Sarabi's golden eyes flew open, her heart hammering wildly under her ribcage. In an unfocused disoriented daze, the images of her nightmare raced before her eyes; she saw Mufasa and Simba cruelly trampled by a wildebeest stampede and then the hyenas entering the Pridelands at the sound of Taka's roar.
Numb and quivering, she instinctively turned to find her mate's warmth and comfort but was startled fully awake when she found only the soft body of her cubhood best friend, Sarafina, stretched out beside her on the den's cold stone floor.
Drawing back and pinning her ears to the side of her head in confusion, Sarabi suddenly remembered the awful truth and, with an aching realization, allowed her head to slowly sink back onto the rocks.
She would never wake up from this nightmare.
Then, with a jolt of reality, her head quickly popped back into the air and all the muscles in her hard lithe body came to full attention; this was no time to allow heartache to dull her senses!
Though her title had been stripped away in one terrible afternoon, her queenly essence remained and she immediately began thinking of how to keep the pride alive; her sharpened gaze roamed over the hyena-infested den, making sure that each lioness was safe.
She even noted, with utter disgust, that Taka was snoring loudly on the rock platform where she and Mufasa had laid together only the night before.
But when her gaze swept over her sleeping friend, she tensed in alarm; Sarafina's large creamy paws were empty. Where was Nala?
Shaking her head with an intense scowl, Sarabi was a nanosecond away from waking the young cub's mother when she remembered that Simba and Nala had often crept out of the den at night without permission to stargaze on Pride Rock's promontory.
Simba had been particularly excited about the illicit activity after Mufasa had told him about the Great Kings of the Past.
Cautiously, ever aware of the danger of waking the hyenas that now slept among them, Sarabi rose and crept out into the brilliantly starry night and found Nala sobbing quietly in the soft white glow of the moonlight; her small body shuddered with emotion.
Sarabi never seen the youngster look so vulnerable.
"Nala," she whispered, her shadow looming above the preoccupied cub.
Startled, Nala whipped her tear-stained face around, her aqua-marine eyes wide with a mixture of intense pain and terror. At seeing Sarabi, she sighed deeply and scooted under the older lioness' strong capable forepaws for protection. Burying her face into the rich creamy fur, she choked out, "I miss him, Aunt Sarabi."
"I know. I miss them too, little one."
Leaning down, she gave the young cub a gentle lick on the top of her head, then added, "But the rules haven't changed, Nala; cubs have to stay in the den at night." She punctuated her words with the barest hint of a soft growl.
"I had a dream about him, Aunt Sarabi," Nala responded, before the former queen could carry her back inside.
Taking a swift alert look around, Sarabi noted with relief that all the hyenas were fast asleep so she decided to sit down and comfort the cub.
"I dreamed about them too, Nala. That's why I came looking for you. I don't want you getting hurt too. The Pridelands are infinitely more dangerous now."
"I dreamed that we were playing in the grass and Simba taught me how to pounce on Zazu," Nala said; for a moment her eyes glowed with excitement, then she remembered reality and huddled closer to the adult lioness for protection and comfort.
Sarabi, in her heightened state of alertness, managed to avoid outright laughter, but she give Nala a reassuring smile with her beautiful sparking golden eyes.
"This morning he told me that he would teach me to pounce on Zazu tomorrow," Nala continued, quietly sobbing again, "Will you teach me to pounce tomorrow now, Aunt Sarabi?"
Sarabi nodded, "When it's time, your mother and I and the whole Pride will teach you much more than that, but you're too young for all of that right now."
Nala nodded, seeming to accept that, "Okay, but when will I be old enough?"
"When it's time," Sarabi answered simply.
Nala's expression turned quizzical, "Aunt Sarabi, I thought that you said that the rules haven't changed?"
"They haven't, Nala; you know that you're not supposed to be outside the den at night."
"But they have changed, Aunt Sarabi," the young cub insisted.
"Why do you say that?"
"Scar let the hyenas come in," Nala pointed out, "That's against the rules, but he changed them." A deep scowl formed on her sweet face, "Why did he do that, Aunt Sarabi? Doesn't he know about the Circle of Life?"
Sarabi sighed sadly and nodded, the youngster was wise beyond her years, "Yes, he does, Nala. Ahadi taught all of us about the Circle of Life."
"Then why did he let the hyenas come in? They'll ruin everything."
"Shh, little one, not so loud. I don't know why Taka is doing this."
"Can you ask him?" Nala demanded innocently.
"I will do what I can to protect us, Nala," Sarabi answered, but doubted that she could change her brother-in-law's mind.
Still, she owed it to the pride and, in particular, her late mate and son to try.
"What am I supposed to do now, Aunt Sarabi?" Nala asked, turning her sorrowful eyes upward.
The former queen paused to consider.
Nala was to young and inexperienced to know that her life would be harder and more perilous than any cub of the Pridelands had faced in many generations. How could she understand that the pride's survival and fortune rested on her shoulders alone?
Yet, even as they mourned together, Sarabi saw the youngster's great potential and she swore to herself that she would do everything within her power to help the cub become the queen that the pride needed her to be.
One day, Nala could wake them up from this nightmare.
Leaning down, Sarabi gave her another gentle lick on the head, and whispered, "You can survive, Nala. You must survive."
With that, the former queen picked the youngster up by her scruff and carried her back into the den.
Author's Notes: I've had the idea for this story for over a year, but procrastinated like crazy. It was borne out of a discussion with another user (I can't even remember who now) that The Lion King franchise seems like a soup opera. Can you tell by the title?
I'm sure that you noticed that Sarabi refers to Scar as "Taka", while Nala does not. I did that to designate a generational difference between them.
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