Chapter 3: The Chosen One

Life in the outlands was going to be the hardest adjustment Nuka had ever been through. He was only able to eat a small amount of what the lionesses brought back, because they never brought enough. Zira was usually in charge of the hunting parties, and nobody took care of Nuka while she was away. So Nuka learned to take care of himself. For a while he would sneak off far from the safety of the cave, but his fears and doubts soon the got the better of him and he tended to be more homey.

While he was not wandering around looking for food, Nuka was taking care of his siblings. They were fully weaned now and Kovu talked a lot. For a while it seemed like all Vitani did was sit around and stare. Then she would say something surprisingly clever or sarcastic that summed up what everybody was thinking. She was a very pensive cub.

Kovu was much more fun. He played with Nuka a lot. When the day was done, though, Nuka would often go to bed feeling angry at his young brother. Zira always gave Kovu more food and more attention.

"Why are you spoiling him?" Nuka demanded of his mother.

"I must make sure our future king has proper nutrition," Zira replied smugly. "He is Scar's favorite, the chosen one to lead us! And don't you start that whimpering. What have I taught you?"

"To be a good lion, I need to be strong like Scar," said Nuka mechanically. "Scar was smart and he knew that too much emotion could endanger the situation. There, I said it." He frowned. "But mommy, I don't want to be strong. I wanna be…Nuka."

"Nuka isn't good enough as he is," answered Zira, either ignorant or careless of the cruelty of her words. "You are growing fast. It's high time you started carrying your own weight. You must learn to shut your mouth, you must stop calling me 'mommy', and you must learn how to hunt."

"But that's girl's work," said Nuka rudely.

"You will learn to do what I say!" Zira snarled impatiently. "When times are this hard everyone must fight for himself. Come with me tomorrow, and I'll show you how."

At this turn of events, Nuka was both pleased and nervous. He was delighted to get attention from Zira, but he doubted that he would be a good hunter.

Dusk the next day, Zira and her quickly growing son set out to look for prey. Zira kept giving bits of advice to Nuka, who clumsily stumbled behind her. He was anxious to prove himself to his mother. If only she would be proud of him…

Hunting did not go well, as Nuka suspected. He was a fast learner so he adopted the basic procedure of hunting; but when it came to the killing, he would chicken out. His mother criticized his cowardice. "I'm not scared," Nuka lied. However, there was more on his mind than fear. "I know we have to kill to eat, but why do we have to, um, enjoy it? You like killing things. I thought we were supposed to respect other creatures."

"You must learn survival of the fittest, Nuka," Zira snarled. "If you don't defend yourself, no one will. I can't always have your back. You're out of cubhood now. You're lucky I don't just drive you away like most lions would."

Nuka thought about his mother's words. He was not a heavy thinker so none of this had occurred to him before, but he was becoming a formidable young beast. On the way home, Nuka looked at his reflection in the water. He was stunned at how much he had grown, and also how thin he was. Kovu was round and healthy, but Nuka could make out the outlines of his ribs. His mane, though pitiful, was more developed than it had been. Nuka was an adolescent, too tall to prance between his mother's paws.

A few seasons passed and Nuka continued to have fun with his little brother. They would always get into trouble together, stealing food and wandering farther than they were allowed. Vitani often accompanied them, but she was more levelheaded than both boys put together. When Nuka and Kovu would stare at a wildebeest's skeleton, they would think about the meat that used to be there and feel hungry. Vitani was more likely to say something like, "I wonder how this beast died…he was probably separated from his herd…the three of us must remember not to separate from the herd."

"We don't live in a herd; we live in a pride," Nuka said, shallowly. Meanwhile Kovu just blinked, uninterested.

On their many adventures, Nuka was the one who did crazy things, and Kovu followed his lead. Vitani grew very protective of Kovu and was always faithful to him.

The cubs had a hard life with little food, but with Zira's ferocious determination they survived. The weakest lioness, who did not have the gut or strength to fight for food, died of starvation. The pride now consisted of fifteen lions, and all of them were scrawny and unfit. All except for Kovu, who was about as healthy as a Pridelander's cub, though a bit shorter.

One day when Zira was out hunting and Nuka was staring at his tall, puny body in the water, Vitani walked up to him. "Nuka," she said abruptly, "Dad was a murderer, wasn't he?"

Nuka started back, surprised. "Well, of course he was! But…that's because Simba was so nasty to our Scar. It's not like Simba deserves to be, like, king or anything."

"How do you know that?" Vitani's green eyes were fierce and questioning. "Mother tells us that Simba is bad, but we don't know. He might seem bad to us, but we seem bad to him. It's heard to tell what's really bad and what's relay good."

Nuka frowned. "You're a little smarty pants," he said. "I mean, who thinks about that kind of stuff? Why don't you just go play with Kovu?" Despite his exclamation, Nuka did think about his sister's words a little. He wondered if Zira was fighting for the right thing, or just being cruel to get revenge. Nuka always knew that his mother was bitter, and he thought it was caused by Simba. Whatever really happened with Scar and Simba didn't matter, though—what mattered was that Zira had the capacity of mind to go on with her life. But she didn't.

"Maybe you should talk to mother about it," Nuka said later.

"No, I prefer to make my own theories," Vitani replied. "You could talk to her."

Nuka reeled back clumsily. "What?! Mother never listens to me anymore!"

Vitani grinned. "Come on, what's this really about? Oh I get it—you don't want her to lecture you about Scar again. I wonder why? Maybe you're afraid that you won't live up to Scar's standards, or mother's."

"I'm not afraid!" Nuka scoffed, his voice loud and off-key as always.

Nuka thought about the conversation all night. Restless, he finally went to see Zira. Before he got to there, though, Nuka heard Vitani already talking to Zira. He shuddered as he listened to Zira's long and impassioned explanation of her vicious murders in the past. She tried hard to justify herself, but Nuka shook his head unconvinced. Zira and Scar and Zubari sounded like they might once have been idealists, but they turned bitter and did evil things without just cause.

"Well." Nuka could hear the smile in his mother's voice. "Now, go wake up Kovu. Tonight we must begin his training. I will teach him to become even more ferocious than Scar."

"But Mother," Vitani's little voice came, "I don't think this is best."

"Even if you don't understand my drastic measures," Zira answered, "you must see that it is your duty to protect your family. You must help Kovu. He is our only hope—our only way of getting out of this forsaken badland. If you don't help your pride, you might as well be dead!"

"Yes," said Vitani, bowing her head and feeling more overwhelmed than any cub her age should; "Kovu is the chosen one. I will conform to him and your plans for him."