Chapter 5

Hello everyone, chapter 5 is here, which means it's time for some new animal interactions for Asante and her friends, please enjoy the read and don't forget to leave a review afterwards.


In the hours after Asante and her friends started exploring the lands around the Tree of Life, they visited every biome that it had and met the animals that called that area home. The children spent most of their time in the snowy areas so that they could also spend some time playing in the snow. As they played, Gozi noticed, Busara and Asante, who had teamed up in their current snowball fight, were behind a log, under a tree with a lot of snow on it, which gave Gozi an evil idea. Gozi dashed for another tree, dodging, ducking, and jumping over snowballs that Busara and Asante tried to pelt him with. He made it to the tree and peeked around its trunk, having to quickly duck back behind it to avoid getting hit in the face with a snowball from Busara.

Gozi jumped out from behind the tree and quickly used the Roar of Elders on the tree Busara and Asante were under, sending all the snow on it on top of them. Gozi, along with Umoja and Mbio than celebrated what they saw as a win and then went to help dig Busara and Asante out.

"Ah, nothing like frostbite on your paw pads, eh guys?" Mbio commented as they dug, not really being one for snow unlike his mother.

Neither Gozi or Umoja, commented back, knowing Mbio wasn't looking for one and just continued to dig until the uncovered Busara and Asante.

"Why, hay there, girls." Umoja greeted.

"That was awesome Gozi!" Asante shouted.

"I'm just glad I didn't uproot the tree or that the snow was blown off behind you two. I was worried one of those might happen." Gozi admitted.

"Just too bad we don't have our own superpowered roar to get you back with." Busara said, pushing herself out of the snow pile and then pulling Asante out.

After Asante was placed back on the ground, Mbio gave off a big shiver from the cold of the Tree of Life's snowy area.

"Brrrrrr! Hay guys, can we go back somewhere, where it's warmer. I'm starting to not be able to feel my paws." Mbio said.

"Yeah, I think my paws could do with some warmer ground to." Umoja agreed, looking at his paws.

Everyone else agreed and began to make for the area of the Tree of Life that had no snow. As they made their way out, Asante thought back to the hours they've spent exploring. They saw a bunch of animals they'd never seen before and it was exciting to see them in person, but Kion and his guard had told them all about them before, which in a way made meeting them less exciting. Asante wanted to meet some new animals that no one from the Pride Lands who had been here had ever seen and she had expressed it to her friends. It was then that Asante and her friends got to the edge of the snowy environment of the Tree of Life that they saw some strange animal that they had never seen before.

It sort of looked like a gazelle or an antelope but it was much larger with dark brown fur, it's large antlers, which were flat with many points, jutted out from the sides of its head and they seemed to have a soft texture to them, it had a hump on its back, and a flap of skin hanging from under the middle of its jaw like a beard. The children all stared at the animal in astonishment, wondering what it was.

"What do you think it is?" Busara asked.

"It looks like an overgrown gazelle with just as over grown antlers." Mbio said.

"Why are we guessing what it could be, let's go find out." Asante said.

Asante led her friends towards the large mammal that was eating at small clumps of grass poking through snow. The animal noticed them coming and moved aside, thinking it was in their way.

"Oh, don't you kids mind me, eh." the animal said as it stepped aside, still eating at the grass.

"Oh no, it's okay, you weren't in our way." Asante said. "Me and my friends were just wondering, what are you, we've never seen an animal like you before. Your certainly not a gazelle or anything, what are you?"

"Oh, well I ain't got no clue what a jazzeel is, but I certainly ain't one, eh. I'm a moose, names Buck from the Yukon." the animal said, introducing himself.

"A moose?" Umoja said.

"The Yukon? Where's that?" Gozi asked.

"And how'd you get to the Tree of Life?" Busara asked.

"Somewhere in Canada and as for how I got here, It's actually a long, funny story, eh. Keeping it short though, my buddy Tucker triple dog dared me to walk onto this human thing that floated in the water and I did, but it started swimming before I could get off and I can't swim, eh. They caught me and were going to take me to some place they called a zoo in a place called yourup or to a butcher if the other place wouldn't take me, but I somehow escaped later, walked around for a couple years, met some other moose and eventually heard about this place and like three and a half months later, here I am, eh." Buck explained.

"Ooohhh." Gozi replied.

"Sounds like you've been over quite a lot." Asante.

"Yeah, I've been all over to get here. Can't wait to tell everyone else back home if I ever do get home, eh." Buck said. "Well, what about all of you kids, eh. You just arrive here or what, eh?"

"Yes, we have actually; just last night." Busara said.

"Oh, well, welcome to the Tree of Life, eh." Buck said. "Oh, and if you kids see a brown, male lion with blue eyes at any point, tell him I said hi, okay, eh? He went somewhere called the Pride Lands to bring back the previous king of this place, who quit because he was lied to for the queen's funeral."

Asante and her friends all looked at each other as Buck said that.

"Uh, will do." Asante said.

"Thank you, eh." Buck replied.

"Don't sweat it, uh… eh." Umoja replied.

Asante and their friend than walked off.

"Oh, and hay, if you see a cute little reindeer named, Rain, tell her I said hi to, eh." Buck said with a dumb laugh at the end.

"Uh, sure." Gozi said.

"Thanks again, eh." Buck replied again.

The children began to walk off again.

"A moose? We're there moose here when Uncle Kion was king?" Gozi asked Asante.

"He never said anything about a moose?" Asante said.

"Where's Canada and Yourup?" Busara wondered.

"Why did he keep saying, eh?" Mbio wondered.

"What does a reindeer look like, I wonder? Umoja wondered.

Asante and her friends finally made it out of the snowy region and continued to walk on for a few minutes until they came to a river. The five decided to take a break here from exploring and maybe catch some fish to eat, which Asante was enthusiastic about, having never had fish before as opposed to Mbio, who didn't like the taste of fish, find them too richly flavored and the tones of tiny bones that either cut your mouth or chocked you. Gozi asked Mbio what else he thought they were gonna eat while at the Tree of Life since it's a safe haven for animals and that hunting them wasn't aloud since most were sick, crippled, or endangered. Mbio asking if there were areas outside the Tree of Life's borders where they could hunt or if it was allowed to eat from the carcasses of Tree of Life animals that died as what else would the Night Pride and other carnivores eat. As if to answer is question, Busara was using a stick to lift up a rock, which revealed some bugs under it and she offered to share with Mbio, which he quickly downright refused, saying that carnivores couldn't live off just fish and there was especially no way they could live off bugs.

Umoja pointing out that his grandfather lived off bugs from cubhood to his early adult years, Mbio remarking that he was sure there had to of been times when Simba must have eaten other animals passing by. Busara gave a single amused laugh at that.

"If that's true, then it must have scared the Hakuna Matating crap out of Uncle Timon." Busara said amused.

Everyone except Mbio gave an amused laugh at the thought of the easily startled meerkat freaking out at the sight of Simba or just any carnivore eating from a bloody carcass. Mbio gave a sigh, saying he'd rather travel far outside the territory to find an actual good meal that he liked and that he'd be back in time for the funeral. Before anyone could say anything, Mbio ran off for the pass. Everyone just shrugged and Busara picked up bugs, eating them one at a time while the others stood at the edge of the river, keeping an eye open for fish to catch. Eventually, they caught some fish, Umoja catching one for himself and Gozi and Asante caught one big enough for the two of them to share.

The three sat down and ate their fishes while Busara, who had finished eating, decided to climb the trees and jump from branch to branch or swing from vines to get some exercise. When they finished eating, the four discussed what else they should do, either continue exploring or wait for Mbio to get back. Asante wanted to wait for Mbio to get back, but she also wanted to continue exploring the Tree of Life and hopefully meet some more animals before the funeral, which the others agreed with. They were all about to start walking off until they suddenly heard something. They all listened closer for it and it sounded like humming and it was getting closer.

They looked across the river where it was coming from and soon enough, from out of the trees came a large animal that was moving by jumping with its strong hind legs.

"Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm. I'm just hopping along. I'm just jumping along. Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm. I'm just bouncing along. I'm just springing along. Hmmm, hmmm. I'm just hopping, jumping, bouncing, and springing along. Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm." the creature sang as it bounced towards them, not noticing them as she had her eyes closed.

The creature suddenly stopped, hearing the river. It looked down at it before, easily jumping over it and continuing on.

"Woah!" the children replied at the creatures jump over the river, which would have been too wide for either of them to jump.

"Huh?" the creature exclaimed, having heard them.

The creature looked down at Asante and her friends, finally noticing them.

"Oh, howdy their children, I didn't see y'all there." the creature said.

"Hi there, we're glad you did." Busara replied.

"That was a pretty impressive jump across the river you did there." Umoja said.

"Why, thank you, mate." the creature said. "What are all you little ankle biters doing out here anyway?"

"Oh, we just arrived last night and wanted to explore the Tree of Life." Gozi explained.

"Oh, I see, y'all came to the tree with your parents for sanctuary or healing like the rest of us drongos here?" the creature asked.

"No, we actually came here with someone, you might know. Baliyo, for his sister's funeral." Asante said.

As they talked to the creature, Asante couldn't help but focus on how it sounded like her mom, not in voice, but the sound, the accent of it sounded like Jasiri's.

"Huh, but how could you come for Rani's funeral if you've never known about her bef…" the creature, began to say before trailing off.

The creature took a moment to look at them more closely before her eyes widened.

"Holy crikey! Y'all are from the Pride Lands that Baliyo went to over two months ago. Y'all are the sons of Princess Kiara and Prince Kovu, the daughter of Bunga and Binga, and you lassy, your Asante, the stripped hyena that Baliyo brought to Kion and Jasiri." the creature said.

"Yeah, that's us." Asante said.

"Well, I'll be, never thought I'd get the chance to meet any of you. I'm so stoked that I'm getting that chance." the creature said.

"Well, we're happy to hear that, uh, miss?" Gozi said.

"Oh, bugger me, I haven't introduced me self. The names Maia." the creature said.

"Mmmm." suddenly groaned another voice.

Asante and her friends looked at Maia in surprise, the sound having come from her, but somehow not from her. They saw something moving at her abdomen, but were shocked when they saw another, whatever Maia was stick it's tire head out of some flap of skin on her stomach.

"Mom, who are you talking to?" the second, younger creature asked.

Maia just smiled and looked back down at Asante and her friends.

"And this buggered little hoon here is my son, Joey." Maia said.

Joey turned to see Asante and her friends, which caused the young creature to wake up faster at the sight of new faces.

"Oh, g'day there, who are all of you?" Joey asked.

"They're the children of those friends of Baliyo's that he went to get a few months ago, Joey." Maia said.

"They are?" Joey replied, which his mother nodded to. "Wow, they all look so cool."

Asante and all her friends, still continued to look at Maia and Joey in surprise of how Maia was carrying Joey.

"How are you carrying him like, like that?" Umoja asked.

"Oh this?" Maia replied, looking down at the part of her that Joey was riding in. "Oh, well you kids see, this is my pouch."

"Pouch?" Busara questioned.

"Mmmhmm. You see, I'm what's called a kangaroo and all kangaroos, well, female kangaroos like me all have a pouch where we carry our children for the first few months of their life." Maia explained. "And Joey here is about a couple weeks away from being ready to make his full emergence out."

"Thank God. Other kids laugh at me when they see us; think I'm a sissy." Joey said.

"Oh, you're not a sissy Joey." Maia said, rubbing her sons head.

"So, female kangaroos have a pouch that their children ride around in as their mom's hop along like you were earlier?" Asante asked.

"Mmmhmm." Maia said.

Joey got nervous as Asante and her friends, stayed silent, thinking they were gonna laugh.

"Woah. That's so cool." Asante said, walking up to take a closer look at Maia and Joey.

Asante's other friends followed her.

"Yeah, I've never seen an animal like that." Gozi said.

"All the animals we saw on our way to the Tree of Life and that moose, Buck earlier were amazing, but I think Maia and Joey steal the show." Umoja said.

"I agree with you Umoja." Busara said.

Maia and Joey smiled as Asante and her friends admired them.

"I wish my mom had a pouch that I could ride in." Asante said.

"Yeah, it looks like the ultimate way to travel." Busara said.

"Probably pretty cozy to." Gozi said.

"It, looks so much fun." Asante said.

Maia gave an amused laugh.

"Would you like to go for a ride Asante?" Maia asked.

Asante stared up at Maia in surprise at her offer and Maia smiled down at her.

"Well, would you like a ride?" Maia asked again.

"Really a ride in a kangaroo's pouch?" Asante said.

"Yes." Maia said.

A smile grew across Asante's face at the idea.

"May I?" Asante asked excitedly.

"Of course." Maia laughed.

"Hop on in." Joey encouraged.

Busara came up and helped Asante into Maia's pouch alongside Joey.

"Welcome aboard matey!" Joey said.

"Alright boys and girls, please remained seated and keep your paws and legs in at all times and please don't throw up inside the pouch if you start feeling nauseous." Maia said.

Maia than began to hop around the area with Asante in her pouch. As she did, Asante soon began laughing from the fun, excitement she felt as Maia bounced around with her inside. As they watched, Asante's friends also thought riding inside a kangaroo's pouch looked fun. Busara counted dibs on the next ride and Gozi and Umoja getting into a playful, teasing argument over which one of them went after Busara, Umoja saying he's older and the next king, which Gozi reminded him that he was after their father, so that he should go first and Gozi saying he's leader of the Lion Guard and will be the one doing more of the protecting the Pride Lands all while he'll just have to sit around, eat, and get fat. At some point during the ride in Maia's pouch, Asante threw her paws in the air.

"Woooo! Faster, faster! Joey, put your paws in the air! Wooohooo! Wooohooo!" Asante shouted.

Maia smiled down at Asante, glad to see that she was enjoying the ride and then she began to sing the song she was singing before she noticed Asante and her friends earlier.

"Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm. I'm just hopping along. I'm just jumping along. Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm. I'm just bouncing along. I'm just springing along. Hmmm, hmmm. I'm just hopping, jumping, bouncing, and springing along. Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm. I'm just hopping, jumping, bouncing, and springing along, kangaroo style! Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm. I'm doing it Kangaroo style!" Maia sang.

After another minute of hopping Asante around, Maia ended it with a hop over the river and then back to her friends' side. When she stopped, Maia looked down at Asante

"Well, Asante, what'd you think of your first kangaroo ride?" Maia asked.

"It was amazing!" Asante shouted with excitement.

"I'm glad to hear, now why don't we give one of your friends a chance?" Maia said.

"Yeah, totally." Asante said before looing over at her friends. "You guys gotta try this, it's great."

Busara ran over to Maia, jumping into her pouch alongside Joey. Maia bounced Busara around for a while and then did the same with Umoja and then Gozi.

"Wooohooo! This is so fun!" Gozi shouted as he was bounced around. "I wish Kweli was here, she'd love this!"

"And Aunts Madoa and Vitani." Asante said.

"Yes, but I don't think either of them would fit in Maia's pouch." Umoja replied.

When Gozi was done with his ride, Maia helped him out and was thanked by him and the others for the ride. Maia told everyone that it was her pleasure to give them all a ride and that she'd happily give them another anytime and Joey said it was fun to now have some 'pouch riding pals.'

"Well, Maia, Joey, we should get going. It's going to be noon soon and we wanna get some more exploring in before the funeral." Gozi said.

"Yeah, but maybe we'll see you later today or tomorrow." Busara said.

"Oh, no worries, I think y'all will be seeing us again sooner than you think, since Joey and I'll be at Rani's funeral to." Maia said.

"You'll be at Rani's funeral to?" Gozi questioned.

Maia nodded.

"You see, there aren't too many animals that have been here since before Kion was king going to Rani's funeral, it'll be mostly of animals who had arrived after the incident. We all know what Rani did to Kion and that she had a strained relationship with her family and argued with them frequently afterwards. No one condones anything she did, be she was still always welcoming and kind enough to new animals and truly did care for our safety and wellbeing and we want to show her our thanks for so by going to her funeral." Maia explained.

"Okay, well, we'll see you than Maia, you to Joey." Asante said.

"I'll see y'all there to and I'll be bringing my friends, Jim and Benjamin; they're a kola bear and a dingo, bet you've never seen those kinds of animals before." Maia said.

"No, we haven't." Umoja said.

"Well, you will soon." Maia said before bouncing off.

Asante and her friends watched Maia, bounce off, who began singing her kangaroo song again.

"I like her." Asante said once she was out of sight.

The four friends than began exploring again, doing so for a while. After over half an hour of exploring, they all looked at their shadows and where the sun was in the sky, they judged that it was almost noon and should be starting to head back and so they did. As they began making their way back, Busara was starting to wonder about Mbio and if he'd make it back in time, which Umoja assured her that he would. As they continued to walk, they suddenly spotted Nirmala at the edge of a river, looking up at a ridge that had a bright orange flower at the top.

"Huh, I wonder what she's doing here?" Gozi wondered.

"The funeral is going to be soon, so shouldn't she be at the Tree of Life getting ready for it?" Busara asked.

"Come on, let's find out what she's doing." Asante said.

Asante led her friends towards the brown lioness to find out what she was doing.

"Hay, Nirmala!" Asante called over to the lioness.

Nirmala jolted a little bit, startled by the sudden voice of Asante and looked over to see her and her friends.

"Oh, Asante, I didn't notice you or your friends there." Nirmala said. "You young ones enjoying exploring the Tree of Life?"

"Yes, very much." Asante said.

"We've already seen a bunch of really cool animals." Umoja said.

"We probably just met the coolest so far, a kangaroo, she let all of us take a ride in her thing called a pouch." Busara said.

"Oh, you met Maia and her son, Joey. Yeah, they're a fun pair. They arrived with their friends Jim and Benjamin shortly after Baliyo began his journey to take Asante to the Pride Lands. All say they're from Australia." Nirmala explains.

"Where's that?" Busara asked.

"No idea." Nirmala shrugged.

Umoja stepped forward in front of everyone.

"Nirmala, it's almost noon. So, we should be heading back to the tree for the funeral." Umoja said.

"I know, I know, but I have to get that flower first." Nirmala said, turning back to the ridge with the flower on top.

"What is this place Nirmala?" Asante asked.

"Oh, if he's told you about it, you might know Asante. What do you think this place is?" Nirmala asked.

Asante took a moment to look at the river and then her eyes traveled up the ridge to the bright orange flower and she realized what it was.

"This is one of the places you had my dad visit during the healing for his scar. This is the River of Patience." Asante said.

"Indeed, it is." Nirmala said.

"Yeah, you had him jump on logs and ride them to the other side when he wanted to swim across, but he kept getting caught in the river's current and in its plants and when he did get to the other side, he kept slipping for not following the path and you teased him for it." Asante said.

"Uh huh and it really does its job, because it's really testing my patience right now. I've been standing here for a couple hours now and no logs have shown up." Nirmala said, now sounding a little frustrated.

"Nirmala, if you want that flower to put behind your ear, we can get it for you at any time after the funeral." Umoja said.

"No, the flower isn't for me, it's for Rani. I want to place it on the spot where we buried her." Nirmala said.

"Oh, well, uh, this isn't really any healing session, so why not just swim across to get it instead of waiting for a log then?" Umoja asked.

"I could, but I'd rather not risk getting swept off by the current or getting caught in the reeds and drowning." Nirmala explained. "Better to wait for a log to arrive."

"Well, we'll wait with you until one does then." Gozi said.

"Thank you, four, I'd appreciate that." Nirmala said, smiling at the children.

So, the children sat down and waited with Nirmala for a log to arrive, but after minutes of waiting, none were. Soon enough, they all heard a roar that seemed to have come from the direction of the Tree of Life. Asante said that that was her father's roar, meaning it was time to head back for the funeral, but Nirmala said she just needed a few more minutes and then she'd have that flower. The children decided to stay with her for a while longer and as they did, they eventually heard two more roars from Kion.

"Ooohhh. Guys, we should get going or my dad and the rest of our parents are going to start worrying about us." Asante said.

"Errr. But the flower." Nirmala said, looking up towards it.

"The funeral is going to be starting soon Nirmala. Let's just grab any random flower we see on the way. I'm sure it'll be just as good." Busara assured.

"Well, I guess I can use the flower I'm currently wearing behind my ear." Nirmala said.

"Yeah, that sounds perfect." Gozi agreed. "Now come on, let's go everyone."

As the children began making their way for the Tree of Life, Nirmala looked back up at the ridge one last time.

"Sorry Rani." Nirmala said, planning to get the flower to place on her grave another time.

As Nirmala turned around to leave with the children, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. She looked and saw that a log was finally coming down the river.

"Children, come and look, a log has finally arrived!" Nirmala shouted.

Interested, the children came back to see that a log indeed was coming down the river.

"You see kids, patience, and maybe a little persistence, always pays off." Nirmala said.

"Print that on a large leaf and sell it." Busara said with a single laugh.

As the log got closer, Nirmala got ready to jump onto.

"Well kids, see you on the other side." Nirmala said.

"Wait Nirmala." Asante suddenly spoke up.

"What is it Asante?" Nirmala asked.

"When my dad told me about the River of Patience and having to jump across logs, I always thought it sounded so fun, so can I do it?" Asante asked.

Nirmala looked from Asante to the log and to the flower up on the ridge. She smiled, thinking it couldn't hurt.

"Be my guest." Nirmala said, stepping back to give Asante room to jump.

Asante gave a gasp of excitement and got ready to jump, Nirmala and her friends wishing her luck. Asante kept her eyes on the log and when it got close enough, she jumped, landing on it and Nirmala and the others cheered in response. Asante rode the log towards the bank of the other side and as she did, she noticed another log quickly floating towards her and she jumped for it when it got close enough.

"Oh, wait Asante, that's not a log, that's…" Nirmala tried to warn, but she already landed on before she finished her sentence.

Once Asante's paws landed on it, the log didn't feel like wood beneath her paws, it felt like hard scales, like the scales of a…

"Crocodile!" Gozi shouted.

"Crocodile!?" Asante shouted, looking underneath her.

Asante looked and noticed the crocodile's eyes surface from the water. The crocodile than rose up from the water, Asante rolling down to the end of its snout, hanging off it as it rose. Asante looked down into the crocodile's eyes, exclaiming in fright.

"Please Mr. Crocodile, I'm sorry I jumped on you, I thought you were a log." Asante pleaded, knowing she was at the crocodile's mercy. "Nirmala, this crocodile is friendly, right?"

"Uh, well Asante, the crocodile…" Nirmala began to say before she was interrupted.

"Oh!" the crocodile grunted in seemingly frustration and facepalming itself. "Not this again! How many times do I gotta tell everybody, I ain't a crocodile. I'M AN ALLIGATOR!"

"An alligator?" Asante and her friend all exclaimed in confusion.

"YESSSSSSS." the alligator emphasized. "An alligator, not a crocodile, an alligator, ALL-IG-A-TOR."

"What's an alligator?" Umoja asked.

"What do you mean, 'what's an alligator' it's what I am fool!" the alligator shouted, annoyed.

"But I don't get it, you look like a crocodile." Asante said.

"Yeah, well I ain't. If y'all Night Priders want a crocodile so bad, then you can go and find yourselves one!" the alligator said.

"But uh." Asante began to say.

"Do not make me eat you, little girl!" the alligator shouted.

"Bruce!" Nirmala shouted.

The alligator, named Bruce, flinched a little before looking towards Nirmala.

"You know the rules of the Tree of Life, no eating of the animals that live here, especially not for silly things like them mistaking you for a crocodile and trying to understand you're an alligator, having never seen one before." Nirmala sternly said.

"Yes, ma'am." Bruce replied, like he had been told something similar before. "Just remember you kids, I'm an alligator, not a crocodile."

"I don't understand, why are crocodiles and alligators different when you look just alike?" Asante asked, still handing from Bruce's snout.

"Because we just are, that's why!" Bruce said. "Now, get off my nose freeloader!"

Bruce than shook his head wildly, Asante eventually losing her grip, rolling and landing flat on her back on the opposite side of the river from where Nirmala and her friends were. Before anyone could say anything, Bruce dived back into the river, swimming off. Asante rolled over, sitting on her rump and looking over the river at Nirmala.

"Who was that?" Asante asked.

"Oh, that's just Bruce. He only just recently arrived a few weeks ago. Baliyo hasn't even gotten the chance to meet him yet." Nirmala explained.

"He's kinda rude." Asante said, standing up.

"Oh, he's not really once you get to know him. He's just got a bit of a short fuse and doesn't like being mistaken for a crocodile, which everyone seems to forget that he isn't. Other than that, he's harmless." Nirmala explained.

"Harmless?" Gozi questioned.

"He didn't seem harmless when he threatened to eat Asante." Busara said.

"Well," Asante said as she got back onto her paws. "I'm on the other side, so I guess I should go get the flower."

Asante then sprinted up the path to the flower and plucked it once she got to it, Nirmala and the others cheering in response. Asante ran back down, stopping at the bank of the river.

"There's no time to wait for anymore logs, I'm just gonna have to swim across." Asante said.

"No, no Asante, it's too dangerous and you could lose the flower while doing so." Nirmala said.

"Then how else do I get across?" Asante asked.

"Gozi, do remember the story about Uncle Kion's return to the Pride Lands and all of us playing in the river yesterday?" Umoja asked.

"Yeah, why?" Gozi asked.

"You remember how Uncle Kion is able to use the roar to lift others up and move them around, like how he helped everyone across that gorge and how he dropped us in the water? Why don't you use that technique to get Asante across the river?" Umoja suggested.

"But, but Umoja, I don't know how to do that or even a precision roar. I only know how to use the most basic form of the Roar of Elders." Gozi said, sounding nervous at his brother's suggestion.

"Well, we gotta try something to get Asante safely across. Maybe try focusing and thinking about that version of the roar; maybe it'll make you be able to do it." Umoja suggested.

"Sounds worth a shot." Busara supported.

"Never know until you try." Nirmala said.

Gozi took a long breath through his nose before saying that he guesses he could try. Everybody stood back to give Gozi room. The young lion took a few deep breaths before trying to use the levitating version of the Roar of Elders, focusing and thinking about it, but it didn't work. He tried a few more times, Asante and the others encouraging him. After about a dozen failed attempts, Gozi seemed to have finally been able to use the levitating roar, which surprised and amazed everyone.

Gozi opened his eyes, seeing the swirling wind, it was weak and not as impressive as his uncle's, but it was strong enough to pick up Asante and he began to slowly bring her over the river. Gozi soon began laughing with joy and amazement he was using the roar, but it caused him to lose focus and control and the swirling winds around Asante almost, disappeared, but Gozi stopped and regained his focus and control, telling himself to get Asante safely across and celebrate later. Gozi almost had Asante safely across, but suddenly another roar from Kion broke out, startling Gozi and causing him to drop Asante into the river.

"Oh no! Asante!" Gozi screamed as he saw her fall into the river and being swept off.

"Help!" Asante shouted.

Nirmala acted quickly and ran to the river and grabbed, Asante, pulling her to safety. However, as Nirmala grabbed her by her scruff, Asante dropped the flower.

"Oh no, the flower!" Asante exclaimed.

Busara quickly rushed to the river herself and was able to grab the flower before it was swept away.

"Got it!" Busara said.

Everyone than gathered around Asante, asking if she was alright.

"Don't worry everyone, I'm fine, just a little in shock." Asante said.

When Asante finally got over her shock, she shook herself off and turned towards Gozi.

"Gozi, I can't belief you were able to use a levitating roar." Asante said.

"Yeah, me neither, but it wasn't very strong when I formed it and it was hard to keep up even when I did focus." Gozi said. "I need to do some training with my roar in general. I know I told Uncle Kion that I wanted to start training when I turned one, but maybe during our stay here at some point I should start some training with the roar at least."

"Yes." Nirmala agreed along with the others. "But still, having had the roar for nearly two months and using a complicated roar technique that Kion didn't learn till he was much older is an impressive feat young cub."

"Thanks Nirmala." Gozi said.

Another roar from Kion than came.

"Oh, Uncle Kion is starting to sound mad." Umoja said, feeling the anger in that roar.

"Then we should get going. Come on children, hustle, hustle." Nirmala said.

The children and Nirmala began to make their way to the Tree of Life. As they did, Nirmala decided to ask about Asante's thoughts on the River of Patience.

"So, Asante, what were your thoughts on the River of Patience?" Nirmala asked.

"Well, apart from Bruce and falling in, I thought hopping from log to log was fun, I just wish there were more logs to hop onto." Asante said.

"Mmmhmm. When you're not in a session to learn patience, hopping from log to log to get to the other side can be a lot of fun." Nirmala said.

"Yeah, maybe we should have my dad try it again, I bet this time he'd find it fun instead of frustrating." Asante suggested.

"Maybe we should all try it." Busara said.

"You know, maybe I should put you all through some of the session I put Kion through. Not for healing, but they can still teach you valuable lessons like patience and how to stay calm when you feel annoyed." Nirmala said.

"Stay calm when you feel annoyed?" Asante said, wondering what that lesson was until she remembered and started laughing. "I know that lesson, it was the one where you had frogs hop on my dad."

Nirmala gave an amusing smile at the memory.

"Yes, yes it was." Nirmala said. "And I'm not sure who it was better for; better for your father for his healing or better for me for a good laugh."

"Oh, we totally gotta have my dad do that again. I remember when he first told me that. My mom laughed so hard that she almost peed herself and said that she wished she was there to see it when it happened." Asante said, laughing along with the rest of her friends at the thought of dozens of frogs hopping up and down on top of Kion.

"Yes, I myself would definitely love to see frogs hopping on that young lion again." Nirmala said, trying not to laugh herself.

A couple minutes later, another roar from Kion came, sounding angrier than the last.

"Errr, we're gonna be in so much trouble for being late." Asante said, sounded worried at her dad's angry sounding roars, having never made her dad angry at her before.

"Don't worry Asante, it's my fault we're late. Once I explain it to him, he'll understand." Nirmala assured the young stripped hyena.

Asante nodded in response.

"Come on, let's cut through here." Nirmala said, taking another direction, the children following her.

As they walked on, Asante caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. Asante stopped and walked closer to what she saw and came into a circular clearing of trees. At the end of it, against a large tree, she saw something that look like a shrine with two large rocks amongst a mound of smaller, colorful rocks, a small mound of slightly uneven ground in front of one of them, and both were also adorned with many flowers. She couldn't exactly make them out, but on the rocks and on the lower part of the tree's trunk, she saw something that looked like paintings. As Asante wondered what this was, her friends and Nirmala, having noticed she wasn't with them were calling out for her, deaf to their calls.

Gozi soon spotted her and shouted to the others that he found her. They all went up behind her.

"Asante, what are you doing, we gotta get to the tree for the funeral." Gozi said.

"Yeah, if we're any later than we are, we're gonna get our rumps wacked." Umoja said.

"Oh, sorry guys." Asante apologized, noticing them. "It's just, I saw this out of the corner of my eyes."

The others looked and saw the shrine that Asante had seen. Once Nirmala saw it, her faced dropped a little in sorrow.

"What is this shrine to?" Asante wondered.

"I don't know, probably someone who died." Busara said.

"Yeah, but who?" Gozi wondered.

"I know." Nirmala said.

"You do?" Asante questioned, she and her friends turning to Nirmala, noticing her sorrowful face as she nodded.

"Oh, were they someone you knew Nirmala?" Umoja asked.

"Yes, well, only one of them I knew." Nirmala said.

"Who were they or at least the one you knew?" Asante asked.

Nirmala looked at Asante, then to the graves and back to Asante.

"Asante, this, this is, is where we buried your birth mother and made a shrine to your father alongside hers." Nirmala revealed.

Gozi, Umoja, and Busara gave a gasp of shock at the revelation while Asante with a shocked look on her face turned back towards the shrine the Night Pride made for her birth parents.


Bet you all weren't expecting the chapter to end like that, were ya? On the other side, looks like Asante and her friends had a fun time, meeting new animals from Kion's time at the Tree of Life to after he left, they also got to hear about some new animals that they'll meet later, and they really scored, they got to ride in the pouch of a kangaroo, wonder who she's named after? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

We have just one chapter left everyone and I'm working right on it and hope to have it out as soon as it's ready, but until than, please leave a comment to tell me what you thought about the chapter and the animal interactions between Asante and her friends and which one was your favorite, have a good day and night, stay healthy, and God bless.