This is my last chapterupdate for a while! I may not get to more until after the holidays!
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Kiara looked around. The cave was filled with the bluish light of the early morning. Yawning, she stood up and went to stand on Pride Rock, determined to forget the nightmare. She climbed up to the tip of the great pinnacle and looked at the soft, peaceful, yellow-green land beneath her. Gnarled shade trees dotted it, a few zebras dashed in the horizon, and a herd of wildebeest bellowed in the center of it all, looking for food. From behind an especially shady tree, Ki'Taki, the fastest cheetah in the Serengeti, stalked a straggling old wildebeest. The cattle-like creature's left rear leg slipped, causing him to flounder in the dust. His herd moved on.
Death. The nightmare had been all about death.
But that's what it is, Kiara thought. A nightmare, and nothing more.
Nukoy glared at his ex-girlfriend as she pranced around with some of her friends, giggling and gossiping. He rolled his eyes at his sister, as if to say, How could I have ever been attracted to her? Luneia grinned and stuck her tongue out at the teen lionesses behind their backs. Flipping the brown tuft on her head and giving a saucy smile, she sharpened her claws on a rock. She was growing to be a strong, beautiful lioness.
Vitani came up to both of them, laughing.
"Hey, 'Neia!" she greeted, still vivacious. "Hello, Nukoy!"
"Hey, Aunt Vitani." both of the younger lions greeted.
Vitani laughed. "You're practically adults now, just call me Vitani, or 'Tani."
"Ay', ay', moi cap'n!" Luneia laughed. "Weird...to be calling you just Vitani..."
Kovu strode up to the merry group.
"It's even weirder to be called termite!" he laughed.
"Sheesh, who called you that?" Nukoy demanded.
Kovu lowered his head.
"Nuka...my brother. He wasn't the smartest and he was jealous of me, but he was still my brother."
"Yes..." Vitani murmured, gazing at the sky. "...he never got a chance to make our mother proud...all he wanted was her attention and love. And even though he was Scar's son, he wasn't evil like his father."
"Evil!" a voice sneered, making all of them except Kovu jump. Luneia and Nukoy bristled. Nixxi! The last creature, save a hyena, they wanted to see!
"Evil!" Nixxulu continued, striding up to Vitani, who growled softly and eyed her, always alert. "Evil!" she began again. "So many of you call cleverness evil! Hah!"
"Nixxulu!" Kovu exclaimed. "Enough!"
"No!" Nixxulu screamed. "I must avenge Zira's death and claim the true throne for Zira and Scar!"
The pale lioness lunged at Kovu, her violet eyes turning almost black. Snarling, Luneia leapt between her father and the seemingly crazed Nixxi. For a few minutes, the sandy-colored older teenager grappled with her snow-white peer, aiming for the throat. The white lioness struggled. Finally, in the frame of a split second, she had her chance to get the crazed animal off of her. When Nixxi looked back to see Kovu, Nukoy, and Vitani circling the two, preparing to separate them, Luneia flipped her enemy off of her. Recovering quickly, however, Nixxi sprang for Kovu, but was met by the slashing teeth of a daring Vitani!
"Sssay your prayers, Nixxi!" Vitani grinned despite the situation. The old, peppy, teasing purr in her voice from her young adult days returned. "Get out of here!"
Vitani pinned Nixxulu against a tree. Just then, Kiara came along, wondering where on earth her mate, cubs, and best friend ('Tani) had gone off to. When she saw the scene that lay before her eyes, she gasped.
Vitani was pinning a squealing, violet-eyed lioness against a tree. The squealing animal was Nixxulu. Kovu stood, glaring at Nixxi, and Nukoy helped his dizzy sister up.
"What's going on?" Kiara demanded.
"Nixxulu is a follower of Scar and Zira." Kovu growled as Vitani pulled the protesting, violet-eyed fiend toward them.
"Don't move." Kovu snarled, addressing the rebel lioness. "Don't struggle unless you want your ear torn off."
Despite the warning, the angry Nixxi lunged. Then howled in pain. Through her own fault, she'd ripped a piece of her own right ear. The sand-colored animal roared so loudly that Kovu bristled, ready to spring. Vitani spat out the other piece of ear in disgust, just as Nixxulu began a full attack. She was met by an angry Kiara, who flung her off her feet. When she (Nixxulu) struggled to her feet, she took a glance at the angry bunch. Other lionesses had begun to assemble. Even former outlanders were bristling. Even Ki'Lana, the sandy lioness' mother, was angry, although her eyes held more sorrow and shock than anger. The angry pride assembled as more and more lionesses came. At last, all of Kovu's pride was assembled.
"Exile!" Kovu growled.
"No!" Nixxulu screamed, terrified now.
"I won't exile you to the Outlands." Kovu snarled. "But you must run, run far away and never return!"
The pride advanced upon Nixxulu. When she refused to budge, Kovu gave the order to chase her out. For two miles, the strongest lionesses chased the banished pride member away from Pride Rock. At last, exhausted and sick, Nixxulu hung her head in resignation, but not in shame. Running, running, she leapt into a fork of the river and swam far west downstream.
The tired Pridelanders headed back to the rest of the Pride. A bit of zebra colt meat and a long rest in the shade during a hot afternoon helped them regain their energy. One of the orginal Prideland lionesses who had stayed behind went off to give birth to a cub. She was aided by a close friend, a former Outlander. Watching the two head off, the former Outlander supporting the other lioness when she stumbled, Kiara smiled. She was so glad her father had accepted Kovu, had accepted the Outsiders, who were no longer outsiders.
Kiara remembered how all the lionesses had allied to put Nixxulu in her place, and smiled. That had surely been a test of their loyalty, for Nixxulu had rallied under the banner of Zira. The two groups were surely one now. One family under the sun, along with the great kings and queens of the past.
Snacking on a bit of zebra tendon, the tawny lioness laid down, thinking her own thoughts.