"Mom, you promised!" Takira whispered at a lump of fur, obviously sleeping.
"Takira, it's the break of dawn. Can I teach you later? Maybe when I'm not mid-dream?" Kiara mumbled. Takira rolled her mother with her paw so that she was inches away from her nose.
"If we don't go now, the pride will awaken, and the jungle animals will be galloping in our way! PLEASE!" Takira shouted in Kiara's face.
"Shh, Takira! The others are sleeping! Exactly what you should be doing!" Kiara fiercely whispered. Takira whimpered with a sad look on her small face.
"Alright, alright. I'm up. I'm coming." Kiara said in response a few moments later. She couldn't stand to see her daughter like that. Takira mewed excitedly and ran out of the large cave. At full speed, she barely had time to stop running before she hit the edge of pride rock.
"Whoa." Was all little Takira could manage at the sight that was before her. Kiara sleepily lumbered out of the cave toward Takira and noticed immediately what Takira was amazed by. She smiled. She, too, was once amazed by the sight of the beautiful, colorful birds awakening.
There was blue, red, purple, green and yellow streaming everywhere as the birds tried their hardest to wake everyone else up. One bird in particular, Zazu, was perched neatly on a branch of a tree planted directly below the edge of pride rock. He looked up at Kiara and smiled. It was the dawning of a beautiful morning.
"You see how the birds float softly in the air? That's exactly how you should feel when you pounce. Like a feather drifting in nothingness." Kiara lectured her daughter, who was still amazed by the many colors.
"Right, right. Light as a feather. Got it." Takira said distractedly. Zazu flew up to where Kiara and Takira sat, looking wide awake.
"Any news, Zazu?" asked Kiara. Zazu gave a small nod and slurred into the morning report. Kiara winked at Takira. Takira gave an even smaller nod than Zazu had, and crouched low behind him. Kiara smiled. It wasn't long ago when she had played this game with Zazu as well. Her father, the king of the Pride, would distract Zazu as Kiara snuck behind him, and pounced. But just as Takira made to pounce on Zazu, a loud roar from the grasslands emerged. Something was not right in the pridelands.