Author's Note: Thank you so much for all your support! On the day I watched The Lion King 3D in cinema (a brilliant experience) I present you the next chapter. Enjoy!
In the Name of Love
There is always a time of saying goodbye. Saying goodbye can be hard to accept. Sometimes you are ready for it, sometimes you are not. Saying goodbye is however not a matter of being ready. It is a matter of being strong and having the willingness to move on. Today Mufasa had to move on.
Sarabi was a strong lioness. This didn't make her cold and heartless. No, she was strong in a concerned way. She understood the circumstances she was in and she was able to accept them. She could understand why painful things sometimes have to happen. Today would hurt her certainly, but she was willing to move on, without her beloved Mufasa. He would leave the Pride Lands, leaving her in charge of the whole kingdom. She would be responsible for the kingdom from now on which made her realize she had to be strong. Something that wasn't easy knowing that your love and best friend from cubhood would walk out of your life today with the chance that he might never come back. The good thing was that it didn't have to be a final goodbye. Maybe he would come back. It would all depend on Simba's fate. Mufasa would leave his pride, in the name of love for his son.
The news had reached many animals all over the Pride Lands. They had all gathered together at Pride Rock for a goodbye ceremony to their king. They wanted to show their respect one more time before he might leave for good. They all understand the circumstances and they believed he left for a good purpose: saving his son. From the antelope to the zebra, especially the animals who had children themselves, they could all perfectly understand the heartbreaking pain the lion king was going through and how he chose his paternal role on top of his kingship. For them their children were their everything as well, for a king this shouldn't be any different.
Mufasa himself had mixed feeling about the big sacrifice he needed to make. Standing on the promontory of Pride Rock he overlooked his kingdom for the last time. He was surprised that such a large herd of animals had made it all the way to Pride Rock. He felt ready to leave, with enough courage and determination to go for the uncertain. On the other hand he felt scared and sad about leaving the Pride Lands and giving everything up he had lived for all his life. He knew he should come back, alive and along with Simba.
From the amber morning sky descended his hornbill majordomo Zazu, landing in front of him. He bowed a final time for his king.
"Good morning, Your Majesty. May the winds of luck blow with you."
Mufasa smiled without saying anything. Zazu turned away from him, addressing the loyal animals of the Pride Lands.
"Welcome animals of the Pride Lands. We are here to witness the departure of our great king Mufasa from our beautiful kingdom. A flourishing kingdom that is a marvelous place to live for every creature. This was something we couldn't have reached without King Mufasa. He made that today the Pride Lands is not just a random piece of earth. It is a place animals from all over Africa have come to, living in peace in the mile stream of a delicate balance we all call the Circle of Life, inspired by our lion king."
The crowd started cheering loudly. Every single animal wanted to be part of this special moment. With every word Zazu said the crowd became more enthusiastic.
"Today the circle will start a new turn. Our lives will change with a leap of faith that will separate our ways. King Mufasa will follow the path of which we all hope that this will lead to his son and our Prince Simba, while we will endure in strength under the devoted wings of our new leader Queen Sarabi. Let's celebrate life one final time and may the spirit of fortune and prosperity be with you during your journey."
The hornbill enjoyed the enthusiasm his words had brought to the crowd. In fact it didn't have a lot to do with what he said. The animals just wanted to pay tribute to their king and Zazu's encouraging words were nothing more than a coincidental interference of the moment. His words also were a starting sign for other animals who felt inspired to speak up themselves:
"May he go in peace. We will continue in his memory. Let us be inspired by the strong and peaceful spirit of the blessed King Mufasa", an elephant spoke up.
"We hope no tree will be out of his reach. Let him reach out for everything that is important to all of us: our future. We hope Simba will bring the light back to his life and that he will shine back on all of us, ensuring and enduring a long and blissful life", a giraffe said.
"King Mufasa is doing the right thing. We can learn a lot from him. Let him not be forgotten and we hope he will come back alive and not alone", a chimpanzee added.
"Life is balancing between eat or being eaten. It is the Circle of Life that forces all of us in the endless chain of creating and destroying life. King Mufasa didn't change this but he made us see that it is the right turn of events, even though this can be painful. Today is also a right turn of events and it is painful as well. However, we hope that this pain will turn into joy when we realized how great King Mufasa made this place to live and how we could live such a happy life. We also hope that his pain will turn into joy again once he has found Simba." Also the zebra population wished their king all the best.
Mufasa watched the ceremony unfolding beaming with joy. Even though the circumstances were sad, like the zebra had said, he felt honored that so many animals wanted to share with him the moment of goodbye. It didn't really matter whether he was a king or not. He was a Pridelander who was connected to this place he called home like all the other animals did as well. I will come back he promised himself at that moment. He would witness another sunrise in the Pride Lands.
He looked down and he saw how the animals moved aside to make space for their mandrill shaman, Rafiki, to pass through and to ascend Pride Rock. After he had climbed Pride Rock he embraced his king and friend. When they broke their embrace Rafiki spoke his final words to the king:
"We will miss you, my friend. But don't worry, we are strong and so are you. Your effort shall not be wasted."
"Thank you so much, Rafiki. You are a true friend." Mufasa smiled.
"It is fine. Now get away before you're gonna regret it!" Rafiki pointed his stick towards the horizon. "There is where you have to go. Beyond what we see."
His words were the starting sign for a new era. Mufasa descended Pride Rock and headed through the crowd where every animal that he passed bowed for him. He said his final goodbyes to some of them before he headed accompanied by Sarabi and the pride to the northern border where he would say goodbye to his family, sharing a moment of privacy with his loved ones.
It didn't take long before they had reached the border of the Pride Lands. Since the gorge also started here Mufasa assumed that Simba had probably crossed these borders when he was exiled. However, this was only a vague assumption and the king realized his journey would be a long one.
One by one the pride members said their king goodbye. Mufasa hugged little Nala and embraced her mother Sarafina.
"Take care Mufasa. Always be happy. You are a strong lion", Sarafina spoke.
"Please bring Simba back soon, Mufasa! I miss my friend", Nala said with a glimpse of hope in her voice.
"I will do what I can", he responded with a smile.
He then turned around and looked right into the eyes of his dear Sarabi. Her eyes looked sad, though she had accepted the situation. Still she was having a very hard time.
"My dear Sarabi…"
"You don't have to say anything Mufasa", she interrupted him, "it's okay".
He looked her right into her eyes. "It's not", he stated bluntly.
"Look into my eyes and you clearly see my grief. It's not that that's important right now. I will be sad, but you have to move on. Our paths will separate here, but our hearts will be together forever."
He saw tears filling her eyes, reflecting his own feeling of emptiness.
"Go, my love. Go and love. Love our son and let that love be your guide back to the Pride Lands. I will continue, but I will miss you so much…"
Her last words faded into a strong embrace. She felt Mufasa's warm body close to her own, knowing it could be their last time together. She felt a tear from his eyes, falling like a raindrop on her shoulder. It connected with her own tears that were streaming from her eyes. She simply couldn't withhold them anymore. Mufasa didn't care. His conflicting emotions of sadness, emptiness and determination came together in the few tears that escaped from his eyes. He left his love, but he didn't leave his faith. Things would become better.
They looked each other one final time in the eyes.
"I'll see you soon, my love", he said with a smile.
"You cannot promise that", she smiled back, "but that doesn't matter. Just go, you don't have to say anything to make me love you more. I love you."
"I love you too", he responded. With that he looked to her for one last time before he looked back to the rest of the pride. He simply smiled and nodded, acknowledging and appreciating their presence. He felt a lump rising in his throat which blocked him from saying anything.
"Thank you so much for everything. We will meet again." It were his final words as he walked off, crossing the border of the Pride Lands. His walking evolved in running. He didn't look back anymore. He focused on what was to come: an uncertain life in the middle of a huge dessert.
The pride watched him leave. They all felt sad, watching how their beloved king walked out of their lives. Sarabi felt much worse, almost desperate as the love of her life left her and she couldn't do anything about it. It broke her and she started murmuring the things he had wanted to say to herself.
"Thank you so much, Mufasa. I love you more than words can say. Thank you for being there for me and everything else you did for us. You did much more than you know. You were a greater lion than I could have wished for. I love you so much."
She almost whispered those last words. She couldn't talk anymore as the sorrow had overwhelmed her. She had wanted to tell him so many more things than she had actually done. However, it wasn't really a problem. At least she had let go of her pain. Exhausted she collapsed to the ground. She would be better, but not now. Not yet.
Mufasa's journey had started today. From now on the days would be long and lonely. He didn't even have Zazu around to bore him. But he didn't really have time to be bored. He needed to think of a plan to find Simba. He had thought of a plan. Because he didn't know in which direction Simba had gone, he chose to explore the area in circles. He would start with the exploration of the land directly surrounding the Pride Lands. If he didn't find his son here, he would start another circle traveling through the land beyond the land he already knew. He would determine his position by using the sun as a point of orientation. The concept of the Circle of Life had taken a whole new direction for him with this plan. He wasn't very fond of it. He also didn't know if everything would work out well, but this didn't bother him. After all, he didn't have a better option.
His first challenge to cross was a vast dessert. He had heard about the dessert from Zazu, but he didn't really know how large it actually was. All he knew was that the days would be hot and that he needed to use every opportunity he had for proper food, water and rest. If possible, he would travel during night from the next day on so he could avoid walking in the heat.
He hadn't walked for long before the sound of the wind was replaced by a different sound. It was a weird sound which he couldn't recognize immediately. He heard voices. Voices that belonged to many creatures. Given the sound of the voices they probably belonged to small creatures. The voices were panicking as if something was definitely wrong. He decided to follow the direction of the voices. He walked upon a small hill so he would have a better sight. Standing on top of the hill he saw something that was clearly wrong. He saw small animals that looked like meerkats running all over the place. They were in big trouble and not because they had been spotted by a lion. There were other animals that were causing their panic and despair. Animals that Mufasa despised to the bone: Hyenas!
