He was my brother
Tears can't bring him back to me...
- Paul Simon

"Kovu no! They'll kill you!"

Purring with distress, Kiara pawed at her lover's flank. "And Father...Father will be more convinced than ever that you're still one of them. You mustn't go."

The first joy of reunion was over, and the two lions had begun to talk sensibly about what they should do. Kovu was an outcast from both prides, and Kiara had run away from her family to be with him. Both knew they had to return and make things right, but before that Kovu had another task to perform.

"I must, Kiara." Turning away, Kovu gazed in the direction of his two homes, the old and the new. Though a golden sunset bathed Pride Rock, over the barren Outlands dark shadows had already fallen. "He's - he was - my brother."

"You don't owe him anything. He tried to kill you today!"

The dark lion shook his head slowly. "No, Kiara. You wouldn't understand, but...that's not what he was trying to do...."

Memories swarmed around him like tsetse flies as he trod the familiar path to the termite mounds. Big brother Nuka, the bad-tempered babysitter. How he and Vitani had teased him! They would run away and hide, stuffing their paws in their mouths to keep from laughing as they listened to Nuka's increasingly frantic calls and curses. His disgust at being left to mind the babies had been matched only by his panic when he lost them. Often poor Nuka had received a beating for his failure to keep an eye on Kovu, while he on his reappearance was fussed over and treated like a prince.

The small cubs were faster and smarter than Nuka, but he had the advantage of size. Kovu could still feel his older brother's teeth in his scruff, dragging him painfully along.
"You - little - termite! Don't you ever run away from me again!"
Most times Nuka would break off to itch at the termites which chronically infested his fur and Kovu would make a dash for freedom, growls of hapless rage filling his ears as he fled.

Then there were the games. Kovu and Vitani, but especially Kovu, were taught to track and pounce by stalking their elder brother and attacking him. He might have been Zira's stooge but he played his part well, acting as though he had noticed nothing out of the ordinary until the moment of the pounce, when he would turn and pin the incautious cubs and subject them to a barrage of tickles. When they grew wiser and succeeded in catching him unawares, he would leap up with a very satisfying yelp of surprise. These were fun times for the siblings.

But Kovu had grown into a strong young adult, and suddenly the smaller Nuka seemed a puny creature, more ridiculous than ever. It was clear that in the family's pecking order Nuka came right at the bottom of the heap - well below the favoured Kovu, and kept subservient to Vitani by her sharp tongue. The lion who in the absence of a father had been half the younger cubs' world dwindled into insignificance. Zira treated him with open contempt; he was bullied by Vitani and largely ignored by Kovu, who was disgusted by his creepy ways and undignified manner.

And now Nuka was dead. Kovu's nightmare flight from his own pride, scrambling up a tottering pile of logs to join Simba in safety, had ended in unforeseen disaster. Looking back, Kovu had watched his older brother climbing determinedly after him. None of the other lions, even Zira in her rage, dared follow, but Nuka was following his old duty: retrieving his naughty little brother from another escape attempt. His eyes, Kovu saw, were eager and intent, expressing his longing to do something right and win his mother's approval.

In another instant Kovu had gained the ledge and his scrabbling hindlegs had tipped the delicate balance of the logs. He could only look on, frozen with horror, as Nuka's triumphant expression changed to terror and he tumbled to his death beneath the crushing weight. Kovu had eluded capture again, but this time there was no desire to laugh.

No sentry guarded the forbidding entrance to Zira's kingdom tonight. Kovu as a cub had daily played hide and seek among the rocks and caves, and his feet led him up to an old haunt, a projecting overhang from which he could see without being seen.

The main cavern lay beneath him like a bowl, filled with the lanky forms of Zira's lions. Zira herself sat on a natural platform of rock, surveying her subjects. Vitani was beside her, head hanging. While in the centre of the group, prone on a patch of bare earth, was...

Kovu bit his lip. The pride must have worked for hours to free Nuka from his deathtrap. He had been laid out as if asleep, his body and limbs gently moved into a lifelike position. But no efforts could have disguised the crushed and shattered ribcage, and the skull crumpled like a nutshell by the heavy blow it had received. Nuka was like a dry stick chewed and worried by a playful cub, broken in a hundred places.

A gentle crooning rose from the pride: the mourning song. The sound mingled with the low moan of the wind through the termite-made funnel above. Thousands of insects, disturbed by the noise, crawled from their burrows and began to circle the cave in a swooping flight. They formed a spiral above the body and syphoned through the exit hole as if carrying Nuka's soul upwards. Fitting that the termites which had tortured him so in life should come to his funeral.

The song came to an end, and there was a moment's deep silence. Then Vitani whispered something to her mother, who nodded. Vitani stood and stepped to the edge of her platform.

"Nuka was my brother," she began. "He wasn't strong and he wasn't smart." Perhaps only Kovu realised that the cynical edge in his sister's voice was all that kept her back from tears.

"We didn't always get along, and I was often mean to him. I can't tell you how much I regret that now. But I loved him, and in his own way he loved me and Kovu. He was always looking out for us when we were kids, trying to teach us what he knew and make up for our not having a dad.

"But most of all he loved our mother, Zira." Vitani could not keep the harshness from her tone, and she glowered at the older lioness beside her. "It was for her sake he took the risk you saw earlier. We all held back, but Nuka, a lion weak from birth, did what she asked without thinking." She paused and swallowed.

"Nuka died doing what gave him most pleasure: carrying out a task for the one he adored. He went out knowing that his family loved him and regretted all the times they overlooked him. So I think he died happy. Rest in peace, Nuka, my big brother. I'll never forget ya."

On this abrupt ending Vitani slipped down from the rock, blinking hard, and walked over to the body. The others parted to let her pass. She nuzzled Nuka briefly, burying her nose in his sparse mane, then slunk to the darkest corner of the cave. Kovu knew she would never let another lion see her cry.

Zira's face was set in a grim cast as she stood. Drawing breath, she unleashed a powerful roar of sorrow and anger. Not until the last echo had subsided did she begin her speech.

"Nuka, my eldest son, is dead. As a mother, I mourn my baby. As a leader, I mourn the death of a pride member. And I thirst for revenge."

There was a subdued murmur from the pride, whether of agreement or surprise at this unexpected turn Kovu could not tell. He craned his neck, eyes fixed on his mother.

"Nuka died pursuing the traitor Kovu. He also was born my son, but he is no longer. I disown him utterly." There was a crack in her voice. "Simba, not content with the murder of my mate, has turned Kovu against his own family. Look at my Nuka!"

They looked obediently, though the horrible sight was already familiar and few would ever be able to erase it from their memory. Zira began to pace from side to side, whipping up her followers.

"His wounds, his innocent blood cry out for the blood of his killer! Simba must die! Simba must die!"

Her voice reached a shriek, but then came an even louder roar.

"HOW DARE YOU USE MY BROTHER'S DEATH AS A POLITICAL TOOL?"

Kovu loomed over the edge of his perch, bristling. To the lions below he was visible only as a dark shadow with blazing eyes. Thus had Scar looked in his blackest rages. Heads turned up. Zira choked with indignation, unable to believe his audacity.

"Seize him! Kill him!" She stood beneath her son, leaping and twisting as she tried to reach him. But Kovu would not retreat, and her jumps fell short. "Get him!"

"I think we've had enough of that for one day. Don't you, Mother?" Vitani spoke quietly, the rings below her eyes wet. "Or have you already forgotten the last time you commanded us to get Kovu?"

The others seemed to share her sentiment. While Zira hurled impotent curses at them, the lionesses sat gazing solemnly up at Kovu as though expecting something. Vitani gave a weak smile as she looked at her twin.

"Speak, Kovu. He was your brother too."

Kovu's restless eyes swept the audience.
"I killed Nuka," he said.

"You see?" Zira screamed.
"Mother be quiet!" snarled Vitani.

"I have been killing Nuka all my life. His death began with my birth. I was Scar's heir, the number one. My older brother, who should have had precedence over me, was pushed to one side.

"Zira, my mother, lavished attention and affection on me. I took the first bite of every kill. I spent long hours training under her care - it was torture to me, but how Nuka would have loved to spend that much time alone with his mother, learning from her!

"Yes, Nuka was jealous. How could he not be? Yet he was loyal. When I was a cub he had a thousand opportunities to dispose of me, and no one would have been any the wiser. Instead he watched over me. He played with me. Sometimes he was unkind and rough, but that's what big brothers do. For my part, I was a pest and a nuisance. I teased him. I ran away from him. That's what little brothers do.

"Nuka was prepared to sacrifice his own interests for mine. He stepped aside willingly so I could play my part in Zira's scheme. All he asked in return was a little recognition, perhaps a little praise."

Zira's ears were pressed against her head. "You are making a mockery of Nuka's ceremony!"

"No. You did that. I am paying him his dues." Kovu leaped gracefully to the ground and stood beside his dead brother.

"Nuka was loyal, trustworthy and reliable. At the end of his life he proved that he was also brave. When he chased me today murder was not on his mind, merely selfless obedience. I am proud to call him my big brother."

"Very touching," purred Zira. "How would you like to join him?"

For the second time that day she lunged at her son with naked claws. This time more than a scar was on her mind. But quick as she was, Vitani was quicker. Coming from the side, she knocked her mother over and pinned her to the floor. Zira struggled for a second, then went limp.

"Nuka..." she whimpered softly, her face in her paws. "Nuka..."

"Oh, Kovu..." Love and gratitude for his coming and his words were in Vitani's voice, but she shook her head. "You better scram."

"Come with me, Vitani. Come to Pride Rock - you'll love it. We'll have a new life there."

"I'm going to stay with Mother. She needs me." She wrapped a foreleg around Zira's shoulders. "You don't know what it means to me that you came, Kovu. Nuka would have been pleased that you chose to honour him. He always thought you were great, you know, secretly."

The rest of the pride looked uncomfortable. The presence of a corpse subdued them, but though his speech might have moved some, it was clear most of the lions still regarded him as the enemy. Gathering his powerful hindquarters for the spring, Kovu leaped for his ledge and wriggled into the open air.

Kiara met him at the border of the Pridelands, where she had waited anxiously. A line of grass was worn flat from her nervous padding.
"I'm sorry I tried to stop you going. Of course you had to say goodbye to your brother." She licked his cheek cautiously. "Are you all right, honey?"

Kovu looked down at his paws. A small termite, a souvenir of his visit, was crawling among the tan fur. As he watched it flicked open its wings and took off, climbing in a series of loops until it disappeared into the night sky. Then a flash of bright green light made the pair blink - it had not been a termite after all, but a firefly.

The lion nodded. "Yes, Kiara, I'm fine. I am at peace - and so is he."