Part 20 – Advice from a father

"Well, ain't that just great!" the somewhat high voice of a male hyena could be heard in the dark. Kovu stopped – he couldn't see a thing, but the echo from his steps, told him where the walls were.

"Who's there?" he asked, and thought he saw a pair – no, several – of eyes stare at him in the darkness. Where did the light in them come from? Hyena eyes…

"All we want is to be left alone, but two lions leave – just so another can appear!" the hyena came closer and puffed to him. "And since you're the guest, tell us your name first!"

"I am Kovu, king of the Pridelands… I have come for my son and daughter, Scar and Zarafa." He said, and several hyenas began to laugh their strange cackling grins.

"Really? Well, I am Al, and for now, I control the borders to our lands! Zarafa… ha! She's not right in the head, is she? I wonder if Scar is too… come with us." Al turned around and began to walk, and Kovu followed the sound of their steps. What had happened in here? What did he mean, Zarafa was a clever and mature lioness – and Scar could handle things too… he was, after all, their future king. Finally Kovus eyes had to get used to light again, but strange light, in a great hall. He remembered how Zira had shown him where Scar once reigned – this was the throne-room. But the pedestal up there was empty.

"So? Where are they?" Kovu asked, while all the hyenas who gathered here, stood up and sent him curious glances. He heard them whisper.

"It's cute, isn't it? Their father, coming to get them… I have no idea where they are, or at least Scar." Al said – he appeared to be the hyena with most power around here. He looked somewhat familiar, didn´t he? Banzai… a lot of things came back to Kovu in here.

"Stop joking, and tell me what I need to know!" the king finally roared, making them all quiet.

"There there, no need to be upset! We had enough of that… what you need to know, eh?" Al looked around at the other hyenas, missing Brize a bit. She was better at these things, than him. But at least he had seen the white lion leave the Shadowlands, followed by Zarafa. She had to be crazy, leaving with him; but then again, he didn't know her reasons. That she was the reason he left.

"Al? What's going on?" someone spoke from the pedestal, and Kovu also turned his head that way. A somewhat more light grey female hyena, stood up there.

"We got a visitor! Kovu, father of Scar, came to get him! Maybe you know where he is?" Al took a step forward.

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

Duchess was glad that the platform was so high. They couldn't see her sad face, although she tried to hide it. Kovu? Scar had told about his father… how his mother and father invented the words 'love is never wrong, and so it never dies'. But she didn't dare to tell him about the love she felt for his son. She took a deep breath before answering him.

"In fact, no… I haven't seen him since… since yesterday. Maybe he's in his own chamber?" Duchess said to them, knowing they heard the heartbreak in her voice. At least the hyenas did, she didn't know if Kovu could hear it; he didn't know what happened.

"You could show him?" Al asked, but Duchess shook her head.

"You do that – if Scar wants to see me, he has to find me. I won't go his way, unless he really wants me to. Al, please show Kovu where Scar spends some of his time." Duchess tried to sound noble, but sighed with relief as they left the great hall. She laid down on the pedestal, watching her peers. She couldn't leave them behind anyway, could she?

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

"Scar! You have a guest!" Al bowed to his king, letting Kovu walk past him into the chamber – lit by green steams and smokes. Scar looked up from where he lay, watching a small stream of the green liquid flow in a corner.

"Father!" Scar jumped up when he saw who had come. "What are you doing here?"

"Kiara misses you… I think we all do. Please come home, leave this… place behind." Kovu made his appeal as only a father could do it.

"I can't, not yet… but soon, maybe." Scar said and moved closer to his father. He realized how he himself had grown while being here; he was taller than Kovu now, but also slimmer. He hadn't missed food here, but he hadn't rushed in it either.

"What is keeping you here? Those hyenas? The only sane one seems to be their leader." Kovu said and noticed how his son seemed to make a low whimper by that sentence. Why?

"I know… that at least, I know. Father, how do you know what is right to do?" he sat down with a sigh, somewhat happy that Kovu had come. He could help him.

"Right to do about what? I have a feeling everything is not right here…" the father said with a strange voice, actually sounding a bit frightened.

"About… love? How do you know, what is right to do? How did you know, that you should stay and be with Kiara?" Scar ignored the fright in Kovus voice. But Kovu suddenly smiled, when he heard the reason of what it was all about – just love…

"That is what is troubling you? You follow your heart, son… your heart knows what is right to do. If you truly love someone, you know it deep inside… you will do whatever they ask, stick together through everything. Who is the lucky girl?" Kovu asked, now very curious. So Scar was in love… finally, maybe he would return with a queen!

"I can't really tell you… but is that true? And you should stay with the one you love, no matter if you hurt someone else who cares too?"

"That was what Rafiki said to me and Kiara. You won't be happy unless you do so… Zira loved me, in her own strange way – but I went against her, to be with your mother." Kovu explained to his son, who nodded.

"Then that is how it must be… will you stay here? I have someone I need to talk to…" Scar smiled an unsecure smile to his father, and left him alone in the cave. Kovu could only wonder, who the future queen might be, and why it had been troubling Scar so much.