Chapter 7 – Cold Night
Day 15
Raiser's journal.
Daddy was right about his boys again! The visitors are crazy about the lion brothers and the ZOO has been overcrowded since day one. Red and Black have been behaving excellently, a little startled at first to see such a great commotion around them, but later returning to their typical lifestyle. They are slowly adjusting to living in the Lion Walk, although the fact that they still can't bear people coming inside is somewhat concerning to me. I ordered the Walk to be cleaned twice a week, but sometimes the spectators throw trash inside and then we have to wait until evening for someone to take it out, being as careful as possible. The boys are strong sleepers, but you can never be too cautious. The fact that they usually do not sleep during the day is quite odd, but still I suppose the visitors prefer to watch them a lot more when they are awake. I let myself do a little experiment yesterday. Since the lions refused to eat poultry, I told two ZOO employees to bring a freshly slain goat and throw it into the Lion Walk, with a lot of people watching. The crowd went absolutely crazy when they saw Red and Black ripping every scrap of meat from each other's mouths! I even heard people making bets! It felt as if we were at the Coliseum in ancient Rome. Even the other employees came to watch, since they've never had lions here before. I know that other ZOOs organize such public feeding shows on a regular basis and I intend to speak to the Director about that matter as soon as he can find time for me, since lately he's been extremely busy.
It was already late at night, but both Mufasa and Scar were not able to fall asleep. Not only did the crowds of humans prevent them from having even a minute of rest during the day, raising a frustrating uproar whenever they got bored with the lions' inaction. Now, after that irritating mob had finally gone away, when evening gave them hope for at least a few hours of sweet slumber, the temperature fell so drastically that the sound of their own ringing teeth prevented them from sleeping. And when it started to rain, they just knew that this was their lucky day.
-"I h-h-hate this E-e-european weather…" – stammered the shaking Mufasa, as he was cringing under a crude wooden shack in the Lion Walk that could barely shelter his whole body from the freezing rain. He raised his eyes towards his brother- Scar looked like nothing more but a piece of wet fur thrown under one of the trees, and he was shivering like a newborn gazelle. That sight made Mufasa feel bad for him- after all, he was always the older one of the siblings and the duty of looking after his brother still bound him. Fighting the temptation to ignore his royal care, he rose and shook the water from his thick mane which, while wet, didn't provide any additional warmth whatsoever.
-"Scar!" – he called, trying to add a kind note to his voice.
No answer.
-"Brother, you can come over here and lie down beside me if you want- there is still some room left."
Again, no answer.
For ten, twenty seconds… And then, surprisingly, a delicate movement- slowly, almost lazily, the younger lion lifted from the muddy ground and stood in the rain, throwing an extremely unhappy gaze straight at Mufasa. A gaze that was saying- I'm bloody freezing and I bloody hate getting my mane wet! Now it was totally out of shape and dripping with water, shining with its obsidian glow. Feeling his bony knees shaking, Scar approached his captive comrade and observed as he lay on the only slightly drier ground under the roof of the shack, stretching out his arm with a smile, inviting him to cuddle up. A twist that expressed deep aversion appeared on the other lion's face.
-"Keep your paws to yourself or I'm going back under the tree" – he demanded.
Mufasa, a little crestfallen, laid his paw back on the ground. Then Scar collapsed right beside him, forcefully stabbing him in the ribs with his protruding scapulae. Well, it wasn't very comfortable… but it didn't take long before they felt the pleasant warmth of each other's bodies. It also didn't take long before Scar made himself cozy leaning over Mufasa, using him as a big soft bed, not caring if the latter felt good with it… Just like they were cubs again- thought the older brother. And that thought gave him a lot of comfort.
-"You know, I've been thinking about Simba." – he decided to try and start a conversation since he didn't hear Scar snoring yet, what clearly meant that, even though he kept silent, he still wasn't asleep.
-"Oh that is sooo exciting…" – sighed the younger brother. He wasn't very surprised about being pushed into another sentimental chat about old memories. – "You know that you are only tormenting yourself with such thoughts, don't you, Mufasa?"
-"Tormenting myself? I think I'm rather trying to cheer myself up, actually. Even though I've lost them, my family is still out there, back in the Pridelands. When I imagine my son growing under Sarabi's loving care, I feel that I still have a reason to live. And what about you? You've got to have at least someone you think about during those long meditations of yours!"
-"I do indeed! Usually I think about the lambs and cows that will soon become my dinner."
Mufasa knew his brother's cynical approach very well. But he never ceased to wonder whether it was true and if Scar's heart was really as cold as his words would indicate.
-"But don't you remember any lions in your life? Your family? For example, I don't know… Sarafina?"
Suddenly, Scar burst out with a strong laugh and lifted his head, looking at Mufasa with amusement.
-"Sarafina? Why in the world would I want to remember her?"
-"Well she was your mate, wasn't she?"
-"Sarafina was a game I played for some time when I was a short-maned youngster! There wasn't even a proper betrothal ceremony!"
-"Well, that's not very kind of you to say… after all, she did give birth to two of your cubs!"
-"Pff, right. And one of them died…"
They both became silent for a moment.
-"It's not her fault, you know…" – Mufasa said as delicately as he possibly could as to not scratch an old would in his brother's troubled heart.
-"Listen to me, Mufasa- Sarafina was a pitiful, weak lioness. Mheetu, he… he inherited those traits from his mother, much like a disease."
Scar wanted his voice to sound firm and angry. It didn't. In fact, it sounded awfully sad.
-"Well, you still have Nala."
-"Me? We're a thousand bloody miles away! Nala is Sarafina's daughter and she takes care of her. It's her problem, not mine."
The older brother looked at him with his old expression of a disappointed monarch.
-"You didn't act like that before Mheetu died…"
Scar growled, this time fully expressing his fury, and then put his head back at the ground.
-"I don't want to talk about this" – he uttered.
-"Our father wouldn't be very proud of you!"
-"Our father is dead, Mufasa! He had passed away years ago, there isn't a bone left after him now."
-"You know that's not true, Scar."
-"Oh yes, please go on. Keep talking! I'm really becoming weary listening to all those bollocks of yours…"
-"Don't mock my beliefs! You heard what Moses said when I asked him if the animals in Europe believed in the Circle of Life and that their ancestors reside up in the stars. He clearly said that every animal in the world believes that!"
Again, Scar took the effort to lift his head up and glare straight into his brother's eyes.
-"No, Mufasa. Not every animal in the world. I, for instance, do not believe that. The ones who die, die. There is nothing more to it."
His companion just shook his head, throwing around raindrops with his red mane.
-"I'm thinking that your son's death still hurts you more than that old wound on your face!"
Then Scar grinned, and it was one of those horrible, disturbing grins that still used to send shivers down even his older brother's back.
-"Right you are, Muffy. It does hurt. It hurts so much that if I could turn back time to meet the stork that brought Mheetu to me, I would bite his neck straight off."
He chuckled, and Mufasa observed him with disgust.
-"Hmf! You know very well that you yourself are that stork…"
-"Heh-heh, well what do you know, you must be right since I even migrated to Europe recently! Who can guess, maybe in some time I'll grow wings and even start delivering babies myself!"
It was always awkward for Mufasa to hear Scar make such malicious jokes. They started from Scar's son's tragic death, and now he was talking about himself being a stork… It was nonsense. That would have to mean that his older brother was a stork too, since he also migrated from Africa to Europe… He just wandered when he would migrate back to Africa.
And then, suddenly, Mufasa felt enlightened. It was like thunder, a new shine of hope- like the night and the cold rain suddenly ended and the walls of their cage fell down revealing to them a straight way leading home.
-"Scar! You are a genius!" – he shouted.
His brother wasn't only shocked because of the older lion's sudden change of mood. He was shocked because this was the first time in his life when his brother stated that obvious truth. And also because Mufasa grabbed him by the head with his paws, smiling straight into his face. For a moment there, Scar feared that his sibling was going to kiss him… fortunately, he just surrounded him with his muscular arms for a moment and squeezed so hard that the smaller lion was close to losing his breath.
-"What the bloody, bloody, bloody hell do you think you are doing?" – Scar groaned with total shock in his voice, breaking away from the constricting embrace.
-"Oh nothing, nothing! I'll tell you tomorrow. C'mon, let's go to sleep!"
Mufasa threw himself to the ground and closed his eyes, still smiling. For a moment, Scar considered if it wouldn't be better to return to his previous spot under the tree… but seeing the rain, it took him only a moment to decide that he rather have his crazy brother's soft, warm yellow fur as a pillow for the rest of the night.
AN: Yeah, it had to come to this. After years of mutual antipathy, now that the brothers are stranded together in one tight cage, the urge to talk starts rising inside them. And thus comes a serious conversation, that reveals some of their darkest secrets, among which probably the most serious one is…
Yes, Scar was Sarafina's mate. And he's Nala and Mheetu's father, but since he experienced the latter's death extremely painfully… he no longer considers his former mate and his daughter as his family. Is that unlikely? Well, actually, it isn't. And what's wrong with Nala and Simba being first cousins? You think lions care about such things? Ha! Obviously a lot less than Disney does.
So this matter still needs to be explained, as it is extremely important both in the life of Scar and his whole pride. As will be Mufasa's mysterious idea about the stork.
