I don't own any of the animals, apart from Colin and Ibura (Swahili for 'wonderful').
It was noon, and Vitani was just taking a drink from a water hole after a few hours travelling when a voice behind her said "I haven't seen you around before, who are you?"
Vitani rose and turned, and found herself looking at a lion, older than she remembered Simba being, but had the same undeniable presence of a king, though his scars suggested a more contested reign. "well," the king asked, "are you going to answer me?"
"I was just passing through sire," Vitani replied, "I didn't intend anyone any harm."
"And just where are you planning to go," the king asked, "and why are you planning to go there?"
"I was removed from my pride against my will," Vitani replied, "I've recently managed to find where they are, and I'm heading back there."
The king raised an eyebrow at Vitani, "uh-huh."
"What," Vitani asked, "something wrong with what I said?"
"Did I say there was anything wrong with what you said," the king asked, "I'm just finding some of it hard to believe."
"And which some of it would that be," Vitani asked.
"The fact that you've recently managed to find out where your pride is," the king replied, "I can't imagine any prey would be particularly forthcoming with that sort of information."
"Oh, it wasn't me doing the asking," Vitani replied, "I got a friend to do it."
"A friend," the king asked, "what sort of friend?"
"A hornbill, if you must know," Vitani replied, "a friend of my cousin."
The king looked up, and spotted, indeed, two hornbills circling over their approximate location, then looked back at Vitani, and said, "don't go causing any trouble while you're passing through."
"I'll do my best," Vitani replied. With that, the conversation ended, and the king disappeared back to monitoring the rest of his kingdom.
"So what was that about," Colin asked, when the king had left, "he seemed kind of suspicious."
"He was a king," Vitani replied, "he's got to protect his kingdom, then smiled grimly, and added, "and I suppose some of the answers I gave were a bit weird."
"So now what," Colin asked.
"So now," Vitani replied, "we try not to cause any trouble, not that I was planning to anyway."
"So where're we sleeping tonight," Colin asked, as the sun began to set.
"Somewhere high," Vitani replied. The area around them carried the smell of hyenas, and she wasn't particularly interested in becoming a midnight snack for them, "Zazu, are there any big rock piles around here?"
"No there aren't," Zazu replied from overhead, "however, there is a baobab tree not too far away."
"Unoccupied," Vitani asked, "or has that one got a crazy monkey living in it as well?"
"It's unoccupied, Zazu said, then added reproachfully, "and Rafiki isn't crazy, just mysterious."
"Okay, not crazy, creepy," Vitani said in reply.
"Who's Rafiki," Ibura asked, before Zazu could retort.
"He's a creepy monkey," Vitani replied.
"He's a mandrill," Zazu replied, his sharp tone aimed more at Vitani than Ibura, and he's a shaman."
"Shaman," Ibura asked, "what's that?"
"One who talks to the spirits," Zazu replied, "and provides counselling and medical services when needed."
"And is he creepy," Ibura asked, then saw Zazu's expression, "okay, mysterious?"
"He can move quickly and quietly, and appear without being seen," Zazu replied, then glanced down at Vitani, "which no doubt would seem creepy to the less than civilised who actually use such words."
Vitani glowered up at Zazu trying to come up with a reply, then asked, "so where's this tree then?"
"Not far," Zazu replied, "this way."
"That's a tree," Colin asked as they approached the baobab, "geez, must get a lot of fertiliser."
Zazu gave Colin a stern look, and said, "baobabs can live for very long periods even in the harshest droughts."
"Well at this size it should be pretty good," Vitani interrupted, and leapt up to the crown, which turned out to be a bit smaller than she'd hoped, but nevertheless, ought to fit her needs. Experimentally, she tried several sleeping positions before finding a fairly comfortable one.
"Can I come up," Colin asked, after a while.
"Yep," Vitani replied.
When Colin reached the crown of the tree he looked at Vitani's sleeping posture, and asked, "you're going to sleep like that?"
"It's the most comfortable position I could find," Vitani replied, "where are you sleeping?"
"Right beside you I guess," Colin replied, "if that's okay with you."
Vitani shrugged, "okay with me." She then looked up at Zazu and Ibura who were settling on a nearby branch, "you two okay?"
"Yeah, fine," Ibura replied, "how about you, comfy?"
"As much as I'm going to be," Vitani replied, then, as she felt Colin curling up beside her, said, "night."
"Good night," replied Ibura, followed a moment later by Zazu.
The leopard looked around furtively as he dragged the impala carcass back to the baobab, then smiled to himself, it looked like he'd dodged the hyenas tonight. His smile vanished though, when he looked up into the tree, and saw, the leg and tail of what could only be a lion, or given the size, a lioness. Annoyed at the intrusion, but also intrigued, he gripped the impala firmly, and climbed to the crown of the baobab, laying the carcass over a branch, rather than wedging it in a fork.
Colin was awakened by some scratching noises coming from the other side of Vitani, and curious, made his way to where he could see past her, then froze as he saw what was there.
The leopard was trying to decide what to do about the lioness, then finally, moved forward and tried to nudge her awake. This didn't seem to have any effect, though, so then he placed a paw between her shoulder blades, and unsheathed his claws, pressing the points into her back, but being careful not to draw blood.
Vitani snorted awake as the claws pressed in between her shoulder blades, sleepily, she looked around, first in the wrong direction, thinking Colin was up to something, but then looked the other way when she realised the claws were far too spread for their belonging to the former alley cat. Looking the other way, she at first though Alex had come after her, before discerning that the shaped belonged to a leopard, not a lion. "Who're you," she finally asked muzzily."
"The normal occupant of this tree," the leopard replied, "and you?"
"Name's Vitani," the lioness replied.
"And what are you doing here," the Leopard asked.
Vitani took a moment to gather her wits, then replied, "I wasn't interested in sleeping with the hyenas."
The leopard smiled momentarily, then said, well, can you shuffle up a bit?"
Vitani nodded, looking at the impala carcass behind the leopard, then rose with a groan, and as the other cat stored the carcass, shuffled over to leave some room.
Having stored his kill, the leopard approached the lioness warily and lay down beside her, but being careful to touch her as little as possible.
