“No, this place has got pretty poor acoustic properties, you won’t hear me from back there. I’ll just waive when I need you to come over here again, all right?”

“Fine by me. I’ll eh… I’ll just leave you alone for now, then…” the green hornbill mumbled, after which he took for the skies. Now Vincent and Vitani sat alone, with no-one around who could hear them. Still, their conversation felt anything but private, as they had the eyes of both their clans and prides staring at them from their respective riverbanks.

“We should probably be careful what we do; everyone’s watching… we don’t want to upset anybody…”

“Vincent, I couldn’t care less,” Vitani grinned, “The worst we could do is set a good example for the rest of them.”

“Hehe, yeah, true,” Vincent smiled, feeling genuinely good for the first time in days, “Spirits, it’s good to have you back, Vitani!”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“I mean, going back to the clan made me realize how much I actually enjoyed myself whilst you were around… and how much I missed you when you weren’t.”

“I heard,” Vitani smiled, “That was real sweet of you, by the way, that message you gave Anana. I appreciated it. And I missed you too.”

“You did? Really?” Vincent wondered, “I mean, you looked kind of upset when you smacked me in the face the other day – which was the right thing of you to do, by the way; I was behaving awful – so I was afraid you’d…”

“Oh yes, wouldn’t it be a crime to let all that infinite wisdom of yours go to waste…” Kovu chuckled, “Your body might be blind, but your ego hasn’t ever felt better.”

“Young prince Kovu, … Cram it.”

“Kovu, look, they’re doing something again!” Enyi reminded.

“Is it something gross again? ‘Cause if it is, I ain’t looking…”

“No, the hyena is just waving at his pride (or what’s it called, clan?). There’s that green bird again.”

Kovu could see the green bird soaring down to Vitani and her hyena, after which they seemed to have a small conversation. Then, th bird flew up again, towards the other hyenas. Now what was that all he survivors from Priderock, and five of them were each carrying a cub with them. Finally, some good news! It was hard to distinguish the lionesses at such distance, but Kovu was pretty sure Nala was walking up front. Simba hadn’t failed to notice either, as he now anxiously sat at the edge of the riverbank, almost unable to stand any more waiting for Nala now that he’d seen her.

“Nala!”

The lioness in front of the five others, surrounded by hyenas, lift up her head. Because of the cub she was carrying, she was unable to respond, but it was pretty obvious she had heard him.

“I can’t stand too see her surrounded by those mongrels anymore…” Simba mumbled, “I’ve got to go get her!”

“Wow, easy there, patience, dad,” Kou replied soothingly, “Let’s just wait and see, I’m sure she’ll be coming our way. No need for us to go get her…”

“Good thing for them they’ve got my Nala, or I would have already let ‘em have it…”

Meanwhile, all the lionesses, surrounded by a vast escort of hyenas, had already started hopping into the sands of Golden River (which took quite some effort as all lionesses were hurt one way or another) . It was by now pretty obvious they were about to be released.

“Now would you?” Kovu wondered, a bit wary of Simba’s aggressive tone, “But now that they seem willing to just return your Nala free of charge, you are of course les inclined to eh… let ‘em have it?”

Simba muttered a response, but Kovu didn’t quite get it. He considered the fact Simba didn’t seem all too appeased by the release of his queen and pride rather disturbing; if even that didn’t improve his mood, the negotiations could prove to be rather… unrewarding… A small voice in the back of Kovu’s head told him he might want to prepare for the possibility of Simba choosing not to talk but to in stead ‘let ‘em have it’. He ignored the voice for now, however, and turned his attention to the prisoners down in the sands of the Golden River. They had already advanced halfway, halting when they reached Vitani and her hyena. The guards surrounding he prisoners seemed to be gathering around the hyena Vitani had been talking to, whilst the lionesses themselves advanced further towards the riverbank upon which their pride sat gathered. Nala, however, lingered around Vitani. She even put the cub in her mounth in the sand so she could to seemingly exchange a couple of words with Vitani’s hyena, after which she seemed to give him, how shocking, a pat on the back. Kovu couldn’t help but smile when he saw the look on Simba’s face caused by Nala’s little gesture. After her little chat with the hyena, Nala picked her cub up again and headed for her pride. As soon as the last lioness had made it to Simba’s riverbank, the hyenas who were now surrounding Vitani left again, probably to give her and her spotty friend some minimal privacy (minimal because they were still the center of attention, for pretty much all could see them). Kovu focused his attention on the lionesses to have returned, however, particularly Nala. First thing she did was turn her cub over to another lioness, after which she turned to Kiara and Simba. Kiara was of course overjoyed at the return of her mother and greeted her likewise. Needles to say tears flowed abundantly. Simba too was ecstatic at the return of Nala, though he still seemed a bit upset. And after the first few minutes of crying tears of joy, asking whether everyone was okay and recounting of how horrible Nala’s experiences around Priderock must have been, Simba suddenly popped his blunt question.

“Say, Nala, I was wondering, what were you doing with that hyena just now?”

“Huh, what?”

“It’s just… I saw you pause to talk to hyena, when you came over here…”

“I just stopped to say ‘thanks’,” Nala casually replied, which seemed to bother Simba for some reason Nala didn’t quite grasp.

“Ah… I didn’t know you started going around thanking hyenas…”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite get what you mean, Simba…”

“Well, I mean, don’t you think it’s pretty strange to go around thanking those scruffy bastards after they butchered our pride? Seems pretty strange to me,” Simba sneered.

“Hey, calm down, I just got back from captivity and you’re already…”

“Nala, what was it you said to that hyena and why?” Simba suddenly asked in loud voice, shocking Nala, Kiara and all lionesses around him.

“What’s it to you?”

“Nala, we’ve got enough trouble as it is without you getting friendly with the likes of them, now tell me what you said!”

“All right, all right, don’t yell at me!” Nala hissed, “I just told him ‘thanks for letting us go’, after which he replied ‘told you I’m not a bad guy, consider this a favor’. Then I patted him on the back and said ‘you’re a good kid, better hyena than your father was’. There, satisfied?”

“Better hyena than his father? I never knew you knew any hyenas…” Simba muttered, slightly disappointed and upset.

“Simba, during Scars reign we all did, like it or not, even me. Now can we please leave that behind us?”

No wonder the hyenas beat us, all of my lionesses (even my dear Nala!) seem to have befriended one…

As the argument between Simba and Nala withered down and the sun was in it’s final stages of setting, Kovu suddenly remembered Viatani was still down in the Golden River with her hyena. He took a quick look. They were just talking a bit whilst sitting down. Nothing gross this time around, no licking each others muzzle; nothing worse than touching each others paw every now and then. Although it was of course nice that the prisoners had all suddenly been released, it didn’t really look like they were trying to negotiate a way out of the current stalemate which would endure as long as the lions hadn’t gotten Priderock back. Maybe Kovu ought to bring that to everyone’s attention before night fell.

“Eh, my king, my queen… I hate to interrupt you but could we…  resume trying to get Priderock back from the hyenas, for I am afraid the talks my sister is holding now are less than productive. Maybe send someone over there with specific directives?” Kovu asked carefully. It was obvious who Kovu had in mind to go bargain for Priderock: himself; he’d love going through life as the lion that restored peace and order to the Pridelands. And it would also give him the much needed prestige to give him that extra edge over Simba now that they weren’t exactly on friendly terms anymore. Simba, however, seemed to have a radically different plan.

“For once, I have to agree with you: it’s time someone told those scavengers who’s boss, in stead of your hyena-loving sister.”

“That wasn’t exactly…”

Kovu didn’t even have time to finish his sentence, for Simba already sat at the edge of the Golden River. He looked back to address his pride.

“So far, the hyenas have refrained from using force during this meeting, so I will say this: I shall not be the first one to lift the paw against the hyenas,” Simba orated, just before hopping into the Golden Sands and strolling towards a surprised Vitani. It had only taken mere seconds for Simba to go from proposing someone walked over to the hyenas and actually doing it. Kovu was pretty much caught by surprise, and still had his mouth opened to finish the sentence he started before Simba had announced he would try holding peaceful peace