Chapter 3- Kings Of The Past and Cubs of Today
The grand stage of Pride Rock was a little intimidating to be right under, but with all the feline figures looking out to see mine and Sarafina's arrival, that was what unsettled me the most. Sarafina had assured me I would be welcomed on account of my circumstances, not that she knew they were made up as a defence for myself. The ascent up the rock gave me the chance to have a closer look at the curious lionesses with their eyes fixed on me. I couldn't help my tail tucking up close to me, although I couldn't see any malice in any of their eyes, they were simply wanting to get a look at me, and giving it some thought, I really couldn't blame them. However, being in the state I was, there was still a sense of fear. I knew I was here to face judgement, or at least that's how I was viewing it. Of course I didn't have anything to worry about, I secretly knew it, but I thought it would be safer if I were to stay on edge for now. In the fading light, some of their eyes had a faint glow to it, which made me uncomfortable to the point I was wriggling a little bit to hide myself from view. This was making it difficult for Sarafina to hold onto me, which I got the sense that she was starting to become a little bit irritated. I didn't think she would act on it because I was seen as a child to her. Normally, as a human, in an uncomfortable situation with all eyes on me, I would have made a little quip, but with all these being much larger than me, I couldn't risk that. I didn't want to risk Sarafina getting into a scuffle because I tried to be funny. That wouldn't be fair, and I couldn't be certain she even would help.
Not only did I notice the lions looking at me, but I viewed the lands down below the rock, albeit not the best view, which seemed to be reserved to the edge of the platform that was reaching up and out to view across the land. The fading light also meant it was harder to see anything of interest, but I could still just about make out the horizon with the remaining sunlight creating the dividing line between the sky and the land. It was only moments later when I was put down. Looking back at my current protector, I shot a questioning look. Her response was just to gesture ahead of me, forcing my head to turn back to stare ahead and see a lion emerging from the cave. I gulped. He was huge, absolutely a true giant. His size was matched with his mane and his jaw. All features about him suggested he was powerful in every sense of the word. I couldn't help but start to admire him whilst I feared him a little out of the same time. Much like Sarabi, the lion seemed to have an air about him that just oozed with authority. I was in awe, to be quite honest, having never been in the presence of a living animal quite so large. There was no mistaking it, this was the king Sarafina had mentioned, this was king Mufasa. I lowered my head in front of him, knowing it was courteous to bow to a king. He stopped in front of me, I could see one of his paws just ahead of my lowered head. It wasn't far off of my size, which was just crazy to see. "Lift your head, child. Let me see you." He spoke, commanding me in a gentle tone, it with his deep voice it almost sounded like a growl to me as well. I refused to show fear again though, so I raised my head, looking up at him as he looked down at me, our eyes meeting, my face was holding a stiff expression in my efforts to not appear frightened. "Your eyes. They have a look of determination in them. I normally don't see a cub look with anything but playful wonder in this world. It makes me wonder what you may have to be so intense for." As he spoke, he lowered himself down to peer into my eyes, though I kept my expression the same, unwilling to falter. "Sarabi has told me what Sarafina told her about you. I must say, it is unlike Zazu to miss even a cub in the Pridelands, especially a cub by herself. Such an oddity doesn't often go unseen by my major-domo." He made his was back to Sarabi who had seemingly appeared from nowhere, the two sharing a moment of affection as they rubbed cheeks, purring as they did so. Once they stopped, the king started up again "Tishala, what kind of king do you think I should be when I see an orphaned cub show up at my home?" The question caught me off guard and my eyes opening more showed my surprise.
My tail was repeatedly curling and uncurling as I felt every single lion's eyes on me, waiting for my response. How was I supposed to know how the king should behave? It was an interesting approach he took and obviously he wanted an answer from me, but there wasn't a wicked consequence waiting for me if I didn't, at least not yet. "Uhm…" I paused, gulping once more as I tried to find my words in front of the pride "Well, I think that the king should be welcoming, not scary and should really let the cub know if there's anything she isn't understanding when being asked a question like this." I responded, looking around with my ears held back against my head, not sure if I would have been pushing my luck with that response. Instead of getting the frown I expected, I saw the towering lion crack a smile and even start to chuckle as the lionesses joined in with him soon after. I looked around some more, seeing Sarafina was joining in the laughter, looking down at me with a warm expression.
"That certainly would be a kind response from a king wouldn't it?" Mufasa smiled as he stopped his laughter, the tension completely gone for himself and the lions around, just not for me yet. "How about I'll be welcoming, try to be less scary and I won't ask silly questions? I return of course I would need you to stay here in the pride, learn our ways and maybe, just maybe enjoy your life here?" His smile grew as he raised a brow to me, as if he was tempting a child with the proposition. Of course, he was tempting a child with it and I couldn't help soften my expression to a smile at the king. It was hard to be so stern in front of him, he just seemed too friendly. I didn't know if that was because of me being a cub or not, but it didn't matter because it seemed as if he made his mind up on my fate. He just wanted to see what reaction he could get from me. "I think we have a deal then, don't we?" He got close and leaned in again. I nodded and the lion king pressed his cheek against mine, rubbing gently. "I thought you might be happy with that deal." He purred, giving me a playful wink and all I could think about was how he was acting so much like a dad, at least from my impression. "I have no doubt that my son will be welcoming to another friend to play with." I blinked, remembering that I had been told there was a prince. Clearly, I had forgotten. My mind couldn't help but think of how Sarafina said she had a daughter as well and how the two cubs, from the sounds of it, were good friends. If he was sure the prince would want to be my friend, then I could already see I would be dragged into situations I probably wasn't too comfortable with. The thought of that would have made me shudder if I wasn't knocked from my thoughts "You must be tired though, so those introductions will have to wait until the sun rises again." He nodded, padding back to his queen, the two of them sharing a loving look. It was clear to see their love was still strong, all other members of the pride smiling in their direction.
The moment was cut short when Sarafina spoke up "I suppose I am expected to take care of her?" The question struck me as a little bit odd, almost as if she was hesitant to look after me, but my worries were blocked out when she continued "For now at least, she is probably most comfortable with me. The only difficulty will be keeping Nala asleep with someone new around." Her soft laughter comforted me some, knowing she wanted to be my carer.
Sarabi stepped forwards and looked at me before her friend "Are you sure? I know I could look after her and I know any of the other lionesses would be happy to." She queried, making sure her friend wasn't going to be overwhelmed. Sarafina shook her head and dragged her tongue over my head and one of my ears, causing me to look back at her and smile. The answer was clear. "Please don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it." She added, the two adults moving to embrace each other for a moment, showing the strength of their friendship, the understanding between the two. It gave me the feeling that I was probably going to get care from both of them, even if Sarafina said she didn't need help. Both lionesses were mothers and I was a cub after all, their mothering instincts were strong, especially around me, for obvious reasons. "At least let me be with her as you get back to your daughter, she has been asking for you for so long. There is something I wish to sow our newcomer before she gets her rest." The queen requested, knowing she could not be denied. Sarafina left my side soon after, as did all others, back into the cave as the night sky started to glimmer with all the stars in view. It was breath taking, simply stunning. As much as I wanted to admire it though, I had my attention shifted to the lioness who asked my presence. She wasn't alone though. Mufasa was there, waiting for me as well, the two of them looking down at me from different distances. Sarabi soon got to her king's side, beckoning for me to go over to them "Tishala, we wish to show you something that is quite special to this pride, we feel that it may help you feel more settled."
It was that moment I remembered I hadn't done that much walking, if any at all. I had sat up, laid down, even stood up, but this could be a whole new challenge to me, I didn't know if I was ready for it, but the royal couple would probably not want to wait that long for me. Tentatively, I made my first step with my left foreleg, the paw planting on the ground, my claws extending out to grip there, showing my insecurity on balance on four legs. However, moving this way felt natural almost, not what I expected at all and I had a small smile grow as a result of this. The two adults seemed to notice this and smiled at each other and then back to me as I got in front of them. Without a word, they turned to get to the edge of the large platform, that even with the dark, still showed a large amount of the lands below it. I made a mental note to take a look again when it was lighter, being able to see for miles ahead and all around. Whilst it felt natural, I wasn't without my awkward moment when walking up to the edge, nearly stumbling over close to the edge when Sarabi caught me in her jaws, sitting me down between the two of them. "Tishala, these lands are my kingdom. My father, king before me, told me when I was young that everything the light touches was the kingdom he ruled over. I cannot say this to you at night of course." He paused for a moment before chuckling "I apologise, my son will be told what my father told me, so this is sort of a practice run for me, of sorts at least…" he trailed off, only put back on track by Sarabi as she cleared her throat to get his attention. Admittedly, I was a little bit confused by all of this. "I will teach my son about the kingdom and how he will have to take my place when my time as king is over. I am here telling you some of the same things because I believe that a cub can benefit from this and hopefully pass on the important lessons when they are older. Does this make sense to you?" He looked down to me to see if I was going to give a response, to which I did, nodding at him before staring back out into the distance again. Clearly, the lion king had noted this "Look up to the night sky. My father told me that that great kings of the past are up there, the brightest lights in the sky are where they watch over us all, giving guidance in our greatest times of need and passing fair judgement over all our greatest events. A reigning king cannot assume he is to join the great kings of the past when his time is done, but if they are meant to, they do not spend time pondering the thought. Sarabi and I thought you should know that if you ever feel alone or scared, being in this pride, the great kings shall watch over you and hear your distress, so you are never alone." He assured me, not once looking down at me as he kept his eyes fixated on the night sky. Normally, I wouldn't have believed him, but when I looked up into the sky, there were indeed some stars noticeably brighter than the rest and I could only assume those were the kings he was talking about. I don't know if I believed it, but in that moment, it did make me feel something, though I couldn't describe what exactly.
The lioness beside me finally spoke her piece "We understand you must have hesitations, suddenly becoming part of a pride, having lost your own family not long ago. I can promise you that you will be treated the same as all in our pride." A smirk started to appear on her face "That does mean you won't be able to escape the baths like a certain other cub I know tries to." Both of them laugh, leaving me a little bit confused, but smiling nonetheless.
With that said, I felt my eyes get heavy and I let out a yawn, exposing all my teeth in front of them, not that I cared as they were likely used to it. My yawn was cut short though by the feeling of the two lions pressing against me, allowing me to purr from the sheer comfort of the warmth "Stop, I'm gonna fall asleep." I muttered, rather drowsy in my movements, although I couldn't sway too much with the two of them keeping me in between.
"That's the idea, little one, you need your sleep if you're to grow big and strong." Mufasa spoke, trying to tempt me to a slumber. It wasn't like I needed much temptation to get to that place as I could feel my eyes closing despite my young body's efforts to fight it. I laid down in between them, stretching out as I yawned again, although I seemed to have an insistence on staying awake, my eyes fluttering to stay open for as long as they could "No need to fight it, just let yourself sleep. You must be exhausted." I could just about understand what he said as my vision and hearing was going a little bit blurry, gradually getting more difficult to keep my eyes open until they stayed shut, my body shutting down to let me rest for the night. Before sleep hit me, I could hear the two talking, undoubtedly making a comment about me, but I couldn't focus enough to hear what it was, instead drifting into a deep slumber.
I woke up to find myself held closely by a set of paws. Paws that I noticed were Sarafina's, which must have meant I was carried over to her after falling asleep. The light wasn't entering the cave, but it did start to glow through onto the walls to provide a dim presence in the morning. It seemed as if everyone was asleep, looking around to confirm this, although there were a few starting to stir as the light would start to grow. That was when I noticed I was not alone in being held by Sarafina. Beside me, sleeping with a peaceful smile on her face was another cub. This must have been Nala, I noted. She did have similarities to her mother, that much was obvious, but there were slight differences from what I could see. What I could see was that the two of us were pretty much stuck together, it felt like maybe the other cub had gotten closer to me in her sleep, perhaps even beforehand. From hearing her mother, I had an assumption that she was a friendly, energetic cub, so that would make sense if she did bring herself closer.
The sleeping quarters themselves must have been a little dusty or something because I felt the urge to sneeze, although I was conscious to keep it quiet because I didn't want to upset anyone by waking them up earlier than they would like. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop the sneeze altogether, letting it out with a rather dainty little squeak, my nose twitching a little bit afterwards. I looked around to see that there was no extra movement, sighing in relief as I had gotten away with it. That was until my eyes came directly into view of another set looking back at me, the owner's being blue in colour and although that was all I was seeing, the fact they were so close told me who it was. Nala "Hi, uh, I know you're new here, but you should probably know that not a lot of lions like to be woken up like that." She tried to explain in a mature manner, but it was obvious her excitement of a new face was taking over "I'm Nala. Mum told me you're going to live at Pride Rock now, so I guess I'm going to see you a lot. I can talk to Simba and maybe he'll let you play with us. If not, I guess I can still play with you afterwards." Her ideas seemed sweet and honest. The more she spoke, the more I could feel her energy, finding it rather contagious, my own body wanting to start moving again "What's your name? Oh, wait, mum told me, it's Tishala, right?" I nodded as she beamed at me "Well I like that name." She confirmed.
It was then that a set of eyes appeared to the side of Nala. It was Sarafina, having moved her head to be alongside her daughter's, clearly having been woken up by the enthusiastic cub, not that she seemed to mind that much. Nala was quick to notice the presence beside her, leaning across to nuzzle at her mother, having it returned. Not to be left out, Sarafina made sure to give me the same attention, to which Nala I could see was smiling at, possibly even laughing as I was still a little unsure if it was okay. The cub didn't care at all. "You two already know how to make some noise together, don't you?" The elder lioness smirked at us, earning a smile from Nala and a sheepish grin from myself. "How about we go and have an early morning trip to the watering hole, get you two some water?" She asked, earning a nod from both of us, oddly enough we were nodding at the same time. The lioness saw that and held her smirk at the two of us before standing up, gesturing us to follow, but flicking her tail tip past our lips to emphasise the need to be quiet.
Sure enough, we followed behind, careful to avoid waking anyone else up until we were out of the cave, following Sarafina down Pride Rock, the two of us sticking close to her, even getting underneath in parts as we made our way to the watering hole. For just a second, I scolded myself for not looking out at the view from the top when we were there. It would have to wait for another time because I didn't want to be left behind. I didn't expect that whilst I was walking alongside Sarafina tat I would be tackled to the ground, rolling a few times until I had Nala pin me down "Pinned ya! That was too easy, even easier than Simba." She grinned, finally getting off me once she was satisfied with her attack, though it was clear she was doing this in a playful manner. After a few more attacks, Nala began to look a little confused "Don't you know how to try and pin? I can teach you if you want?" She beamed, trying to make herself sound more mature by offering her teaching services to me.
"I guess I haven't ever needed to try and pin someone. I don't know because I haven't had it happen to me that much." Hearing her offer to help, I hesitated, thinking that there would be a lot of rough play from her, although it couldn't hurt to try, after all, I wouldn't have much luck pestering the adults all day, they probably had things to do "I think you should teach me." My response made the other cub bounce around with glee, her mother looking at her with a snigger, shaking her head at Nala's insistence on teaching the little playfight to me. I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into, but I would find out soon enough. "It isn't gonna hurt too much is it?" I raised a brow at her, to which she responded with a shake of her head, walking alongside me with our sides together.
She spoke again "We are both gonna be pinning Simba and he won't be able to beat us, because I haven't lost to him yet. He doesn't know how to beat me yet, so don't worry, you'll definitely beat him." She seemed so sure, the confidence was clear in her voice, but it was all a game of course and really, I could tell it was all for the fun of it. Much like before, the energy she had was infectious and soon we were both charging around Sarafina, chasing each other as we were guided to the watering hole.
We were stopped when I crashed into the adult's hind legs, tumbling backwards as she went round to pick me up and get me back on my legs again, putting me next to her daughter "Here we are, go ahead and have some water, you two are clearly going to need it, what with Nala's very own pinning lessons, I'm sure you're both going to sleep very well tonight." She commented, nudging us towards the water's edge. The both of us didn't hesitate to quench the thirst we didn't even know we had until we started drinking from it, slurping the water up, not caring about how messy or noisy we were. For a moment I stopped to question what was happening to me, I was going about my life as a lion without even thinking. That thought made me miss the humanity that I had lost, although the pang of sadness didn't last long, having been splashed by the cub beside me, who hadn't noticed that I started daydreaming. Nonetheless, I didn't have time to retaliate before she attacked me with another splash to the face, thankfully I closed my eyes in time to save myself from that particular sting. Once more, Sarafina's voice paused our actions "Come on, you can come out as well. Don't think I hadn't noticed you following, young prince." She looked behind herself, to the taller grass as it started moving, swishing until another cub emerged, this time a male cub. From the way he had been addressed, I knew this was Mufasa and Sarabi's son. "Perhaps your father still needs to give you lessons on being silent." She teased, purring as he came closer to her, a smile on his face, albeit a smile with a hint of nerves to him as he had been rumbled.
"Simba!" Nala called out as she darted over to him, the two of them engaging in a small contest with Nala coming out on top and pinning the young male, much to his clear frustration. "Pinned ya!" she called in victory, looking back to me as I had gotten closer "See? I told you it would be easy." She got off him with a rather smirk expression on her face. He still didn't look that pleased, but the grumpy look on his face changed when he laid eyes on me.
With Nala going back to her mother, it almost seemed like there was a standoff between Simba and I. He was sizing me up for whatever reason, but his expression did soften, showing he was actually going to be friendly "You're new, right? You should know that I'm gonna be king when I grow up. I'm Simba. So…uh, remember, I'll be king Simba, but don't worry, if you're friends with me and Nala, then I can make sure you'll stay okay. That's what good kings do." He explained, trying to make himself seem more impressive. Admittedly, my response was to give the most uncontrollable giggle I'd ever heard myself do, though it seemed to make the prince smile more "What's your name?" He asked.
A/N: So there it is! I'm surprising myself with the rate I'm producing these chapters, but I guess it is because writing for something I like and something new makes motivating myself to do it easier. As before, I don't own the Lion King characters, instead I can only lay claim to Tishala. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. Please review this story, I'm eager to hear your thoughts on it, whatever they may be. For those of you that may be too embarrassed to put a review out, my private messages are open to you all. Also, let me know if you want me to give a small preview in author notes as to what may be in store in the next chapter. All the best, see you next time.