As Kayera wandered back into the den, guilty thoughts began to pound through her mind. The lies she had told Zenatae were perfectly plausible but all the same not true. Her name was not Kayera, but Ataria. Her story about how her parents were killed by hyenas and she had been out hunting antelope were completely false. The real truth was Ataria was exiled from the Pride Lands by her half-uncle Scar. Scar was well-known around the whole of Africa for his evil ways and love of killing all other lions that disagreed with him or were in his way. Scar seized the throne by killing his brother Mufasa in an engineered stampede and setting his hyenas on his nephew, the crown prince Simba as he fled from the stampede.
Ataria was related to Scar because he was the second and younger half-brother of her mother, Kayerani. Kayerani was born to Scar's father by his favourite mate Thaana, who perished three weeks after giving birth to Kayerani. Still grieving the loss of his favourite mate ten years later, her father married a lioness from a far away pride at the insistence of the Queen Mother, Amala. This lioness then became the mother of Mufasa and Scar. About a year after Mufasa was born, Kayerani was forcibly married to a lion called Nulovo. He was a neighbouring pride leader with a substantial pride and the marriage was purely to cement political alliances. Although Kayerani was very unhappy, she gave birth to her eldest child and only son Tauzin a year after the marriage. Three years later, Kayerani gave birth to Ataria and her five female litter-mates, Sapheni, Rania, Maustana, Kaiana and Talina.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A year after the birth of the girls, Kayerani and her son were captured by humans and her father was killed protecting them. Ataria and her sisters were then taken back to Pride Rock and assimilated into the pride. Ataria, as the eldest and clear favourite female grandchild was given a high position in the pride and raised well. When the leadership of the tribe changed, she was still treated as a favoured member of the tribe. However, late one night after Scar announced himself as the new king; she overheard her uncle telling the hyenas every detail of how he had killed Mufasa to gain the throne. She also heard the hyenas tactfully remind Scar how Simba had escaped their clutches after he had ordered them to kill the little prince.
Unfortunately, Ataria's shadow was seen by Scar against the lamp light and he drove her out of the Pride Lands and set his hyenas on her. After she escaped her would-be killers, she headed north through the vast desert sands to find a new life. After about three weeks, Ataria had stumbled into that oasis seen at the start and started the events that had required the cover up. Afraid that she would be killed without mercy by this community if he had revealed her true family background; Ataria had hidden it from Zenatae and made up the falsehood. Realising that the best way to survive was to forget all about the past, she buried her history deep within her heart and slowly sank back into sleep.