(A/N: This is the first of three stories that I have planned for this month. The other two are designed to be humorous, whereas this one is one that I felt was necessary because...well...we'll get to that. Enjoy!)


"Brr…" shivered Nala, as she came inside Pride Rock. She shook her coat off. "I get why it rains, but does it have to be so cold?" she asked out loud.

"You should have came to the oasis," replied Timon from a dark corner in the cave, "the rain was warmer there."

"Yeah…I think I'll pass," said Nala back. She then frowned. "What are you two doing inside anyways? It's raining out – that makes all the worms come up."

"It's been raining all day," said Pumbaa, joining in the conversation, "we're already stuffed."

Nala chuckled lightly. "I never thought you guys stopped eating," she said, "its news to me that you have a limit."

"Hah hah hah," said Timon sarcastically, "well, we do. We have other things that keep us entertained."

Nala raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked. "Like what?"

Timon and Pumbaa were stumped for an answer.

Nala smirked and sat down.

"I'm waiting," she said.

"Well…um…okay," said Timon, "we eh…we play eye-spy."

"Eye-spy?" asked Nala, grinning.

"Yes," replied Timon. "Haven't you heard of it? It's a great game."

"Of course I have," said Nala back, "I just don't see how it's possible to play it here in Pride Rock. All there is is rock," she explained, looking around the room to check she hadn't missed anything.

"Oh, we can improvise more than that," retorted Timon. "Ready Pumbaa?"

"Not…really," replied the warthog.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with i."

"Oh, that's easy Timon," replied Pumbaa.

"Good," replied the meerkat, smugly turning back towards Nala, "what is it?"

"INPOM."

Timon whirled around to face Pumbaa. Nala stared at him.

"Would you mind telling us what INPOM is?" asked Nala.

"Eh…I don't know what it is," replied the warthog, "but it's written here," he said, pointing at the wall.

Slowly, Nala began to make her way towards the back wall. Timon stared up too.

Indeed, they could both now see, the word INPOM was engraved into the wall, most likely by someone's claw. Not only that, but a box had been drawn around it. It obviously must have held some significance.

"Whoa, what a letter I picked!" exclaimed Timon, "you're right Pumbaa! It was INPOM!"

"What's INPOM?" asked Nala to herself.

"I don't know, but we won!" exclaimed Timon. "Woo hoo!"


"Okay, Jimbo," said Simba, turning towards the zebra, "you start first."

"Thank you, your majesty," replied Jimbo. "Well, as you know, our herd was one of the first ones to return to the Pridelands after Scar was defeated. We took this grazing field because we believed it had potential. We rationed ourselves for several days hoping that this field would soon turn to green. And it did! Then, this group of impala came along and took the grazing field to the north. I don't blame them, the grass was growing there pretty well. However, they forgot to ration, and thus they lost all of their grass. Now they've moved on down here, to our southern grazing field, because they don't have any food up there. My herd and I feel that they should not be allowed into this grazing field. Their presence and lack of self-restraint will rid of these greens within the week, which my herd worked so hard to preserve."

Greg, the lead impala, opened his mouth to interrupt, but he was cut off.

"Not only that," added Jimbo, bringing his voice level up, "but their presence will also attract more predators to this area, which will not be good to either of our herds." With that, Jimbo tightly shut his lip and nodded in Simba's direction.

Simba looked over towards the impala.

"Greg?"

"Well, your majesty, I must first say that I do see Jimbo's concern with the fact that this area may soon become a predator-attracting environment, which is why I got you involved in it. I was hoping that you could make a predator pact with the other lions and cheetahs, promising not to hunt here as much. Now, going back to the whole rationing and land argument, I must say that the zebras did not ration as much as they say they did. On the other hand, our herd actually rationed quite a lot. Our numbers far exceed those of the zebra, so although we rationed, we still ran out of grass just because our portion of land was smaller. The only reason Jimbo and his crew haven't used up all of their grass is because they have a lower number in their herd, and a much bigger and richer grazing field, and our herd and I believe we should be free to use it." With that, Greg nodded in Simba's direction

This time, Simba returned the nod.

"I can make a predator pact," he replied.

Greg smiled.

Jimbo's jaw dropped. "Your majesty, you're surely not allowing them into our grazing field?"

"The grazing fields belong to everyone, I'm afraid," replied Simba, turning to Jimbo, "there's nothing to stop them from coming in. Really it's not my job to have much of a say in a situation such as this, but I will say this…the grass in the northern grazing field will grow back. Jimbo, there's nothing stopping your herd from spreading out into that field when it does so. Honestly, all I see is one giant grazing field. If the impala do eat all the grass then I'll come back and we can sort out something else…"

"But by then it will be too late!" exclaimed Jimbo.

"…but I don't think that should become a concern," added Simba. "This grazing field is richer, it is bigger, and I don't see why you can't still split up in this field into two smaller parts. You can still keep your distance, I'm sure."

"Hmph," replied Jimbo, "you wouldn't be saying the same thing if we were dealing with the Pridelands."

"The Pridelands are more of a governing system that an eating one," Simba snapped back with a hint of anger in his voice, "but even our lands are taken and then expanded on the outskirts to nobody's knowledge. When it becomes a problem, we fight. Right now, what I'm seeing here…is really not a problem."

"Thank you, your majesty," replied Greg, the impala. "Come on, Jimbo. We should let him go. I'm sure he has other things to attend too."

Simba nodded in agreement. "Have to sort out negotiations on the northern border actually," he replied, "let me know if there's anything else I can do to help. I'll make sure I get that predator pact made sometime this week."

And with that, Simba whirled around and began to walk away, leaving a chuffed impala and a disgruntled zebra left behind him.

As the lion began to make his way north, Zazu came flying down from the sky to greet him.

"Good day sire," said the hornbill, landing at his feet.

Simba stopped walking.

"How did it go?" Zazu asked.

Simba sighed. "I hate taking sides," he replied. "I usually like it when we come to a compromise, but Greg won this one. The impala have every right to integrate."

"Are you going to make a predator pact?"

"Sometime this week, yeah."

"Jolly good." Zazu clapped his wings together. "Seems like you made the right decision to me, sire."

Simba checked back over his shoulder. Even though Jimbo was far away enough to not be able to hear them, Simba could still tell that he was not happy with the way things had turned out.

"Is there anything I could do for you, sire?" asked the hornbill hesitantly.

Simba ran his question through his head for a second, before he realized that yes, there was something Zazu could do for him.

"You might want to go and tell Nala," replied Simba. "She has the right to know what's going on."


Zazu nodded. "Very well, sire," he said, and with that he flew off.

The good thing about rain, from Nala's perspective, was that it made it easier to get to the waterhole. She didn't have to bend down as much to lap up the dirty water from the bottom. That, and, given that the lands had still been Scar's less than two months ago, rain did help their drought situation. The herds were returning.

Zazu found the beige-colored lioness drinking from the waterhole, which had leveled off now that it had stopped raining.

"Good day Madam," said Zazu as he landed next to Nala's feet.

"Zazu! A rather pleasant surprise. What brings you here?"

"Simba just wanted to keep you updated on the latest goings-on."

"Alright," replied Nala. "Let's hear it."

"Well basically he decided to allow the herds to integrate. He is also going to go ahead with the predator pact."

Nala smiled. "I'll alert the hunting party," she replied. "Thank you Zazu."

"You're welcome Madam. So what's on your agenda for the day?"

Nala shrugged. "Simba has to go out of the Pridelands sometime this evening. He wants me to stay here just in case anything happens." She then frowned. "Zazu, you wouldn't happen to know what INPOM is, would you?"

Zazu returned Nala's bewildered expression. "Never heard of it," the hornbill replied, "I will ask his majesty to see if he knows."

Nala chuckled. "Zazu, his name's Simba."

"Ah, right you are Madam," replied the hornbill smiling.

Nala rolled her eyes.

"I shall go find out," finished Zazu. With that, he took back off into the sky.

Nala smiled as she watched the hornbill depart, but then caught sight of a nearby tree by the waterhole.

Something didn't look quite normal.

Out of curiosity, the lioness made her way over towards the tree.

She was only a few paces away when she first saw it.

"Huh," she said to herself, looking at the bark.

Just like it had been in Pride Rock, etched into the tree with a small box around it, was the word "INPOM."


(A/N: This was only Chapter 1 of 3. Let me know what you think!)