soon. “Saffi, who did tell you this?”

“Scar of course: her son, the rightful future king. She just wanted to see her son, to find out how he had grown up.”

‘Her pride’. She said her pride was waiting here for her. Right here on this rock. Her son is the rightful heir to Pride Rock. It can’t be true. It can’t be. Please, please someone… “Tell me… it’s not true.”

“It’s not Sarabi. Mufasa was the first born, not Scar. Yes, Ahadi drove her out. Banished… a strong word, but yes, it’s true. She tried to kill Mufasa.”

“No she didn’t! She didn’t try to push him off Pride Rock. That’s just Akase being over-protective! She made it up.”

“Saffi?”

“The trash is right, she didn’t actually push him off Pride Rock, the very top that is. Akase got to them just in time to prevent it.”

“Fluffy! Is this true? What happened?”

“Fluffy?! I thought you hated him.”

“No mother. I love him.”  I do Fluffy, I do. “So, did this Immue try to push you off Pride Rock?”

“Sass… err, Sarabi… I don’t know. I don’t remember any Immue.”

“Of course you don’t, you were too young. Sarabi, you were a little older: you barely remember her do you?”

Little bits of her. Fluff’s presentation, some other flashes: then she was gone. I don’t… “Something, a bit. I didn’t even know her name… until today.”

“Are you hurt Sarafina?”

“Yes, she is.” Fluffs cares. “Come here and lie on the other side of her. Give her some support and comfort, please.”

“So why would Scar be able to remember any more? He’s younger than both of you.”

“Because she’s his mother!!”

“Please Saffi, calm down. Mufasa’s here now, he’ll help.”

“Sassi, that’s not actually what…”

Fluffy!!

“Ah, yes. Err; I will help as much… as I can.”

“She made a pact with the hyenas, of all animals, to protect him. That’s why he’s so pally with them. Anyway, the top of Pride Rock was nothing. Ahadi and Akase caught her wet-pawed at the waterhole, standing on Mufasa, holding him under. All the way under: the only sign that he was even there, let alone alive, was a few bubbles. Moments later and he’d have been dead, drowned. All so as her son, her Scar, would be the next king.”

I know that shake of his head of Fluff’s: ‘don’t look at me, I don’t know.’ He really doesn’t remember, but it explains why Ahadi didn’t take Mufasa: in case there was more trouble. So he took Scar, her son, so she could see him; that’s what she was after.

“That’s when Ahadi drove her out; never to set paw on the Pridelands again. Scar stayed, brought up as the son of the king.  Well, he is after all.”

“Why would Scar tell me all this if it was lies? He told me the truth. I know it.”

“Because he can! Anyway, it’s his truth. He really believes it. To him it is true. He worships his mother, but he really never knew her. He loves a dream of her. Now she’s really here... who knows what he’ll do? Scar’ll tell you whatever he needs to make you believe his dream: to make it real. You’re part of it Sarabi. He asked me if I’d agree to you being his. He said you were deliriously happy about it. I sent him packing. Even I could see you were anything but happy.”

 The slimy ball... Eh? “Saffi? Saffi, are you OK?”

“No...”

She’s crying. She’s hurting but it isn’t the pain doing that.

“It can’t be true. I just can’t. He can’t have made it up. He was so sincere. So… truthful.”

“Saffi, I think mother was saying that it is true for him.” Come on girl, pick up your head: come on. “He isn’t lying; it’s what he really believes. It just isn’t the truth: it’s his truth.”

“Immue really believes it too, she always did, right from when Scar was born. She’s not mad you know, not crazy: it’s her reality; her world. For her Scar is the next king of the Pridelands. She had to go. If she had stayed, Mufasa would never have been safe. You’d not be alive today.”

“She’s not going to kill me now, Narala.”

No, nothing’s going to hurt my Mufasa. Please don’t let anyone hurt him.

“That’s as maybe, but it won’t stop her trying. Maybe she did  only want to see her son, and now’ll leave us alone. But then, she’s somehow managed to stir up this.”

Seems to me it wasn’t her that did this, it was Scar. He’s doesn’t love a dream of her, it’s a nightmare. Just what is he capable of? Where will all this end? “Mufasa, let’s get Sarafina away from here, off this rock. Saffi, can you stand?”

“I don’t know… maybe. I’ll try.”

You’d better girl, or this is going to get a whole lot uglier. “We’re here. Come on Mufasa, press against her: help Saffi up.”

“Where are you taking her?”

“Lionheart. Sarafina can rest and recover there. Mother, you’ve done more than enough. Let us pass.” Will she move? Is she really as vindictive as she sounds? No, I thought not. Nod to her as we pass, she is my mother after all.

~oOOo~

“Thank you Mufasa. What you did was courageous: standing up for Sarafina. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I am not my father. Some things will change when I become king.”

No, you are not your father, but you are like him in many ways. Even Scar is like him in some ways. You are both your father’s sons, just as I am my mother’s daughter. Stay, stay with me… tonight.

“I must go back to the rock Sassi. I’ll smooth things over with my father. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll send Zazu over to fetch you.”

Oh yes Mufasa. You are your father’s son. “Goodnight, and… take care.”

Change

 

 “Sarabi, I have discussed the matter at some length with Sarafina,  with my sons, and Rafiki. It is now clear to me that, despite her best intentions, Sarafina seriously misunderstood my son. Hers was an honest mistake, compounded by misplaced enthusiasm. I am sure you’ll be, err what was that? Ah yes, you’ll be relieved to hear that I am taking no further action and that I bear her no ill will.”

No ill will..? Misunderstood? What was there for her to misunderstand? Scar told her he was your first born son, which he isn’t. He told her you had banished his mother without any cause, and that you and Akase had made up the Mufasa incidents to cover yourself. As, so it seems, I am told you covered up how Scar came to be born in the first place. Oh yes, it’s quite convenient that Immue is out of the way, though yes, you had more than good enough reason for doing what you did; but Sarafina didn’t misunderstand Scar: he gave her only lies.

 Many lions would have killed her for simply for daring to stand up to them. Ahadi, at least you’ve listened to her.

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