“Gee, thanks a lot,” Vitani sneered. That wasn't really the homecoming she had been expecting. But then again, Kovu was right, she couldn't really argue with what he said... Still, he could have at least given her the chance to get something to eat, or some rest: she was getting all the work just so Kovu could slack off and postpone his problems for one night.

“Can't I at least get some sleep, or a decent dinner before I leave?”

“Hey, feel free to munch up whatever you come across on the way. And by the time you reach the river, no-one'll be stopping you from taking a nap; Enyi and her friends 'll be glad to wake you up in case something happens. In fact, once you reach the Golden River, do whatever you like. I just don't want you doing it here, around Simba,” Kovu clarified.

“Don't I need some sleep too?” Enyi suddenly asked.

“Hey, if Vitani's hyena-friend is as pacifist as she wants us to bfy;">

“Since when did you start conspiring against your beloved king?” Kovu yawned cynically, “But you're right: we'll have to do this one step at a time. First thing we need to do, is get some sleep. Or at least I do. We don't do anything until sunrise, except for you, Vitani.”

“What?” Vitani growled, righteously feeling offended at the sound of Kovu's remark.

“We can't have you around, I made Simba believe you're out spying on the hyenas. If he sees you here, he'll start asking all sorts of annoying questions... especially when he notices you still reek of hyena,” Kovu replied scornfully, “No, even though I'm happy to have you back here with me, I'm afraid you'll have to be going again: I'll have Enyi round up some friends of her, they'll assist you in your next task; you'll be guarding the 'Golden River' (since that appears to have become our new border elieve, you'll have very little to guard and more then enough time to nap. But just to be sure, take some friends with you who can actually stay awake. Meanwhile, I'll triple the guard around the den, and send out scouts to the north; I won't be caught off guard...”

“And we'll stay here, alongside the King,” Rafiki added firmly.

“Sure, whatever floats your boat...  I bet Simba'll be glad to have you around, you might even improve his mood; that won't hurt. Just don't mention the 'you-know-who'. That goes for you too, cheetah.”

Kiruhu seemed to snap out of his slumber.

“Huh?”

“Hey Kovu, make sure he doesn't get hurt, all right? He's with me,” Vitani replied.

“Don't worry, the Fast-runner is safe with me, young Vitani. And any friend of mine is a friend of Simba,” Rafiki reassured both Vitani and Kiruhu.

“Whatever... Okay, you all know what to do now? Great, then I'm off taking a long and well-deserved nap with my beautiful princes. And please, do not – I can't stress this enough – do not wake me up for anything less than thirty hyenas drooling down my neck, will ya? Now shoo, sod off!” Kovu concluded, taking of with his longest and loudest yawn as of yet. His worries had increased exponentially, true, but at least now he felt tired enough to postpone them. And maybe the morning sun would be able to shed some more light on the mess that seemed to have arisen practically overnight. Who knows, maybe his problems would even spontaneously dissolve all at once as he slept! Or maybe not... Probably not... Certainly not. Clearly not. Not.

*

“I still don't get it...”

“Look, it's really not that hard... My sister tried to whack me by proxy, what is there to not understand?”

No, I didn't mean that. It's just I don't get why she would want to do that.”

“And you were the brightest kid your uncle could dig up?” Vincent chuckled, “Gimme a break... You're doing this on purpose, right?”

“Absolutely not!” Tiko frowned in indignation, “It's just that you say she killed you to inherit your power, but also mentioned she was already the matriarch of your clan before she supposedly killed you. I mean, you don't get much more powerful than that, right?”

“You weren't listening, it's more complicated than that... She had the title of matriarch...”

“Ah... So she was the ruler de iure, whilst you lead de facto?”

“Spot-on.”

“You hyenas sure make things complicated...”

“Just trying to live up to the primates, 's all,” Vincent grinned, “You got a problem with that?”

“No, not at all,” Tiko reassured, “To the contrary: it's pretty interesting. I bet that also means you guys got some pretty neat laws, right?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, we don't really have time for that kind of stuff...”

“Come on now, you're saying me a clan counting dozens and dozens of individuals and countless intrigues just shapes up into a stable society all by itself?”

“Eh... yeah, pretty much. We just do like our parents did before us, and everything turns out fine. Well, sort of...” the hyena yawned.

“Well there you have it: customary law! See, I told you law was everywhere!”

“Law is everywhere where there are legal advisors, you mean... besides, I'm not doubting the law's existence, only its relevance.”

“Bah, I could as well be talking to a tree,” Tiko sighed at Vincent's indifference, “Anyway... where were we? Ah yes, your sister tried killing you... so she could get your power?”

“That, and one of her other lifelong ambitions: go to war and get back at the lions, something which I didn't really consider a primary objective, to say the least. But then, she got rid of me and blamed it all on Vitani, a lion, all so she would have an excuse to go to war.”

“She did? Now that's interesting... Your sister told you that, the whole conspiracy theory?”

“Of course not. Her cronies did... after some persuasion,” Vincent giggled.

“Right...” Tiko mumbled slightly less at ease, “So her henchmen told you she wanted to blame a lion for your death?”

“Well, no, they of course took the blame on them to shield their superior. But It's obvious Shenya was in fact behind it all!”

“Obvious... but not proven? Not even a forced confession?”

“Well, no, if you put it that way...” Vincent muttered, before he was interrupted by Tiko again.

“You know, this is all great material you have here! Especially if there's no proof of your sister being involved. Do you realize what jackpot this is?” Tiko exclaimed, suddenly strangely enthusiast. Vincent just grumbled, not really sure what the hornbill was getting all worked up about, and not really caring either. But Tiko seemed bent on explaining whatever it was he thought to have discovered.

“Look, so this all started when some of your guys crossed the border to hunt, right? That's an offense, a punishable one too. Now, I don't say those lions didn't overreact when they killed two of the trespassers, but since those hyenas were killed whilst committing a felony, you had no right to retaliate, and you were smart enough not to do so too...”

“Gee, I must have a natural knack in the field of law,” Vincent grumbled cynically.

“As a matter of fact, I think you do,” Tiko replied, unaware of any irony as he continued his elaborate explanation, “Now stay with me, this is real gold we have here. So when you decided not to react, you did the right thing, legaly speaking, and so did Kovu when he sent Vitani to work out a deal in compensation for his pridemates' overreaction. Up to there, it's all perfectly by the book. But after you met with Vitani, things get interesting, again legally speaking.”

“Go on...” Vincent said, starting to feel slightly interested now, mostly because of Tiko's quite passionate way of talking. Feeling encouraged, Tiko rambled on with redoubled efforts.

“Okay, so you're negotiating with Vitani, right, when all of a sudden, this... eh...”

“Kali?”

“Right, this Kali-chick pops up and tries to kill you. Now, you said she had more than enough motives to want you dead, and it also seems like there is no evidence to confirm your sister was pulling her strings, so legally, we can only assume she was working on her own!”

“Eh, remember Seko?” Vincent inquired.

“I'll get back on him in a minute, all right? Okay, so Kali makes you and Vitani go MIA [Missing In Action], presumed dead, and then blames it all on Vitani, telling she was an assassin sent by the lion pride. Now, we're still presuming your sister had nothing to do with this, so when she hears the news, she has no choice but to consider it true, and no reason to presume it false. So at that point, from her point of view and that of your entire clan, lions had indeed murdered you. Now, murdering someone is not a nice thing to do, obviously. But you're not just someone, right?”

“Well, de iure I was, remember...” Vincent smiled, quite fond of his witty reaction.

“Heck no! It's not 'cause you're not the king, queen or matriarch