Chapter 10: Facing Reality
"Niru?" Siva's voice whispered in his ear.
Niru groaned and rolled onto his back. "Siva, where am I?" He blinked, and saw his friend lying next to him, her eyes, which were an iridescent blue from the darkness of the cave.
"You're in the cave at Pride Rock. You're mom brought you back after you started hurting again at the end of Rafiki's speech. Was that rock uncomfortable, because it looked like it was," Siva half-joked, trying to cheer up her friend.
Tears sprung again to Niru's eyes as he thought back to the incident that afternoon, and then began to cry, not caring if anyone heard him. "Siva, don't you get it? My dad has been captured and it's all my fault!"
"Niru, it is not your fault at all! Nothing is your fault, its Uvok's fault," Siva said, trying to comfort him.
"I couldn't save him because I'm nothing but a weak little baby! I'm a loser for real, and don't deserve to be prince of any pride!" Niru sobbed and whined.
At this remark, Siva felt her fur rise and her claws extend into the floor of the cave. Her muscles tensed, and she crouched in pouncing position, gave an upset growl, and leapt at Niru, pinning him on his back.
Niru, taken aback by his friend's behavior, began to pant and whimper, scared.
As much shocked at her behavior as Niru, Siva instantly began nuzzling her best friend and sniffled. "Niru, you were amazing today. What you did for your father you also did for your pride and more importantly, yourself. You were truly brave today, and I've never seen you be that brave before. Niru, you took on a full-grown lion, of course you didn't beat him now! But you can eventually, someday soon. And you did leave a scar on his tail- your bite marks. That was one powerful bite, Niru. Suvo or I couldn't have matched what you did today, and that's why you deserve to have the title of 'Prince Niru.'"
After Siva finished, she for the first time kissed him on the cheek. Then she got off him and began to trot out of the cave, embarrassed of kissing her best friend.
Niru amazed and strengthened by his friend's words, touched his cheek as he did when she had nuzzled it--was it yesterday? It felt like ages ago that they had found Nahara in their innocent playing, and-wait! Where was Nahara? Niru had completely forgotten about her after his Kovu was captured. He jumped up and ran towards Siva.
"Siva wait!"
She stopped abruptly and turned, still a bit shy of having given him a kiss. "What?"
"I-well--first I wanted to thank you for what you said. You always make me feel better, and I don't what I'd do if we weren't friends," Niru said, and moved in to nuzzle her.
Siva smiled warmly. "Your welcome?" she giggled.
They purred and nuzzled together for awhile before Niru broke away gently, remembering Nahara. "Hey Siva, where is Nahara?"
"Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about her! She disappeared after your father was taken," she gasped.
"Come on, let's go tell my mom," Niru turned and ran down the hill on Pride Rock with Siva close behind. Niru saw his mom sitting next to Vitani as usual, and ran over to her, followed by Siva.
"Mom, Aunt Vitani, what happened to Nahara?" Niru panted and yelled, as the whole pride turned to him.
"Niru, are you feeling better? I was so worried, but Siva said she'd go check up on you, which it looks like she did," Kiara smiled, relieved, and nuzzled both cubs.
"What happened to Nahara?" Niru asked again.
Kiara looked to Vitani and sighed.
Vitani nodded and took over for Kiara. "Niru dear, well we don't exactly know. You see, after the attack, we all looked to see if she had been taken back and her scent was very faint from what your mom smelled. I don't know what she smelled like, so really your mom was the only one who could track her, and the rest of us just looked for paw prints," Vitani said in a hushed voice.
"Uvok took her too? Then we've gotta go find her and rescue her, come on!" Niru shouted.
"Niru, she was their decoy to get to your father. For all we know she might be with them or I don't know where, but she's not here," Vitani tried to calm her nephew.
"But she was my friend. She had no evil intentions in her!" Niru growled, looking at the ground.
"Yes I know, but she was a danger because-
"No!" Niru roared and turned and ran back up the hill.
Siva looked at the two distraught lionesses and turned to follow Niru.
"Do you want me to go after them?" Vitani asked in a gentle voice.
"No, it's ok. I'll talk to him tonight," Kiara nodded, turning to her friend.
Vitani smiled warmly and they both sighed deeply. "Be strong your highness, like you always have," Vitani said, nuzzling her friend.
"Thank you, Vitani. I've been trying my best," Kiara smiled, nuzzling back.
"They will be safe while we're away, and as long as we love them and they love us, we'll get through this and prevail," Vitani said shutting her eyes and inhaled deeply.
"Yes, Kovu's right. This will always be home." Kiara smiled, comforting her friend as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Then her father's message came back to her that he had sung to her in a song when she was a cub a few years ago. She remembered staring up at him as he was staring at Pride Rock, and him coming over to her, nuzzling her saying "As long as you live here, it's who you are."
Kiara smiled and closed her eyes, lifting her head from the friendly nuzzle.
Vitani smiled too, feeling uplifted by Kiara's words.
"Come on, we should get back to hunting," Vitani said getting up and starting back towards the fields.
"Yeah, let's go hunt," Kiara said in a determined voice, and smiled ambitiously towards the fields.
Niru was sitting in an acacia tree, not too far off from Rafiki's tree, looking across the entire Pridelands for Nahara. He sniffed the air, but he too couldn't pick up her scent. He sighed, and lay his head down on his paws.
"Where are you, Nahara? Are you safe? Oh please be OK, I know you were trying to help me, I just know it. Dad. I want to see you, please! Let him go, his home is here with us who love him, please!" Niru began to sob again.
Just then Reekyo hopped down onto a nearby branch, for she was in the same tree picking acacia fruit for Rafiki.
"Prince Niru? What are you doing up here? Don't cry, please Prince Niru," Reekyo said dropping the fruits she held, and reached out and petted Niru's head.
Niru lifted his head and wiped his eyes. "I know I shouldn't cry, but it's just everything that happened today.my dad was captured, he's hurt, and I can't even go on the journey to help find him! Reekyo, why won't Rafiki let me go?" Niru growled, distraught.
Reekyo sympathized with him and gently scooped him up and tucked him under her arm. "Come on Prince Niru, maybe you should talk to Rafiki," Reekyo said swinging from branch to branch, down the tree.
"Whoa!" Niru cried out, excited by the feeling of swinging.
"You like swinging, Prince Niru?" Reekyo smiled.
"I do now!" Niru shouted happily, forgetting about his anxiety for the moment.
"It's what we baboons do best! Oh and picking fruit-which I left on the ground!" she said, remembering the fresh, ripe fruit she had dropped.
Just then Siva and Suvo had tracked Niru's scent to the tree where he was swinging with Reekyo.
"Hey look! Fruit!" Suvo pointed to the juicy fruit lying on the ground next to the tree.
"I am hungry," Siva said walking over and picking one up in her mouth.
"Yeah, let's stop for a minute and look around for Niru while we eat," Suvo said, and reached down and bit into a plump, juicy acacia fruit.
"Uncle Rafiki's fruit! No!" Reekyo called out as she swung down on the lowest branch and screeched.
"Reekyo! Ouch!" Niru said covering his ears.
Suvo and Siva suddenly dropped their fruits and looked up at Reekyo with wide eyes, mouth agape, and fled into the tall grass.
Reekyo put Niru down on the ground and ran over to the fruit. Siva and Suvo peeked out from the grass. Siva whispered something to her brother and then turned and ran from the scene.
"Niru!" Suvo called out.
"Suvo, I haven't seen you since this morning, how are you doing?" Niru trotted over to him.
"I'm fine, how are you doing, Niru?" Suvo asked concerned, and nuzzled him in a brotherly way.
"I'm feeling better," Niru smiled, realizing a weight had been lifted off his chest.
"Siva and I were looking for you."
"I figured," Niru chuckled. "Thanks for your concern and being here for me."
"Hey, we're best friends, right? You, me, and Siva-we're like brothers and sister," Suvo said and licked his friend behind the ear.
"Yeah we are. We'll always be together. Even when our parents are gone, you and Siva and me will still be with each other," Niru smiled and licked Suvo back.
"Prince Niru? Umm, do you mind if I run these fruits back to Uncle Rafiki quickly? I'll come right back for you, ok?" Reekyo said with an armful of fruits and her body poised in the direction of Rafiki's tree.
Niru looked to her and back to Suvo and then back to her. "It's ok, Reekyo. I think I'm going to go back to Pride Rock now, but can I come by tomorrow?"
"Sure, I'll ask Rafiki and he'll either come to you, or he'll send me to get you most likely," Reekyo smiled.
"Thanks Reekyo. Well goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow!" Niru shouted, walking into the tall grass.
"Goodbye Prince Niru!" Reekyo quickly yelled back before sprinting back to Rafiki's tree.
"Hey where's Siva?" Niru asked once him and Suvo were halfway through the tall grass. "She ran back to Pride Rock. She seemed kind of nervous about something."
"Really?"
"Yeah, once she saw you she told me that I should bring you back to Pride Rock because she didn't feel well," Suvo said looking concerned.
"Maybe I should talk to her later," Niru said.
"Yeah, it would probably cheer her up to see you and talk. We could all use a little condolence."
"Yeah, especially since tomorrow is the last day we have to spend with our parents for I don't know how long," Niru sighed, beginning to feel the weight of sadness build inside him again.
That night, Niru and Kiara went to bed early, as did the rest of the pride. Simba and Nala slept on the "royal rock" bed to comfort their daughter and grandson. Kiara restlessly tossed and turned, as Simba watched over her, doing his best to calm her in her sleep, while Nala curled up with Niru and watched over him. It felt a bit different sleeping next to his grandmother instead of his mother, but Nala's deep purring quickly lulled him into a peaceful sleep.
"Kovu come back." Kiara whimpered in her sleep and swatted Simba's head accidentally.
"Oh," Simba grunted, sleepily, and rubbed his head, sighing. "Tossing in her sleep-another trait of mine."
Simba bent his head down and nuzzled his daughter. "It's alright, Kiara. Kovu will be back soon. He's alive," Simba whispered in his daughter's ear.
In her subconscious, Kiara heard her father's words and instantly relaxed and slept peacefully. All he could hear was the soft sounds of his daughter's calm breathing.
Simba smiled and drifted into his own peaceful sleep.
"Niru?" Siva's voice whispered in his ear.
Niru groaned and rolled onto his back. "Siva, where am I?" He blinked, and saw his friend lying next to him, her eyes, which were an iridescent blue from the darkness of the cave.
"You're in the cave at Pride Rock. You're mom brought you back after you started hurting again at the end of Rafiki's speech. Was that rock uncomfortable, because it looked like it was," Siva half-joked, trying to cheer up her friend.
Tears sprung again to Niru's eyes as he thought back to the incident that afternoon, and then began to cry, not caring if anyone heard him. "Siva, don't you get it? My dad has been captured and it's all my fault!"
"Niru, it is not your fault at all! Nothing is your fault, its Uvok's fault," Siva said, trying to comfort him.
"I couldn't save him because I'm nothing but a weak little baby! I'm a loser for real, and don't deserve to be prince of any pride!" Niru sobbed and whined.
At this remark, Siva felt her fur rise and her claws extend into the floor of the cave. Her muscles tensed, and she crouched in pouncing position, gave an upset growl, and leapt at Niru, pinning him on his back.
Niru, taken aback by his friend's behavior, began to pant and whimper, scared.
As much shocked at her behavior as Niru, Siva instantly began nuzzling her best friend and sniffled. "Niru, you were amazing today. What you did for your father you also did for your pride and more importantly, yourself. You were truly brave today, and I've never seen you be that brave before. Niru, you took on a full-grown lion, of course you didn't beat him now! But you can eventually, someday soon. And you did leave a scar on his tail- your bite marks. That was one powerful bite, Niru. Suvo or I couldn't have matched what you did today, and that's why you deserve to have the title of 'Prince Niru.'"
After Siva finished, she for the first time kissed him on the cheek. Then she got off him and began to trot out of the cave, embarrassed of kissing her best friend.
Niru amazed and strengthened by his friend's words, touched his cheek as he did when she had nuzzled it--was it yesterday? It felt like ages ago that they had found Nahara in their innocent playing, and-wait! Where was Nahara? Niru had completely forgotten about her after his Kovu was captured. He jumped up and ran towards Siva.
"Siva wait!"
She stopped abruptly and turned, still a bit shy of having given him a kiss. "What?"
"I-well--first I wanted to thank you for what you said. You always make me feel better, and I don't what I'd do if we weren't friends," Niru said, and moved in to nuzzle her.
Siva smiled warmly. "Your welcome?" she giggled.
They purred and nuzzled together for awhile before Niru broke away gently, remembering Nahara. "Hey Siva, where is Nahara?"
"Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about her! She disappeared after your father was taken," she gasped.
"Come on, let's go tell my mom," Niru turned and ran down the hill on Pride Rock with Siva close behind. Niru saw his mom sitting next to Vitani as usual, and ran over to her, followed by Siva.
"Mom, Aunt Vitani, what happened to Nahara?" Niru panted and yelled, as the whole pride turned to him.
"Niru, are you feeling better? I was so worried, but Siva said she'd go check up on you, which it looks like she did," Kiara smiled, relieved, and nuzzled both cubs.
"What happened to Nahara?" Niru asked again.
Kiara looked to Vitani and sighed.
Vitani nodded and took over for Kiara. "Niru dear, well we don't exactly know. You see, after the attack, we all looked to see if she had been taken back and her scent was very faint from what your mom smelled. I don't know what she smelled like, so really your mom was the only one who could track her, and the rest of us just looked for paw prints," Vitani said in a hushed voice.
"Uvok took her too? Then we've gotta go find her and rescue her, come on!" Niru shouted.
"Niru, she was their decoy to get to your father. For all we know she might be with them or I don't know where, but she's not here," Vitani tried to calm her nephew.
"But she was my friend. She had no evil intentions in her!" Niru growled, looking at the ground.
"Yes I know, but she was a danger because-
"No!" Niru roared and turned and ran back up the hill.
Siva looked at the two distraught lionesses and turned to follow Niru.
"Do you want me to go after them?" Vitani asked in a gentle voice.
"No, it's ok. I'll talk to him tonight," Kiara nodded, turning to her friend.
Vitani smiled warmly and they both sighed deeply. "Be strong your highness, like you always have," Vitani said, nuzzling her friend.
"Thank you, Vitani. I've been trying my best," Kiara smiled, nuzzling back.
"They will be safe while we're away, and as long as we love them and they love us, we'll get through this and prevail," Vitani said shutting her eyes and inhaled deeply.
"Yes, Kovu's right. This will always be home." Kiara smiled, comforting her friend as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Then her father's message came back to her that he had sung to her in a song when she was a cub a few years ago. She remembered staring up at him as he was staring at Pride Rock, and him coming over to her, nuzzling her saying "As long as you live here, it's who you are."
Kiara smiled and closed her eyes, lifting her head from the friendly nuzzle.
Vitani smiled too, feeling uplifted by Kiara's words.
"Come on, we should get back to hunting," Vitani said getting up and starting back towards the fields.
"Yeah, let's go hunt," Kiara said in a determined voice, and smiled ambitiously towards the fields.
Niru was sitting in an acacia tree, not too far off from Rafiki's tree, looking across the entire Pridelands for Nahara. He sniffed the air, but he too couldn't pick up her scent. He sighed, and lay his head down on his paws.
"Where are you, Nahara? Are you safe? Oh please be OK, I know you were trying to help me, I just know it. Dad. I want to see you, please! Let him go, his home is here with us who love him, please!" Niru began to sob again.
Just then Reekyo hopped down onto a nearby branch, for she was in the same tree picking acacia fruit for Rafiki.
"Prince Niru? What are you doing up here? Don't cry, please Prince Niru," Reekyo said dropping the fruits she held, and reached out and petted Niru's head.
Niru lifted his head and wiped his eyes. "I know I shouldn't cry, but it's just everything that happened today.my dad was captured, he's hurt, and I can't even go on the journey to help find him! Reekyo, why won't Rafiki let me go?" Niru growled, distraught.
Reekyo sympathized with him and gently scooped him up and tucked him under her arm. "Come on Prince Niru, maybe you should talk to Rafiki," Reekyo said swinging from branch to branch, down the tree.
"Whoa!" Niru cried out, excited by the feeling of swinging.
"You like swinging, Prince Niru?" Reekyo smiled.
"I do now!" Niru shouted happily, forgetting about his anxiety for the moment.
"It's what we baboons do best! Oh and picking fruit-which I left on the ground!" she said, remembering the fresh, ripe fruit she had dropped.
Just then Siva and Suvo had tracked Niru's scent to the tree where he was swinging with Reekyo.
"Hey look! Fruit!" Suvo pointed to the juicy fruit lying on the ground next to the tree.
"I am hungry," Siva said walking over and picking one up in her mouth.
"Yeah, let's stop for a minute and look around for Niru while we eat," Suvo said, and reached down and bit into a plump, juicy acacia fruit.
"Uncle Rafiki's fruit! No!" Reekyo called out as she swung down on the lowest branch and screeched.
"Reekyo! Ouch!" Niru said covering his ears.
Suvo and Siva suddenly dropped their fruits and looked up at Reekyo with wide eyes, mouth agape, and fled into the tall grass.
Reekyo put Niru down on the ground and ran over to the fruit. Siva and Suvo peeked out from the grass. Siva whispered something to her brother and then turned and ran from the scene.
"Niru!" Suvo called out.
"Suvo, I haven't seen you since this morning, how are you doing?" Niru trotted over to him.
"I'm fine, how are you doing, Niru?" Suvo asked concerned, and nuzzled him in a brotherly way.
"I'm feeling better," Niru smiled, realizing a weight had been lifted off his chest.
"Siva and I were looking for you."
"I figured," Niru chuckled. "Thanks for your concern and being here for me."
"Hey, we're best friends, right? You, me, and Siva-we're like brothers and sister," Suvo said and licked his friend behind the ear.
"Yeah we are. We'll always be together. Even when our parents are gone, you and Siva and me will still be with each other," Niru smiled and licked Suvo back.
"Prince Niru? Umm, do you mind if I run these fruits back to Uncle Rafiki quickly? I'll come right back for you, ok?" Reekyo said with an armful of fruits and her body poised in the direction of Rafiki's tree.
Niru looked to her and back to Suvo and then back to her. "It's ok, Reekyo. I think I'm going to go back to Pride Rock now, but can I come by tomorrow?"
"Sure, I'll ask Rafiki and he'll either come to you, or he'll send me to get you most likely," Reekyo smiled.
"Thanks Reekyo. Well goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow!" Niru shouted, walking into the tall grass.
"Goodbye Prince Niru!" Reekyo quickly yelled back before sprinting back to Rafiki's tree.
"Hey where's Siva?" Niru asked once him and Suvo were halfway through the tall grass. "She ran back to Pride Rock. She seemed kind of nervous about something."
"Really?"
"Yeah, once she saw you she told me that I should bring you back to Pride Rock because she didn't feel well," Suvo said looking concerned.
"Maybe I should talk to her later," Niru said.
"Yeah, it would probably cheer her up to see you and talk. We could all use a little condolence."
"Yeah, especially since tomorrow is the last day we have to spend with our parents for I don't know how long," Niru sighed, beginning to feel the weight of sadness build inside him again.
That night, Niru and Kiara went to bed early, as did the rest of the pride. Simba and Nala slept on the "royal rock" bed to comfort their daughter and grandson. Kiara restlessly tossed and turned, as Simba watched over her, doing his best to calm her in her sleep, while Nala curled up with Niru and watched over him. It felt a bit different sleeping next to his grandmother instead of his mother, but Nala's deep purring quickly lulled him into a peaceful sleep.
"Kovu come back." Kiara whimpered in her sleep and swatted Simba's head accidentally.
"Oh," Simba grunted, sleepily, and rubbed his head, sighing. "Tossing in her sleep-another trait of mine."
Simba bent his head down and nuzzled his daughter. "It's alright, Kiara. Kovu will be back soon. He's alive," Simba whispered in his daughter's ear.
In her subconscious, Kiara heard her father's words and instantly relaxed and slept peacefully. All he could hear was the soft sounds of his daughter's calm breathing.
Simba smiled and drifted into his own peaceful sleep.
