From all around the Pride Lands, animals gathered in anticipation of an event that would be taking place on Pride Rock today. It was the day that Queen Kiara and King Kovu's cub would be born.
Wazu, granddaughter of Zazu, flew over to the precipice that jutted out from the cliff face. The hornbill couldn't see any lions anywhere. They must still be in their cave, she reasoned.
She went inside, where Rafiki, the aged baboon, was tending to Queen Kiara. Her husband, King Kovu, was standing by anxiously.
"Come on now, push. Push!" Rafiki urged.
"I can feel something moving," Kiara groaned.
"It's taking a while to come out," Kovu explained to Wazu.
"Why didn't you just have a baby brought in by the stork?" Wazu inquired.
Kovu stared at her. Did she actually still think that storks delivered babies? "Never mind that. I need you to bring more animals here, to witness the birth of their future king or queen."
Wazu looked over her shoulder. "I think there's enough already, don't you?"
"Rubbish! Everyone should come here!"
"Huh, and I suppose I'll have to find food for them all, too," Wazu muttered as she flapped out of the cave. "Must a birth always entail so much work? Oh, gosh!"
Just then Rafiki turned and held up the newly born lion cub. "It is a girl!"
Kovu beamed. "Another lion queen to take the place of her mother one day."
"Yes, and now I will go and show her to the other animals," Rafiki said.
Rafiki and Kovu strode out of the cave to face the crowd outside. Animals of all shapes and sizes were everywhere. Zebras, elephants, giraffes, hippos, antelopes, and many other species had come to witness the birth of their future monarch.
The baboon held the newborn infant up in the sky for all to admire, as he had done for her mother Kiara, and Kiara's father Simba, and Simba's father Mufasa. The sun shone down on her face for the very first time. Rafiki broke open a gourd and rubbed the juice into the cub's golden fur. "I can't count how many times I've done this," he said.
"You must have outlived countless generations of lions," said Kovu. "Just how old are you?"
But Rafiki didn't answer. He just danced around and sang to himself in Zulu.
Kovu went back inside to check on his wife, but there was a big surprise waiting for him. Another lion cub, this one a male, was lying at Kiara's feet. He had reddish brown fur.
"What… there's two of them?"
"Twins." Kiara nodded.
Kovu hadn't expected this at all, and even Rafiki was surprised. Instead of one child, the royal family had two.