The mood was naturally subdued the next morning in Pride Rock. Though the events themselves were not spoken of, the air felt as if everyone was moving collectively towards some kind of doomsday. No one questioned me, no one looked around inquisitively, and even the cubs seemed unnaturally quiet and shy, presumably at the loss of one of their friends. The air was so thick, that I took a walk outside, though it was still quite early. Some of the other lionesses had already been up and about, Nala and Mtifu among them. It was to these two that I felt the greatest need to speak.

Wondering where I might find them, I strolled glumly down towards the water hole, expecting Tanabi and Sava to be there with them too. But they were nowhere to be seen. After taking a quick drink, and being aware of some of the other animals looking at me in fear and alarm, I turned around, thinking about where to head next. I looked in Usiku's old cave, but there was no one there, I tried a few of Tanabi's favourite spots, but they weren't there either, and I even took a look back at Pride Rock, where the mood had not improved, and several lionesses were moping about, not knowing what to do, though none asked me for advice, I noticed.

Confounded, I headed for Rafiki's tree, with the vague idea of asking him for his take-on the situation, but before I reached it, Nala was walking alongside me, whispering in my ear, "Sorry, Simba, but Mtifu and I couldn't face Pride Rock at the moment. So we're hiding."

I looked at her, "Where? Can't I come and see you both?"

She looked hesitant, "Well, yes. I'm not sure you'll be thrilled with our hiding place though…"

"It's not important. Where is it?"

"Well, you know how my mum said no one had been back to Scar's cave…"

Surreptitiously following Nala to Scar's cave (she was right, I wasn't too happy, but couldn't argue – they would be undisturbed here at least) I entered to Mtifu, Sarafina and the two cubs who, as I had guessed, were looking more than a little glum.

I gave no sign of my opinion or my mood, not wanting to upset what I could tell was a delicate balance of relative calm. I stood just inside the entrance, whilst Nala went to lay down with them. They looked up at me, but I didn't know what to say. Even Tanabi seemed scared to come near me. An awkward silence ensued, before Sarafina spoke aloud, "Well, where do we start?"

I lay down among them and said, "I'm sorry, but I need to know what you all think happened yesterday, and how you've all been coping with it. And what you think about the pride too…"

"That's a lot, where do you want us to begin?" asked Nala.

"Erm… Anywhere. Start with what happened when you left to inform people of what was happening I suppose."

I was told, briefly, of how Nala came back to Pride Rock, to round up the lionesses and tell them that there was a possible crisis, before Zazu had returned to tell them not to worry, that there had been a simple mistake, and that nothing was wrong. Nala left them, knowing better, and seeked out Mtifu, before returning to Usiku and the cubs to meet me there. From what I understood, no strange goings on were reported, and the pride was deeply shocked to discover later what had happened.

Nala finished, and I got onto what I considered possibly the more difficult, yet equally more important part of the story. I turned to Mtifu. "I'm sorry," I said gently, but I need to know your story too."

She looked at me, bleary eyed. I knew it would have been tough for her. She showed no sign of anger behind her eyes, only sadness, and in some ways, this made me feel worse for the way in which her cubs life had been taken so cruelly from her. I too felt a prickling behind my eyes for her, but held back for my duties were to be strong and make sense of the situation.

"I tried telling you yesterday, because I thought it was strange, but when I went to the rebels, Shuku was the only one not there with them. None of the others there seemed too bothered when I told of a potential intrusion over the borders, though showed a brief panic when I mentioned the River Pride might be involved. Besides this, they thanked me rather too kindly, I felt, for telling them, and sent me on my way, telling me to return if anyone was in trouble. They didn't mention Shuku's absence, and I didn't show that I'd noticed. Anyway, on my way back, before I met Nala, I smelled a strange scent around, which seemed relatively fresh, so I lay low and checked around for any sign of movement. When there wasn't, I began to wonder whether this could have been the trouble and I followed the scent, which led back to the rock maze anyway, meeting Nala on the way."

"Uh huh," I pondered, wondering myself about the Shuku connection. And when I returned, neither of you too knew that the 'crisis' was naught but a diversion to get us away from Usiku?

"No," they both answered truthfully.

"And Mtifu, did you lose the scent when you reached the rocks?"

"Yes, there'd been too many others around."

"Right…"

There was a moments silence while I considered this new information. But before I could make any more conclusions, I needed to ask some other friends a few questions (yes, namely Timon and Pumbaa) and also explain my part of the story.

The three of them were dumbfounded when I revealed the hoax crisis to be a prank from Timon and Pumbaa.

"They'd really do a thing like that?!" said Nala, loudly, "I mean, I know they're not clever, but its unlike them to use something that serious as a prank."

"The thing that got me about it," I explained, "is that they wouldn't even know. They don't pay any attention to what goes on in the Pridelands. All they care about is food and easy living."

"So how'd they know about the threat of a River Pride invasion and what it mean to you?"

"Exactly. That's what's bothering me. I need to see them, except, something tells me they might be hard to find after pulling a stunt like that."

"Yeah…"

"But this Shuku thing, that's interesting too," I explained.

Mtifu looked up sharply, "Oh, why's that?" she asked, though not forcefully.

"Beca – Because, well, she turned up herself after I'd gone to find Usiku."

Nala and Mtifu were horrified.

"She DID?!" Mtifu said, furiously, "then she must have something to do with it!"

She gasped for breath, "what did she say anyway?"

"She was, er – complimentary – about me and Usiku, as you can imagine."

"Usiku…" began Mtifu, touching upon something that I'd been wondering – namely, her reaction to her best friend after yesterday – "what happened to her? Did Shuku chase her off?"

"Er, well. Not exactly."

She stared at me quizzically, willing me to continue.

"Well, that is, Usiku was planning to leave anyway, except I wouldn't let her."

Nala nodded, as if in agreement with what I'd done. Mtifu's face remained devoid of any emotion towards Usiku.

"But Shuku turned up, and threatened her, and called her a traitor, and I rather think, after that, Usiku was too afraid to remain."

"So she left?"

I nodded.

"Where did she go?" asked Mtifu.

"I don't know. I didn't ask and she didn't say. But I don't think she knew anyway."

Still, Mtifu hadn't given anything away. I looked at Nala, who gave an 'I-don't-know-either' look, before turning back to Mtifu.

"That Shuku! Wait til I see her!"

"Er, Mtifu?"

"Yes?"

"There's another problem with Shuku and the Pride."

"Oh?"

"Yes. She went back to Pride Rock and gave, uh – 'her events'. So now, I imagine that many of them believe Usiku was to blame and Shuku had no part."

"You imagine they do? Haven't they been talking about it all night and all morning."

"No."

There was surprise from all quarters.

I explained, "I think they were worried about it, about what discussion or action might trigger off. There's a big fear at the moment. They all think something huge is about to happen."

"And is it?"

"I don't know."

"This isn't good," Sarafina spoke aloud.

"No," I agreed, "and another problem is, I don't know who was really responsible for the death of Ella."

Mtifu narrowed her eyes, "What exactly do you mean by responsible?"

"I mean, that I know it was a River Pride lioness who carried out the killing, but I think there's more to it than just getting to Usiku. She said it herself, Usiku did – that this wasn't a coincidence that she was left alone with the cubs. It was planned."

"Planned," Mtifu spoke the word allowed, "Oh dear, we should have seen it coming, oh yes we should."

I looked at her, and shook my head, "None of us saw it coming. We were all off our guard. I don't agree that we should have been looking for it. We have to look to the future, not worry about a past catching up with us all the time."

"Did Usiku see it that way?"

"Of course not. Did you expect her to?"

"No. I expect she's burning inside right now."

"She is."

"I wish I could see her."

She said no more, and I didn't want to push her into anything, so we left it at that.