Chapter 1

"That's insane!"

Kamaria perked her ears up at her older brother, who was standing nose-to-nose with their father, an enraged look on his face. Behind him, their sister stood with an equally angry look in her eyes.

"Calm down…" their mother said.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" He snapped, eyes blazing.

"Son, what is this about?" their father asked, confused.

"You know very well what it's about!" he yelled, "You're sending Kamaria away!"

Both parents looked at each other in exasperation. The king looked back at his eldest children with a tired look. "We're not sending her away."

"Yes, you are!" their daughter yelled. "And off to the Pridelands, too!"

Kamaria, who had been sitting in a corner, looking between her parents and her siblings, suddenly decided to speak up. "They're not sending me away." She softly said. Even in a low voice, somehow everyone seemed to have heard it, not only her family but also a few lionesses that were at the den's entrance. Her parents looked at her with grateful looks while her siblings looked shocked.

"Kamaria, you can't be serious…" her brother said, horrified.

"It was my decision." She interjects. "And besides, it's not that bad."

"Oh, it's bad," her sister growled. "Not only are you being sent away, you're also gonna be forced to marry someone you don't love!"

"Like I said, it's not that bad." Kamaria tried to soothe her sister. But her sister ignored her and turned back to their father.

"She doesn't even get a say in who her mate could be. She's still a teenager, for King's sake! And she doesn't even know whether she wants to be the future queen of a land, a land which she has no connection to!" she yelled. The old king took a step forward.

"It's for the best, Subira," he tried to explain, "The Pridelands have been our neighbours for ages, and this betrothal might just help form an alliance, which we desperately need."

His son growled. "You don't need anything!"

The king fixed his son with a look. "Yes, we do. I'm growing old now, Zuberi. We waited too long to have cubs, and now we're struggling. I can't protect the pride forever. Even though Subira could be a great queen, and I have complete faith in her abilities to do so, having an alliance with the neighboring kingdom might prove helpful in the near future."

Zuberi snarled. "But did you have to exchange Kamaria for it? Couldn't you have just handed over a zebra or something?"

The king's brow was furrowed as he stared at his two defiant cubs. Even though Zuberi and Subira were young, energetic and extremely skilled, their father had experience. Though he was quite old, he could easily take his own cubs down. The queen, worried slightly about the situation, stepped in between her cubs and her mate, signaling her cubs to calm down with a look before turning to her king.

"Wemusa," she said, "try to understand our cubs' perspectives. They don't want to see their sister go so soon, which is understandable. My own brother wasn't very happy when I was sent off to be your kingdom's future queen." She took a deep breath. "Also, cubs these days tend to focus more on the concept of true love. They just want the same for Kamaria. However…" she turned to her cubs, "you cubs should also understand that your father only has best interests at heart. He wants Kamaria to have a balanced, stable life, and she might get more than we can offer over there. Anyway," she smiled, "your sister is going to be a queen, and don't you want to be happy for her? If she rules the land with fairness and dedication, does it matter that she wasn't influenced by true love? If she has a better life, a life that we can offer her away from home, wouldn't you want that?"

Her cubs seemed to calm down. "But, I thought you said families should stick together." Zuberi softly said, not looking his mother in her eyes.

Her eyes softened. "And you will stick together. Just, Kamaria might start her own family to stick by."

The two siblings shared a glance while the old king looked gratefully at his mate.

"Jioni, thank you." He sighed.

After what seemed like hours, the two young adults breathed sighs of defeat before turning back to their parents. "Fine." Zuberi said reluctantly.

"At least tell us his name." Subira said, leading the king and queen to lock eyes with Kamaria.

"Mohatu."

"So, why did you betroth me to him exactly?" Kamaria asked.

She and her mother were already well on their way to her new home in the Pridelands. She was surprised at the distance they were able to cover in two short days.

Her brother and sister had reluctantly agreed to let her go and do her own thing, with a little more persuasion, of course. She had always known that her siblings were more headstrong than she was, leading to that last minute confrontation about sending their little sister away. While she herself saw no problems with the idea of it, she had never even met him, and she had to say that she'd like to get to know at least a little bit, so that she'd know what she was getting into.

Also, she couldn't deny that she was a bit scared about getting into this. Despite all she had said, she was still a kid. What if he was an adult? That would make things very awkward. Plus, he might grow too old too fast, just like what had happened with her mother and father, her father being at least three years older than her, hence growing old as he was while she was still in her prime. Adding to the fact was that they had waited too long to have cubs, and now there was a fear that the old king would pass away too soon, leaving the kingdom unguarded. This betrothal was even more necessary than it seemed.

Her mother seemed to have made good guesses about what was going through her daughter's mind. "Don't worry, princess." She grinned. "Before your father and I agreed to the match, we checked it up. He's your age, so don't you worry about that." She looked down, a slight glaze covering her eyes. "After all, we wouldn't want you to be in the situation we're in."

Kamaria took a step back. "Mother, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known about anything when your parents made the match." She said, trying to console her mother. "But it worked out anyway, didn't it?"

"But it took three years to even make basic contact, and another just to build a relationship." Her mother protested. She stopped and sighed. "Sometimes, I worry about whether we are doing the right thing, giving you up like this." She took a deep breath. "Sometimes I can't help but wonder whether Zuberi was right."

Suddenly, all the secret resentment and anger from being forced into this betrothal melted away inside her. "Oh, Mother." She said, not being able to express what she wanted to say. She stepped forward and gave her mother a gentle nuzzle. "It'll be fine." She softly said.

"But, princess, what if he's not what you expect?" her mother asked, trying to put it in as polite a way as possible.

"I'll make it work." Kamaria promised. "I'll make it work, somehow."

Jioni smiled at her daughter. Out of her three cubs, Kamaria had always been the most level-headed of all. Far more mature than her years, she had shown remarkable patience and tolerance, along with amazing decision-making skills and leadership ability. She would have been the perfect candidate for the throne, except for the law that stated that the first born, in their case her eldest daughter Subira, must always assume the throne. So, when they had gotten the message from the Pridelands, they had seen it as a chance for Kamaria's skills to be put to good use, to make a land prosperous. And even now, she could see the Pridelands prospering under her daughter's rule.

The two then resumed their journey. They were only a day's walk away from the Pridelands, and that time was getting closer and closer.

"What's he like?"

Jioni turned her head slightly towards her daughter. "Yes?"

"Mohatu." Kamaria clarified. "What's he like? I mean, like is he nice, or like Zuberi, or…?"

"I'm not really sure." Jioni softly said. "But I'm sure that he's a nice guy." She tried to console her after seeing the look of fright on her daughter's face. "I'm sure he'll treat you well."

"I hope." Kamaria muttered, following her mother over a slope of land, and coming up into the view of the Prideland's border.

A/N: Please read and review^^