Yet out of the ashes of this tragedy,

we shall rise to greet the dawning of a new era

in which lion and hyena come together

in a great and glorious future!

- King Scar, The Lion King

PART I

THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA

Months ago the plentiful rains Nala knew for most of her life abruptly died off, leaving the winding river nearly bone dry save a few muddy puddles, the largest overcrowded by hippos and thirsty animals. Even the great Watering Hole, once plentiful, shrunk to the size of a small pool. For the first time ever Nala truly understood what thirst meant. Although hearing the adults moan with relief about the relatively mild dry season this year made her want to fall over dead, idle chat about the weather was still preferable to the usual topic of the day: politics.

Not that politics bored her. She relished the opportunity to be a lizard on the rock and listen to the adults discuss the important goings-on about Pride Rock. Frustratingly, most of the time she struggled to understand the topic, which the adults refused to explain to her, or found herself rudely dismissed when she did manage to say something she thought profound. Nala had a love-hate relationship with politics at the age when all young lions believe they ought to be treated like adults. Once she said it wasn't fair that the adults looked down on her opinions so much when they trusted her to do other adult things, like explore outside Pride Rock and take hunting lessons. Even though she was one of the best young huntresses in her class, an honor that carried the responsibility of being a good example to her classmates, few adults took her seriously. For this reason she found politics exhausting even at the best of times. And so on this morning Nala was glad to put politics out of her mind. Today she was going to do a good deed.

After her mother left with the huntresses to search for game, Nala and Roho (who had spent the night with them on account of his sister's snoring) headed out to the dry riverbed to search for smooth stones. When they were cubs, Nana Uru showed them some old smooth stones and told a legend about a mighty hippo who summoned rain and ended a hundred year dry spell by breaking the stones with his foot and releasing the water. By holding one of the stones under her nose and breathing deeply, Nala smelled the water of hundreds of wet seasons past locked inside the rock as if by ancient magic. In the Pride Lands, smooth stones were a traditional gift given to friends near the end of the dry season believed to bring joy and good luck.

"I got one!" Roho rolled the smooth stone out of the mud puddle with his paw. Once the stone was on dry earth he carefully picked it up in his mouth as though it might crack and brought it over to the pile they had spent the last two hours collecting by migrating from puddle to puddle and bringing the stones with them one at a time.

The stone Roho discovered cleaned up pale silver, reminding her of a full moon. Roho placed it in the pile of clean stones and sat down beside Nala to admire their treasure trove. Her nose and paws were caked with muddy earth, her back baked by the sun, and her chest swollen to the fullest with accomplishment. Each stone was unique: one dark and lumpy, one cream colored and tear drop shaped, one dark brown, one grey and streaked with white like a zebra, and of course Roho's silver moonstone. They had done well.

"Do you think that's enough?" Roho asked. She looked at him and smiled. No way would Sarabi stay cooped up in her den with all the happiness she would get from these smooth stones, not to mention all the good luck they would bring. He licked his paw for a couple seconds then suddenly cast worried look at Pride Rock. "Um… how are we going to get them all back? There's so many of them and Pride Rock is so far away, we can't take them all in one trip."

Of course Roho would say that. Carrying the rocks one by one from puddle to puddle had not been a problem since the puddles were relatively close together. Now that they needed to carry them all the way back to Pride Rock the trip would be more difficult but not as impossible as Roho made it sound. "That's easy. I'll stay here while you go back to Pride Rock and get your sisters to help with the rest. That way we each only have to carry one rock."

His ears drooped. "By myself?"

"You're faster than I am. It won't take long."

"But what if a hyena catches me?"

"Just tell him you're running an errand for your mother. You're…" Nala thought. "Okay, say she told you to go check if there's any water left in the river and now you're going back to let her know you found some. He'll have to let you go."

Roho scrunched up his face as if committing the story to memory caused him discomfort. Or perhaps he was simply over thinking it again. Not a thought could pass through Roho's head without being interrogated and scrutinized. Some cubs, especially his sister Ruka, made fun of him for being 'stupid.' Nala vehemently disagreed. Quick thinking was a hazard to him. Instead he thought slowly, meticulously, and though he often panicked over details that she would have dismissed as unimportant his insights often got her out of trouble. "A-are you sure you'll be alright by yourself? What if I can't find my sisters?"

"You don't know where they are?"

"Well, Ruka and Chumvi are usually playing together and they never tell me where they're going. Bombu could be anywhere."

She hadn't thought of that. The sun was rising fast and there was little shade at this part of the river and the only water was mostly mud. Her plan depended on Roho coming back as quickly as possible so they could all make it home before midday. Nala glanced at the sky and frowned. "Well there's only five of them. I can fit two or three in my mouth."

"That sounds dangerous. I mean, you could trip and break all your teeth. Or choke!"

"Do I look clumsy to you?"

"Accidents happen," Roho protested meekly. Even Nala had to admit to herself that carrying three stones in her mouth would be tricky, let alone two, but she kept this thought to herself. She did not want Roho to think she was a backtracker. Roho added, "Wouldn't it be safer to find a big leaf and pile all the stones onto it?"

That was a sort of clever idea. Unfortunately, near the end of the dry season, finding a big leaf just wasn't an option. She shook her head.

"I guess you're right…" he agreed after thinking it over more thoroughly. Suddenly his face lit up. "What about monkeys?"

Nala lifted her eyebrows. What about monkeys?

"They have those…" Roho sat on his haunches and held up his forepaws, spreading and flexing his toes. "Hands. Yeah, they have hands."

She arched her ears and scanned the riverbanks with her eyes. Sparse trees with thin branches grew in the distance. She could only imagine how long it would take wandering from tree to tree, searching in vain for one that might have monkeys in it. Besides, monkeys were notorious thieves. She shook her head again. "Nana always said never trust a monkey unless you have a banana."

"What's the banana for?"

"For bribing them."

"Oh, right… right…" Roho studied the pile hopelessly. Nala did the same. They had to think of a way to get these smooth stones back to Pride Rock and give them to Sarabi.

We could just take two, Nala thought begrudgingly. After all the effort they put into gathering five smooth stones she hated to leave most of their bounty behind. While she hesitated her ears suddenly picked up the sound of pebbles chattering into the dry riverbed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Roho whip his head around and his rust colored fur stand on end. By the time she spun around the hyena was already too close to run.

"Ah-ha, I knew I smelled cubs down here!" the hyena loudly congratulated himself. "You cubs know you're not supposed to be this far from Pride Rock without supervision. Where's your escort!?"

Roho cowered behind her. Although they were practically the same age, Roho was the runt of his litter and had not even the tuft of a mane. Nala bared her teeth and shouted back in her most grown-up voice, "We're not cubs, we're almost a year old! We don't need an escort!"

"The law says no cub under a year of age is allowed more than a hundred yards from Pride Rock without a guard. You two are breaking the law."

"That's not true! We told Nyonda and Nana Uru where we were going and they gave us permission."

"Yeah, right. I know a couple of trouble makers when I see them." The hyena practically drooled with anticipation. Nala hated him and all the other guards who always pounced on the chance to get someone in trouble for breaking the law, even if they were following the law or it didn't make sense. She saw the hyena's beady eyes turn on Roho. "Hey you, baboon-butt! What are you hiding!?"

Nala glanced over her shoulder and felt her jaw drop, for there was Roho crouched over the pile of smooth stones like an ostrich protecting her nest and trembling all over. His golden eyes looked as big and round as two suns. As the hyena advanced on them Nala tried desperately to block his path. "H-he's not hiding anything! He just gets like that when he's scared."

"Move it!" the hyena snapped, shouldering her aside. Clumsily regaining her balance, Nala watched helplessly as the hyena towered over her friend. Roho stared dumbly into the hyena's dripping maw and when he growled the red lion seemed to stop breathing. Everyone knew the hyenas were not as trustworthy as Scar claimed. Only a few weeks after he took the throne Laini, one of the huntresses, had her ear nearly ripped off during a fight with a hyena. Naturally the hyena claimed self-defense, but Laini said otherwise. Nala and her friends had also been chased by a group of hyenas. No matter how many times the hyenas objected and tried to change their story Nala firmly believed that if not for her mother and the bravery of a rogue called Ni she would have been killed that day. There was no underestimating hyenas. Besides, there was no point in hiding the stones anymore.

Only when she called his name did Roho finally snap out of it. Slowly rising from the stones, he backed away and fled to her side while the hyena snapped his jaws and cackled mirthfully until the light reflecting off the stones distracted him. He titled his head to the side and raised his ears as if he expected the stones to speak. "Woah… pretty…" He turned them over with his paws and looked at the cubs intently. "Where did you get these?"

"From the river," Nala said coldly. "It took us all morning to dig them up. They're presents for Queen Sarabi."

The hyena snorted. "What would a queen want with a bunch of rocks?"

Nala said nothing. Roho peeked around her shoulder, staying low to the ground. There was no reason for him to make himself so small when the hyena was staring at her so intensely. The hyena started to smirk. "Unless there's something special about them…"

Her ears twitched. She couldn't think of a way out of this. "They're just rocks."

"Oh, I see… Then you won't mind if I take them."

"N-no, you can't!" Roho squeaked. Nala glared at him.

"Why not? They're just a bunch of worthless river rocks."

"They're special rocks. Ow!" Nala stepped on his paw. She interjected, "He doesn't know what he's talking about. Heatstroke."

"No!" Roho yanked out his paw and stood out of reach. He gazed up at the hyena, submissive and pleading, "If you sniff them they give you good luck and happiness. That's why we're getting them for Sarabi. She hasn't come out of her den in a long, long time and we need these rocks to make her happy again. Please! She's your queen, too!"

The hyena looked unimpressed with Roho's theatrics. Suddenly he started to chuckle smugly. "Tell you what. Since this has been so entertaining I'll let you kids go – if you give me all your pretty rocks."

Nala bristled. "That's stealing!"

"Nope, it's a fair trade. Or maybe if you don't like it I'll just take the stones and report you anyway. I'm sure Captain Shenzi would love to get her paws on a couple of plump little snacks."

That name sent a shiver from Nala's neck all the way to the tip of her tail. On the night of Scar's ascension she had watched in shock and horror as he named the three hyenas that almost killed her as a cub Captains of the Guard, now known to her as Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. She tried to hide her fear with a scowl but her eyes betrayed her. She looked away.

"Come on Roho, let's go." There was nothing they could do.

The two cubs backed away from the hyena. As Nala turned to climb up the river bank she glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the hyena lunge at them. Letting out a terrified shriek she scrambled up the bank alongside Roho and ran for the shadow of Pride Rock, her cheeks burning with fury and humiliation. Behind them the hyena's laughter faded away, swallowed up by the hot wind. They ran for several minutes before they felt safe to stop and catch their breath under a nearly leafless acacia tree. The moment she had air in her lungs again she turned on Roho. "This is all your fault! What were you thinking!?"

"I'm sorry!" Roho cried. His voice cracked from the heat and sounded like a hiccup.

"If you hadn't been so… so…" She stamped her forepaw on the ground. There was a word her mother used for huntresses who foolishly gave away their position. "So conspicuous none of this would have happened!"

"I'm sorry! I just – I was trying – I thought I could be brave for you, like Simba!"

Simba…

She froze, her anger suddenly half an act. Simba would have been brave. When Shenzi tried to grab her in the Elephant Graveyard Simba rushed back to save her. Even when all hope seemed lost Simba still tried to protect her and if Mufasa had not come to their rescue he would have gone down fighting to save her. Her chest seemed to squeeze in on her. If Simba was here now…

No, no more sadness. She was getting too old for childish emotions. When she looked back at Roho and saw his tear stained cheeks all anger vanished from her heart. "Stop it, don't cry. Crying won't do us any good."

Roho sniffed and rubbed his face with his paw, smearing mud across his nose. "Sorry. I'm just a big baby."

"No you're not. You were very brave. You just…" She frowned and shook her head. There was no point in telling Roho to think more before he acted. Usually he did. "Forget about it. We can find more smooth stones on our way back to Pride Rock."

Roho nodded. He seemed eager to put this behind them. Having just run over a mile, however, they were too tired to continue. Instead they lied down back to back in the snake-like shadow of the acacia tree and watched for hyenas while they gathered their strength and cleaned their paws.

Some distance away, rippling in the heat, Nala spotted the figure of an old lioness. She was standing all alone, obviously not a part of her mother's hunting party, though she was so far away that even by squinting Nala could not make out any details of her face. She thought it might be Nana Huzuni, the lioness who disappeared from Pride Rock after Scar took the throne and who had been wandering the Pridelands by herself, refusing contact with any of the pride members. Nala's mother, Sarafina, seemed to know what caused Huzuni to retreat from Pride Rock, but when Nala asked she only said that it was a sad story that happened before Nala was born. There were rumors that Huzuni wanted to leave the Pridelands altogether. The only obstacle holding her back was the wall of hyenas guarding the boarder.

Huzuni wasn't the only lioness being held back. Laini, the lioness with the torn ear, also threatened to leave, though she never secluded herself the way Huzuni did. Shaba and Zito, two huntresses on her mother's team, had also talked about leaving. One day while Nala was resting up in a tree she awoke to find the two lionesses plotting to escape the Pridelands once and for all unwittingly beneath her branches. Nothing ever came of it and she told no one. She hoped they changed their minds, but Huzuni had obviously not. Before Nala could mention her sighting to Roho the lone lioness had disappeared into the mirage.