of trees. It appeared a fair amount, although a lone antelope was munching up some of it. Wanting the fruit for herself, Vitani shooed the herbivore. To Vincent’s surprise, however, the antelope did not speed away in terror, but instead clumsily tottered off, losing its balance a couple of times.

 

“What’s up with him?” Vincent wondered.

 

“Hehe, that’d have made a much easier prey for Kiruhu. Too bad he neglected the magic of the fruit…” Vitani giggled, “Come on, dig in!”

 

“What? Like hell I am, you go first.”

 

“Your loss,” Vitani mumbled as she worked down a mouthful of the now gooey fruit. Seeing as it didn’t immediately affect Vitani, Vincent argued it seemed ok and ate some of it. At first, he didn’t taste anything, until after a while he noticed a bitter aftertaste.

 

“Yuk! It don’t taste good at all…”

 

“You don’t eat it ‘cause it tastes good, silly! Come on, keep at it,” Vitani encouraged him with her mouth full. Reluctantly, Vincent continued eating. After a minute or so, Vitani halted him.

 

“Ok, that ought to do it. Come on; let’s find some place to lie down.”

 

What, this is it, Vincent thought a bit disappointed as they sat down on a soft patch of grass on the hill, giving them a great view of the amazing sunset at the other side of the river.

 

Huh? Am I already sitting down? Man, this is some soft grass… 

 

“Now what?” Vincent mumbled. He sounded a bit tired.

 

 

“What’s up with him?” Vincent wondered.

 

“Hehe, that’d have made a much easier prey for Kiruhu. Too bad he neglected the magic of the fruit…” Vitani giggled, “Come on, dig in!”

 

“What? Like hell I am, you go first.”

 

"font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Bookman Old Style";" lang="EN-GB">“Oh, if you haven’t ever had rotten fruit, you’ll begin feeling it real soon…” Vitani smiled.

 

“Nothing yet…”

 

Vincent turned his head towards the sunset.

 

Is it me or can’t I turn my head any faster than this? Hmm, Nice sunset…

 

“Beautiful sunset…”

 

It don’t usually say that…

 

“Magnificent,” Vitani grumbled with satisfaction, “Ever notice how it’s always there, it’s always pretty and we just never notice it?”

 

“Yeah…”

 

Vincent turned his head again, this time towards Vitani.

 

She’s looking different… Ever notice how she’s always there and always cute and I never notice it… Huh? I hope I didn’t say that one out loud… Oops, I’m staring at her… Is she staring at me?

 

They were indeed staring at one another, Vincent seemingly mesmerized by Vitani’s magnificent blue eyes.

 

“Sorry, I’m staring… you’ve got special eyes…” Vincent mumbled.

 

And I definitely usually never say that!

 

“Stare to your hearts content, silly” Vitani grumbled, “You’re ‘the boss’, I can’t stop the boss from staring…”

 

“I’m no boss. Oh wait… Well, not now, maybe sometimes…”

 

“What’s up with that anyways? Last time I asked you got all angry at me…” Vitani sobbed.

 

“Hey, I wasn’t angry at you.”

 

“Yes you were, you were angry and mean…”

 

“Hey,” Vincent whispered as he got closer to Vitani. She looked a bit sad. Was she playing it? “I didn’t mean that… It’s just… It’s my dad, he always insisted they call him ‘the boss’, so now that he’s gone everyone calls me the boss…”

 

“Aren’t the women usually ‘boss’ with hyenas?”

 

“That’s a long story… ng different… Ever notice how she’s always there and always cute and I never notice it… Huh? I hope I didn’t say that one out loud… Oops, I’m staring at her… Is she staring at me?

 

They were indeed staring at one another, Vincent seemingly mesmerized by Vitani’s magnificent blue eyes.

 

“Sorry, I’m staring… you’ve got special eyes…” Vincent mumbled.

a long hyena story, you’d get bored…”

 

“No, I won’t, I like your stories… you and your stories,” Vitani smiled. She suddenly noticed Vincent was looking rather sad, genuinely sad as opposed to Vitani’s pose earlier on.

 

“What’s the matter?” Vitani asked concerned whilst putting her paw on Vincent’s shoulder. Contrary to his nature, he didn’t startle when he felt the lion’s paw.

 

“I don’t like to think about dad… he died only a couple of months ago… Now, I’ve got no parents left at all…”

 

“Neither do I…” Vitani added with a sad smile, “Come on, tell me about him. It’ll make you feel better, I’m sure.”

 

“No it won’t…”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because he wasn’t a nice hyena… He was bad, scary…”

 

“He wasn’t a good father?”

 

“He was the best father you could ever dream of,” Vincent replied with sudden vigour, “But he was a scary hyena… he was different, not like hyenas… and he changed us, he made us different as well, more like him. You know how you said hyenas are supposed to laugh all the time? Well, I remember we did, once, but dad never did. He smiled, yeah, but never laughed. And when he came to power we all started becoming like him and less like hyenas…”

 

Vitani figured she hadn’t been the only one with rather unconventional parents…

 

“What, he made you all stop laughing?” Vitani asked.

 

“Yes… No… he didn’t force us… but he always led by example, so we became more and more like him. We’re not the clan we were all those years ago at the Rock anymore. Not just the laughing, other stuff too, like leadership: it used to be the women, but once he got the power, men were suddenly eligible as well. Me being the proof of that…”

 

“But if he was such a scary guy, how did he get to power in the first place?” Vitani wondered. Why do the scary ones always take over, she had asked it herself countless times.

Vincent smiled.

 

“The way scary guys always get power, we hand it to them. You probably don’t know, but my dad was a hero, yeah, a real hero they said. He supposedly stopped the lions that tried to chase us till we were all goners. But we got them, thanks to dad. Why? Because he changed us, he made us fight differently; he always said it was our own fault we lost the Rock, and not the lions’. So when everyone saw what miracles a bit of change brought, they thought ‘Why not? Why no man to lead now, maybe that’s a useful change as well…’ Of course, not everyone agreed on that… No, not at all, the clan split: tradition vs. change… and tradition made itself an entirely new clan, the Westclan. You remember that nasty hyena who chased us into the river yesterday? Her mother was the Westclan matriarch…”

 

Vitani yawned.

 

“But I’d better cut the storytelling; I bet you’re getting tired of me rambling…”

 

“No, no, keep it up, I’m not tired enough to sleep yet,” Vitani purred, and suddenly, on an act of impulse, she put her paw around Vincent and dragged him closer to her, until she could touch his manes with her nose. Vincent didn’t mind one bit, as a matter of fact, he probably hardly noticed, and if he did, he probably liked it, as the sun had already set and it was getting a bit chill.

 

“Mhhm, nice ’n warm…” Vincent mumbled with heavy tongue, “Where was I…”

 

“The nasty hyena that had chased us in the water…”

 

“Oh yeah… that was Kali, she doesn’t like me,” Vincent giggled, “But you probably figured that one out for yourself by now… No, she definitely hates me. And I haven’t done her any harm, ever! Just because my dad had her mom murdered, jeez… Like I had anything to do with that, but no, she just goin’ ‘round blaming it on me…”

 

“I know the feeling… why did your dad kill her mom anyways?”

 

“Because of you, duh! You gave us quite a scare with that reunion of yours, suddenly we had to face one huge pride: if they ever wanted to tie up loose ends…”

 

“So you did some reuniting of your own?” Vitani guessed.

 

“Yep,” Vincent replied amused, “We had wanted to do that for some time but lacked the spirit, but when you guys came together, we got something way better than spirit: fear. Yeah, now it all became clear: united we’d stand against a lion attack, divided we’d fall. ‘Strength through unity,’ was one of those catchphrases my dad used to use, became very ‘on the spot’ all of a sudden… Where was I… Oh yeah, first thing we did was talk to the Northlanders. They weren’t part of the clan, never had been, but they had once allied themselves with us when we were on the pridelands with your old man… and withdrawn just before Simba showed up: all gain, no pain. But their leader‘s a good gal. Honourable ‘n stuff, the good kind off an old fashioned leader: wanted to make up for the pain we had endured for their gain. They joined without any fuss, blended in perfectly, good hyenas, real nice…”

 

“And the Westclanners weren’t?”

 

“Stubborn, too stubborn… bad kind of old fashioned. So dad did what he does best: plotting. Genius plot, can’t remember any of it, but genius… drove the Westclan right into his paws.”

 

Vitani started giggling all of a sudden.

 

“Guess he changed the hyenas into plotters as well, judging by what happened yesterday…”

 

Vincent joined in on the giggling, although he was naturally more skilled at it. After some time, both calmed down, and for a moment they just lay there, cuddled against each other. Vitani’s warm, soft fur started making Vincent sleepy. Suddenly, Vitani talked again.

 

“Vincent?”

 

“Hhm?”

 

“The stuff you said about dad… Taka, did you really mean that?”

 

Vincent groaned profoundly. She was going to hear

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