Part 16 – Daughter of the murderer
It was so green outside the hard walls of the dark Shadowlands. Zarafa stood there for a second, just breathing the fresh air of the Pridelands again. The smell of grass and the blue sky far above her. Luckily, the old tree where Rafiki lived, wasn't far from here. She had often gone there to pick up Nalathari, who spent more and more time with the monkey. Zarafa arrived, and found the place quiet – at least on the outside. She had no idea how you got into the tree, except for from the top; and she couldn't climb trees.
"Rafiki? Are you there? It's Zarafa…" the lioness called, but there came no reply. "Rafiki?" she tried again. Everything was quiet, it was like the world stood still just here, around this tree. Zarafa looked towards the Pride Rock. He had to be there then, where else could the shaman have gone?
"Rafiki has joined the kings of the past…" a familiar voice sad, and the young lioness turned around to see Nalathari appear from the tall grass; coming from the home of the lions.
"No…" Zarafa whispered, and turned around again to look at the tree. But it was true, the place had never seemed so silent before. Not even a whisper in the leaves on the tree, or the grass on the savannah just near her. She sat down with a sigh. "…then everything is lost…"
"Lost? It's the circle of life, Zarafa. What happened, please tell me…" Nalathari sat down next to her granddaughter, looking at her with a calm smile. So Zarafa told her the entire story, of everything that happened in the Shadowlands since she arrived.
"How can the circle of life be fullfilled? Scar loves one, he can't have cubs with, and is loved by someone he does not love… who is the daughter of a murderer…" she said.
"That's not her fault, she didn't choose her father… Zarafa, one of the last things Rafiki told me, was that you would never return to Pride Rock again. I think you have a greater part to play in this - talk to him, the white lion. You may be the youngest of your siblings, but you also bear the destiny of the Pridelands." Nalathari put a paw on the shoulder of Zarafa, assuring her she was telling the truth.
"Never return? I don't see how everything can be good… and how can I talk sense into Kofi's mind? The lion is mad!" she tried, but Nalathari just smiled – making the three old scars across her eye seem beautiful in a strange way.
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"He is dark, Blanché! Your name is the opposite!" Kofi wandered back and forth in a cave they had found together, to discuss the matters of everything.
"I don't care! I love him, and I can't leave him now… not since…" Blanché stopped, looking down to the ground. Since the night she spent with Scar. It wasn't long ago, but she just knew it; she would have his cubs, if he wanted it or not. She would follow him, no matter what.
"Since when? You didn't… disgrace yourself with him? You did! Blanché, have you never heard a word of what I told you!" Kofi roared, and if she hadn't known her father and jumped away quickly, his paw would have sent her across the chamber anyway. She looked up at him.
"You're mad, they're right! What is so wrong with not looking like everyone else? What is so wrong with loving someone that's different from yourself?" she asked, feeling a strange thunder inside her.
"So you say that the fact, that that… socalled lion loves a hyena, is alright? He do not deserve being called the same as us!" Kofi growled, not caring if anyone heard him. Blanché only thought about it for a few seconds, something suddenly cleared in her mind.
"Yes, I say that is alright! Love is always right… hatred is wrong, the hatred you contain…" she said, standing up in her full height, showing him she wasn't afraid anymore.
"You are… insane! A lion, and a hyena? You are not my daughter anymore, all you deserve is to…" but Kofi was knocked over, and Blanché only saw a quick flash of something grey against the white pelt of her father. He was quick to push the creature off him, but it only jumped up again towards his throat. Blanché tried to figure out who… but she couldn't believe it.
"Duchess? Duchess! What are you doing!" she then screamed. It made the hyena look away for a second, long enough to for Kofi to send her towards the wall, which she hit with a loud bump, thenshe fell down.
"You still defend him? He wanted to kill you!" Duchess said, slowly getting to her paws again. Blanché felt her eyes fill with tears, as she realized the truth of what the hyena just told her. Her own father would have killed her, if it hadn't been for this strange hyena. What did she deserve, daughter of the murderer? Without another word, she left the chamber… feeling he had the right to kill her. Did she deserve the friendship of Duchess; to love Scar?