"The...the Elephant Graveyard?" Kovu repeated timidly. Kiara tilted her head, puzzled.

"Yah, that's right." Vitani smirked. "With all the creepy bones and stuff. I heard it's haunted! Oh, and the hyenas sometimes come back at night, too. But that won't be a problem for a coupla royal cubs like you guys."

Kovu hesitated. He could barely remember the fierce hyenas who had shared his babyhood home and eventually turned against the old king, Scar, but he knew he never wanted to see one again. Then he looked at Vitani's expression. Her dark lids were almost closed over her yellow eyes and she was grinning lopsidedly, white teeth visible under her sneering muzzle. Lazily she poked her tongue out at her brother.

"Course, if you're too scared..."
That did it. Kovu jumped up onto a rock and puffed his chest out. "I'm not scared! I'm going to be King and I'm gonna prove it! Kiara, are you in?" He unsheathed his small claws and growled.

"Yeah Princess, do you dare?" Vitani asked dangerously. The female cub silently shook her head, her jaws clenched.
"Kiara's scared!"
"I am not! My father told me that being brave isn't about looking for trouble, and it's stupid and wrong to put yourself and your friends in danger." With that, Kiara turned on her heel and began to stalk away, her pink nose in the air.

"Do you do everything your daddy tells you?" Vitani jeered after her.

Kiara looked back sadly at her two friends; the only cubs of her own age she had to play with, but whom Simba had expressly forbidden her to see.

"Not always," she said quietly, "but perhaps I should."

* * * * *

"Kiara?"

Kiara looked up from the waterhole with a start.

"Kovu! What are you doing in the Pridelands? If my dad catches you..."

The brown cub stepped out of his hiding-place and crouched in front of Kiara, looking at the ground.
"I just wanted to say sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have tried to drag you into Vitani's dumb dare. I mean, you're a Princess. It would be stupid to risk your neck. And besides, you're a girl..."

Kiara glared at him, her brown eyes flashing. Kovu expected another lecture, but he wasn't prepared for what she was going to say:

"Is that so? Well you go back and tell Vitani we're taking that dare. Tonight."

"Wh-wha'?" Kovu blinked, his mouth hanging open.

"I'll meet you an hour after sunset at the edge of the Pridelands."

There was a rustle in the bushes, the sound of a clumsily confident animal who has every right to be where he is.
"Oh Princess Ki-AAAAA-raaaaaa!"
"That's Pumbaa! Quick Kovu, you have to go. I'll see you tonight!" Kiara whispered, shoving her friend back into the tall grass as the warthog galloped up.

"Hi Princess! Who were you talkin' to?" Pumbaa asked, his small eyes twinkling.
"Oh...er...nobody..."
"Aww. I had invisible friends when I was your age too. You must be feeling lonely."
Kiara nodded eagerly, seizing the excuse.
"Wanna come and play with me and Timon? C'mon!"

He thundered off, wagging his ridiculous tail and yelling for his meerkat friend at the top of his lungs. Kiara turned to the waving clump of grasses.

"Tonight!" she hissed, and bounded away.