Chapter 4- A Meal To Die For
"My name? My name is Tishala…your majesty." I finished, not knowing how I should address him. Despite being young, it was clear he knew his position, so I didn't know if he would be okay with me not referring to his title. Feeling as unsure as I was, I looked to Sarafina for some support, but it looked as if she was content to just watch this play out. At my response, the prince got closer; right up in my face in fact. It didn't make me feel ay more comfortable, even if he was trying to be friendly.
Simba seemed to notice how the lack of space between us made me feel and he backed up half a step "If you're going to be my friend you don't have to say your majesty to me…at least not yet. I think you do to dad though, but it doesn't matter too much if you're friends with me." The lion cub explained to me, the little tail of his flicking upwards. Not a moment later, as if I didn't exist, he was lapping at the water I was facing away from now. He reappeared before starting to speak again "I think that it's gonna be cool to have another friend to play with. This will make playing tag more fun." He nodded, only games on his mind for the time being. Sarafina seemed to gesture for all of us to follow once we had all taken our fill of water.
The sun had been constantly on the rise and by the time we got back to Pride Rock, it was no longer joined to the horizon, if only by a little bit, but that would soon change as well. Once we made it up to the main platform, the king and queen were there, waiting for us all. They didn't look worried, even if Mufasa did have a somewhat stern expression aimed at his son. The prince could tell the trouble was not too great for him, so he applied a large grin, his ears falling back. He did this until his parents changed their look at him, probably thinking that they could deal with him later. "I had Nala and Tishala talking to each other, so I thought it would be best to take them out of the way of everyone else who was sleeping. I only realised when we were walking away from the den that your son was following." Sarafina looked at all three of us as we looked up between them. "At least Tishala has been introduced to the other cubs." She added, again the three of us looking over at her. Through all the looking up, part of me wished I was taller.
A small growl could be heard all of a sudden and all other lions looked around, except me, because I knew the source of the growl. My own stomach. I could feel my cheeks burn red with embarrassment as my hunger became clear to see, or at least it was obvious to hear. "Sorry, I just haven't eaten in a while and I didn't want to tell you because you've already done so much for me." I explained, unable to look them in the eyes as I was sure what I said would have been a wrong answer, if that was possible.
The grown ups shook their heads, Sarabi speaking up "You needn't worry yourself over that. We do not expect a cub to find her own food. When we hunt, you will have other lionesses take good care of you, watching over you. Please behave, Simba." The lion cub in question gave another grin as his mother smiled down at her son, the bond between them was clearly strong. I was left feeling a little uncertain again though because I hadn't met any adults other than the three that were with me. I hadn't been seen as an oddity just yet, only as a tragic case, which would perhaps hold me in good stead with others because they wouldn't want to upset me. That didn't mean I wasn't wary of being found out. I didn't want to even think of what this pride might do to those who lie about themselves. "When you grow up, Tishala, you will be able to join in the hunts. It would be one f your responsibilities as a lioness of this pride." The queen said to me, her attention moving away from her son.
"As in hunt to kill?" I asked. I already knew the answer, but I hadn't given it much thought. I didn't think about the fact I would eventually be expected to go and hunt for something else as a food source. I would be taking a life to prolong my own and whilst it felt wrong to me, it was a way of life here, it was normal. The thought of it though, whilst it did make me worried for the life I would be expected to take, I could actually feel some adrenaline start to pump through me, the idea of the chase was thrilling, even if I was confused. On top of this, it dawned on me I would actually have to eat those that I kill. I expected to be put off by the thought of raw meat that was fresh from a kill, but instead I found myself nearly salivating at the thought. The lion queen nodded in response to my question, staying calm beside her king, the two cubs giving me an odd look, clearly thinking the question was odd. The adults must have shrugged it off as nothing as they didn't seem worried that I wasn't entirely sure. "Will I learn to hunt as well?" My left brow raised as I stepped out from the others, wanting to be addressed directly.
With their heads following my movement, the first one to answer me was Sarafina "Did you family never say they were going to teach you?" Her voice filled with sympathy as she asked me, seeming to think that I hadn't started learning with my family "Of course we will teach you. You and Nala can learn together. Nala has already started learning, but I'm sure she won't mind helping you out as well, right?" She looked to her daughter, drawing a nod from her. "It isn't the same as playing and when you get older, you will join the hunts, but you won't be asked to until you're ready. It takes some more time than others to be ready for it. There is as much thinking to do as there is actually catching prey." The lioness explained to me, although I could tell she wanted her own cub to listen as well, hoping she would heed these words as well. From the reaction Nala gave, it didn't look like she would have any trouble. Of course, I had my own doubts, but they would have to be put aside if I were to ever make progress. To move things along, my stomach decided it was a good time to make some noise again, causing my cheeks to go rosy again. I didn't enjoy that kind of attention "Sarabi, I assume the lionesses are ready to go? We have a hungry cub to feed." She beamed, showing a small wink to me as the queen nodded, the two of them agreeing to go and find their hunting party. Soon after, some of the younger lionesses surrounded me, Simba and Nala. With that, Mufasa made his leave, saying he had to tend to his subjects.
I gave a look of slight resentment to the lionesses that had taken us into their care, as was their job until it would be their turn to join the hunting party. "I'm not too keen on being constantly watched, if that's okay?" I spoke to them, trying to come across as larger than I was. The two of them didn't seem to take too much notice of that, looking at each other and smiling before shaking their heads at me.
The taller of the two, a lioness with a darker beige fur than her friend, slim body and lighter beige patches of fur, she approached me with a smile "Unfortunately for you, cubs aren't allowed to go off by themselves. There's too much risk. Besides, you might find out that you like spending time with us. We were asked by the king and queen themselves to look after you three until they are back." She then licked my face, causing me to give a surprised look as I recovered from the 'attack'. "Tishala is a nice name. My name is Inja, this lovely lioness behind me is Auni. We both agreed we like your name and we are sorry for what happened to you before. Hopefully you can have a happy new start here with our pride." I could feel her energy, much like mine or Nala's, telling me she wasn't old, but she was close to full grown, hence why she had been left to care for the cubs, as well as her fellow lioness. She seemed cheery enough, but my fellow cubs weren't hiding their own discontent at being watched either. Still, the young carers didn't budge, instead trying to distract us with the suggestion of a game.
Simba however, had another thing on his mind "Can I go see my uncle Scar? I think he needs to meet Tishala as well. He wasn't there when she arrived, was he?" I could see in their eyes they were wary of this new name mentioned, but wouldn't deny Simba his request, with Inja suggesting that they would wait outside his spot until the two of us would come back. For some reason Nala wasn't keen on going. It became clear that this lion being mentioned was intimidating even to them, so perhaps it was right for me to feel nervous. Of course, with Simba already nudging me to follow, it didn't appear I had much choice but to meet this new lion. I exchanged worried looks with Nala as Simba got me to follow beside him, the young prince starting to talk more "My uncle Scar is kinda weird, but I like him. I think he thinks he's funny. He tells me about cool things, but I promise that I won't tell my parents because they would worry too much apparently. I mean, he says that he would only tell lions he thinks are the bravest, so he probably won't speak about those things with you there." He smiled to me, not noticing that he had sent a little insult my way, suggesting I wasn't brave. I wasn't about to tell him about it though because he seemed too excited to show off his uncle to me or showing me off to his uncle. Either way, it wasn't long before the other three stopped, causing me to look back at them with a little bit of hesitation to follow the male cub. They nodded for me to follow, although they did look a bit on edge for some reason. Nala looked less on edge and more relaxed, perhaps it was just his appearance that unsettled her. "Come on, he's just over here!" Simba called over to me, motioning with his head for me to come over.
Before I even took a step, I could almost feel the presence of this other lion and I was immediately uneasy about this upcoming encounter. If it weren't for Simba's calm, then I would have started shaking. It was like there was a lingering dread in this area, the sun rays just out of reach of this litte spot of Pride Rock. As I made my way over to Simba, I didn't dare look around the little corner, instead keeping my eyes to the ground, seeing my paws move with each step I took. Once I saw the prince's own paws, I looked up at him to see him smile back "Why do you look so worried? It's only my uncle Scar. He's just a little weird is all." He assured me, though it didn't do much to calm me once I could see the lion he was referring to.
The adult male had noticed his nephew was putting him on display somewhat and those piercing green eyes looked right into mine as his lips curled into a sickly smile, his teeth starting to show as he raised a paw to wave at me. It was a clear feign of interest in meeting me, but he seemed to accept that his nephew would go ahead with the introduction regardless. "Simba you mustn't wake your poor uncle like that, I might have thought you were an intruder. I wouldn't want to hurt my favourite nephew." He let the words roll off his tongue in a lazy manner. Through this though, his smile shifted to a sad looking face, even if it was easy enough for me to see he was faking it. The lion sat up and kept his eyes on the two of us. "Well, aren't you going to introduce me? Simba your manners are not what your father would want them to be." He teased, getting some pleasure from confusing the cub. The intimidation he gave me did not resemble that of when I met Mufasa. Something about this lion was unnerving me and yet Simba was more than okay being around him. I had a bad feeling that only grew when he decided to close the distance between myself and him. "If I'm not mistaken, this would be the cub that has brought much chatter to the lionesses as well as my dear brother, our king." He continued, seeming to dismiss Simba for now as he was focused on me. I noticed he had some venom in his words when he said the word king, referring to his brother, Mufasa. That's when it became clear to me that he was bitter towards his brother and also Simba as a result. Regardless of what I had sussed, the lion looking me over made me shiver before him "Now now, why must you look at me like I'm the scariest, least appealing lion you have ever seen?" He asked, a smile curling onto his lips, although this was a different smile, he was enjoying watching me fear him.
Despite the state I was in, I still had some of the resilience I was used to showing as a human "That would be because you are the least appealing lion I have ever seen." I responded, feeling my shudders halt as I felt more confident. It struck me for a second that this was the first time I'd really acted like my former self, albeit that it took fear for me to finally fight back against it. Scar didn't seem amused by my answer, though it could have been to do with Simba's own reaction, a small amount of laughter that echoed in the small area we were in. "That doesn't mean you scare me though." I promised him, taking a step closer as if to prove my point, although I could feel my nerves on edge. The adult didn't believe my bluff, taking a quick step and a swipe forward at me. It wasn't aimed to hit me, but he knew it would scare me. I flinched and let out a small squeak, diving to Simba who stood firm, looking at me for a moment before frowning at his uncle.
The cub prince "Uncle, don't scare my friends." He tried to warn, though the older lion looked nonchalant once again, though his narrowed eyes were still on me as I hid behind the only protection I had. "You didn't even learn her name before you started scaring her." He started laughing, stepping away from me and closer to his uncle, batting him with a paw as he grinned up at Scar. "Next time you've gotta be nicer. Her name is Tishala."
He looked from his nephew and back to me as I had stood up straight again, a small frown as I looked at him, being brave from a distance this time "Charmed." He purred in response, once again hiding behind a sarcastic veil that Simba didn't seem to get. "Simba, my favourite nephew, I thank you for showing me the newest addition to our pride. Perhaps she can learn a thing or two from brave lions like you, eh?" His toothy grin returned as it seemed like he was almost teasing Simba into giving a response he wanted. "I do hope you'll forgive me, Tishala. I'm afraid that's the best I can offer as I can't look as pretty as the other lions. Woe is me." He continued, feigning feeling faint by putting one of his paws up to his forehead, almost flopping onto his back.
The theatrics caused Simba to start laughing whilst looking back to me. "See, I told you, he's just a bit weird." He reassured me, getting to my side and giving me a playful shove. Feeling that, I nearly fell to the ground, frowning at the prince as he charged in again, seemingly getting carried away with his little game already despite the menacing lion not far from us. I decided I didn't want to be the ragdoll in his game this time, but before I could do anything, he had gotten me to the ground, holding me down. However, before he could gloat in victory, I noticed I had quite free movement of my back legs, using them to roll him over me and onto his back, surprising the male cub. "What the, how did you do that?" He got up as I did, a confused frown plastered on his face. He worked it out quickly though, looking at my legs and realising where his mistake was.
"Oops, the mighty Simba beaten by the new lioness cub." Scar entered again, his indifferent tone coming across in a way that was winding up Simba, making him huff a little bit, hurt by the comment that he was beaten. "I suppose your father will have to teach you more, but he will probably have hoped you would be learning faster." He tried to hold back some laughter, stifling it with a paw to his lips and another toothy grin. It was becoming quite clear to me that Scar wasn't pleasant to Simba, but he was never too blunt with it, so he could get away with the constant mocking he seemed to give.
What he didn't count on was my voice to pipe up again, having seen what he was doing "Y-you shouldn't speak to your future king that way. He will grow and get stronger…I got lucky anyway." I defended him, which perked him up a bit, though he didn't expect it. He stood taller by my side, nodding in agreement as the two of us stood up to them.
Scar's reaction wasn't as aggressive as I expected, although I did see, for a fraction of a second, an ugly glint in his eyes when I mentioned Simba as the future king. The resentment in his face at that moment was quite terrifying, especially being how small I was. However, he remained calm, but dismissive of us "If you insist. Now leave me, I intend to catch up on the sleep I had taken from me by you two. Run along now. I expect I'll be forced to see you later." He made no effort to hide his displeasure there, although it wasn't quite so aggressively said. I didn't need any more encouragement to get moving away from him, turning to leave for the safety outside of this little area, where the lionesses and Nala would be waiting for me.
Simba get to my side as I walked away, and once we rounded the corner enough, he spoke to me with a hushed tone, a small smile on his face "Thanks for telling my uncle that." He paused for a moment before speaking again "Did you really mean that, y'know, the part about you being lucky?" My response, of course, was a nod to him, my own smile starting to show again as we made our way out "I'm getting better, but my uncle sometimes says I'm slower at learning than dad was." He frowned at the ground for a moment until he looked to me again "But yeah…thanks." He actually surprised me when he rubbed against me as another way of showing his thanks.
I didn't realise that when we shared that moment there were two smirking lionesses and a giggling cub watching the two of us. Once Simba realised this, he was quick to move away, the two of us trying to stand away from each other whilst both our cheeks started going rosy. Nala bounded over to my side, her eyes bright as she spoke to me in a cheery voice "What was that all about? Were you and Simba K-I-S-" I frowned and decided it was time to calm this cub down.
"Nope! I just stuck up for him because Scar was being mean to him. He was just thanking me." I argued, pouting somewhat as the lionesses were watching this and trying to hold back their own laughter as Nala would continue her little tirade, Simba also feeling the heat of it as well.
"So, he did that just as a thank you? Sure he did. K-I-" I growled and pushed the lion cub, though she only grinned in response, knowing the game she was playing. She was as smug as anything could be.
Simba got beside me and said his piece as well, defending what he did "She's not lying, I was thanking her." He joined me in pouting. This whole scene was becoming very amusing to the lioness carers we had, though they didn't want to get involved, instead happy to watch this play out. It must have been funny for them to watch three cubs argue over something that wasn't important, but each of us were fiercely defending our corner. Nala was more than happy to continue teasing, leaving myself and the prince frowning "Nala cut it out!" He whined, Nala finally relenting, although she couldn't control her giggling that well.
I made my way up and past Inja, earning some words from her "So, you and the prince?" She teased, a smirk on her face until she saw the reaction she wanted from me, a frown, sticking my tongue out "Okay, I'm sorry, I'll stop. It's just funny to see you two like that. It'd be the same if it was Simba and Nala. Then you'd have been teasing them." She guided the three of us to where we would be staying whilst in their care, with her friend, Auni flagging up behind to make sure there were no escapees. Once we arrived, I could see that it was just an open space with some rocks there, a few trees for shade, but other than that, it was basically just a spot where it would be easy to keep an eye on us. Of course, that made sense, they didn't need their job to be any more difficult, so this was a good way of making sure we were kept safe in their care. "Go ahead and have fun. I don't think it will take the hunting parties long. They are all very good at what they do. You'll be eating some zebra or gazelle soon enough, you just have to be patient." Inja continued to explain, but the attention span of three cubs was never going to hold up, not that she minded when we grouped together away from the older two before too long.
"What's the plan then?" I asked, looking to the two more experienced at lion life. "Are we going to play fight some more? I think I'm going to be sore if we do that all day."
Simba stepped up, his chest pushed out with confidence "We don't do that all day, but it is a good game. We'll play that for a bit. Then we can think of something else if you want?" His answer seemed to satisfy Nala, so I felt I had no choice but to brace for some rather rough play. When they had seen I conceded and was ready to join in, they both crouched, ready to pounce. Unlike other times where I hadn't been ready or I was scared of being pounced, this time I was ready and crouched with them, a grin growing on my face as we were all about to go for each other.
It felt like barely any time had passed by the time Sarafina came into the area we were. The hunting party in reality had been gone for a while, but as I was preoccupied with 'surviving' my two cub companions' attempts at tackling me down. I was able to fight back on occasions, but they were more consistent than me in their attempts. Seeing the older lioness, I was more than happy to hide from my next attack by standing beside her. It didn't stop Nala from hurtling into me, knocking the both of us against her mother, both of us lying down, looking up to her as she looked down to us "It's good to see you too. If you're still hungry, we have brought food back, so I suggest you follow me." She spoke to us in her usual calm tone. We weren't going to pass up on the offer, being guided on by our stomachs as mine happened to rumble again, not that I noticed it this time, being to focused on reaching to source of food.
I started to wonder what it would be. I didn't even know if I would want to eat what it was. Various animals went through my head, but then as I took a deep inhale, only one animal was coming to mind. I didn't understand how, but the very animal I was thinking of did turn out to be the victim of our need for food. A wildebeest. A few wildebeest were brought back, but it was the one that I saw first that had me frozen. I could see its eyes almost looking back at me if it weren't for the fact they were void of the little spark of life I was used to seeing in eyes. Looking around I could see some of the lionesses had some blood dried onto their fur around their mouths. Oddly enough, it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. One of the lionesses with her muzzle coloured with blood was Sarabi. She was looking over her group to make sure everything was in check. Seeing Simba, she gestured for him to come over, though he was also led by Sarafina, our little group meeting with the queen as she stood over one of the downed wildebeests. "Normally I would say we must wait for Mufasa to have his share, but I think with the circumstance of Tishala being so hungry earlier, I doubt it would be an issue to let us start now. The king is still busy and will not be back until later." With that, Sarabi and Sarafina used their larger, stronger jaws to sink their teeth into the flesh of their victim, ripping off chunks of flesh for them to consume. The fresh smell of the meat hit my nose immediately, my senses going into overdrive as just the smell of it was making me salivate a little. To look at, it wasn't pleasant and normally the smell would have made me feel queasy. However, in this body, the smell was addictive. I took in a few more deep breaths before I realised that there was a smaller chunk of meat right in front of me. One of the two older lionesses had passed it over to me, seeing that I was taken in by just the scent of it. With the food in reach, my stomach decided to rumble again as if I needed more urging on.
Leaning down to get close enough, I opened my mouth and gripped the meat with my teeth, applying more pressure as half the food dropped to the ground again, but the half that stayed seemed to ooze out more blood, but instead of it tasting foul, my taste buds were telling me that I was enjoying thr taste of the raw meat. The blood that dripped caused a small amount of staining just under my lips and on my chin. I swallowed and was left satisfied for only a second. I finished off the fallen piece, but before I could say anything, more pieces were passed to me, though not masses because even that small amount started to fill me up. Despite this, I was more than happy to scoff at another piece and a half before having to stop. The look on my face garnered chuckles from the two mothers "She looks like she'd never had a wildebeest before." Sarabi remarked, watching her own son devour a similar amount before having a similar reaction to me when he finished. "I will never understand how cubs get so messy." The lioness continued, referring to the fact all three of us had managed to get stains on various parts of our fur. "Tishala, I hope you're not as unwilling to get clean as Simba is." She directed at me, making me look to Simba, seeing him tense up a little bit as there was talk of being cleaned. I would have laughed as well if it didn't make me feel a little on edge. The thought of someone else having to clean me wasn't something I had to deal with for a long time, so it felt odd that I was likely to have to endure a tongue bath.
"They're not gonna watch, are they?" I asked, gesturing to the other cubs, feeling a little bit self-conscious for a reason that I couldn't even think of.
The lion queen "It's alright, you'll all have to be cleaned, there's no need to be embarrassed. I'll be quick." She tempted, leaning a little closer to me with a smile on her face. I couldn't argue with that, instead choosing to return the smile and nodding.
"Okay, I'll do it." I replied, trying to look sweet and polite to the lioness.
She shook her head and chuckled "You didn't actually have a choice."
A/N: So there it is, an even longer chapter. I have to stop being like this before it gets to the point I bring out a 12,000 word chapter. Anyway, I hope you liked this, even the little 'moment' between Simba and Tishala. Did it mean anything? I guess I'll have to keep on writing so you can find out. As always, Disney owns all except Tishala, the creative overlords that they are. I hope for some more reviews! I'll see you all next time!