Chapter 4
Kion's point of view
"This is the third time this month we've found a half-eaten carcass by this border" I said to Zuberi as we walked back home after patrol "we need to figure out what's going on"
"I know Kion, but we've been on a constant lookout and we haven't seen any strange activity by the borders" he reported "maybe it's a leopard and that's why we haven't seen it, they're known to be sneaky"
"But it if was it wouldn't leave its prey on the ground, they prefer to eat on the safety of a tree" I told him
"It could be a hyena, those mutts are always trying to sneak into lions territory" he mused
"No. it's not a hyena, they leave the bones of their prey clean" I shook my head "this is all a lion's job, we're dealing with rogues and I don't want them getting confortable near my borders" I said as we approached the main living area "we need to increase the security, longer shifts for the guards and constant patrolling"
"We're doing all we can but there's only so many of us and the new guys… well they're not exactly the best of the best, they're still Rockies" the strongest sighed
"I know they're nothing like the original guard but I couldn't force Nuka, Jasiri, and Haraka to come with us to the Furaha lands" I reminded him
"But their mates sure could force them to stay in the Pridelands" he said and I chuckled "they trained all their lives to serve on your guard and then they just give up on their dreams, no female is worth it if you ask me"
"I used to think like you, until I met Libya" I smirked "maybe you haven't met the right lioness"
"I thought I did and you saw what happened" he said lowly, I felt bad for the guy, he didn't had the best reaction when Vitani told him she was pregnant but when he tried to step up to his responsibilities she blew him off and moved away to the Aduli lands and he moved here to serve on my guard but his daughter Selah is growing up without her father around, all because Vitani and Zuberi couldn't make things work between them. I didn't know what to say so I remained in silence for a moment until he spoke again "anyways, if you need me to take more shifts, I'll gladly do so"
I think I'll discuss our situation with the consul tomorrow, maybe get us some reinforcements" I told him walking towards the royal den "Thank you Zuberi" I nodded my head and he bowed.
Inside, I found Ishka crying as she faced the wall as my son inside the den behind me "Ishka?" I asked raining an eyebrow; she whipped her head around before running into my arms
"Daddy, Yame put me in time out for no reason!" she said
"But I did had a reason, you went into the grasslands without supervision!" her brother countered
"Yame put you in…" I echoed before turning to my son "Yame you can't put your sister in time out, only your mother and I can do that"
"He can if we're not here and she's not obeying the rules" Libya said waddling and dragging in a piece of meat
"Let me help you with that" I said grabbing it and setting it in front of the cubs
"I don't want them out with all those rogues roaming around" she sighed tiredly sitting down and the cub's ears flattened
"We haven't had any sighting to confirm rogues" I said and the cubs glanced at each other before they began eating
"Mom and dad never saw the rogues that killed them…" she whispered "You never see them until it's too late" she said with a blank expression on her face
"You're safe now Liv" I said rubbing her growing belly "I won't let anything happen to you or to our cubs" she placed her paw on top of mine and nodded slowly "that's why tomorrow I'll ask the consul for reinforcements"
"You're meeting with them tomorrow?" she asked and my eyes widen "where?"
"Y-yes in the Pridelands… didn't I tell you?" I asked laughing nervously
"Of course you didn't" she rolled her stormy grey eyes
"I'm sorry Livy, there's so much going on I just forgot to tell you" I said trying to nuzzle her but she placed her paw between us "don't be mad…"
"I'm not" she said giving me a small smile as she stood up "but I want to go with you"
"Of course honey" I said watching her walk towards the food, I just hope she's not too pregnant to make the trip, she usually wants nothing to do with my consul meetings so asking to go to one is a little out of character for her but I don't mind her and the cubs going at all, it might be fun the cubs will get to see their cousins.
Kiara's point of view
while the twins slept and Kovu was on patrol, I went to meet them by the border, Kion, Libya and their cubs were the first ones here this morning, I was surprised to see Kopa and Tiifu weren't with them but before I even had a chance to ask my niece and nephew came crushing into me, I rarely get to see them and I've missed them both so much "Oh... you've all gotten so big" I smiled down at the light cream colored cubs "Look at that mane Yame" I said ruffling him the tuff of strawberry blonde hair on top of his head and he smiled proudly
"We missed you, Aunt Kiara!" Little Ishka said
"Oh, I missed you, too" I said licking her cheeks "Your father doesn't bring you to visit nearly enough" I said turning to my younger brother with a smirk "He's probably scared I'll beat him up like when we were cubs"
I'm not scared of you ... anymore" he mumbled "and I would always let you win the fights…"
"Right…" I said rolling my eyes before pulling him in for a hug "it's good to see you little brother"
"Yeah, yeah, good to see you too" he chuckled returning the hug
"Are Hadi and Sabi up yet?" Yame asked
"They must be" I smiled before suggesting "why don't you guys go see?"
"I'll race you there" Ishka challenged her brother; he turned to his mother and asked
"Can we mother?"
"Go ahead" she said sitting down on the ground and sighing as the cubs ran in towards the royal cave
"Wow look at you!" I smiled at my sister-in-law before placing a paw on her belly
"I know, I know, I'm as big as buffalo" she sighed
"No! You look so cute" I beamed "aw you're making me want another cub"
"Whoa! Easy there you, don't you think you should discuss that with Kovu first?" my brother asked raisin an eyebrow and I rolled my eyes
"I would hope so…" my mate's voice called from behind me and I chuckled turning around to nuzzle him "Kion, Libya, it's good to see you both" he nodded at the Furaha lands royal couple "where are the cubs?"
"Tormenting your cubs, I'm sure" Libya sighed and Kovu and I laughed
"And where's Kopa and his lovely wife?" I asked my brother
"Yeah I thought you were all going to arrive together" Kovu asked
"Well, I just decided I wanted to travel with my family this time" the red manned lion answered
"Kopa is your family, we're triplets remember? We shared the same womb?" I told him and he rolled his eyes
"Ugh don't remind him" he said "I don't want him that close to me ever again"
"Right back at you brother!" my older brother's voice called, I turned in his direction and smiled when I saw him and Tiifu approaching us
"Hey koko" I said hugging him tightly "oh it's been too long since I last saw you"
"I know Kiki" he said patting my back before "Hello everyone. Kovu, Libya it's good to see you" he nodded his head before setting his teal eyes on our brother and narrowing them "Kion… you left without me" he said but Kion only rolled his amber eyes in return
"Okay… I guess I'll go finish my patrol" Kovu said trying to escape he awkwardness "see you all at the meeting"
"Hey Tiff, I'm going to check on the cubs, want to come with me?" Libya said as if she knew what was coming; Tiifu looked up at her mate and sighed when he saw my brothers glaring at each other
"Sure…" the queen of the Pridelands said "you're coming too Kiara?" she asked
"No, I'm in sister duty right now" I sighed and they nodded leaving me and my brothers
"What happened this time?" I asked tiredly
"You could've sent a message; we waited for you by the borders you know" Kopa said
"Now you know how it feels to be stood up by your own brother" Kion responded
"What are you talking about?" the brown manned lion asked him
"The celebration feast, remember?" The red manned lion responded
"Unbelievable…" our older brother said rubbing his temples "That was two months ago Kion!"
"It was a special occasion!" the youngest countered
"Guys…" I said but they went on
"I told you I was busy that day, I didn't have time to-" Kopa groaned
"It's not about having time, it's about making time" Kion said "that's what dad always says"
"Don't bring father into this!" Kopa snapped standing up "you already complained to him about this, didn't you?"
"So what if I did?!" Kion snapped back at him and getting on his feet "you think you're so important you can just miss my cub's celebration!"
"Guys!" I yelled as the two towered over me glaring at each other
"This is your THIRD cub, Kion" Kopa told him completely ignoring me "I was there for the two previous ones and I didn't think you would make such a big deal about it!"
"That doesn't make it any less important!" he argued not minding my calls "but what do you know about having cubs?" Kion said and Kopa's teal eyes widen "and just so you know, I'm not going to your cub's celebration, if you ever have one that is!"
"Kion!" I said and he finally acknowledged me by turning to look at me
"What?!" he asked I gestured for him to look back at our brother, Kopa was dead silent and keeping his glance low
"Kopa, I-" Kion groaned rubbing his face with his paw
"Its fine Kion, I'll see you two at the meeting" Kopa said standing up and leaving without saying another word we watched him and while he retained his regal composure I could tell that this time Kion's words really did hurt him.
Tiifu's point of view
"Can we play baobab ball? Or hunters and prey or- or I know! Hide and pounce?" Ishka asked excitedly climbing onto his older cousin's back
"We can play all those games and more!" Ahadi told her
"Really?" Yame asked
"Really, really" Kiara's son smiled
"Yay!" she squealed in delight making him flinch when she pulled his growing dark brown mane
"But first who wants to sing a song!" the oldest cub asked and his cousins cheered "Life's exciting, life is fun…" he began singing
"Zuka zama zom zom zom!" the younger cubs sang loudly
"A big adventure for everyone!" Ahadi continued as Ishka and Yame dancing around with the den and singing at the top of their lungs making their mother and I laugh
"Zuka zama zom zom zom!"
"Oh kings…" Sarabi said covering her ears in annoyance
"Sweetheart, do you know where I can find Selah's mom?" I asked the princess
"I'll take you to her, if you get me out of here" she pleaded
"Alright" I smiled
"I'm going to find my friends; later weirdos!" the green eyed cub said as we were leaving but they didn't hear her, I didn't mean to abandon Libya with the three hyper cubs but I really need to see my sister right now "she's there by that three" Sabi said pointing a few feet away, where Vitani was napping.
"Thank you Sabi, I-"I began but the cub had already disappeared from my side "oh well..." I shrugged and then sighed mustering enough courage to approach my sister "Vitani?" I said trying to wake her up
"Not now! This is my only day off, I-" she growled rubbing her eyes until she eventually opened them and went wide with surprise "oh..."
"Hey Vit" I smiled awkwardly
"Your majesty" she said standing up and bowing her head "is there anything you need?"
"I just need my sister…" I said on the verge of tears and she groaned
"Fine…" she said defeated before I pulled her in for a hug
"Okay, that's enough" she said pulling away and discreetly whipping away some tears
"How are you doing? How's Selah? Can I see her?" I asked with a smile
"She's fine, she's around here somewhere" she shrugged and I nodded
"Well… and how are you?" I insisted
"Well… I'm a single mother raising my cub away from my birth pride without the help friends, family or the father while also trying to uphold all the responsibilities the king and queen bestow on me, like patrolling and hunting, training the young lionesses and watching over their tyrant daughter!" she ranted getting pissed off
"Maybe it's time for you to Furaha lands …" I said putting my paw on hers
"If I move anywhere it will be to the Uyuni lands" she scoffed "put as much distance as possible between us and him…"
"Vitani, Zuberi said he was sorry and that he was ready to be a part of Selah's life" I said and she growled
"Do not mention his name!" she snapped at me "is this why you came? To convince me to turn myself into a decent respected married lioness like you? Did father put you up for this?"
"No…" I said shook my head "he wants you to go back to the Pridelands"
"And what about my daughter? Does he want me to leave her here and pretend like this little mistake never happened?" she asked bitterly recalling our parent's words when they found out about her pregnancy.
"He wants to meet her and so does mom" I said softly and Vitani frowned and looked away thoughtfully after a few seconds of silence I spoke again "yeah, at this point they're desperate to have any grand cubs to call their own" I said and she eyed me cautiously "maybe then they'll get off my back for a while"
"I'm a disappointment for them for giving them one too soon…" she began with a small smile
"And I'm a disappointment for not giving them one soon enough…" I finished mirroring her smile "either way we're both failures" I shrugged
"But at least you married a king, I had him firs but you know…" she pointed out, it felt nice to finally be able to joke about this to leave all the tension and hard feelings behind and finally have a decent sister talk, I simply rolled my eyes with a smile as she continued "hey weren't you guys supposed to be on a meeting or something?"
"Oh kings, I forgot!" I said standing up "excuse me please!"
"Run queen, run!" she said laughing as I hurried back to the main cave where everyone else except Kopa was already sitting in a circle and before I could ask about my husband's whereabouts he walked into the den quietly and took his place by my side without even looking at me, you could feel the tension between the siblings and as the meeting began I prayed that they would be able to put personal issues aside for the sake of our alliance.
A/N
siblings making up, siblings getting into fights, intense ones... I'm so glad to be an only child lol
QUESTION OF THE DAY: do you guys have any brothers or sisters? or are you a part of the only child club?
let me know on the reviews, why? because I'm curious and have a great week!
- Ali
