convinced, his eyebrows scrunched together. “Why?” he asked Elewisa. Most other lions would have floundered at this stage, but being one of the most devious cubs growing up, Elewisa never tried to pull a prank without working out the kinks.

“You see,” he began with an all-important voice. “The tradition is symbolic of the bond of family. The prince or princess will be licked clean of the honey by their family. In that way they are fully accepted as a member, not to mention that honey is delicious!” 

That was all it took to sell the story. “I had no idea! Thank you for telling me, Adan. I wouldn’t wish to ruin the meal by not showing up in the proper way. Do you know where I can find some honey?” Lapin asked, worry mixed with relief on his features. 

Elewisa couldn’t help but snort. “Yes of course!” He said, nodding his head in the direction of the western bank. “There, near that river is a tree along the bank with plenty of honey to spare.” 

“What if I can’t reach it?” Lapin questioned, staring up at Elewisa with hopeful eyes. El shrugged his shoulders. “That’s your problem.” He said. “Just make sure you do it. You don’t want to disappoint your new family on the first day, do you?” 

Lapin shook his head and sighed. “I suppose I’ll figure something out. Thanks again!” Lapin stated, running off in the direction of the western river. “Happy to help!” Elewisa yelled at the receding form. 

Today was a marvelous day for chaos. 

***

Elewisa continued to lift his tail and swish it this way and that. Behind him, Khan squealed with glee, trying his hardest to catch the tail of his older brother. The two continued on with this for a while, until Khan managed to catch the tail of his older brother and Elewisa dramatically pretended to die. “You! How could you do this to your brother? I can feel the life ebb away from me…”

“I got you! I got you!” Khan screamed, giggling as Elewisa mimicked a dying moan. The second prince laid there for a few moments, eyes closed and holding his breath. His youngest brother, still far too young to truly understand that El was playing make belief, let out a shriek. “I killed El!” the little cub squeaked. “No! Come back!” Khan said with a broken voice, paws prodding at Elewisa’s much larger form. 

El let out a roar as he jumped back to his paws, landing on top of Khan. “Lesson number one, only a fool believes everything without question. You should have waited longer before assuming you had done me harm.”

Below him, Khan giggled, paws pushing against his face. 

The moment was soon after interrupted by Gainell, who was much more irritable than Elewisa had ever seen him. The first born son marched over to El and Khan, scoffing at the cub. Khan quickly tumbled away towards their mother, leaving Elewisa with Gainell.

“I don’t know why you bother with him.” Gainell snapped, tail flicking to where Khan had run off. 

Elewisa shrugged, Clambering back up to a sitting position. “I happen to like our little brother, and you ought to as well. There is strength in the bonds of brotherhood.” El spoke. “Now more than ever, since our family has been infiltrated by others.” He spat the last bit out, and it was now Gainell’s turn to shrug. 

“He’s so….happy.” Gainell let out in reference to Khan. “You were that happy once too.” El countered, losing interest in the conversation. This exchange was not the reason he decided to have dinner with the family. No, he was waiting for his petty plan to come to fruition once the little rabbit made it to the gathering. 

As the brothers settled into a comfortable silence, the regal Queen made her way over to them. She greeted Gainell with a nuzzle, and then turned around to Elewisa. She could barely hold the eye contact, but regardless she padded up to her most disobedient son. “I am happy to see you getting along with your younger brother. Khan always speaks so fondly of you.” 

El offered his mother a genuine smile. “I’m glad that I can be of help. I know how persistent the little furball can be. If you’d like- I could watch over him tonight? So that you may have a day to breathe without worrying so much about his every move?”

El couldn’t recall the last time he had spoken so softly. 

The Queen did not immediately agree, eyes following the movements of her rambunctious young cub. “We will see.” She responded, padding away to get Khan out of whatever predicament that he had landed himself in. 

“Now I see why you insist on being so kind to our youngest sibling. I have to give it to you brother, it is a brilliant plan, and quite possibly one of the easiest ways to get back into mother’s good graces.”

Elewisa scoffed at the comment, shooting Gainell glare. “That is not why I’m doing this.” He defended. Gainell raised a brow, a look of disbelief on his face. El clicked his tongue and looked away, adding “Though the benefits of these actions crossed my mind…”

“I knew it!” Gainell let out. 

Their conversation once more came to a halt, but for reasons other than not having anything more to say to each other. In fact, as the brothers watched the newcomer stumbling into the grove, Gainell had a thousand things he wanted to say, and Elewisa had to work very hard to contain his laughter. 

Lapin, puffy and dirty, was making his way shamefully into the clearing. As he locked eyes with Elewisa, the young cub looked surprised. “Adan! I didn’t think you would be joining the royal family for dinner…” 

Gainell immediately turned around to give Elewisa a pointed look. “Adan?” He questioned. Elewisa shook his head and replied. “A practical joke. I’ll tell you all about it later.” 

While the two found the raggled look of their half-brother hilarious, their father did not.

“What is the meaning of this?!” The king roared, padding up to his third son with brewing anger. “Who did this to you?” He questioned. Lapin shrunk to half his size, very clearly afraid that he had angered the king. 

“I’m-I’m sorry. I tried to get the honey, I really did! There were so many bees and I-I couldn’t take the stinging anymore so I grabbed wha I could but then it….it was ruined…” The cub began to sob, and above him the king let out a sigh. 

“Since when do you like honey?” He asked. Lapin looked up through the tears, and with a trembling voice said “I-I don’t. It was Adan. He told me that it was a tra-tradition.” 

“Adan?” Kovu echoed. Lapin nodded, pointing a tiny paw in the direction of Elewisa. 

The look on his father’s face would have sent the entire population of the pride lands running for the fear it could have invoked in them. All it did for Elewisa was provide him with satisfaction at being able to invoke such emotion so easily. That was until his mother piped up. 

“My expectations of you were so low already. It appears however that no matter what, you always find a way to disappoint me. Come, Khan. I have lost my appetite in the face of such despicable manners.” 

The Queen then picked up her youngest son by the scruff of his neck and swiftly exited the clearing. 

“If you wish to see the light of day again, I would advise you to leave. NOW!” The king roared out the last bit, and El happily obliged, jumping away to wallow in his thoughts. 

***

It had been hours. The moonlight streamed down on the land, lighting Elewisa’s path as he prowled the savannah. He had managed about an hour of sleep, and soon daybreak would bring with it the sound of birdsong. Oh how he hated the chirping of the birds. 

El considered going back to the kajobe, but decided that it would be best not to show his face around his father for a few more days. Instead, the lion made his way into the surrounding plains, where a majority of the other pride landers made their home. 

Just as El was about to turn back and wander away from the plains, the sounds of quiet sobs caught his ear. The lion followed the whimpers, staying low in the grasses as he came closer to the source. 

Through the savannah he could spot Lapin, the little cub clinging onto a much larger cub of a grey pelt. 

Elewisa watched curiously as Lapin continued to sob and hiccup. 

“Kel, I’ve-I’ve done nothing to them. I didn’t even know them. It’s-it’s not my doing. I didn’t ask for this.”

“I know.” The other cub- Kel, responded, nuzzling his friend. 

“I wish-I wish I’d never been brought here, you know? They’re - they’re just so cruel. After the one who lied to me left, the other one- Gainell- he kept making fun of me.” The last few words El could barely catch as they came out as a squeak. 

“I miss my mommy.”

Something inside of Elewisa cracked. He found himself having to hold back his own tears as he thought over everything that he had done this past day. The thoughts raced quickly through his mind, and for the first time in his life Elewisa came to the conclusion that he was wrong. 

Lapin had nothing to do with Kovu’s infidelity. He was a product of it, not an active participant. 

Lapin had nothing to do with Kiara’s refusal to speak to