Chris still looked a little nervous as he was bowing down to respect Simba and Nala. Back there, Kion assured him that he had nothing to worry about. Kiara and Rani assured him the same thing and Chris took all their word for it.
Simba looked a little gruff, and he slowly approached the human child. Chris found himself at Simba's mercy and his heart was pounding rapidly like a drum. He can feel the majestic lion breathe on the top of his head, but the boy kept his composure.
Inspecting him and sniffing him a dog, Simba did so a few more times. This boy had some unfamiliar scents on him that his nose has never caught in his life. "So," said the king plainly, "You are all the ones we have heard about."
"Y-yes, your majesty." Chris replied, gulping in nervousness.
"Dad, they are humans. They don't mean any harm." Kion said.
"Humans hmm?"
"Yeah. we're friendly and we're like gorillas or chimpanzees." Chris remarked.
"Really?" Simba said. He looked at the child's small hand and he realized how similar their hands were to a gorillas hand. "I can see the similarities."
"Here, take a look at the palm of my hands." Chris remarked. He lifted his right hand and showed Simba the palm of it. The king was quite intrigued and fascinated by how very similar a humans hand looks to an apes' hand.
"My. very similar." Simba remarked. "I see you're just kid. Can you tell me your name, young one?"
"My name is Chris." he replied flatly. "Out there is my family. They're too big to fit in here, so that's why they're outside."
"Ah. I am Simba, the king of the Pride Lands."
"I'm Nala, the queen" she approached him with a smile on my face. "What brings you all here to the Pride Lands."
"We just wanted to be on vacation from our home for a little while." Chris replied. "It was getting a little crazy at home, and we wanted to find somewhere peaceful to spend time with my family." Chris admitted. "But we didn't hurt anyone. I swear."
It was silent in the room as Chris continued talking and explaining.
"I met Kion, and we have become friends." the boy went on. "I didn't hurt him, or Kiara, or Rani. I promise.
Some of the lions began murmuring to themselves in the cave. "Silence." Simba said. He noticed that the boy's kneeling leg was shaking, like he was about to fall flat on it. He smiled and said: "You don't have to keep bowing like that. You can stand up."
"Oh. good. my leg couldn't take it anymore. it was falling asleep. He shook it around a little to get rid of the "pins and needles" sensation and make it feel not so numb.
"You're very... intriguing, Chris." said Simba. "This might be the first time I have ever seen a human like you before. Do you promise that you mean no harm."
"Yes, your majesty." Chris bowed his head."
"I am very curious about those... fabrics you wear." Nala pointed.
"Yeah, like are they some kind of cloth?" Kovu added. "Not any cloth i have ever seen before."
"These are clothes." Chris said. "They cover our bodies."
"Why would you wear that, kid?" Vitani asked
"Because being naked would be impolite where me and my family live." Chris said
"Why would it be a problem?" Nala chuckled.
"I don't know. really." Chris admitted. "It's just a rule."
"Well, it is quite a pleasure to meet you, Chris." said Simba with a humble smile. Chris smiled back, knowing that the male lion seemed to like him a good deal.
"I'm Kovu. Future king of the Pride Lands."
"Vitani."
"And I am Zira." said she. "Quite interesting to meet an outsider kind of animal."
Chris' smile grew bigger and he was happy to see how these lions liked him a good deal. They all walked outside so they can meet the members of Chris' family.
Joel got himself properly acquitted with the rest of the lions, then Persephone, and Tara. Maybe this kind of relationship can work between them.
While he was glad that these lions were friendly and not trying to eat him ahd his family, Joel was still a little cautious, but he was only trying to be the protective patriarch of his family.
Of course, Simba himself was a little nervous, but not like before the reunification of the Pride Landers and Outsiders. No, he was at far more ease than those days.
Seeing humans was so intriguing to them all, as if they were aliens that they had never seen before. Yet again, Adewale and the Emela-Ntouka were treated like that a little bit, but like those animals, the humans were given a chance.
"See Chris?" said Kion. "I told you that you didn't have anything to worry about."
"Yeah. your family really likes me." The human child was grateful to feel welcome in these lands with open arms, and hai family felt the same. Despite being a little cautious, Joel decided to lower his guard a little bit (mostly because the animals can talk around here)
It was also a rather... unusual greeting between humans and lions because the lions were shown many kinds of technology that humans would carry and create that other animals could not. All of them were intrigued by these strange devices that they were being shown to and it made humans all the more fascinating to the ruling big cats.
"So can we stay here for a little while?" Persephone said. "We promise we will be extra careful."
"And besides, it's not a permanent stay. it would be something like... a wildebeest or zebra migration." Tara admitted, pulling out her phone to look and take pictures of beautiful scenery."
Simba and Nala looked at one another, and smiled. "Yes. You are free to stay here." Simba proudly said. "What do you think, Nala?"
"I think you are right Simba. Anyone who is friends with Kion is a friend of ours." Nala replied.
