Chapter 3-Missing

Kiara yawned widely, much like her son had only a few hours ago. She opened her eyes blearily, looking around her, as was her morning custom, first at Razi, then Jahzara, mostly to make sure they hadn't snuck out again. Wait a minute, she thought to herself, and glanced back at where Razi had been the night before, curled up against his father. It seemed strange, but she didn't see her precious son where he was supposed to be, and she decided that she must be dreaming. Zara was still there, so Razi must be around the cave somewhere. He wouldn't wander off alone; he was much too frightened of the world outside of Pride Rock. She closed her eyes again before her mind had time to register that Razi truly was missing. A second later, her eyes popped open and she started searching for her missing cub.

"Razi! Razi, where are you?" she called frantically, waking up everyone in the cave who was still asleep…which meant every lion in the pride. And the King's advisor, in the form of a bird. And the meerkat. And the warthog. None of whom were very happy with the worried princess.

"Kiara, what's the rush?" Timon asked sleepily, rubbing his rather big eyes. He had fallen asleep on Pumbaa's back and slipped off as the warthog got to his feet, landing hard on his backside. "Geez, Pumbaa, do you mind?"

"Oh," Pumbaa muttered apologetically. "Sorry."

"Hey, Kiara," Timon called to the frantic mother, who was still searching everywhere she could think of in the cave, unaware that she had woken up everyone in the pride. "What gives?"

"Kovu, Razi is missing," Kiara said to her mate, whose eyes widened in surprise at the news. She still seemed unaware that she had her entire pride staring at her like she had gone mental; every lioness present knew that Razi wouldn't wander off unless persuaded by his sister. And Zara would have gone with him. She was still there, sitting at Kovu's side, tapping her tail against the floor impatiently.

"That's impossible. Zara, did you tell Razi to leave?" Kovu asked his daughter, turning on her in an instant.

"Daddy." She spoke as if she were addressing a small cub, younger than even herself. "I wouldn't be here if I had. I don't trust him to go off by himself, just because he never has before."

"Assemble a search party," Kovu said, his deep voice rumbling throughout the cave, and the King's advisor, Zazu, swooped down from where he had been hovering in the air, making a deep bow. Simba was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Nala.

"With all due respect, sire," Zazu addressed Kovu, even though he was not yet King of the Pridelands, "Simba and Nala have already left. They gave me instructions on whom they wanted in each group."

"Very well, then, Zazu. Hurry up," Kovu ordered the bird.

"Confiance," Zazu called, and one of the lionesses stepped forward, blinking big beautiful amber eyes. Zazu said another name and repeated this until four lionesses were lined up in front of him. He addressed the first one he called, Confiance, telling her to search the area around Pride Rock with her group.

"Of course," she replied, and after a minute, she had her group organized and had led them out of the cave.

"Soleil, you'll be taking Pluie, Lune, and Ciel. Simba wants you to look in the fields were the antelope graze. Moyo," Zazu instructed next as a younger looking female stopped in front of him. "Mvua, Mwenzi, and Jua will go with you to look in the Outlands." The two separate groups left to search in their designated areas as the bird faced Kiara and Kovu. "The King wishes you to stay here, princess."

"What?" Kiara gasped in shock. "Why? Razi is my son!"

"And the King says that since every other lioness in the pride is out looking for Razi, there is no one to watch the other cubs," Zazu explained, and Kiara sighed in exasperation. Kovu nuzzled her comfortingly, but she moved away, resisting the urge to snarl in his direction. She was beside herself with worry, and her father expected her just to stay and baby-sit while her own baby was out there, lost and alone? She absolutely did not want to be touched in any way right now.

"Fine," Kiara grumbled, laying her ears against her head to let the bird and her mate know she was displeased.

"Timon, Pumbaa, and Kovu, you're to come with me," Zazu instructed, and they wasted no time in hurrying out of the cave.

Kiara sighed and flopped onto her belly, watching the cubs as they rough-housed with each other. Only one stood still, observing her playmates, annoyance showing in each flick of her tail. "Zara, come here, sweetheart," Kiara called gently, and Zara jumped. She hadn't expected her mother to speak to her, believing her to be in a state of shock. Zara snuggled up by her mother and closed her eyes, pretending that all this, her brother's disappearance and the indifference of the other cubs, was a dream.

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The human who had spoken lifted the shaking cub from the ground and gently, cautiously, examined him. He was too terrified to look away, and he saw that the sun had risen while he had had his eyes closed, before the human had spoken. "Vous devez avoir faim. Je prendrai vous soutient pour camper, et alors nous trouverons votre momie," the human said in that strange language so unfamiliar to the frightened cub. The human, Razi noticed, handled him as gently as his mother did when she knew he was scared; maybe he had no need to fear man, after all.

Razi allowed a small pathetic mew to come out of his mouth as the human carried him away. "Je m'appelle Ariane. Je vous appellerai Jaune," the human said in that odd language. He wished that the person would speak in a language he understood, but then he remembered that humans spoke a different tongue than lions.

They reached a small erected tent that stood in the center of a rather large camp area, where many other humans bustled about, speaking in their strange language. He did not recognize the area where he was, and almost instantly, his heart began beating faster in fright. He buried his face into the human's chest, and found that it was comforting, just like his mother was. Instinctively he knew that this human was female and that she would protect him exactly like Kiara would.

"Ariane!" Someone called, and Razi shrank back against the female human's chest once more, craving her protection. She cradled him in her arms, making soothing noises as she headed toward the one who had spoken. "What have you brought here, Ariane? You have brought death upon us!"

The dark-skinned human was male by the deep rumble of his voice, and he spoke in a tongue that was still unfamiliar to Razi, yet was different that the one the female he called Ariane had been speaking. "Oh, calm down," Ariane snapped, rolling her eyes. "The cub was lost, it was obvious. I doubt the mother will find it."

"Ariane, you must be daft!" the man replied, shaking his fist at her. Razi suppressed a small growl at this action, though he didn't know why. It went unheard by the male, but Ariane definitely noticed, and she smiled. But then her smile turned into a frown, and she lightly tapped the man's shoulder in reprimand, much like, Razi noted, how Kiara would nip at his sister's shoulder whenever she got into trouble.

"Don't you call me daft, Mr. Singh! I am not in the slightest, thank you very much. I know what I am doing; I am, after all, the lion expert you hired on this trip. Which, by the way-"

"I know, I know, Ariane. Which you totally, completely, and absolutely disagree with. We're here to study the animals, girl, not to eat them for dinner."

"Right." Without another word, Ariane whirled on her heel and marched into the tent in the center of camp. Inside, Razi saw, were piles of blankets and human items strewn all of the place, though he could not fathom what they might be needed for. "Don't worry, little one," the woman said softly in Razi's ear. "I'll keep you safe from the likes of him."

Razi had no idea what she was saying, but he recognized the tone of voice she used; it was soothing, comforting, when he was miles away from home, from all things dear and familiar. He wished he hadn't snuck out while everyone else was still asleep. He may not have gotten caught by his parents, but this situation was infinitely worse.

"You know," Ariane said to Razi, who looked up at her in interest as she pulled sheets around him to keep him warm. She seemed to ordain his shivers to be from the rather chilly wind outside, and not from fear. "Jaune means yellow in French. It's a nice name for a lion. I mean, you're almost yellow. Hmm…I wonder if you can understand me," she mused thoughtfully. She shrugged after pondering the question and not coming up with any solution, and snuggled up next to the lion cub in her care. She knew it was foolhardy to do something like that, but somehow she knew that the little lion's mother would not find her and rip her to shreds for touching her baby. Little did Ariane know, however, was that at that exact moment, the lioness mother was pacing furiously in her den, waiting anxiously for the return of her son.

A/N: Confiance, Soleil, Pluie, Lune, and Ciel are all French words; confiance means "trust", soleil is "sun", pluie is "rain", lune means "moon", and ciel is French for "sky". There are three other lionesses that have been given French names that I haven't actually addressed by name, and they'll probably appear in a later chapter. Moyo, Mvua, Mwenzi, and Jua are Swahili for "heart" (moyo), "rain" (mvua), "moon" (mwenzi), and "sun" (jua).

Translations:

Vous devez avoir faim. Je prendrai vous soutient pour camper, et alors nous trouverons votre momie. - You must be hungry. I'll take you back to camp, and then we'll find your mummy.

Je m'appelle Ariane. Je vous appellerai- My name is Ariane. I will call you Jaune