cave underneath the kajobe where his father held his meetings. The sight was most unwelcome. El had been hoping to avoid Kovu for as long as possible.

The two had spoken no more than a few words to each other since the weeks following Elewisa revealing his father’s side hobbies (read: his infidelity to Kiara with a random, and in Elewisa’s mind, worthless lioness). 

The king of the pride lands turned around at the sound of their paw steps on the dirt, giving each of them a measured look, though his eyes lingered longer and narrowed when they met El’s. 

Some scuffling alerted Elewisa that they weren’t the only ones in the cave. His ruby red eyes landed on a bright pelted lioness with whom he had so little interaction. 

“Aunt Vitani.” He greeted with a nod in her direction, and his brother echoed the greeting. Vitani nodded her head back at the two princes, but said nothing. Instead, she returned to addressing her brother with military-like obedience. 

“He’ll be brought back without a scratch, you have my word.”

Kovu bent his head ever so slightly to agree, then flicked his tail and just like that their never present aunt was gone out of the cave, leaving behind nothing but burning questions for the two sons. 

“Sit.” The king ordered his sons. Elewisa, ever the spiteful one, took his time, whilst Gainell immediately plopped down. 

“Do you know why I’ve called you two here?”

Gainell piqued up, ever hopeful. “You wish to spend time with me-us? Show us how you lead the pride lands?”

“No.” 

Kovu began to pace, stopping after a moment before his two adolescent sons. 

“Today my son is going to be brought to pride rock. I have called you both here because I wanted to ensure that you understood what was expected of you.” 

He had said ‘you both’, but El knew this meeting was more for him than for Gainell. The other son of Kovu had never once disobeyed his father, and El highly doubted he would begin now. 

“You are to behave. To treat him with respect. If I hear so much as a word of either of you mistreating him, believe me when I tell you that your mother will not be able to save you from my wrath.” 

El wore a face of boredom, while Gainell beside him appeared agitated.

“You especially Elewisa. Don’t think for a second that I’ve forgotten about all of the horrors you pulled in the past.”

“Do not test me.” The King had risen to his full height, fur standing on end and eyes narrowed to slits. Elewisa plastered on a lazy smile and replied simply. “I would never dream of it, my king.” 

The two continued to stare at each other for a few moments more, neither gaze wavering. Eventually, Kovu was convinced. He gave them a grunt of acknowledgement, and was quickly called off to deal with something outside. 

Pettiness. It was Elewisa’s most fatal flaw. It was then, as Elewisa sat with a smirk on his face that he decided the first chance he got, he would be sure to screw over the little half-blood. 

Gainell let out a growl as soon as their father was out of ear shot. “Why must he be so protective of some bastard child when he has three princes for sons?” 

El let out a collected sigh, turning to stare at his brother as if the blonde lion had gone mad. “Gainell-” he began with a soothing voice. Velvet, it put anyone who heard it at ease. “He is our brother. We must show him kindness and love. Brotherly love. As the older siblings we must ensure that he is exposed to the harshities of the world.”

“We must take him under our wing and let him have a taste of reality outside the kajobe. There is of course, no guarantee that he would be able to handle such things, but who, I ask you, would ever blame us for wanting to protect the little one by showing him the world?”

Gainell might have been obsessed with following their father’s orders and not questioning the rule of law, but he was by no means stupid. The older prince immediately got the hint, a wicked smile gracing his own features. “You are wicked, you know that?” he asked with mirth. 

“I am aware of my tendencies brother.” El responded, flicked his ears. 

Gainell locked eyes with his brother as he said “Still. You have a point. Mother’s been miserable ever since she found out. That little scrap could use a lesson or two, so he knows exactly where his place is.”

Elewisa felt a tinge of guilt, but it was overshadowed by the resentment he felt towards her for continuing to ignore him. The last time she had spoken to him was on the day that Khan had been born, and ever since then she had continued to act as if he didn’t exist. She had barely left the safety of her mother’s den, spending all of her time with El’s youngest brother.

El said none of this outloud, instead choosing to focus on the brother he often thought of as spineless. “I look forward to seeing you defy father’s rules, for once in your life.”

Gainell shrugged. “It is as you said. We are merely helping our younger brother become acquainted with the world. We have no control over what might happen.” 

The two lions murmured their agreements to their plan, and each went his own separate way. 

***

Elewisa was for the first time in his life, attempting to nap midday. He cursed himself for staying awake the previous night as he prowled the kajobe for a place to rest. How would he be able to get so much as a wink of sleep with all the noise? A permanent scowl adorned his face as he paced around, glaring at the birds as they twittered above him and anything else that dared to make a sound. 

After about half an hour of searching, an idea came to him. Perhaps he ought not to sleep on the ground. The ground was filled with noises. The trees, on the other hand, offered him more privacy, and perhaps the leaves could help to drown out some of that incessant background noise of the savannah. The scowl was replaced by a smirk as Elewisa padded over to a bulky tree. Using the same climbing techniques that Penda had taught him, the lion quickly made his way up into the tree, settling onto a thick branch. 

The second prince let out a vicious roar, taking pride in how he startled all nearby animals into flight. This, he thought, might just work. 

El proceeded to spend the next few minutes in that tree slowly breathing, attempting to quiet his mind enough to fall asleep. As the sun warmed his pelt, the lion began to feel the exhaustion sinking in, and for a little while Elewisa managed to find himself drifting off to sleep. 

The crackling of paw steps on twigs immediately brought El out of his nap. The lion’s ruby red eyes snapped open, and he drew his lips back to reveal large teeth. He was more than just irritated. He hadn’t slept in so long to avoid those darned night mares that he was even more irritable than ever. 

Elewisa’s eyes landed on a scrawny cub below him. The cub in question hadn’t seen him yet. It looked lost, head turning this way and that. 

Elewisa mildly recognized the coat of the cub and its markings. Below him was none other than Lapin, his half brother. A wicked idea immediately sprang forth into Elewisa’s mind. His half-brother and he had yet to be introduced, and Elewisa was going to use that to his full advantage. 

“Hello there, little rabbit.” Elewisa let out, taking joy in being able to startle the cub below. 

Lapin looked up at Elewisa, eyes wide. 

“W-who are you?” The cub asked, folding in on himself.

Elewisa pretended to be uninterested, trying to set his half-brother at ease by playing the part of a sleepy potential friend.

“My name is Adan, and I’m training to be a member of the guard.” The lie flew out of his lips effortlessly, and the cub below was none the wiser. “Who are you?” El added, beginning to sheathe and unsheathe his claws on the branch. 

The cub seemed calmed now, padding closer to the trunk of the tree. “My name is Lapin. I’m- well, I suppose I’m a prince.” 

Elewisa feigned interest, ears perking. “Well, you don’t look like any of the princes that I know, and I know all three of them. What does that make you?” His tone never betrayed the malicious intent that he had to embarrass the little cub. 

Indeed, El got the desired result. Lapin looked extremely uncomfortable, eyes shifting to a path away from the tree. “I-I suppose their half brother.” the little cub mumbled. “Ah.” Elewisa let out. “The half prince.” He practically spat out the sentence, and anyone listening could hear the hatred dripping off the words. Lapin flinched. “I think ….I think I should get going.” He muttered. 

“Not just yet!” Elewisa let out, smirking down at the cub. “You’re going to be having your first meal with all the royal family tonight, aren’t you?” 

Lapin nodded. 

“Perfect! In that case, I should tell you that there is something you MUST do before attending the meal.” Lapin tipped his head curiously. “Yes?” The cub asked. It took every ounce of Elewisa’s self-control to not burst out laughing at how naive Lapin was, instead focusing on ensuring that the meal would be ruined by the cub. 

“It is tradition in the pridelands that any prince or princess must be coated in honey for their first meal.”

Lapin did not appear convinced, his