So, here the next chapter is... rewritten a few times, now I am satisfied. Hope my readers are too!

Part 21 – Unchangeable love

Duchess couldn't sleep… not this day, and not the day before either. She thought about many things she could do – she could go to Kofi, let him put her to rest. She could starve. What was the point with living, if nobody dared to love you? She knew the life of a hyena was a life where the leader was usually a female, with sisters and females as her allies, and the males could only be used for hunting or helping the females have youngs. But she hadn't been brought up by hyenas – she had lived with a pride of lions, until she was mature, and Kofi had been the same…

"Duchess?" her row of thoughts was interrupted, when she heard Scar speak with a low voice behind her. It wasn't a happy voice, it was a voice with the sound of regret in it.

"What do you want with me?" Duchess asked, trying to sound as if she could care less. She didn't dare to stand up and turn around, face him.

"I want to say I'm sorry… I should never have said those things yesterday. Please, look at me…" Scar begged, and she finally turned around. "Duchess, if you still love me, even after yesterday…" he began, and she tried to listen beyond the words – could she bear what he would say?

"I do… that is a thing, I'm afraid I can't change about me." Duchess said with a nervous smile to him, and he nodded with relief.

"I was afraid you lost all respect for me… I have decided to tell my father, that I am not returning to Pride Rock. I belong here, with you – and that's my final words on that matter." The last words were spoken with both pride and nobility; and love. "Will you come with me, to tell him?"

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

Kovu sat in the cave, when he heard someone move outside the entrance.

"Scar… already back?" he said, but then he saw a beautiful white lioness emerge from the dark, entering the chamber. He was stunned – was this the love Scar spoke about?

"Goodday… my name is Blanché; you must be Scars father?" she said.

"Yes, I am Kovu… I think he is looking for you." Kovu manged to say with a smile. But who could be hurt, if he brought this beauty back to the pride? Except for the other lionesses from the pride, who also liked Scar…

"You think so? I don't… he wants me, but then again, he won't…" Blanché said and looked out, thought she heard someone walk in the darkness. Someone talking, sometimes laughing happy laughs.

"What do you mean? Scar said he loved someone, and he would go and find her. As far as I know, there are no other lionesses here…" Kovu said, and Blanché shook her head.

"There isn't… but he doesn't love me. I don't know where else to go, I'm sorry." She said, but Kovu didn't understand the meaning of her words.

"I wouldn't worry about welcoming you in our pride." The king said with a noble nod, and she tried to smile, but he saw the sadness behind the smile. He still wondered what had been going in these shadowed lands.

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

Before she could answer him, Scar and Duchess entered the little chamber. Their smiles disappeared when they saw Blanché. Kovu looked at them all with a puzzled look. "Scar, what is going on here? You said you had found love, yet Blanché here tells me you don't love her?"

"She is telling the truth…" Scar took a few steps towards Blanché, looked her in the eyes. "It would never have worked between us, Blanché, I'm sorry." Scar said, making his father more and more confused. All were surprised to see, that the lioness' first reaction was a nod – not a happy one, but a nod that accepted the facts.

"I know, I guess I just still had a hope… but what will you do then?" Blanché answered, and looked at Duchess with eyes that showed respect. She had accepted Scars choice.

"That was why we came… father, I have decided to stay here, in the Shadowlands. I won't return, unless I am coming to visit you all." Scar said. He was having problems with telling his father what the reason was.

"Why? You'll break Kiaras heart!" Kovu almost roared, bewildered and confused. Scar looked at Duchess, who smiled at him – a smile to let him know, she was by his side. The smile gave him the self-confidence he needed.

"I want you to meet Duchess, queen of the hyenas. She is my queen too, and I want to stay here with her. I belong here." Scar said, sounding like the king he had become. Kovu sat down with a bump, staring at his son with disbelief.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard right… you said… that a hyena is your queen, your mate!" Kovu said with scepticism.

"She is not just 'a hyena', she is the one I love! And nobody can change that. I am king of the hyenas now, and I know this is the right place for me." He said, but saw his father still looked confused, and got an idea. What he had told the hyneas the day before, about lions and hyenas! He continued; "…and with me here, Kiana must be the next queen of the Pridelands – together we will lead these lands into a new era, where hyenas and lions don't hate each other." Scar explained, and saw Duchess come to stand by his side. She looked up at him, gave him a loving stroke with her paw on his soft mane – not caring anymore, if Kovu or Blanché saw this.

"Scar – that is the best thing I ever heard!" she then turned to his father; "Kovu, nobody chooses who they love. Blanché didn't choose it either, it just happens – but love finds a way." She had said the magick words, and Kovu looked up with a sigh, but nodded.

"I know… love always finds a way. I guess there is nothing else for me to do, but accept this – Scar is not a cub anymore. I wonder what his mother will say – I have a feeling that Nalathari won't be surprised though…" he said with almost a grin; "…but…" Kovu stood up again and paced a bit back and forwards in the chamber, looked like he was thinking. Then he finally looked up. "Kiana is to be the next queen then? What about Zarafa, where is she?"