“Why, you're expecting company? Your spotty admirer, maybe?” Enyi chuckled.

“Uh, turn dull again already...” Vitani mumbled as she and Anana started walking away from the still giggling Enyi.

*

Sometimes when you get up in the morning, all the world seems to smile at you. The most beautiful of sunrises to the east, slowly creeping over the scarce but majestic savannah vegetation. A lone bird uttering it’s song of love, even though no-one is listening. A gentle breeze, rustling the tall grass. The lioness you cherish most of all things in the world lying  at your side, her soft paws lovingly wrapped around you. Sometimes, when you get up in the morning, you experience the best moments of an entire lifetime, and best of all: you realize it.
The worst moment in your entire lifetime usually follows right after that, when you remember that yesterday’s sorrows have nor magically vanished overnight. When you realize last night wasn’t just a bad dream, but reality. When you notice your sister appearing on the horizon, and your loved one does so too.

“Kovu…”

“Hmmm?”

“Kovu!”

“Huh? What? Something wrong?” Kovu mumbled, his eyes still covered under a veil of sleepiness. Kiara didn’t seem patient enough to wait for it to spontaneously disappear, however.

“Kovu! Will you get up already? Look, there’s Vitani! Did you know she made it back already? No?” Kiara frowned suspicious, “For being worried about her so much for such a long time you sure seem to not care too much…”

“What? Vitani where? She’s back already? Gee, what a joyful surprise,” Kovu yawned not entirely convincing. It was way too early in the morning to start lying convincingly, certainly to Kiara.

“You’re a poor liar, Kovu,” she smiled.

“Tell that to your dad,” Kovu mumbled, “Bah… where’s that Vustify;">

*

Sometimes when you get up in the morning, all the world seems to smile at you. The most beautiful of sunrises to the east, slowly creeping over the scarce but majestic savannah vegetation. A lone bird uttering it’s song of love, even though no-one is listening. A gentle breeze, rustling the tall grass. The lioness you cherish most of all things in the world lying  at your side, her soft paws lovingly wrapped around you. Sometimes, when you get up in the morning, you experience the best moments of an entire lifetime, and best of all: you realize it.
The worst moment in your entire lifetime usually follows right after that, when you remember that yesterday’s sorrows have nor magically vanished overnight. When you realize last night wasn’t just a bad dream, but reality. When you notice your sister appearing on the horizon, and your loved one does so too.

“Kovu…”

“Hmmm?”

“Kovu!”

“Huh? What? Something wrong?” Kovu mumbled, his eyes still covered under a veil of sleepiness. Kiara didn’t seem patient enough to wait for it to spontaneously disappear, however.

“Kovu! Will you get up already? Look, there’s Vitani! Did you know she made it back already? No?” Kiara frowned itani?”

“She’s right there...”

“Right here, wee brother.”

“Huh? Oh, there you are… I’d prefer if you didn’t just come barging in here. Some lions are still oblivious to your return, you know.”

“I think he’s referring to me,” Kiara guessed, “And why exactly is it a bad thing that I become aware of Vitani’s reappearance?”

“A very long story. And it’s to early for long stories,” Kovu suggested.

“Come on now, Kovu, seriously now, what is going on? Where did Vitani come from all of a sudden, and why shouldn’t I know?” Kiara asked again, now without a humorous tone to her velvet voice.

“Can’t it wait ‘till we tell Simba and he beats the crap out of me because of it?” Kovu grumbled ironically.

“Kovu!”

“Kovu!”

“Huh? What? Something wrong?” Kovu mumbled, his eyes still covered under a veil of sleepiness. Kiara didn’t seem patient enough to wait for it to spontaneously disappear, however.

“Kovu! Will you get up already? Look, there’s Vitani! Did you know she made it back already? No?” Kiara frowned style="text-align: justify;"> 

“All right, all right…How should I put this…” Kovu considered, “What’s the last thing I told you that Simba shouldn’t know?”

“You don’t mean about… Taka?” Kiara asked a bit wary: she was still upset about the reactions she had got from Kovu in their first conversation about that rather touchy issue.

“Oh no, please, don’t apologize,” she sneered right back, “After all, I am just the one who’s always followed you in what you do, who’s always believed you and loved you, even if all others had abandoned and rejected you. I should be the one apologizing!”

From the tears to appear in Kiara’s eyes, it wasn’t hard to tell that saying what she had just said had hurt her more than it had hurt Kovu. And that knowledge, in turn, proved extremely hurtful for Kovu, who was for a moment stunned and unable to say anything.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” he stuttered as he tried moving loser to Kiara, “I just…”

For obvious reasons, that didn’t suffice for Kiara, who had in fact been the principal victim of Kovu’s ever deteriorating mood since that one futile but fatal hunting incident days ago.

“I think it’d be best if you just left…” she sobbed as she gently blocked his attempt to considerately embrace her, “You just go ahead and conspire some more, I don’t even want to know about it anymore…”

“But…”

“Kovu, I think the lady needs some time alone…” Vitani whispered. Kovu reluctantly agreed, acknowledging that solving his ‘conspiracy’-problem was arguably the first step to what seemed to become his relational problem. Or how one problem created another, after which both began to intertwine. What a mess.

“Thanks a lot…” Kovu grumbled in a rather hostile manner at his sister as they had gotten out of Kiara’s hearing distance, “Just when things start looking up a bit, you show up again!”

“Hmmm, this is starting to have a very distinct taste of pointlessness to it,” Kovu frowned, “But at least this complete nonsense proves it is indeed you. Now, try making that insanity of yours useful and come up with a suggestion as to what to do about this stalemate; how do we start the talks with the hyenas?”

“A good start would be to turn your head,” Rafiki suggested grinningly, and who was Kovu to ignore such hint? Both hopeful and indifferent at the same time, Kovu casually turned around to look at the other side of the Golden River. Nothing peculiar there, apart from the overwhelming amount of hyenas. His gaze moved to the golden river itself. Lot’s of sand there, obviously, but also a lone figure that seemed to be making his way down to the center of the wide, dried-out river, where he halted and sat down. The hyena’s most prominent fearure were probably his thick manes, and the green hornbill that sat on his shoulder. How peculiar.

“Ah, a negotiator! They probably want us to send someone down there too. Sounds easy enough.”

“Smart thing to meet in the middle of the river; that way, no reinforcements from either side could reach the enemy negotiator before his own kind could,” Simba considered, “But still no sign of the prisoners though…”

“One step at a time,” Kovu replied, >“Aw, for the love of… Vitani!” Kovu shouted, both embarrassed and agitated, “Get back here this instant!”

“I think she’s not listening,” Simba grinned, perceiving the current situation as embracing for Kovu, and thus hilarious for himself, “But hey, what better way to talk to a hyena than sending in your own?”

Kovu found that remark not at all amusing, especially when he considered that the last time Vitani had been sent out to negotiate something, it had resulted in one of the bloodiest wars of the decade… Besides, what use was it to send out a negotiator who is not aware of the terms on which she is to be negotiating?

“Let’s just hope she does more than just make out with that hyena of hers…” Enyi, who had been at Kovu’s side almost all evening, suddenly noted.

“Enyi, next time you say something, try not making us throw up while you do, all right? Could you manage that, just for once?” Kovu sighed. Enyi’s assessment hadn’t been too far off, though.

*

“Vincent!”

“Hi, Vitani…”

“Miss Vitani,”

“Good seeing you too, Tiko.”

Now what? Both Vincent and Vitani had been anxious to meet each other again, but now that they had actually met, they seemed to have forgotten what is was they wanted to say.

“Eh… Tiko? Could you… kinda… leave me and Vitani alone for a second?” Vincent suddenly asked after a long silence.

“Huh?” Tiko wondered, “Oh,