speak of, and she hoped that her mother would be just as happy to hear of it as Kiara had been when she discovered it this morning. 

When her two sons had had enough, they began to tussle with each other, finally relieving Nala from their well intentioned but burdensome attention. Her mother slowly got up and came forward to nuzzle Kiara. 

A slight ache of regret spread within Kiara. Being Queen left her so little time for anything else, and leaving Pride Rock was rarely an option, meaning she hardly ever got to see her aging mother. 

“You have something to tell me.” Her mother murmured against Kiara’s ears, and a happy tear slid down one of her cheeks as she nodded in agreement. 

“I’m expecting again, mother.” 

Nala’s purring only intensified. “I want-” Kiara stopped herself, contemplating what she had been about to say. What did she want? 

“Yes?” Her mother asked, blue eyes encouraging. 

“I hope it will be the same for us. When this cub is born I- I want him to be as happy as when we first had Gainell. He hasn’t been the same ever since he took his role as King.” 

She didn’t have to name the lion in question. Her mother instantly understood. The older lioness gave Kiara a gentle smile, but shook her head. 

“Leadership changes us, Kiara. Don’t forget that Kovu was not born to be king. He had this thrusted on him so quickly, and with little warning. He may never be the same.” 

Kiara nodded, and though her heart wished the words were untrue, her head knew better. 

“Cheer up, Kiara.” Her mother suddenly said. “This one may turn out to be a daughter, and Kings adore their princesses.” She said with a bell like laugh. Kiara smiled meekly in return, recalling her own father’s overprotective attitudes to her growing up. “I am almost certain it’s another son.” She responded, eyes turning to look at her growing cubs as they continued to tussle in the greenery. 

Chapter Five

No one had bothered to tell him of what was going to happen, and Elewisa was furious. Not the dry, swift anger that he often felt when dealing with his father, nor the quickly dissipating bouts of moodiness that he was occasionally prone to. This was a wet sort of rage, like the darkest and most vicious of thunderstorms. It flowed throughout all of his limbs, cascading around him and enveloping him into its dark embrace completely, and he welcomed it. 

The dark skies and foggy ground encapsulated the mood of the pride, for anyone who saw him knew just how furious he truly was. His eyes were narrowed to slits, and his teeth were bared. No comprehensible word came forth. Instead, his responses included snarls and growls directed at whomsoever thought it a good idea to stand in his way as he marched through the wet grass. 

When he reached the clearing, his eyes landed first on the unfamiliar figure standing above his beloved Areesa. A large lion- even bigger than his own father, was beginning to bend down, clearly with the attempt of picking her up. Elewisa noted that the lion was missing a whole paw on one of his back legs, and realized that this was the Anan Dejen of Areesa’s stories. 

Famous or not, Elewisa was not going to allow this to come to fruition. 

A roar escaped him that made him appear much larger and far more grown than he really was. Anan Dejen paused in his attempt to pick Areesa up, and all eyes swiveled to Elewisa’s direction. 

“What are you doing?” The snarling comment was directed at his father. Elewiasa’s paws barely touched the ground as he all but flew to Areesa’s side. Her eyes sparkled with secret tears, and Elewisa felt his heart wrench in response. All the world seemed to fall away until it was just the two of them, and El ignored any comments from any but Areesa. The lioness could barely meet his eye, and at length she stared at her paws, jaw trembling. “Aree?” El let out. Areesa let out a sob, but continued to stare at her paws. Elewisa felt a tear escape his own eyes, and shut them tightly to avoid letting on what had happened. A few months ago he had sworn to never shed an undeserved tear, but now he silently sobbed as he buried his head into the lioness’s neck. “You promised me you’d never go away.” He managed to mumble through the sobs. Areesa was no better- her tears larger and bluer than his. “I’ll come back to visit- whenever I can.” She whispered to only him. Above the two cubs stood the older lions. Elewisa could feel his father’s claws digging into his fur, until a stinging sensation began to spread through his tail letting him know that his father had drawn blood. Still, Elewisa refused to move, glued to the spot. If he didn’t move, then Anan Dejen couldn’t take Areesa away from him. 

He hated seeing her upset, and it hurt him even more knowing that he was responsible. If they weren’t such close friends, she wouldn’t have a problem with returning home. She certainly wasn’t crying such tears over Gainell. 

“That’s enough, Elewisa. You’ve said your goodbyes.” El wanted nothing more than to snarl at his father. Of course this wasn’t enough! Areesa was the only one who understood him, how could he so easily be expected to let her go? 

“I’ll find you.” He spoke low, so that only she would hear him. Areesa nodded in response, eyes still shining with tears. 

Elewisa could hear his father sighing, and the stinging on his tail disappeared, replaced by the sensation of calming licks on the back of his neck. The smell of wildflowers and earth washed over him, and Elewisa felt himself calm down despite his anger. He would know that scent anywhere. It was his mother. He wasn’t sure what she was saying to him, as the tears clouded his vision and his thoughts drowned out the noise of the outside world. He could tell by her soothing tone that it was meant to be comforting, and Elewisa eventually let himself be dragged away from the wet grass as he felt the warmth of Areesa disappear. 

The lion refused to open his eyes. If he opened them now, it would all be real. There would be no denying it. He felt himself go limp in his mother’s jaws, and after a little while of swaying on the way to the kajobe he found himself growing tired and falling into sleep. 

***

This place was new. Elewisa couldn’t recall ever having heard of such a strange place existing in the pride lands. All around him, the dip of the valley looked sickly and black. The grasses crunched beneath his paws as he stumbled around, wondering how he had ended up here. The sky was an odd green grey, and not a single drop of sunlight was to be found, though he intrinsically knew that it was the middle of the day. El spent the next few moments investigating the edges of the dip, as the valley seemed to grow in size and the dip sunk even deeper.

Everything was dead, and Elewisa worried that he was witnessing the first signs of the drought. Still, he couldn’t be sure of it until he was out of that damned dip and onto higher ground, where he could witness the rest of the pridelands. He couldn’t for the life of him remember why the guard didn’t report such news to the rest of the pride- it wasn’t like his aunt Vitani to withhold any information from his father. 

As he continued to ponder all of this, Elewisa found himself becoming frozen as several revelations dawned on him. The first, was that in all the time he had spent in the strange pit, he had neither seen nor even heard the smallest indication of life. No crickets chirped, no bees buzzed through the air. No animal but himself was in sight. This was of course odd. Even in the most secluded parts of the pride lands, he could never find a single place that was this quiet. El was sure of that- he had looked far and wide for such a place, as he despised having his thoughts or sleep interrupted. There was not a single parcel of land that could possibly be this lifeless. 

The second thing he noted, after his gaze dropped to the crunching dead grass beneath his paws, was that he didn’t have a shadow. 

His heart sank into his stomach as he stumbled back, all of a sudden petrified. There was no sun, but everything else that surrounded him had a shadow. Everything except him. It began to feel as if ice was dripping on his spine, and he spun around with wild eyes. The silence of the valley was deafening, and he had not seen nor heard anything but himself since he’d awoken in this strange place, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. 

His eyes swiveled to the dead bushes growing uphill, and there they focused, frozen on the sight before him.

Something was standing there, appearing dark and faded. It looked like him, with its general shape resembling him. Everything was a twisting black smoke, except for its eyes. Its eyes were a ruby red, just like his. As soon as he locked eyes with it, the twisting black form gave out a high pitched screech that made Elewisa’s fur stand on edge, and then it hurled itself towards him, black jaws opening wide and exposing glinting black teeth. 

Elewisa awoke in a cold sweat. His breathing was ragged, and beside him Gainell stirred. El shook himself awake, eyes still a little wide. This was the second week in a row that he had been plagued with nightmares, though this one was particularly terrifying. Normally, he dreamt of Areesa- of seeing her again and having her disregard him. Of never escaping the pride lands or his father. The sun had not yet risen, but he could see that