was, and she might as well tell her.

“Yes, mother,” She replied with a heavy sigh, “It is about yesterday. I, uh…I just can’t let go of Zira’s fall into the river.”

“Why should it bother you so much?” Nala asked.

“Well… the thing is that…” Kiara began, extremely reluctant to say the next words because they were very hard to break out, but she did. “She didn’t slip off of the wall as everybody thought.”

“What!?” Her mother said in a shocking but somewhat quieter voice so as not to wake up the others inside the den.

“S-She l-l-let go of the walls and let herself f-f-fall into the river. Before she d-d-did she looked at me and said ‘No, never’ with an evil smile.” Kiara stuttered as those words really hurt and scared her to say it. She was trying to choke back tears of fear. “I-I-I know that it sounds strange, mother, but I just have this feeling th-th-that she survived the currents.” She finished.

Nala had listened carefully to what her daughter was saying, and she started to think to herself after taking in the information that she had just heard. It seemed that she was thinking about what this might lead to if Zira had indeed survived the fall into the river.

“Well, if that is true, then I don’t think that we are out of danger yet.” Nala concluded, with a little concern in her voice.

“But mother,” Kiara began, getting a hold of herself, “If she is still alive, she wouldn’t be able to survive on her own out there.” This thought had only just occurred to her.

“Believe me,” Nala said, “I don’t think that she is alone.”

“What do you mean?” Kiara asked in suspicion.

“This will have to wait until the others are awake.” Nala said. “They will need to hear this as well.”

“But, mother…”

“You will just have to wait, Kiara. It is quite important for them to know about this.” Nala said in a half forceful voice as if giving her daughter an order to let it be. Kiara was not quite sure what her mother was trying to get at. She would have to wait until the other were awake; and that might not be for another couple of hours because the sun was still just rising on the horizon and there was still some time before the wake up call was to arrive.

Nala went to inform her mate, King Simba, to meet behind Pride Rock in a couple of hour’s time when everyone was wide awake. Simba got the message and fell back to sleep so as to give it a little more time before waking up himself. Kiara remained outside and waited patiently before everyone else was to wake up.

2

About the same time of the day on the banks the Kube River several miles west of Pride Rock, a dark furred black-eyed outsider lioness was lying unconscious. She was fairly skinny in size and had a large cut on her right ear. She had drifted a few miles within the river from the previous day’s battle location to another part of the Pride Lands. She had just managed to get to safety on the banks of the river after the currents died down before passing out from battling the currents and the struggle to get to shore.

The sun had now fully appeared over the horizon and the lights shone over the Pride Lands just as it had done since the beginning of time. One of the rays of light hit the lioness in the eye and caused her to stir. She then started moving her body slowly but with difficulty because of the fatigue she had to endure the previous day. She slowly opened her eyes and looked directly into the sun without even knowing it was right in front of her eyes. It got her immediate attention and she was forced to open them right up and scramble to her feet. As she got to her feet she slightly winced in pain. When she was flowing through the river the currents pushed her hard into a submerged rock and she bruised her back; so she felt a slight cork of pain in her back. It was nothing serious, but it apparently weakened her more and was another cause to fall unconscious. It also hurt a bit to walk, so she had to rest for a few minutes by laying back down.

Zira, which was the name of the lioness, sat thinking about the previous day’s events as she was recovering from the pain and fatigue. She could remember every detail of what happened: She and her pride had set out to ambush Simba’s Pride and take over the Pride Lands for good; but more than anything, she wanted Simba dead so as to avenge the death of her beloved Scar; because Simba had apparently killed him. As her pride was gaining the advantage in the battle, she was about to finish Simba off, when Kovu; her own son who had turned against her; and Kiara; Simba’s daughter; intervened and called for peace. Her pride then understood about being ‘One’ and joined Simba’s Pride; including her own daughter, Vitani; much to Zira’s shocking surprise. Zira then tried to attack Simba when Kiara went for her and knocked her down the cliff and into the fast-flowing Kube River. Before falling into the river, Zira held onto the cliff wall tight with her claws to avoid falling in, but she then looked up and Kiara and smirked. She refused to accept Kiara’s help to get her back up by muttering the words “No, never”, and intentionally let go. She then let herself fall into the river and get swept away by the currents. The river currents eventually slowed down and she was able to make it to the banks.

At this time she started thinking. She knew exactly what she was doing that whole time. She had sensed that there was still another chance at revenge on hand, and she knew that she could survive both the fall into the river and the currents. She knew that it wasn’t yet over, and this time whatever she was planning to do would work perfectly to eliminate Simba and everyone else who got in her way. Plus not just one but now both of her children had betrayed her, so her revenge had now become even greater.

She slowly rose to her feet once again and slowly started walking towards the east away from Pride Rock. “It is not over with yet, Simba,” She was saying to herself as she was walking, with a very evil and vengeful tone in her voice. “Zira is still around and I will not stop until I see your bloody corpse breathe its last. I do not care how old you are. I promise you that I will cut your life short before you die of old age. And believe me; now that you have stolen my daughter from me, my revenge is even greater.” She knew that Simba was ageing and would only have another two or less years before he would pass on, but she wasn’t going to let him through his life all the way. She really wanted him to suffer a horrible death for his crime. At the same time she was still feeling heartbroken for her daughter’s own betrayal to her, because she had cared so much about her and looked up to her as a leader of the family. Now that she had betrayed her, she wanted her dead as well.

The pain that she was feeling a moment ago was staring to leave her; and knowing exactly what she was doing, she gathered all the strength that she had and started walking faster towards the east, hoping to find something familiar and plan the first stage of her revenge.

3

Out in the open grasslands in the savannah, many animals had awakened to the morning light from the sun, which was now fully open to the Pride Lands. It was a beautiful sunny morning with very few clouds in the sky; and even then some animals noticed the strange shapes of the clouds that were changing every now and then. They could make out all of these shapes within their imagination and visualize what they looked like. But it was mainly the joy of the morning daylight that seemed to comfort all the animals.

Out near a small waterhole not very far north of Pride Rock, Timon and Pumbaa were already up drinking and looking for breakfast. They had already managed to scoop up grubs from the soil and under logs, both crawly critters and winged bugs. They were both enjoying their catches, but at the same time they could not get certain thoughts out of their heads. They had really enjoyed their time in the Pride Lands ever since Simba became king, and they knew the this savannah was a beautiful home; but at the same time they couldn’t help remembering the beauty and wonder of their previous home; which they called “The Tropical Paradise”. They had both lived there even before they met Simba, and there were so many great adventures and joys within the area’s landscape that they found hard to let go of, and they really wanted so much to re-live those good old days just one more time.

“Hey, Timon,” Pumbaa began, “Can I ask you a question?”

He looked at Timon, who wasn’t paying attention. He had his back turned and was holding his stomach while groaning in pain. It seemed that Timon had already had more than his share of food and was feeling the side