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: Oh wow, thanks for the reviews and the prodding to update. I had exams, and then I went on a 2 week holiday. Now, I'm back with my comp! Also, I don't start uni til October – woohoo! So I expect to have finished this monumental story by then. Thanks again to all, and do keep reading!
Sarabi
Chapter 14: Long Live the King
When morning broke and sunlight streamed into the cave from the entrance, bathing the sleeping lionesses, Sarabi still slept soundly, her gentle head resting comfortably in the softness of Mufasa's mane. They lay close together, their minds in pleasant dreams, on the Royal Bed, a slab of stone that was raised a tail tip above the floor of the cave, and they had good reason, too, for when they came back inside it was very early, rather than very late.
"K'hem," said a feeble voice, but the King slept on.
Zazu dropped his shoulders and sighed. This was going to be a lot harder than waking King Ahadi, who rid himself of all sleep a good hour before the sun greeted the Pridelands.
"K'hem k'hem!" he repeated, a little louder.
The King snored, and the hornbill's feathers ruffled in the expelled air. The bird shook himself to a more presentable state. He waited for a moment, and tried again,
"Uh, S-sire? Would you please care to...wake up?"
Mufasa flexed his paws, but showed no sign of response, or awareness, for that matter. Now, this was not going well. Zazu had many things to do today, and he was already behind schedule with the morning report. His temper had gotten the better of him, and he leaned forward, pressing his index feather right to the King's nose,
"Now look here, Sire, you can't just go about sleeping all day, so wake UP!"
Mufasa's eyes sprang open, he was slightly startled to find his majordomo pressing his nose with his wing, and immediately Zazu stepped back, cowering.
"Please don't eat me!" he pleaded, all authority gone from his voice.
"What do you want, Zazu?" asked the King fighting back a yawn, and whispering softly as not to wake Sarabi.
"The morning report, Sire," whimpered the hornbill, "It is the procedure..."
Mufasa frowned, he was still half asleep,
"But my father never got the morning report until a later time in the day, when the sun is high and the shadows are short," he argued.
"Sire," said Zazu tiredly, "That was the afternoon report..."
Mufasa rolled his eyes. He was quite looking forward to lying next to his beautiful wife and Queen, feeling her warm body next to his. With a sideways glance at the other lionesses who were asleep as well, the King ever so gently turned over onto his side, and Sarabi slid off him, to lie peacefully on the rock warmed by Mufasa's bulk. She uttered a slight meow through her dreams, but did not wake up. Looking lovingly at Sarabi, and less so at Zazu, Mufasa tiptoed out of the cave, and onto the Pride Rock sloping stone peninsula. It was his first morning as King, as husband, as ruler and lover. Responsibilities swarmed round him, but glaring at Zazu in not such a friendly way and noticing the fresh scents of early morning in the air around, Mufasa thought that he may make his first changes to rules as King.
"Zazu," he chimed, not waiting for the bird's reply of 'Sire', "Let's make a few changes to the scheduling of such reports from now on..."
For the newlyweds, life was indeed sweet. The pride respected their new King and Queen, and though both were busy, they found more than enough time to spend in each other's company. What was said out loud on the top of Pride Rock was said for the best: the truth came as a relief to both of the royal lions, to Sarabi because she could finally let go of her past, and to Mufasa, because he let his feelings out to her. Free from inner demons, at least for the time being, the couple enjoyed the authority that they inherited from Ahadi and Uru. Mufasa seldom spoke of them, other than to say 'I hope that they are allright', but often he would get a look in his eyes, as though he was gazing faraway into the lands where his father and Uru, allright, his mother, for that is what she became to him, probably were. It was in times like these that Sarabi would pad over to her husband, lay her head on his shoulder, and they would silently watch the distance together.
Taka no longer existed in the Pride Lands, he was Scar, and the lions had learned to address him in that way only, if they were to get a reply. His behaviour was puzzling to all who spoke to him, he would have mood swings, going from one extreme to another, first speaking as sweetly as lily nectar, then suddenly snapping or growling. Behind his green eyes there stirred a jealousy of his brother's perfect life, notably the Kingdom that he was in charge of. He would disappear for periods at a time during the day, come back covered in soot, dust, or suchlike, and say nothing of what he had been up to. Mufasa grew progressively worried, but Sarafina consoled him, mentioning that the fact that Scar was on speaking terms with everybody was a good sign, and that he was going through one of those 'phases'. However Scar was nearly mature, his mane, black as the savannah night, swathed his face and neck, and he was almost fully grown. What no Pride Landers admitted, not even to themselves, was that they were afraid of those green orbs, black mane, sharp claws. They feared him for his unpredictability, his extremism, and the silence. Scar drank all of this in, knowing his position and the effect his aura had on the pride. He would make use of it, one way or another...
Time flowed like the crystal river, but shortly some news would disturb the peace of the pride.
Though Mufasa rearranged Zazu's morning reports so that he wouldn't have to get up quite so early, one day he was awakened by a pecking at his ear. The hornbill came into focus, and Mufasa tilted his head to one side, surely it was not yet time for the morning report! He glanced round, the cave was full with lionesses (Scar slept in a den by himself) which meant that daybreak had not come. He looked at Zazu questioningly.
"My sincere apologies, Sire, but I just heard from my father, most urgent news, my King."
Mufasa lazily raised an eyebrow.
"My King," Zazu almost growled in frustration, "We need to talk...alone."
The golden lion had no choice but to follow his majordomo out of the cave and into the still pre-dawn outside.
The Queen of the Pridelands did, on the other hand, receive her beauty sleep. She now had the slab warmed by Mufasa all to herself, and for the rest of the morning she made sure to occupy as much space as she could. It was only when she felt a nudge at her head that she decided that it was time to open her eyes.
"Fina!" she exclaimed, then paused to yawn, "Good morning!"
But Sarafina found it hard to smile back. She sniffed, and looked to the side to gather her thoughts to break some news to Sarabi, and when she locked onto her eyes again, her own eyes were about to spill tears. Sarabi wiped away any lingering sleep with her paw and felt her body go rigid. Whatever Sarafina had to say, Sarabi knew that it would not be good at all.
"Fina..." she whispered in a shuddery breath.
"Sarabi...I'm sorry...I," but Sarafina could not even finish her sentence.
"It's bad?" Sarabi's eyebrow rose inquisitively, but she could feel what the answer would be. "Afraid so, Sarabi. The birds have been twittering, you know? At first I didn't pay any attention, but then I heard your name, and some other things, and then Zazu arrived, and confirmed it all..."
The Queen leapt from her bed, eyes wide, "What? What is it?" she begged in a low, crackling voice.
Sarafina glanced behind for support, and Sarabi now saw Mufasa, with Zazu at his paws, take a slow step towards her. The King was not one to paint pictures with words, or to take unnecessary time when there was a need for straight facts, and this was one of those times. Sarabi was bristling with anxiety, and Mufasa saw no other choice than to tell her outright,
"Your father is dying."
"Dying..?" she echoed, with an edge of disbelief. Her auburn irises traced the outline of her sockets, following the cave wall, ceiling and floor, as her mouth gaped in shock. She took that step back that she did whenever she felt threatened, overcome. Gushed with a plethora of feelings, she could hear only her husband's words in her head, and the images of her father as she remembered him rolled through her mind like running antelope, one after another, the protective father, the political father, the cold, the stern, the commanding, but also the small, on that night when they walked together, and the afraid, for she did not tell him that she loved him then. Consciousness gnawing at her heart like hyenas at a gnu carcass, Sarabi remembered that she did not even say goodbye in the way that she ought to have.
"And now I never will..." she said to herself.
"Sarabi?" asked Mufasa, who couldn't quite hear the words that were not meant for anyone but the Queen.
"How is he? How bad is he?"
"He cannot walk now, madam," cut in Zazu in a sombre voice, "And he has trouble breathing. He still has some time. Not a lot, but some."
"Thank you," she whispered, and immediately made for the cave entrance.
"Where are you going, Sarabi, asked Sarafina, finally finding words.
"I'm going to get Eve and Dawn," she replied, "and then I'm going to see my father."
"I'll go with you!" boldly exclaimed Mufasa, but Sarabi walked over to her mate and leaned into his warm mane so that nobody would see her tears fall.
"My love," she managed, "Your kingdom needs you here, and I will need you when I come back. But this is something that cannot wait. He has some time left, but that is not nearly enough."
"I'm sorry about your father," purred Mufasa, for he knew all too well what it was like to lose a parent.
"Not as sorry as I am," admitted Sarabi, but her soft words were silenced by the King's mane, and they were said more to herself than to anyone else. She withdrew from the embrace, and turned to find that Sarafina had already called up Eve and Dawn to the cave. Both were upset – they loved Storm as the protector of the Star Pride and as a friend. Eve knew the King from their cubhood, and she stooped her shoulders as a sign of condolence and respect.
"Goodbye!" mouthed Sarabi to the lions in the cave, and with a springing of the leg she flew from Pride Rock, back towards the home she left a while ago, her two companions at her tail.
'There she runs, the poor dear Queen', chirped the birds in the azure sky to one another, 'See her cross the fields, under the trees, over the Common Land, back to the pride. See her run, like the winds, like the waterfalls, all the way back, where her father is dying.'
Meanwhile, Mufasa paced underneath the baobab that belonged to Rafiki.
"Isn't there anything that you can do?"
"I already told you – nothing," came the distant shout from above.
Angered, the King leapt up to the tree, but his claws were no match for the smooth hard trunk. Grinding his teeth, Mufasa slid back down to the ground.
"Rrrafikiiii!" he roared as soon as he felt the earth on his pawpads, "This is an order! Come down this ins-"
"Sire," bowed Rafiki, standing behind Mufasa already, "I apologise. There is nothing that I can do. His time has come, as all our time will come."
"But," began the lion, and Rafiki interrupted again,
"I am no god. I make no destinies. If I could cure King Storm, I would, but my boy, you have to get it through to you, I am powerless before some things, like this, and I can do nothing."
Exasperated, Mufasa collapsed on the grass, and the mandrill petted his mane.
"She will get through this, and she will come back to you. She will learn to forgive, and she is lucky, for enough time has been granted to her."
Across the lands and nearing the gushing river, three lionesses raced home, their paws only connecting with the ground for the smallest instant, and the landscape zoomed past them in a blur.
"Sarabi?!" came a hoarse shout, "Sarabi, is that you? And Eve, and Dawn?"
The Star Pride Princess slowed down and glanced up, ahead of her stood a pale lion with an equally pale mane and blue eyes, looking at her and her friends. She did not even pause to recognise her brother.
"Sky!" she exclaimed, and pounced straight into an embrace.
"I missed you sis!" he said back warmly and quickly, she noticed only then that his voice had deepened. As she drew back and her two friends caught up with her, Sky's brief smile fell.
"He's not so good, Sarabi. I hate to say it...but I don't think he'll last long at all."
"What happened?" she asked, her own voice dry and foreign to her all of a sudden, "He's young, Sky. Why now?"
"To tell you the truth, sis, we don't know. Mother thinks that it's some sort of poison, but we can't tell. Father won't tell us, even if he does know what it is. All that I can say is that he's been getting worse since yesterday morning."
"How is Aurora?" asked Eve sorrowfully, and her ears drooped as she looked at the Prince.
"Mother's coming to terms. She's with him now. To see all of you, especially you, Sarabi, will be a welcome distraction to her. To be honest, none of us thought that you would make it here in time."
"Dawn!" came a shout from a mound further up, and a lioness darted eagerly to join the four.
Remaining silent up til now, Dawn's mournful face lit up as she was reunited with her mother.
Briefly rubbing heads and purring, the lionesses now looked at Sky, so that he may lead them to see their King.
One silhouette was bending over the lying form of King Storm, at his right side. Sarabi and the others recognised the flawless profile as the Queen of the Star Pride.
"Please eat," beseeched Aurora, her voice full of tears that her eyes did not shed, "Please. You have to eat."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because...Because I say so. Because I caught it for you."
"I'm not going to get better, Aurora. I know now what my father was babbling about before he died. I pitied him then, you know, the nonsense he was telling me. I see now that it is not so, that I can feel it nearing, like the night ends the daylight, and no matter what you do you can't prevent it."
There was a long and steady intake of breath,
"But you can eat this hare...for me..."
"For you, my love...anything."
She cried then, because the one thing that she wanted, the only thing she wanted, she couldn't have.
"Mother," whispered Sarabi, the others keeping a respectful distance.
Aurora slowly turned her head to face her daughter, whom she had not seen in months. Her dark lips upturned into a soft smile.
"Sarabi," she called out, "Love! My sweet child, you're here!"
"Sarabi?" repeated Storm, who did not ever think that he would live to see his daughter again.
That evening, Sarabi sat by her father's side, willing him to live, to recover, whilst knowing that he would not.
"Father," she began, "I have something to tell you. I have been keeping it inside me ever since I left here, sometimes pretending that it didn't exist, at other times telling myself it's not my fault, but now I have to face it. I am sorry for the way I treated you. I see now that you wanted me to make the most of my life. That being Mufasa's wife would be better for me than staying in the Star Pride. And I want to apologise for not saying goodbye to you when I had to leave. I am only thankful that I have this chance, now, to tell you how I feel."
"Darling," he said, having never addressed her as that before, "For once, I would like to hear you call me Dad."
"Daddy," she choked, tears prickling her eyes, "How many times have I been wanting to call you that..."
It was an evening of repent and exculpation for the lions in the Star Pride. Storm talked to his firstborn as Sky leaned in to his mother for comfort, his head resting neatly under her chin. Aurora looked on through liquid eyes, and small droplets on her whiskers – she had wept all she could.
"Hey," said Dawn to Sarabi as the latter was taking a break and letting her brother spend time with the King, "I talked to my mother. She says that Dusk is doing well, and...yeah....I thought that you might like to....know."
"I thought I would have liked to know," said the Star Pride Princess sincerely, "But now I realise that I am indifferent. It is lovely to know that your brother is fine, Dawn. Only I feel nothing, other than contentment at the news. My heart, thoughts and soul are with the lion I left at Pride Rock, and with the lion that lies there, ill. Thank you for telling me, I do appreciate it. It's just that I think I've finally done what you have all been telling me to do."
"Moved on?" suggested Dawn, and Sarabi smiled sheepishly.
"That's good," said Dusk's sister, "But letting go doesn't necessarily mean forgetting. Dusk still thinks about you, only the best memories, no less. He treasures you as a friend," Dawn picked her words carefully, "So you shouldn't just...destroy your past."
"I know," assured Sarabi, "I know..."
For two nights the lionesses stayed in Star Pride. For two nights Sarabi lay close to Storm. And on the morning of the third day, the children, Sarabi and Sky, woke up to the empty eyes of Aurora. She nuzzled her daughter, then her son. Looking at Sky, she gathered strength enough to say,
"Your father has passed. Long live the new King."
When Sky roared, accepting the throne and kingdom from the late King, the lionesses roared back, and the Star Pride lands were filled with a deep rumble of sadness. Sky's reign would be long and prosperous, but for now Sky, Sarabi and the pride mourned the loss of Storm.