Hello again. I hope all of you are doing well.
Let's get this started.

I do not own The Lion King and I make no money writing this.


Chapter 2

Waking up went about as well as it could given her current circumstances. Neither Madoa nor Pua had drooled on her or squashed her during the night, she had had no nightmares and her mother wasn't screaming at her to get up. All in all a pretty good morning.

Vitani yawned widely and glanced around. She noted that Hazina and her older sister were still asleep next to her fath... next to the King.

She was no fool, no matter what the other lionesses and her mother seemed to think, she knew that King Scar was neither hers nor Kovu's father. Her mother had mated with another male while she was his Queen. She had overheard the rather loud conversation her mother had had with the King after he had practically disowned her – read: she had followed them and heard every single accusation of the King and her mother admitting to the infidelity.

Truth to be told, she had no idea how the King had caught onto her mother, after all Kovu looked almost exactly like him and she herself looked a lot like her mother. Furthermore she couldn't tell how the old King could be sure that Aushi actually was his daughter, seeing that his mate had already betrayed him once.

That and her sister looked like a female Simba with a reddish-golden pelt and their mother's black nose.

The cub liked her lips. She needed a drink, but going alone was forbidden. Perhaps Hazina... No, no getting involved with the King's new head-lioness; that was bound to end in disaster.

Jua or Kucha then, those two could drink up the entire river in the morning, and while they were her sisters BFFs it would not look the least as though she was trying to get back into the King's good graces. They were Aushi's friends and not his concubines, and she was Aushi's thirsty little half-sister that just wanted to get a drink and asked them to come with her. Perfect.

Vitani stretched lazily and got up, padding softly towards the two lionesses she wanted to accompany her. Gently batting at Jua's ear she kept an eye on her mother's sleeping form. This could take a while.

Having overheard her mother's conversation with the old King she wasn't surprised in the slightest when her mother lost the title of Queen and the high rank she once held. Truth to be told she was surprised that Scar let her mother, her brother and herself stay, because from what she had heard the former King of the Pridelands had once had a lioness killed for bearing the cub of a rogue. Then again Haraka wasn't the most reliable of sources.

What had her completely puzzled however was the fact that Scar let Kovu keep his title and his position as the heir to the throne and didn't say a single word about her mother's betrayal to the pride. She chewed on her lip and gave Jua's ear another gentle batting.

What was the old King planning? Surely he wasn't trying to have Aushi and Kovu mate, right? They were at least half-siblings, that would be ... urgh!

Suddenly Jua gave a snort, a sign that she was starting to wake up. Good thing that she was no mother, her reaction-times were terrible! Vitani gave that ear another bat, a bit harder this time, she wanted to be out of the cave before her mother had the chance to decide that her younger daughter needed to be "trained" some more.

She stole another glance at the ex-king and the two lionesses next to him. Perhaps he let Kovu have the heir-status until he had another male cub to give it to, one from which he knew without a doubt that it would be his and Aushi... was he training her secretly so that she could rule and teach her own new brother until he was ready should the King not live long enough?

The blue-eyed cub knew that the former King didn't have many moons left in him, his wounds from his battle against the usurper had healed badly and he had lost both his right ear and his entire tail. He was limping and it was a miracle that he had survived until he had found them again.

At least that was what bother her mother and Taarifu had discussed one evening.

"Vitani?" came the tired voice of the one she was attempting to wake "What is it?" a yawn "By the lioness in the moon it's still dark outside."

"I am thirsty and you are going to accompany me to the watering hole." She said, sitting in front of Jua's snout.

"Bossy, aren't we?" the older lioness gave another yawn. "You are more than capable of going to the watering hole by yourself."

A small face took on a grumpy expression. "That's forbidden and you know it."

The older one snorted "It is forbidden for cubs and you and Kovu hardly qualify for cubs anymore. Heck you are both more than a year old now."

"Mother will have my tail and your head if she hears about you trying to get me to go get a drink on my own." That earned her another, inelegant snort "Zira doesn't scare me anymore, cubby. In fact Zira doesn't scare anyone anymore."

"Yes she does!" "She doesn't cubby. Aushi and Hazina have more sway than her. Thinking about it, even Pua and Taarifu have more of a say in this pride than your mother does. And isn't that a shame? She went from being the Queen to a lowly pridesister faster than it took good old Queen Sarabi."

The younger lioness puffed up at the taunt. "Take that back. My mother still has rank, she still has a say in pride-matters." She knew it wasn't true, yet she still argued. It was more of a childish-reflex than anything else, really.

Another, lower snort came from beside Jua. "No, she hasn't. Face it cubby your mother's days of screaming us into submission are over." Kucha chimed in, eyes still closed. "But I'll tell you what: We take you to the watering hole and you stop being so loud. Wouldn't want to wake the King or your mother, would you?"

Face still contorted in light anger Vitani quickly shook her head no. Anything, but the King and her mother awake at this time of the day.

"Good." And the dark furred lioness stretched herself, yawned and got up. "Then let's go. Aushi, Jua, Haraka and I are going to be out hunting the rest of the day and I would like to get some more hours of sleep before we have to go."

"Besides," the lighter coloured grown lioness pointed out "while your mother lost her position of power her yelling remains a pain in the tail. She is loud and I swear Ulimi, may the lions of the past watch over her poor soul, went deaf at some point due to all the screaming."

Together the three lionesses left the cave and went too to watering hole. All three of them were hoping that good, old Zira would still be asleep by the time they returned, all three of them for different reasons.


And done. I hope you liked it.
Your thoughts are always welcome.

BlueNightOwl out.