Disclaimer: I don't own any original characters; they are the property of Disney's storywriters. I do own the ones you haven't heard of, though. They are mine!!!
Author's Note: I think Sarabi and a few other lionesses look like they don't belong in the Pride Lands. So I came up with a reason, which morphed into a story. Enjoy!

Sarabi
Chapter 11: The Ceremony

Sarabi met up with Eve and Dawn, and introduced Sarafina to them properly. Then Sarafina's mother and Queen Uru walked over to the party, and asked the lionesses many questions about their home and their lives. Sarabi felt at rest, she was quite happily talking about her life at home, and was even at ease talking to the Queen. When they were first introduced that afternoon, the Princess felt that the Queen was distant and withheld, but now that they were talking she realised that this was not the case at all. Uru was kind and easygoing, her laugh was pleasant to the ear, and was heard often.

"…it was most humiliating, father…"
Sarabi heard the snippet of a conversation and recognised the voice immediately, this was Zazu, the King's majordomo, whom she very nearly killed earlier. Talking for hours to Sarafina and now to the others as well did not give the Princess the opportunity to check on the bird's wing.
"Excuse me," she said politely, and brisked towards the voice.

"Never in my days, boy, did I pull such a spectacle!"
"I know father, I know…"

"Good afternoon," interrupted the Princess: she caught up to the birds from behind.
"Good afternoon, Princess Sarabi," replied a slightly bigger bird which looked similar to Zazu that Sarabi had not seen before. She remembered Zazu telling her about his father, and quickly realised that this was Major Zeek.
"Good afternoon, Princess," echoed Zazu in a slightly trodden voice.
"Must apologise on my son's behalf, Princess. Flew to take you here, then blundered like a chick."
"Apologise?" asked Sarabi in surprise, "But he has nothing to apologise for, the fault was all-"
"Mine!" quickly put in Zazu before the Princess could continue. Sarabi stared at this little strange creature.
"How so?" she questioned.
"You know what happened," said Zazu keeping Sarabi's gaze, "I flew too fast to get there because I was late, then I was too tired to stay up in the air on the way back, and I fell."
"What?!" she exclaimed.
"You must have not seen me do it," he carried on, accentuating every word he spoke, "I was a little way back."
Major Zeek tutted disapprovingly, "So sorry you had to carry him, Princess, my boy can be such a bother."
"Not at all," Sarabi replied blankly, as Zazu sighed and turned his gaze away, pleased. The least he could do was not to get the Princess into any trouble on her first day here.

"How is your wing, Zazu?" she inquired.
The little bird gave it a cautious flap.
"It's a lot better, Princess, thank you for your concern. I expect I will be airborne again in a few days."
"Should hope so," gruffly backed up the Major, "Look, the King is here."

Indeed, the golden pelt of Ahadi could be seen approaching the Pride Rock, shimmering in the late afternoon sun. Behind the King, as Sarabi noticed, trailed the Prince she had shouted at earlier. She lowered her eyes as the lions walked past, Sarafina's words made her feel ashamed of what she had done.

"Princess Sarabi," the King addressed her, "Would you like to join us for the ceremony?"
"Certainly," she replied curtly.
He then bowed his head in the acknowledgement of the hornbills, "Ah, Major Zeek, Zazu. You, too, will of course be very welcome to attend."
"Very kind, sire," replied the former advisor, and nudged Zazu, "Wouldn't you say so, son?"
"Very kind of you, my King," agreed Zazu hastily before more nudging would follow.
"Let's hope that wing of yours gets better soon, Zazu," smiled Ahadi, "There is much to be done."

Sarabi flattened her ears even more, and swallowed her guilt. This day was just dragging out for too long. By accident, she caught Mufasa's eye: he stood patiently waiting for his father, and was looking around himself, just happening to look at her at that very moment.
She quickly looked away, for she saw hurt in his eyes, and she didn't want to discuss anything here, not in front of the King or the birds.

"Shall we go together?" asked the King, and motioned for the lioness and birds to follow him. Zazu and his father flew next to Ahadi (to be more precise Zazu rode on his shoulder) which left Sarabi and Mufasa walking behind. For a few moments there was silence.
"Had a good day?" asked Sarabi finally with some will, cringing with how rehearsed that sounded.
Mufasa looked at her, surprised,
"Yeah. I mean yes. Well, it was a bit dull. Thanks. You?"
"I made friends with Sarafina, and talked to the other lionesses. They're nice."
"That's nice."
Silence resumed again, both lions appalled at their limited range of superficial vocabulary.

"About earlier," said Mufasa once he had taken in a long, deep breath, "I -"
He could say no more, for they had come to the Pride now, and everyone was assembling for the ceremony. Sarabi was relieved, she really didn't want to talk about anything in case the King would hear. Distracted, she overheard Major Zeek telling Zazu: "Would you look at them? Sweeter than honey, and a hundred times better set for ruling the Lands. This is a great union, son."
So, which ceremony was this? Thought the Princess horrified, Am I going to marry Mufasa now?
"What's happening now?" she asked Mufasa nervously, as she watched the Pridelands lionesses assemble in age order.
"It's your acceptance to the Pride," he whispered, "Rafiki will welcome you and Eve and Dawn. He might do some stuff with fruit juice, or something. I remember some sotra balm when Dad married Uru, and when Taka was born."
"But that's it?" she asked, hopeful that it would be.
"That's it," he replied, perhaps sadly.

"Sarabi! What are you still doing there?"
Dawn called her again, "You have to come here! Then we can ascend the Rock."
"Sorry," excused Sarabi, and ran over to join her friends, feeling that she had apologised not only for her leaving Mufasa, but for everything she had done wrong.

"Is everyone ready?" asked Ahadi. Next to him sat Uru, her head placed lovingly on his shoulder, and to his right, Sarabi noticed for the first time, there stood a baboon, or rather a mandrill. One had wandered over to the Star Pride when she was little, and her father told her that lions were not allowed to kill mandrills, for this was the common law.
"Taka," said Uru simply, "We have to wait for Taka."

Sarabi had spoken to everybody in the Pride, but not so much to the younger Prince, beyond a formal greeting. She wondered where he was.
Right on cue, the bushes rustled, (Sarafina's mother jumped a little) and an orange lion emerged. Sarabi thought him to be a little older than Sky, judging by his mane.
"Taka dear," chided Uru softly and against her wishes, it seemed, "We're all waiting for you."
"Could you go round rather than through, next time, son?" asked Ahadi, sounding a little tired, "You're too big for playing games."
"So sorry," replied Taka through his teeth, "My, you held up the fun just for me? I suppose I'd better go join the procession then."

"Are we ready?" asked the King again, glancing sternly at Taka, and nodded to Rafiki for the ceremony to begin when he saw that all were set.
"Come, come, let us go up," called the baboon, and struck the ground with the butt of his stick twice. Ahadi and Uru, followed by Taka and Mufasa walked up, then Sarafina, her mother, and three others. Eve, Dawn and Sarabi came next, concluded by Rafiki. When all were on the extending rock that lay almost horizontal to the tall one that Sarabi couldn't see the top of, Rafiki began,
"Evening falls, Sun goes down, but the Pride grows, and will grow with the coming Suns. From the Star Pride, three lionesses join us; the Sun sets on your life in the past, and will rise tomorrow with your life anew here."
He thrust his arms out and called forth the Sprits, to welcome Sarabi and her friends to the Pride. Mufasa was half right, instead of a balm, Rafiki dusted their foreheads with sand.

"Princess Sarabi," he chanted when it was her turn, "This is the land that you now share with the Pride." She pondered about the depth of the significance behind the gesture, her own Pride didn't have a shaman, or any traditions that were this spiritual. She smiled: this was her Pride now, and she would have to learn to think of it like that. Contemplating the dust on her forehead she thought whether she could ever live with Mufasa, how she could be his Queen without there being any feeling between the two of them, but the mandrill seemed to read her thoughts and he smiled his crooked grin,
"Soon you'll see," he laughed gently, "Soon you will see."
He turned away from the Princess and cast a sweeping gaze round the Pride.
"The ceremony is complete," he stated.

"Wait!" called Taka, and limped forward, through a small body of speculating lionesses, "How can you let her join?" The nod was directed at Sarabi. At first she was unsure of what he would say, or why there was a problem.
"Taka!" exclaimed Uru angrily, and Mufasa growled.
"She is unwelcome here," explained the dark maned Prince, "Why, how did Zazu here sprain his wing? He fell, he told you. Well, what bird do you know of that just stops flying in mid-air? No, he lied, because it was her who was about to eat him, and she would have succeeded too had the others not stopped her. Poor Zazu was scared to tell you the truth. Well, Princess," he spat venomously through gritted teeth, "What have you to say?"
"Quiet, fuzzball!" yelled Sarafina angrily, but Taka only glared at her.

Sarabi's ears were aback with guilt and shock, her paw was lifted half way up from the ground, and her whole body seemed to be leaning back, about to retreat.
"Zazu?" asked Ahadi in an odd tone of voice. Everyone else was hushed.
"It's not true," said Eve loudly, bristling the fur on her back, "That's not the way it happened! What-"
"What happened, Zazu?" Taka cut through, "Was she going to eat you?"
"Well, boy?" asked Major Zeek, "Speak, son!"

All eyes were on the small hornbill, who raised his wings up to shield himself from the stares. Beneath the wings, there came a muffled 'Yes'.
"You see!" hissed Taka gleefully, "She would have killed him!"
"But it wasn't her fault!" defended Dawn, "Foolish cub, there was a mix up! We didn't know that Zazu was the ambassador!"
"What are you saying Taka?"
"Leave her alone!"
"Is she a killer?"
"You've got it all wrong!"
"What about Eve?"
"That's not what really happened."
"Poor Zazu!"
The natters and whispers rippled through the Pride, getting louder.

"Wait!" Zazu cried, "Listen to me!" but for all the noise the bird went by unnoticed. Rafiki, witnessing the out of control situation, whispered in the King's ear.
Ahadi brought up his head from his shoulder with a deafening roar that carried through the sunset and rustled the leaves on the trees, and Pride Rock creaked with the might of the sound. Needless to say, everyone fell silent.
"Let Zazu speak," commanded Rafiki.
Zazu glanced round the questioning faces.
"It's true, I was almost eaten, but it was no more than a simple error, let me assure you! Nobody clarified that the ambassador for the Pridelands would be a majordomo, naturally the ladies in question expected a lion. They thought it would be perfectly alright to eat me, so really what happened was an accident."
"If anything, it was my fault," added Eve, "I saw Zazu and told Sarabi that we should eat him, I am very sorry that it all went wrong."
Taka grumbled under his breath, and avoided the irate look of Ahadi.
"We should tell Sarabi that it's okay," said Mufasa.
"Hey, where is she?" asked Sarafina.

It was just then that the Pride noticed that the Princess was not to be seen anywhere.
"Where did she go?" echoed Dawn.
Let's hope she went away, thought Taka maliciously, never to come back here again.

Mufasa looked down over the edge of the Rock, his muscles tense, ready to leave at any second to find Sarabi. He glanced back unsurely to his father, who was snarling at Taka as Uru wore a pained expression, although he was asking for permission to do so. A light thwack on the top of his head brought him round to come face to face with his cousin.
"What are you waiting for, you silly lion? Go get her! Go!"
Mufasa shared one last glance with the lioness and sped down into the evening after Sarabi, wherever she was. Sarafina smiled. Perhaps things would sort themselves out after all, that is as long as Sarabi did not run too far.