Author's Notes: I'd appreciate HONEST critiques by anyone who decides to read this. Any suggestions, criticisms, whatever! This is my first Lion King fanfiction, and while it doesn't follow the canon characters there will be some elements of the movies interwoven in the plot eventually. Wanted to be safe, so I rated T for future chapters. ENJOY!

Chapter 1

"It is preserved on this day" the gentle, troubled monarch quietly thought to himself. His gaze turned down to the new life nestled in his queen's chest, he struggles against the anguish that overwhelms what was once to be a joyous event.

It was King Hodari's own fault, the events that lead to his daughter's birthday marking the eve of his pride's downfall; his careless arrogance and a tendency to trust anyone that swore an oath.

It'd been many generations since the legendary ruler that restored the torn kingdom of which Hodari would come to inherit. The farfetched tales of a murdered patriarch instructing his confused son to slay the usurper of his thrown never interested the level headed, realistic prince. He'd chalked it up to a distorted and unreliable oral tradition recounted to the cubs when they refused their bedtime. A robust male of an orange gold hue and a large, proud burgundy mane, Hodari never felt the need to be comforted by the fictions designed to put insomniac cubs to sleep.

And yet now, sensing the end, his only hope was that those legends of kings guiding their loved ones from the stars were true.

"Hodari, is Maisha on his way?" Dafina, mother of his cub and proud queen of the Pridelands, looked up to her mate then gently nuzzled the bundle of a newborn princess that rested under her noble maw.

Hodari moved from the depths of the Priderock Stone Room, the room in which the pair as well as their predecessors had slept, to the arched opening that lead to the long granite peak where future kings and queens had been presented for generations. He popped his head out cautiously, darting his eyes in every direction, scanning his land for what was to come. It was a beautiful day, the lands green and lush, antelope leaping in the distance. How fitting, thought Hodari, that he should die on a day like this.

"I can't be too sure," he spoke as he receded back into the Stone Room "It's difficult to get any messengers out. Ekuka's rouges are everywhere. I can only hope.."

"Hope is what will get us through dis." A voice. There stood a proud, aging mandrill; Maisha. White tufts of fur growing behind his head and ears and a bright red rump gave him a distinguished look, a look that had remained inherit in his family for as long as any of them can recount. In his hands, a stick that had been passed down to him when he was chosen for the service reserved for only members of his family.

"Maisha." Dafina and Hodari said breathlessly in unison. Relief washed over the king as he lifted a large paw over the shoulder of his old friend and pulled him in for what he knew was a final embrace.

Dafina didn't get up, she decided on savoring every moment she had with her daughter, for she knew what Maisha's presence meant.

"I found a family. They are willing to take her into hiding."

Not a word from the queen, hot tears rolling from her sapphire eyes onto the top of her cub's head.

The mandrill, shook his stick above the cub. The soft, bright mound of fur extended a small paw in a playful swat. He christens her, smearing the sap of a hard fruit and sprinkling sand atop her head. He reaches for the cub.

"Hold on," Dafina blurted, and buried her nose into her cub, inhaling her scent, storing every detail of her only offspring to a place of maternal memories. She raised a claw and dug a small wound into her daughter's shoulder. The cub yelped.

She held her for another moment, cleaning the wound she inflicted with her coarse tongue. It would be the only bath she'd give her.
"So you can find yourself.." she whispered into her small ear, then looked up at Maisha. He tenderly picked up the newborn, cradling her within his arms.

"Lela.. My daughter.. I love you.." Dafina muttered, looking away from the mess that was the last few moments of her life.

"Forgive me," Hodari said hoarsely, "And one day return to your kingdom.. Your home.."