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"Sarafina!" echoed Sarabi's call across the Pridelands. "Sarafina, where are you?"

"Over here," replied the lioness, hiding behind a tree. She only spoke it, though. She knew her friend wouldn't have heard.

"Saffy, I need to talk to you," called Sarabi again.

Sarafina sighed and this time lifted her head up. "I'm over here," she replied again, loud enough this time for Sarabi to hear her.

The queen set off in her direction and found her lying down behind the tree.

Sarabi frowned. "You look upset."

Sarafina sighed. "I'm just lost."

"You shouldn't be. You did a great thing today. Your daughter did wrong, and you gave her a just punishment."

"Was it just?" asked Sarafina, lifting her head up more this time.

Sarabi smiled. She knew what was wrong with her friend now. "Yes, Saffy, it was. I know you love your daughter more than words can describe. I love my son in the same way, but I still punish him. If you don't, they're never going to learn. They'll grow up and…well…quite frankly, they'll just become spoilt little brats."

Sarafina didn't put up an argument, although she wanted to. However, history had shown that Sarabi had this miraculous way of almost always winning every argument she had with her. "So why'd you call me?" asked Sarafina.

Sarabi smiled again. "Because our children are having the exact same discussion."

"I can't believe your mother just let you off like that," said Simba, as the two bickering cubs sat bickering with each other inside Pride Rock.

"You'd think that," replied Nala, "but really my mom was hard on me. That time I spent with Zazu was not fun, and also…" she began, but then stopped. If she told Simba that the first pounce on Zazu hadn't seemed as good when it had just been her and her mother as opposed to the times when it had just been her and Simba, Simba would sense that he had emerged victorious, and then, he would never let Nala forget it.

"And also, what, Nala?" asked Simba.

"Never mind," Nala responded. "My mom punished me in her own unique way. It was foolish of me to agree to your bet. It was too specific. I would have to have been grounded."

"That's the worst punishment."

"Ha! No it's not."

"When you've been grounded as much as I have…"

"…it's an indication that you get in trouble too much."

"Is not! Nala, we've been over this. My mom is simply just stricter than yours."

"No she isn't."

"Yes she is!"

"Isn't!"

"Is!"

"Isn't!"

"What's going on in here?" asked Sarabi, as she led Sarafina inside Pride Rock.

"Mom, Simba's going to try and get me into trouble again," said Nala.

Sarafina opened her mouth to respond, but Sarabi covered it up.

"What do you mean, Nala?" Sarabi asked.

Nala began to feel a little uneasy. Sarabi had this miraculous way of winning almost every argument she had with her. Still, she tried: "Last time, Simba made me bet that my mom wouldn't ground me because she wasn't as strict as you, and now he's saying the same thing again."

"But he's not making you bet it?"

"Not yet."

"So for now that's a 'no?'"

Nala looked down at the ground. "I guess so."

Sarabi let her paw fall away from Sarafina's mouth. All four of them remained silent. Sarafina, Nala, and Simba all knew that, as queen, Sarabi was going to be the next one to talk. She was going to try her best to find a compromise that would work for all of them. This sort of stuff had happened before, and the funny thing was that although her compromises always worked…no one ever liked them. Save perhaps, for Sarabi herself.

Suddenly, Sarabi let out an evil grin. The two cubs caught onto it, and looked away.

"Um…mind me asking, Sarabi…have you came up with an idea to, you know, sort this all out?" asked Sarafina. By the way Sarabi was grinning though, she already knew the answer.

"Yes I have," replied Sarabi. "Yes I have," she said again, as she walked up and stood next to Sarafina. The two lionesses were both facing their cubs, which were quite simply just cowered down on the ground, both curious and both a little bit frightened of what would happen next. "So Simba," began Sarabi, "Sarafina's less of a strict Mom than I am, right?"

"I—I think so," stammered Simba as a reply.

"Good for you," replied Sarabi. "That'll make tomorrow great for you."

The other three lions frowned.

Sarabi sighed. "Nala," she addressed.

"Yes Ma'am?"

Sarabi shook her head, although she couldn't help but grin a little. "Tomorrow for you…is going to be hell."

Understandably, Nala didn't really like the sounds of that. Nala's ears fell. Simba would have laughed, but he himself had no idea what was going on.

Sarabi began to head back outside.

"Wait…Mom…" called Simba.

Sarabi stopped slowly, as if she'd been expecting such a call. "Yes, Simba?" she asked.

"What's happening tomorrow?" he asked.

"Oh, silly me," replied Sarabi, "I forgot to clarify." She turned back around. "I thought it would have been obvious by now though. Simba, tomorrow, Sarafina is going to be your mom, and I'm going to be Nala's."

"What?" asked the other three in unison.

Sarabi shrugged. "What?" she replied. "It'll be good for all of us. Nala, if you're right, and your mom is just as strict as me but you behave better, then you'll have nothing to worry about. Simba, if you're right, and I'm stricter than Sarafina, then Nala will get punished and you won't. Sarafina…girl, you just need to get away from your daughter. You're becoming a Nalaholic or something…and that just doesn't sound right."

Sarabi turned around and walked outside, humming a melody to herself. The three behind her just stood and watched as she walked off, each of them trying to think of how to make the next day as painless as possible.

(A/N: Obviously when Sarabi said 'Nalaholic' she simply meant that she thought Sarafina was too attached to her daughter. The joke is that she doesn't know what we take the term to mean. Just wanted to clarify that to avoid confusion. I tried to change it actually...but the alternate idea didn't work as well. Oh well, please review!)