Disclaimer: Disney owns all characters except Nyeusi. She belongs to me.
It was a beautiful day in the Pride Lands. Except for the heat. The heat was miserable. Downright oppressive. Every creature in the Pride Lands complained about it. Quarrels arose over every tiny patch of shade or minuscule drop of water. It took the Lion Guard and the rest of the royal family working full time to keep the peace between all the creatures stressed by the dry season. Zazu and Rafiki also contributed their diplomatic skills. As did Kiara and Makini, despite their own inexperience. It was the perfect opportunity for the two of them to continue working together, learning one another's leadership styles and how to play off of one another.
The two girls had just finished successfully resolving a conflict between a serval and a caracal, and were on their way back to Pride Rock, one of the few places in the Pride Lands that offered some relief from the heat. They chatted amiably, taking turns describing the increase in their respective responsibilities.
"Dad's got me helping with a lot of diplomatic issues close to Pride Rock," Kiara was saying. "But he's still so strict about where I can go. I have to stay on or close to the trails he's marked out, unless Zazu or the Lion Guard are with me. It's frustrating that he still doesn't trust me to be okay on my own."
"Well, there was that whole thing with the crocodiles and the outlanders a while back," Makini pointed out.
Kiara rolled her eyes. "That was ages ago! And Kion goes into the Outlands all the time!"
"Kion has the Roar of the Elders, so I guess that's good enough for your dad."
"Yeah," Kiara mumbled. "I guess."
"But I know what you mean with the whole trust issues thing. Rafiki never lets me hang out in his tree unless he's there, and he still won't let me touch any of his medicines. He tells me I'm just not listening enough. But I'm trying, I really am!"
Kiara ducked as Makini's wild gesticulating resulted in a hand passing within inches of her muzzle. She gave the young mandrill a wry grin. "Oh, you're trying, alright."
"I know!" Makini cried, completely missing the sardonicism in Kiara's comment. "But sometimes listening is just so hard! I can't—YIKES!"
Makini jumped back as a long, black object shot up in front of her. It gave a hiss and spread out its hood. Kiara gasped and backpedaled.
"Who's there?" the cobra cried. "Stay, back, I'm warning you!" She swung her head around, as if she were searching for something.
"Can't she see us?" Kiara whispered to Makini.
"Maybe she's blind," Makini suggested. "I'll ask." She strode toward the distraught snake.
"Makini, don't!" Kiara whispered fiercely. "She's still a cobra!"
But the mandrill paid no attention, intent on getting the cobra's attention. It had turned its back to the girls, searching for the source of the earlier noise in the opposite direction from them.
"Hi!" Makini called out as she closed the distance between herself and the snake. "Do you need help seeing—AAAAHHH!"
Makini screamed as the snake whirled on her and ejected a stream of venom from its fangs, catching the young mandrill full in the face. As Makini dropped to the ground, hands over her eyes, the cobra continued spitting, sweeping the area around her.
"Stay back!" the cobra cried. "Stay away from me! I'll bite you if I have to!"
Kiara rushed to her friend's side. "Makini!" She had to duck and cover her face as the cobra turned and spit in her direction, continuing to cry out fearful warnings. "Okay, okay, we're leaving!" Kiara called. "Just stop spitting and let us go! We won't hurt you, we promise!"
The plea seemed to placate the snake. She calmed a little bit, and said, "Fine, just leave! Please! Leave me in peace!"
Kiara nudged Makini, who still had her face buried in her hands, sobbing in pain. "Makini, come on, we have to get you to Rafiki!"
"I-I can't!" Makini whimpered. "It hurts! My eyes! It hurts so much!"
Kiara growled in frustration. "We are getting you home, even if I have to carry you the whole way!" She pushed her nose under Makini's body and hefted the mandrill onto her back. Kiara then began making her way toward Pride Rock and Rafiki's tree.
"That's it, just keep moving off!" the cobra called after them.
After several minutes of struggling as Makini continued to weep, Kiara spotted Ono overhead. She called out, "Ono! Down here! We have an emergency!"
The egret alighted before the lioness cub. "Hapana! What happened, your highness?"
Kiara took a moment to catch her breath before depositing Makini on the ground beside her. "Makini got sprayed in the face by a cobra. She needs to get to Rafiki, and I need some help getting her there. She's heavy."
Ono nodded. "I'll send Fuli right away. Hang in there!" With that, he took off.
A few moments later, Fuli was at their side. Kiara helped lift Makini onto Fuli's back, and the cheetah took off for Rafiki's tree. It wasn't long after that that the rest of the guard joined Kiara.
"What exactly happened, Kiara?" Kion asked.
"We were just making our way back to Pride Rock when we stumbled on a spitting cobra. She started to panic and spray all around. She acted like she couldn't see anything. She kept asking who was there, and where we were at. I don't think she exactly meant to spray Makini. I don't know why she was behaving like that."
"Snakes are weird," Bunga offered. "That's just all there is to it. They have, like, no sense of humor at all."
"The only snake you really know is Ushari," Kion pointed out. "And he doesn't like you because you keep bothering him."
"Hey, it's not my fault he's always grumpy when we show up."
"No offense, Little B, but it kind of is," Beshte offered.
"In any case, we should try to find this spitting cobra and see if we can figure out why she's so scared that she's spraying indiscriminately," Kion said.
"Uh, Kion, that could be difficult," Ono said. "What with cobras being, you know, venomous."
"Not to me!" Bunga said, puffing his chest out. "I'm immune, remember?"
"That's right, you are immune to cobra venom," Kion said. "So we'll keep our distance while you see if you can calm that cobra down and get her to talk."
"We should check on Makini first," Beshte said. "Besides, you know how your dad gets when Kiara's out here all alone."
Kiara growled. "I'm fine, Beshte! What Dad doesn't know won't hurt me!"
"Well, we're coming with you to see how Makini's doing anyway," Kion said. "Then we'll go find this cobra."
As the five of them arrived at Rafiki's tree, they saw Fuli sitting at the base, watching with concern. From the tree they could hear Makini whimpering in pain and Rafiki reassuring her.
"How's it going, Fuli?" Kion asked.
"I don't know yet," Fuli replied. "Rafiki seemed pretty worried. He started treating her right away."
"She won't go blind from that stuff, will she?" Kiara asked.
"Spitting cobra venom has been known to permanently blind animals before," Ono said.
"Not helping, Ono," Kion quipped.
The bird shrugged. "I'm just stating the reality of the situation. It's serious. Makini will live, since cobra venom is only deadly if the snake bites you. But she may never see again."
Kiara sighed. "I guess she'll really have to step up her listening game, then."
"She will indeed," came Rafiki's voice from above them. The elderly mandrill swung down from the tree and landed among the group. "But she will only be without her sight for a few days."
The six young animals breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"She's doing okay, then?" Kiara asked.
Rafiki nodded. "I have washed the venom out of her eyes and applied some medicine. After a few days, her vision will be restored, and may even be better than before."
"Better?" Ono questioned. "How can venom make her eyesight better?"
"It is one of the mysteries of venom. What it destroys, it can also heal. But how its healing powers work, even I do not know. I have tried to find out, but there is no experiment I can yet perform that would not be very dangerous."
"Except to me, of course," Bunga said.
Rafiki stroked his beard as he contemplated the honey badger cub. "Yes, this is true."
"So I guess Makini's gonna have to stay put for a few days," Kiara said. "Is it alright if I check on her regularly?"
Rafiki smiled and gave her a nod. "You are free to stop by anytime she is not asleep. Which she is now; I gave her something to relax her so she could rest without pain."
"Thank you, Rafiki," Kiara said. "I'd better get back home for now. I have to report all of this to Dad."
"And we have a spitting cobra to find," Kion said. "Let's go, everyone. Till the Pride Lands end..."
"Lion Guard defend!" the rest of the guard shouted. With that, the young animals took off for their respective destinations. Rafiki returned to his tree to tend to his patient.