Part 14 – Love is never wrong

Scar found the pedestal empty, and sat down there alone. He didn't want to hurt Duchess, he never meant to do that. He never meant to hurt anyone, but he didn't want Blanché to think she 'got him' – not so fast anyway. He didn't love Blanché – she was a beautiful lioness, and had other very good abilities too. But she wasn't what he was looking for. Why couldn't things just be easy? While he was lost in the thoughts, he felt someone watching him, and turned around.

"Duchess…" he whispered as he saw her. He felt guilty, he felt bad about what he did. Why did he spend the night with Blanché? She made him feel better while they were together, but today he felt even worse than the day before. Duchess didn't answer him, but he could tell what she was thinking. She knew what had happened, and he knew he hurt her. He left the platform and went to her, tried to give her a warm cuddle with his head. But she moved away. "I'm really sorry…" Scar tried, almost not able to stand the sadness he saw in her eyes.

"I know… Scar, what is going to happen? What about us?" Duchess turned her head away, she didn't want him to see the tear in the corner of her eye.

"Honestly? I don't know… do we have a future together? Do you see it?" Scar asked her, and she caught his eyes again.

"Yes, I see it… perhaps not the happy and romantic future, but I do see it. Love is never wrong, Scar." She said, and with that, he realized something. Scar had often heard his parents talk about their own strange love; how love would always find a way. Kovu said, that love was never wrong, and would never die. He had told his son about the troubles he and Kiara had; first they belonged to different prides, but they found each other. Then the now late Scar came into the picture, stirring things up again. But in the end, their love hadn't died; it had just grown into something new. The young Scar understood, that he shouldn't care about what went on, he should listen to what he really felt inside.

"You're right, Duchess… you're absolutely right! Come…" Scar smiled and began to run. For a moment the hyena understood nothing, but then she ran after him. They spent the rest of the day together, in a chamber far from everything. Mostly they just talked, and smiled to each other. Happy smiles, and Scar had decided not to care anymore. He forgot all about what happened that night.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

While this happened, Zarafa had made her way to another chamber, where Blanché still lay. She had been sleeping, and now she was just thinking about things – for she hadn't forgotten last night at all; and she had a plan now. The white lioness smiled when she saw Zarafa enter.

"Do you know where Scar is?" his sister asked.

"I don't know where he is now – but I know that he cares about me, at least a little. I think things are finally going to be better, although he won't admit it." Blanché stood up, she looked so calm and suddenly also happy. She had decided with herself, that the way Scar acted in the morning, was just because he was tired. Their night had been perfect, and he had shown her true affection.

"Won't admit what?" Zarafa asked, suspiciously.

"That he wants me to be his queen… would anyone spend a night with someone, if they didn't care at all? And that hyena… she can't expect anything from him. I mean, she can't even give birth to his cubs." Blanché said, a bit arrogantly, but smiled.

"You're not the first lioness he had… so don't put anything into that." Zarafa didn't trust Blanché in this, she knew it was much more complicated than that. She had seen how Duchess and Scar looked at each other, although she still found it wrong somehow.

"I'm definetly the one who gave him most pleasure." The other lioness just said with a very self-assured grin and walked around Zarafa a few times. "We'll have cubs, I just know…"

"One night doesn't change the world…" said Scars sister and left Blanché alone again. She didn't really like what the white lioness was up to; she shouldn't believe something that might not be true.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Zarafa wandered the corridors, not really searching for Scar anymore. Although she had been here a week by now, it was still a huge place to explore. She came to an entrance leading to bright and warm sunlight. It almost hurt her eyes, so she stayed in the shadow just inside the opening. She was looking out into a dry valley, when she saw something moving out there. It was a lion, walking slowly – sometimes sniffing to the ground where he walked. Soon he stood only a few meters away from the cliff, and Zarafa crept deeper into the shadow near the wall. The male lion seemed very majestic and noble; his pelt was almost white. Before she thought about anything else, she thought about how she liked his strange light colors. He looked like a true… a real male! Zarafa liked what she saw, but made sure he didn't see her. The lion, who had to be related to Blanché, looked back from where he came – then he went into the Shadowlands. Carefully and as silent as possible, Zarafa followed the new lion.