are a lot of animals in your pride lands that wish you lions ate more fruit.”
He said with a strange look on his face. Unable to tell if he was kidding or not she didn’t respond. Quietly swallowing the fruit piece and then fighting not to gag.
After Raffiki finished his lunch he began his lesson. He asked her various questions regarding the circles, mystic lore, and philosophy all of which she was able to answer with ease. Then as he had the last several days he sent her to practice meditation. Sending her into the woods for solitude. She had been a good student and had learned fast the way of the mystics but in all her study, she had never seen a vision. Never in her whole life had she spoken to an ancestor. Without the ability to speak to the spirit’s the path of the mystic was impossible no matter how good a student. So she wandered the western woods seeking a sign from the ancestors. The western woods was an odd place. They where ancient, and it was said they contained within them old magic’s, rifts between this world and the next, but for her they where silent. For weeks she had been roaming them and still she had been denied any revelation.
Tired she sat down on a large boulder and looked out into the trees. They where all twisted with age beyond the ability to count in years. The woods was dark from the dense foliage. The air cool, a hint of cold on the breeze that made her uncomfortable as it whipped across the land. It was so very quite. It seemed she would fail yet again today. She wondered how many times she would be allowed to fail before Raffiki would give up on training her. She felt her heart sink, The ancestors seemed like her only hope to be free of the burdens that haunted her and she couldn’t even find the smallest sign that they cared. As the hopelessness descended upon her she felt anger rise up inside her.
“Dam the ancestors! Even they ignore me. Am I guilty of sins even the spirits cant forgive?”
Mufasa!”
she yelled up at the heavens.
“ Answer me! Am I not worthy of you son!, am I so defiled you wont even speak to me? Please!”
she begged beginning to cry
“Anyone?, please speak to me!”
She laid her head in her paws and began to cry.
Realizing she was getting wet she looked up and noticed it had began to rain. Above she saw a flash of lighting followed by the crack of thunder it seemed a fitting end to her day. She got up, feeling her fur already begging to mat she tried to shake off the dampness but it was immediately replaced. Finally she abandoned herself to complete misery and began the long walk back to pride rock.
Zelia moved stealthily through the tall grass, keeping low to the ground careful not to make a sound. She was tracking a young zebra she had broken from the herd earlier. It had led her around the plains all day. She was almost ready to turn back, long siunch?”
“ No thank you, not real fond of fruit.”
She said looking mistrustingly at the bowl.
“ Take a piece, you should eat more fruit its good for you.”
Reluctantly she carefully removed a piece of fruit she couldn’t identify with the tip of her claw and put it in her mouth, Trying to hide her disdain at the horrible taste.
“ I bet there are a lot of animals in your pride lands that wish you lions ate more fruit.”
nce having lost track of the other lionesses of the hunting party and feeling it begging to rain, but having devoted nearly an entire day to this zebra determination drove her to finish her hunt with a kill and of course dinner, and she felt she was very near both. A wind blew across the plains and she hunkered down, through the swaying grass. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of stripes only a few yards ahead of her. She charged instantly hoping to catch it by surprise before it bolted. Emerging from the grass she froze in her tracks. This Zebra was already dead. Its body was a horrible sight bent nearly in two, its spine broken in halve. She walked around it examining the carcass. This was not the zebra she had been tracking, this was a full grown adult. Huge bite marks on it’s neck and shoulder showed how it had died. Obviously not the work of the pride’s hunting party yet in the middle of the pride lands. By the ancestors, she thought, what could break a full grown Zebras back? Examining the ground around the kill she could see where it had been drug through the grass probably from the near-bye waterhole. Accidentally stepping in a pool of the still warm blood she suddenly realized how fresh the kill was and how much danger she was in, at that same instant she heard the grass part behind her. She spun around turning right into a blow to the head which sent her sprawling to the ground. Dazed she tried to stand, a crushing weight landed on her back pinning her down. She struggled ,crying out. A second blow smashed her head into the ground and she was still.
Nala walked slowly along the winding paths of the forest staring off into the dense foliage. She was already soaked and saw no reason to be in a hurry. A sharp wind blew by her howling as it went down the path, The hair stood up on her back and she suddenly felt very nervous. Then up ahead just barely in her range of her vision she thought she saw movement, something else walking along the path. Intrigued she quickened her pace, She watched the form carefully, trying not to lose it in the rain but she couldn’t seem to get closer to it. She broke into a run after the unidentified form still it remained just at the realm of her vision. It jumped from one path to another and she followed it deeper into the woods far beyond where she had ever explored before. It turned a sharp corner and she lost sight of it. As she turned the corner herself she found the path dead-ended in a clearing. Whatever she had been following vanished from sight. It wasn’t raining here. She could still see it raining on the path behind her but here the rain seemed bent by invisible walls and the ground was dry. In the clearing’s middle she saw a great stone slab with a symbol carved into it‘s face. Fascinated she approached, completely forgetting the thing she had chased here. It was the sign of the kings of pride rock, the seal of Simba’s family line. Mufasa had shown her such a symbol to her once when she was a young cub but she had never seen another one. The symbol turned a strange black as she approached seeming to be both glowing like light yet an utter darkness. She stared into it’s colors captivating shifting shades of ebony. She reached out and touched it with her front paw, it felt cold but not unpleasant, as if she had dipped her paw in chilled water. Almost in a trance she traced the symbol with her claw noting every detail, the design seemed to curve in a fascinating fluidity leading her at last to the outside ring paying homage to the circles of life. As she completed the circle the symbol’s color changed to a bright red suddenly burning her like fire she jumped back clutching her paw in pain. Thunder cracked above her and a bolt of lighting struck the stone knocking her to the ground. She stood up slowly feeling stunned from the impact. The stone had been shattered into pieces and where it had been stood a large male lion. She froze frightened staring at the strange figure. Its fur was a pure white, his eyes a burning green, his teeth and claws jet black.
“Who the hell are you?”
She stammered
“ A spirit, a ghost of these woods. Old magic’s have kept me trapped here for many years. You have set me free Nala, you have done me a great service.”
“You’re a spirit”
She asked amazed
“ Yes child. You have no more cause to fear. I have heard your prayers and they shall be answered. Go home now Nala, soon all will come about, and you shall see a time of great things.”
Then he was gone and She was alone in the clearing. Elation filled her body. At last she had seen a vision, an ancestor had promised her aid. For a moment she just stood their in shock, unable to believe what she had just seen. For the first time in nearly two years she felt hope, she couldn’t wait to see Simba, to have him hold her, to make love. She turned and took off at a full run for home.
When she reached pride rock the storm had become fierce. Nala was soaked and cold but didn’t care. She found the pride gathered in the shelter of the caves. Three members of the hunting party had failed to return. It was not uncommon for lionesses to seek shelter in the plains when sudden storms hit and wait out the night their, but such times where still worrisome and this like most things that happened with the pride required discussion. Nala took a seat near Simba and tried to look concerned, as they discussed whether the missing lionesses should be looked for, how bad the storm was, how the missing mothers cubs should be cared for over the night. She tried not to appear anxious as, their talk seemed to go on forever. She knew it was selfish but tonight she didn’t give a dam about the pride and she was eager to be alone with Simba. Finally they decided that a search party was impossible and after staying a little while longer pretending to be worried she managed to break Simba away from the others. She hurried him as best she could back to their cave and upon reaching it she tackled him and without explanation made him make love to her for hours until finally she fell asleep on top of him. It was the first restful sleep she could remember full of pleasant dreams of the future the past temporarily left behind. Simba lay looking out at the rain, his wife draped over him unconscious. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen her with such energy or sleep so peacefully. The missing
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AWESOME, bang-UP job. I'm VERY impressed.
