The float departed from lake Matope (or what little was left of it) before sunrise, and headed towards the Outlands. The females were in the center, and the few hatchlings that still hadn't been preyed on by the hyenas were tucked into their throat pouches. Pua and the large males took care of any hyena that tried to stop them on Scar's orders, and this time the crocodiles showed no mercy, like the hyenas had shown no mercy to those baby crocodiles they ate.

Unfortunately, one of the mothers, Nyota, had lost most of her clutch to those animals, and only three remained: her elder son Makuu, her middle son Ukuru, and her younger daughter Ungwana. Their father didn't partake much in their education, since the crocodile way decreed that 'females look after the hatchlings, while males provide food for the float', but he did what he could to help her under these circumstances.

Days after leaving the Pride Lands and wandering through the deserted Outlands with no water and a terrible heat, Nyota sensed her time would soon come to an end. Knowing the father of her hatchlings would probably not agree, she secretly spoke to Pua, asking him to lead her two younger children away, she needed to ask speak with her eldest alone. He solemnly granted her request, and promised her he'd look after them when she was gone.

The next morning, the exhaustion, dehydration and overheat finally started taking its toll on Nyota. She was unable to get on her feet, or even move.

"Mother, please get up." Little Makuu said, nudging her with his tiny snout.

It took Nyota a great deal of effort to even try. "I... I'm not sure I can..."

"Yes you can." He assured her. "Please, get up."

Nyota tried her best, but she could only bear a few seconds on her feet before her legs trembled and she fell to the ground. Pua and the other crocodiles realized what was going on, and led the hatchlings away, including Ukuru and Ungwana. They'd stay around, just out of sight and earshot.

"What about mama? And Makuu?" Ungwana asked.

"They'll catch up..." Pua said solemnly. It was a half-truth; only one of them would catch up.

Makuu was getting worried. A part of him foresaw what would happen, but he didn't want to accept it. "Mother, what's wrong?"

"My sweet little Makuu..." Nyota whispered. "I need you to promise me something..."

"What do you mean...?"

"Promise me you will look after your siblings..." Nyota coughed.

"But why...? You'll be there with us."

"I wish I could, my son... but I'm afraid my journey through the Circle of Life has come to an end."

"No it isn't! You just need some water, t-that's all...!"

"I don't have much time left, sweetie... Please promise me that no matter what... You'll always look after your siblings... They will need you more than ever. You are the eldest and they'll look up to you..."

By then, the little croc's eyes were almost watering. "But mother... What about you?"

"I will always be with you, Makuu... even if you cannot see me..."

Despite his denial at what was happening, Makuu managed to speak between his little sobs. "I promise, mother..."

With the little strength she had left, Nyota managed to look at her son and give him that kind, sweet smile everyone knew her for. He had taken after her physically, though he had his father's impatience and pride, but she knew that deep down he also had her heart. "I love you, my sweet little Makuu... Never forget it..."

With one last breath, she closed her eyes to never open them again.

"Mother...? Mother...?!"

"Mother!"

Makuu awoke with a start, but an almost instant choke from the ring on his neck brought him back to his senses. It didn't take him long to realize he was still trapped in the two-legs' den, along with all these prisoners which included...

He turned around to see Kiburi, and noted he was giving him an irritated glare, as if he had been unable to sleep.

"Aren't you a little old to call for mommy?"

Makuu blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Turns out you were talking in your sleep, and didn't let me sleep in the process with all your whining." Kiburi retorted.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Kiburi grunted and turned his head to the bird's hanging prison. "Hey, drongo."

"What is it?" she said.

"Would you mind repeating what our dear friend Makuu was mumbling in his sleep?"

"Are you sure? Won't he get mad?"

Kiburi gave Makuu an insufferable, mocking grin. "Oh, no, he won't mind."

The drongo cleared her throat and spoke in Makuu's voice. "Mother... Don't leave me... Don't go..."

"Okay, okay, I got the message!" Makuu snapped, his face red from embarrassment, cursing himself for mumbling in front of Kiburi of all animals. "What do you want me to say? 'I'm sorry'?!"

Kiburi snickered. "No need for that. The ashamed look on your face was actually worth it."

Makuu bared his teeth. "Oh, I can't wait to see the look on your face when I wipe the floor with your scaly hide!"

"STOP!" the zebra snapped, stomping her hooves and glaring at both crocodiles. "Instead of fighting amongst each other, we should be thinking together of a way to escape!"

"Not to mention that apparently the two-legs only keep 'presentable' animals alive." The aardvark added. "Get a wound or a scar and they'll take you away to... well, you know."

Makuu noted the aardvark had glanced at Kiburi in an almost... compassionate way when he said those last words, and Kiburi himself had winced slightly. Did they know something that he didn't? Had something happened? It seemed like Kiburi had been here for some time.

The narrow entrance opened once more, and again the two-legs came to feed the animals. And yet again, they didn't reply to any protests from the animals; they merely dropped the food and left without saying a word to them.

For a second time, Makuu ate his meat, but Kiburi didn't seem to want his. He shouldn't really care, but seeing Kiburi almost at the point of having visible ribs was worrying. When had been the last time he ate? He felt like asking him about it, but he kept his mouth shut in the last moment; Kiburi would most likely tell him to 'go to the Outlands', anyway. He wasn't in a talking mood either, except to argue with Makuu or tell the little elephant to stop sobbing in a rather harsh manner, which only made the elephant cry even more.

"Well if we're going to be stuck together, the least we can do is to know each other's name, right?" the cheetah said as he finished the last of his meat. "My name is Umoja."

The zebra lifted her head from her grass and said. "I'm Julisha."

"Usian." Said the Aardvark.

"Nurisha." The cobra hissed.

"Jafari." Snorted the impala.

"Kalere." The drongo chirped.

Makuu noticed the little elephant hadn't spoken yet, he was still sobbing. "How about you, little one?"

"Don't bother." Kiburi said, annoyed. "He doesn't talk, all he does is sob all day."

Makuu guessed it was his turn, then. "I'm Makuu."

"Actually, we sort of know who you are." Usian said with a frown. "You were quite the troublemaker when you became the leader."

Oh, great. "I was. Not anymore."

"For some reason, old Pua's words got into his head." Kiburi said bitterly, ignoring the glare he received from his fellow crocodile.

"And this is Kiburi, though I guess you know him as the crocodile who tried to assassinate King Simba."

"I wouldn't have gotten to that extreme if you hadn't reduced yourself to such a pathetic excuse of a crocodile."

"Don't you dare blame me for what you did!"

"Would you two stop it?!" Julisha snapped at them again, her ears pointing backwards. "You'll make them come again!"

Makuu would have continued to argue, but he knew better than to let Kiburi provoke him. Instead, he glanced at the other animals. "How long have you been here?"

"We don't really know, it's hard to tell when you're too busy worrying about what those animals will do to you." Nurisha said. "But if you wish to count, there's an opening there." She pointed at a sort of rectangular hole from which Makuu could see the blue sky, and it filtered quite a bit of light.

"Thank you." He said, before glancing at the window. At least it was something he was familiar with.

"Say, you say you were looking for that young brave ibis who tried to save me, right?" Usian pointed out.

"Yes."

"What for? Why would you care about a bird?"

"He's stooped so low as a crocodile that now he goes around playing mother to bird eggs." Kiburi responded before Makuu could.

"Kiburi, you-!" With some effort, he restrained himself from falling into his game, and answered on his own accord. "He was my son of choice. I promised his mother I'd look after him when she was killed by those black stones the two-legs use."

"Well, you did a good job. I never thought someone would be brave, or even reckless, enough to enter one of those beasts they transported us in to try and save someone."

Makuu did feel proud of Kitwana doing such a noble thing, but he was also mad that he had put his life in risk and now ended up who-knows-where because of that.

When he saw that chick again, they'd have a long talk.

Ever since his arrival, Kitwana had been on the edge about the she-man,-he learned from Jiji that her name was Joy-, but as time went on, he came to like her. She was nice, kind, and she gave him water to drink, not to mention she tended to his injured wing.

A few days later, Kitwana's wing had healed, and the 'cast' was removed, though he still tried not to move it much. Joy noted his inability to open his wings, and started a sort of 'rehabilitation exercise' that consisted of slowly and carefully opening and closing his wings without stretching them out too much. Little by little, she opened them more and more, but it would be a while before he could open them completely.

After his wing healed, Kitwana was allowed to wander outside the 'building', accompanied often by Jiji. There he spotted some other animals, some young orphaned rhinos and elephants, lions, even hyenas living in the area nearby, and most of them were grateful to the humans to the point the rangers could roam around the place without being attacked.

Jiji turned to be quite the cheery cat, and he knew lots of things about the Men's way of thinking. Kitwana resolved to learn as much as he could before returning to the Pride Lands, if only to help keep the other animals there from falling into the poachers' hands.

One of the first things he asked Jiji was about the black stones and branches. Jiji explained they were called guns, and the black stones were bullets: though he didn't understand how exactly they worked, he said they were made of metal and 'gunpowder', and could go cleanly go through a lion's skin and reach its heart if the shooter had the right precision.

Then came the humans' transport. Jiji took Kitwana over to one that was parked just outside the building, and jumped on top of it. It was called 'car', and it was no animal, it wasn't even alive. It was a mode of transport over long distances used by humans because they wouldn't go far by foot.

What surprised Kitwana the most was learning that in reality humans were... fragile. Despite their great intellect and their ability to create all of those things, they were weaker, smaller and more harmless than he originally gave credit for. A kick from a zebra, a mere claw swipe a lion, even a bite from a venomous snake was fatal to them, and that was the reason they always carried guns, to protect themselves.

Or in the poachers' case, to quickly dispatch animals before they could pose a serious threat.

After the 'lesson', Kitwana and Jiji headed over to a small watering hole, where a few hyenas were drinking. The scavengers paid them no heed, however.

"Those hyenas are nicer than the ones in the Outlands." Kitwana commented as he took a drink.

"Well, hyenas don't usually cause trouble if there's enough prey available in their territories." Jiji said.

"As if. There was a king in the Pride Lands who let the hyenas overhunt and in turn made the herds, and eventually the other carnivores, leave."

"That's what happens when you introduce a new species to an area." Jiji watched amused how Kitwana made a few water splashes in the lake to clean his feathers, but it turned to confusion when the fledgling lay down in the water and floated there with his head over the surface, almost like a... "What are you doing?"

"I'm basking." Kitwana said.

"Why do you bask? Birds don't need to bask."

"Crocodiles do."

Jiji was confused for a few moments, but then he figured out what was going on. "I see." Even the hyenas were staring at Kitwana in confusion, wondering what he was doing, before running off.

Kitwana noticed the cat was twitching the tip of his tail, and usually that meant he was thinking of something. "What?"

"You were an orphan, weren't you, kid?"

"Of course not! My father is Makuu, leader of the crocodiles!"

"You mean your adoptive father?"

"No, my father... Even if he doesn't want me anymore..."

Great, the imprinting thing had done it again. No wonder the fledgling's character was so... unbird like. It reminded him of the time one of Joy's co-workers incubated a clutch of orphaned eagle eggs, and the chicks thought he was their mother until they were put under a surrogate mother...

Wait, surrogate...

"Come on, kiddo." Jiji said suddenly, standing up. "Follow me."

"To where?"

"Oh, you'll see."

Despite his doubts, Kitwana left the water and followed Jiji to a more shallow part of the watering hole. He spotted long-legged birds in the banks; he initially thought they were Egrets like Ono, but then he realized they were different. Although these birds also had milky white plumage and long legs, their heads and beaks-as well as their legs-were completely black and lacked feathers. The tips of their wings were black, and they had a flufly tail of black feathers.

"These are sacred ibises, kiddo." Jiji explained.

"So what? Why did you bring me here?" Kitwana asked again.

Ignoring him, the cat called out. "Hey, Zumberi!"

One of the sacred ibises lifted his head from the water and approached the pair. "What do you need, Jiji?" he asked the cat politely, before spotting the young fledgling next to him. "Well, who do we have here?"

"This is Kitwana, Zumberi. Think he could stay with your flock for a while?"

Kitwana looked at the cat in shock. "What?!"

"Oh, I don't mind!"

"Thank you, I need to have a good stretch, I'll be back later. Thank you, Zumberi!"

Before Kitwana could protest, Jiji was already off and climbed on top of a tree. He grew nervous about being alone with more birds; the last time he was in a float, he had been treated as an outcast for his crocodilian habits. He hadn't noticed Jiji had winked at Zumberi, and the latter knew exactly what the cat wanted.

"So, what's your name little guy?" Zumberi asked politely.

"K-Kitwana." He responded nervously.

"I'm Zumberi, Kitwana. How about you join my flock for the time being and have something to eat?"

He only had to say the word food, even though Kitwana was still uncertain. "S-Sure..."

Kitwana followed Zumberi into the water, where the other ibises were dipping their beaks either to drink, or to catch a fish, snails, or crabs. None of them looked at him as if he were a freak, instead they gave him welcoming looks.

Also, for some reason, he didn't feel like an outcast himself, but instead he felt as if he were right at home. He watched Zumberi dip his beak into the water and emerge a few seconds later with a fish in his beak. Kitwana looked around and spotted a tiny fish swimming near his legs; silently he made his way towards it and snatched it up in his beak, gobbling it down.

"Where are you from, Kitwana?" Zumberi asked casually.

"From the Pride Lands." Kitwana explained. "I think it's far away, but I don't exactly know which way to go."

"And how did you end up so far from home?"

"It's a long story. One that involves saving a girl I liked from the poachers and then ending up getting lost."

"Are you parents back in the Pride Lands?"

"Sort of... I mean, I don't think my father wants me anymore."

Zumberi looked down at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"He said I'm not a crocodile and I would never be part of the float because I wasn't one... Then he gave me away to the Egrets so I could learn 'the proper behavior of my species'."

"...Kitwana, would you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Take a good look at your reflection."

Kitwana looked at him, confused. "What for?"

"Trust me. Look at your reflection."

Still confused, Kitwana looked downwards and stared at his reflection for a good while.

"What do you see?" Zumberi asked.

"Myself."

"Okay, now take a good look at you more closely."

Despite his doubts, Kitwana still did as told. Again, when he saw his reflection he didn't spot any crocodilian characteristics. No scales, no green coloration, no tail. Just a stupid curved beak, gray down that was halfway replaced with white plumage, and a bald head that was starting to become black.

Wait. Curved beak? White plumage? Black bald head?

He glanced at Zumberi's reflection, and realized he looked very much like him, except he was taller, his plumage was all white and sleek, and his head and legs were completely black. Technically, it was if he was glancing at his old self.

Zumberi's expression was friendly when Kitwana lifted his gaze to turn and look at him in confusion and shock. "We're of the same kind, Kitwana. You're a sacred ibis."