this, oh no! If only I had known..." "What did you tell her?" "I'll tell you later. Kiara? Can you hear me?" "Mom? A-are you there?" "Yes, dear, I'm here.
Don't worry, everything's gonna be okay." Nala licked Kiara and tried to smile to her. "Are you feeling any better?" Kiara tried to return the smile. "I'm okay now." "Why didn't you tell me you were having a baby?" "I was on my way to tell you, then I heard..." Kiara looked down and felt she was about to cry. "What did you hear?" Kovu asked. "Is it something bad?" "Maybe we should go outside," Nala suggested. Kovu followed her confused, looking back at Kiara. When they were outside, Nala told him about Simba and Kovu told her about Kiara's baby. They were both shocked of what they heard, sad about Simba and happy about the new cub.
"A new baby...So soon after Maliki's death. How did Kiara take it at first?" Nala asked. Kovu sighed. "Well, she was afraid she was replacing Mali somehow, but I talked to her and told her she wasn't doing anything wrong." Nala smiled. "Good. I just wish I wouldn't have told her about her father just yet," she sighed and peeked in the cave. Kiara was asleep. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine," Kovu smiled, still a little worried.
"Kovu, where is Kim? I haven't seen him in the evening at all. Not after Simba left." Nala suddenly froze. What if Kim had followed Simba and seen him dying in front of his little eyes? It would be another tragical loss for him and so soon. Kovu had a scary look on his face too. He had grown up with many losses in his family, first his brother, then his mother and then his son. He didn't want Kim to go through it all, too.
Suddenly they both saw Kim running in their way. Both sighed in relief and Kovu ran to meet him. "Kim? Where on earth have you been? Do you have any idea how worried we were?" "I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to upset you." Kim nuzzled Kovu's paw and smiled. Then he walked to Nala and licked her. "I'm so glad to be back, grandma." Nala looked at him worried. "Why? Did you get lost or something?" "No reason, I'm just glad to be home." Kim smiled and walked to the cave. "Kim, don't go there now..." Kovu started but Kim was already aside his mother. "Mum? Are you alright?"
Kiara woke up and saw her little son peering at her. She smiled and licked Kim. "Kim, I was worried, where were you?" she mumbled sleepily. "I'm sorry, Mum. I didn't want to make you worry. I was playing outside at the waterhole." Kiara smiled at him.
All the sudden Kim looked at her tummy. He stared at it for a while with no obvious reason, and then asked:
"Had a rough day, Mum?"
Kiara looked at him in awe. How could he know? Kiara looked at her own tummy and then back at Kim. He couldn't know about the baby, could he? Kovu couldn't have told him in this short time and mother only found out a few minutes ago. "What do you mean, Kim?" she asked. "Oh, nothing. I just thought that you looked so tired." Kiara smiled relieved. So it wasn't about the baby after all. "So what about you, Kim? Had a good play?" she smiled softly. "Well, actually..." Kim bowed his head a little. "What is it, baby? Something wrong?" Kim lifted his head up a little, not too much, he wouldn't face his mother directly. "I got into trouble." "Trouble?" Kiara sounded worried. "What kind of trouble?" "I almost got eaten by a crocodile." "What?!" Kiara looked at him startled. Kim grinned, he seemed to be excited about his adventure. "Yeah, it was a real BIIIG one with teeth like this." He lift his paw from the ground a little to show how big they were. Kiara was shocked. She could have easily lost another son just like that. Without knowing it. She remembered what mother just told her about Simba and remembered Maliki's horrible death and suddenly the pain was back. "Oww! Kovu, it hurts again! Aaah!"
Kovu and Nala rushed to her and Nala drove Kim a little further from Kiara. Kim wasn't reacting to his mother's pain in any specific way, he stayed calm and moveless. "Kim, don't upset your mother like that again, do you hear me! She is in a very critical condition at the moment and I don't want her to suffer any more! Do you understand?" Nala was angry with Kim. She expected Kim to be sorry and regret, but he looked calmly at her and said: "Why is she in such condition?" "Because..."
Nala couldn't tell. Kiara didn't want Kim to know yet. "Look, just don't get her upset, alright?" "I promise, Nala." "I'm sorry I yelled, Kim. I didn't mean to. Maybe you sould go outside for a while." "Okay!" Kim ran out of the cave and finally Nala and Kovu got Kiara to calm down.

Late at night when everyone else was asleep, Nala lay awake. She had noticed something strange and little things grew to a snowball.
When she asked Kim not to upset Kiara anymore, Kim had said: "I promise, Nala."
Nala. Kim never called her by her name. He always said "grandma". Nala had gotten used to it since Kim was born and now for the first time, he had called her by her name. If it was just that, she wouldn't have worried so much. But Kim had acted so strangely. He wasn't the wild and playful cub he had always been, he had been calm and almost...strategic? No, that was too crazy, Kim was Kim, he was a sweet little cub who had always been Nala's favourite.
But still...What about that crocodile story? There were no crocodiles near the waterhole. And Kim could easily see how upset he had made his mother, he didn't stop, he started to DESCRIBE the whole thing, even the teeth thing and all. That wasn't Kim's behaviour. And when Kiara started to hurt again, he didn't react in any way. And he had acted like he knew about the new baby, looking at Kiara's tummy in such an odd way. And just before he ran out of the cave...
Nala gasped. No, it couldn't be. It was just her imagination. Just imagination.
She could have sworn he had had green eyes. A New King