Chapter 11
Once within their cave, Zira placed an exhausted, traumatized Vitani to sleep that night with the promise that one day soon all would be well.
"What do you mean, Mother?" asked Nuka eagerly, his tongue hanging out and his eyes wide with anticipation. He was hoping that Zira had finally realized he was great enough to take down Simba. Of course, she'd never seen him as good enough to do anything before except cub-sit Vitani, but now with that wretched old Ni gone, maybe the old lion's murder had opened her eyes.
Zira licked Vitani to subside her trembling and said as she turned away, "Despite Ni's death, there will be a new king, a king that will rise from the Outlanders and take down Simba!"
Nuka leapt up and down on the spot, giggling insanely. "Oh, Mother, I knew one day you'd see! I'm strong, I'm smart, and I'm the right age for star's sake! I can be a leader --"
"Shut up!" Zira hissed, whirling on Nuka and silencing him with a snarl.
Nuka shrank backward into the cup-like stone pillar on which Vitani had been placed.
Vitani watched her mother closely; fearful of what the old lioness would say next. Vitani was very young but she was also clever: she knew her mother had sent Ni (her very own father!) to murder her only friend in the world. And now not only her best friend was gone, but her father, who'd she'd loved dearly, had been killed by Simba! Her mixed feelings tugged her both ways: she wanted to hate her parents for having Kopa killed, but she also hated Simba for killing her father. She didn't know how to act on her feelings or how she could ever escape her mother, even if she tried.
Zira, as if sensing her daughter's rage and confusion, turned to Vitani and said in as soothing a tone as her harsh voice could muster, "I did all for the best. Vitani, you are an Outlander and Kopa was a Pride Lander – had Simba found you before Ni, we would be morning you and not your father. Simba acted just the way I expected, as did you. I told you not to see Kopa again and, knowing you would not obey me, I sent Ni to protect you from Simba."
"So it's my fault," Vitani whispered, tears filling her eyes. "If I hadn't gone to see Kopa, he and Ni would be alive . . ."
"No, Vitani," said Zira, leaning closer to her cub, "it is no one's fault but Simba's: Simba made us Outlanders! If we weren't Outlanders, you could've seen Kopa anytime that you wished. If we weren't Outlanders, we'd have plenty food, clean water --"
"No termites!" added Nuka, gnawing at his butt.
"So – so how do we stop being Outlanders?" asked Vitani meekly.
"Like I said, a new heir will rise among us."
Nuka stuck out his chest. "You won't be sorry, Mother! I'll take out Simba and his queen too – to tell the truth, I've always wondered how Nala's head tasted --"
"Silence!" Zira growled, rolling her eyes and lifting and dropping her tail.
Nuka shrank into himself, his ears dropping and his shoulders hunching.
"If Scar wanted you to be king of the Pride Lands you'd have succeeded the throne by now! No, Scar and I had a different plan . . ." Zira sauntered with satisfaction up the rocky ledge that overlooked the cavern and addressed her fellow lionesses with bright, hungry eyes. "No, the heir will be the cub growing in my womb! Fellow Outlanders, Ni has given me another cub!"
The Outlander lionesses roared their approval.
"It's probably another girl," Nuka muttered under his breath to which Zira slid down from the smooth ledge and gripped his cheeks hard in her claws. "It's a boy, your brother! I can sense it, just as I sensed you would be male as well!"
Zira let Nuka go (who rubbed his cheek with a sour expression) and addressed the other lionesses again. "Outlanders, we have a future king!"
