A/N: I gotten a few really positive reviews. Thanks so much. They've been EXTREMELY helpful! Shout out to kora22 and WolvesHunt101 who have both given me great encouragement and advice. Thanks so much guys! So here's chapter 7, it came along faster than I thought. I tried to correct formatting to make the dialogue clearer, but it the chapter may still have length issues. Hopefully as we move and meet more of the main characters the chapters will lengthen out. Chpt. 6 was when we were finally moving out of the beginning part. Anyways...enjoy!

Chapter 7: Stranger in the Oasis

Jolina groggily opened her eyes, her head pounding. Light was pouring into the small den that she found herself in, though she couldn't remember how she got there. As she surveyed her surroundings , and her disorientation began to clear, she remember her collapse in the desert.

"Where am I? Am I...dead?" she thought. Then she remembered the reason she had collapsed in the desert in the first place, tears came to her eyes as she thought, "Mom". Swallowing her tears she shakily rose from her place on the floor of the den, when a strange voice and a flash of color appeared at the entrance of the den.

"Ahhh, I see dat you are awake. Dat is good, I was not sure if you were going to pull through the night."

Jolina could only stand and stare, dumbfounded, at the odd, monkey-like creature in front of her. He was leaning on a long stick that had some kind of gourds tied to them that rattled when he moved. The creature suddenly threw his hands in the air and yelled.

"It is just I thought, de sun has gone to her head!"

Jolina finally stuttered out an answer, she may be disoriented and a little shocked, but she certainly wasn't the deranged one in the situation.

"Oh no, I'm sorry, its just, well, what I mean to say is...what are you?" she blurted.

The creature stared at her for a moment before letting out a long yell and breaking into a fit of manic laughter.

After the laughing spell, he replied. "I am a mandrill."

"Oh I don't mean to sound rude, it's just I'm a bit disoriented at the moment and I don't believe I've seen any of your kind before." Jolina managed to say.

"Ah yes, I doubt you have.", the mandill replied "Now follow me!" and with that he walked out of the den. Jolina, who was still a bit shell-shocked, hesitated for a moment, but quickly followed suit when the mandrill reappeared and pointed his stick at her threateningly, and yelled,

"Don't dawdle, HURRY UP!"

She followed the strange creature to a large tree. He then began to climb up and looked back down at her and said,

"Wait down here."

Jolina sat on her haunches as she looked up into the tree, in mild amusement as the mandrill began banging and shuffling as he relentlessly searched for something. Finally after several more minutes of noise and the occasional flight out of the tree of some fruit or object that wasn't the one he searched for, she heard him proclaim,

"AHA, I knew it was here!"

He descended the tree, a strange round object that had been hollowed out in the middle, in tow. As he approached where she sat, she noticed that there seemed to be a brown, odd-smelling liquid in the object. He pushed the object to her muzzle and said,

"Here, you must drink dis, it will give you a bit of energy so dat you may hunt."

Jolina backed away, which obviously annoyed him when he said, in a frustrated tone,

"Well, do you want to live or not?"

Deciding that she had no other options, she gulped the liquid down, which had a fowl taste, but was bearable. After swallowing and giving herself a moment to inwardly gag, she turned her attention back to the mandrill.

"Thank you, I'm sorry, what is your name...and...how..er...why am I here?" she questioned meekly.

The mandrill looked at her and said, "I could ask de same of you, why a young lioness would be out in de middle of de desert."

But before she could reply he grinned and said, "My name is Rafiki and I found you passed out in de desert and brought you here, to dis oasis, which is my home."

"Oh, well thank you, I'm glad you did or I probably wouldn't be alive. My name is Jolina, by the way."

"But I don't understand something", she continued, "when I fainted in the desert, I thought I saw an oasis, but when I got to it, it had disappeared and I thought it must have been a mirage."

"Yes, dere are many dings in life dat seem to be mirages." Rafiki answered mysteriously.

"Now you must go hunt and get plenty of rest, you are still very weak." he said.

A rumble from her stomach answered for her and she thanked Rafiki once again before heading off into the jungle to scout for prey.

As she traveled through the foliage she spied a shallow pool and immediately dipped her entire head into the cool water, gulping huge mouthfuls of the refreshing liquid. Several moments later, with thirst satisfied, her senses on high alert, she stalked the the oasis for a meal. After careful and quiet observation, Jolina spied just what she was hoping for. A little, plump doe that was daintily nibbling at the undergrowth. Jolina expertly crept closer to the oblivious animal, then she shot from her cover in the leaves and branches and caught the little deer before it even had time to bolt. After she had eaten her fill she headed back toward Rafiki's tree where she found him in what looked like some sort of meditation pose. Cautiously clearing her thought to alert him of her presence, one of the mandrill's eyes popped open and looked over at her.

"I trust you were able to find food?" he asked.

"Yes, I was, thank you." Jolina answered.

"Dat is good, now you must go rest if you are to make a full recovery."

Jolina turned to leave when a thought entered her mind, she faced him again and asked,

"Not that I am not truly grateful, but... why are you helping me?"

Rafiki looked at her and gave her a toothy grin, and answered,

"Dat is something only time will answer.", and with that, he disappeared into the leafy branches of the tree. Jolina sighed, not sure what to make of the cryptic answer. But she was too tired to ponder on it anymore, stifling a huge yawn, she headed back to the small den she'd woken up in earlier. She snuggled herself into one of the far corners and drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep.

A/N: Well there it is, this chapter was longer than I thought it would be. Whaddya know, Jolina met Rafiki! (BTW how did I do writing for him, I really hope my portrayal of him was convincing.) Thanks for reading. Chapter 8 is coming soon! Please review. *Nantsingonyama*