Part 12 – Things are not easy
"I know he's here! Don't lie to me!" a lioness stood right below the pedestal in the great hall, surrounded by hyenas.
"We don't need to tell you anything!" the hyena Brize yelled back at her, moving closer to the lioness. "You should leave!"
"I am not leaving until I have seen him!" the lioness was stronger than Brize and knocked her over with her paw, but then the hyenas just moved closer. They didn't like her attitude at all. They were somewhat fighting, and didn't notice the two figures appearing on the platform in the great hall.
Scar smiled as he saw his sister down there – fighting the hyenas. It seemed just like thing she would do. He decided she should meet the lion he felt he had become, not the lion he had been.
"Stop it!" they all stopped and looked up to the pedestal, where the black-maned king of the hyenas stood; the lion who was their leader. Zarafa stared at him, first with disbelief, then she smiled. Her brother never lacked selfconfidence, but when she looked at him now, she saw he really was the superior one. He actually looked like a king, she even felt he really was a king, not just a prince. "What is going on?" Scar then asked.
"This lady thinks she can come and tell us what to do – about you!" Brize said, she now stood next to Al, who sent Zarafa an evil look.
"Really? Zarafa… what have you said to them?" Scar asked, still with his most untouchable and noble voice. The lioness in the hall knew it was her brother, but something was changed.
"I just… I said you have to come back. We miss you." Zarafa said, looking at him with pleading eyes. Was this the brother she knew at all? Then she thought she saw him smile, far up there. A few quick moments later, he stood down in the hall. It was time to stop the acting, and tell her the truth.
"Follow me…" Scar said to her, and together they left the great hall to speak.
x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x
Left on the pedestal was Duchess with Blanché behind her, just outside the little entrance. Duchess looked at the hyenas with a sigh.
"You don't want him to leave, right?" Blanché asked, uncertainly, and the hyena turned around.
"Not really… I know he belongs with them, but still… I like having him here." Duchess explained and left the platform. "So… Blanché from the Skylands. You know your father will hate you for this."
"I know, but I couldn't really stay behind. And I've come to like Scar, even though he didn't treat me nicely when we finally met." The white lioness said.
"He's just the type you can't hate, isn't he?" the hyena finally sent the lioness a smile. At least they had one thing in common.
x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x
"You left without even saying goodbye!" Zarafa said to him. She didn't mean to sound harsh, but it came out that way. He had hurt them all by leaving the way he did.
"She would never let me leave… and I have found a new home." Scar looked into a large chamber, glowing with the colors of fire.
"This is not a home… you can't live here forever. You are our future king!" his sister tried, but it seemed pointless right now. Scar went into the chamber and sniffed around. He didn't recognize this place, a chamber he didn't know. But then again, he hadn't lived there for so long yet.
"Don't you think I know that? Who are you to tell me what to do? I'm an adult now!" he said and stopped by a little pond filled with lava.
"Well, you certainly do not act like one!" Zarafa said, watching him stop his wandering. He shook his head with a sigh and turned towards her.
"Zarafa… I'm sorry. I just can't go back, not yet. Do you want to know why I left? Because the only lionesses I love in the pride, are my sisters. I have to find a queen, and I think I'm getting there." Scar said and went to the next little pond and stared into it.
"But… there's no lionesses here." Zarafa said, puzzled.
"Actually, there is – but I only just met her. And I don't know if I can love her… things are not easy anymore." The prince, or king, laid down next to the lava.
"If you would just come home…" Zarafa begged again.
"I can't… not without a queen. And I have to decide who – this is my future we talk about, the future of the pride. And I'm afraid my choice so far, does not do anything good for the pride." Scar had trouble explaining this to her. How could Zarafa understand, that he maybe loved a hyena? He remembered Kofi's words, about the highest and the lowest creature of the savannah.
"You speak in riddles, brother… Just tell me the truth – it's me, you sister. We could always tell each other everything." Zarafa laid down in front of him, facing him.
"If I choose Blanché – the lioness… the future of the pride is safe. Cubs and my heirs will be born. But the one care most about, is not like us. Her name is Duchess." He looked up into her eyes, and she understood, yet she didn't. She heard about Duchess from the other hyenas.
"But she's a hyena!" it burst out of Zarafa as she jumped up again in a restless way. She didn't want to believe this, it just wasn't right. They weren't even the same kind!
"My point exactly…" Scar said with a sigh and looked at her. Zarafa forgot her disbelief for a moment, and saw beyond it. What a dilemma he had put himself in, by coming here. And she wouldn't leave until she knew what he would do.