Chapter 2 - The Pain of Familiarity

My eyes grew wide, and I jumped up and backed away as far as I could. It wasn't far to the wall though. The lion was still in range to attack me.

The lion stared at me, and he smiled and chuckled. If possible, my eyes grew even wider and my jaw fell. He smiled like a human! What was going on?

Then, to my complete astonishment and fear, the lion opened his mouth.

"Calm down young one. You have sustained some injuries. It would be best not to move around the way you are now. You could damage yourself again."

Nothing could have prepared me for this. If at all possible, my jaw fell even more. A talking lion? Was I going insane?

As these thoughts bounced back and forth through my head, I realized that what the lion had spoken of, as creepy as it was to see and hear him speak, was true. My right arm that was burned, which was scabbed and blistered, had broken open and began to seep blood. I closed my eyes and slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

I heard the padding of footsteps come closer to me, and my eyes snapped open. The lion was standing feet away from my face. Fear flooded my mind, and I shut my eyes again, waiting for him to chomp at my face.

Instead, I heard him lean forward. Then I felt a large tongue lick at my arm. I opened my eyes, and saw him cleaning the wound. Then he backed away, but only a few feet. I looked into his eyes to see if I could see his intentions. There was comfort and kindness in them. And, as I had with the lioness I saw earlier, I saw some familiarity in his eyes.

He looked at me and smiled.

"W-who are you?" I asked, shakily.

"I am King Mufasa, the ruler of these Pride Lands." he replied.

It took me a moment to make the connection. Then I remembered what I'd learned in elementary school all those years ago;

The lion is the king of the jungle.

I had never thought to take such a statement so literally. I always believed that it was merely a metaphor to express the power and majesty of the lion.

"Where am I? How did I get here?" I asked, gaining some confidence. The kindness in those shining orbs made it difficult for me to fear him. It was a look I had only seen from one person…my father.

"You are in Pride Rock, the home of the king and his pride." He said "My mate, Sarabi, found you out in the grasslands while she was hunting. When you collapsed, she brought you back here."

Out of the semidarkness, padded in a lioness, the very same one I had seen before I was knocked out. She was a dark tan color, and very powerfully built, like her mate. Clearly, she was a lioness who did a lot of hunting. The one thing I instantly recognized the most was in her face. That piercing stare of hers held such a familiarity in my eyes. It was the gaze my mother had. The same look that she would penetrate me with every time I looked at her.

Sarabi walked up to King Mufasa and sat next to him, her gaze never leaving me.

Mufasa continued, "Our shaman, Rafiki, came and healed your wounds. Although he said your arm would take some time to fully heal."

I stared at them, the shock of the situation ebbing away. I turned to Mufasa's mate.

"Thank you for helping me." I said to her.

She nodded and smiled. "You are welcome, strange one."

A burning question was poised at the tip of my tongue, and it slipped out before I could stop myself.

"It's not that I'm not grateful, but why did you help me? Why didn't you…" I hesitated before the next part, "you know, eat me?"

Both Mufasa and Sarabi laughed. Then Sarabi spoke.

"To be honest, you intrigued me. I saw you sitting on the log, and I approached to see what you were. I'd never seen anything like you before! I've heard stories of humans, mostly from Mufasa, but until now, I'd never seen one. I had no intention of eating you. Or to scare you for that matter, but apparently I failed at that." She added.

"Well," I replied, still gazing at her intently, "we humans usually hear of lions attacking and killing other humans. I thought you were getting ready to pounce on me."

I could not stop looking into her eyes! I saw my mother in those glittering red-orange orbs! Why it was there, I have no idea, but there she was, staring at me through the eyes of this lioness!

Mufasa spoke, which brought me back to reality.

"What is your name? And what is your purpose for being in my kingdom?"

He spoke kindly, but with the tone of a king; the tone of one who expected to be answered.

I sighed, and said, "Ayden. My name is Ayden."

Mufasa smiled, and then repeated "And your purpose for being here, Ayden?"

I looked away from the both of them. "I'm just passing through. I am completely alone. Only two weeks ago, I lost my family in a tragic accident. So now I'm stranded here, with no friends, no family, and I have run out of food and water." I felt my eyes water as I spoke of my family. I held back my tears, for I did not want to cry in front of the king.

I looked back at the two lions. There was sadness in their eyes. Sarabi walked forward to me, and nuzzled me.

"Ayden, I am so sorry for your loss. I know how you feel. I lost my parents recently too." Then she looked at me again with those eyes, and it was too much for me.

The tears rolled down my cheeks again, and I flung myself at her, wrapping my arms around her neck. Silently, I wept, and she made no movement to get me off. She merely put her paw over my shoulder and held onto me. I deeply appreciated her gesture of sympathy. The pain I felt inside was slowly ebbing away. Having somebody to cry onto, to hold onto, was a great comfort that I had been secretly wanting since the accident.

When I finally broke the embrace, I looked at her again and smiled. She returned it, and then said, "Ayden, I need to speak to Mufasa for a moment. Will you wait here until I return? I won't be long."

I had a lump in my throat that stopped the words from passing my lips, so I just nodded. She returned to the Mufasa, who smiled at me sympathetically. They then left the cave together.

I watched as the two of them left, and then I stood up. I sighed, almost happily. The grief I felt was still there, but somehow, I felt better than I had felt in the last few weeks. All the questions in my head had subdued. Nothing really mattered. These lions could talk, and that was all there was to it. What was more, these lions were friendly and had sympathy for me. They cared.

I thought of asking if I could stay for a little while, just until my wounds healed. Then I would leave and continue west. I didn't want to be a burden to them.

By now, my eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the cave, and I could see the entire place clearly. It was a round cave with an opening on the opposite side of where I stood. The path rounded a corner, and out of sight. The faint light of the sun shone from around that corner. In the center of the cave was a flat rock, slightly raised up. I could only assume, whatever this room was for, that Mufasa and Sarabi belonged there, on that raised area. It was almost like a throne.

To my far left, leaning against the wall, was my backpack. I walked over to it to see if it was still in tact. Everything was accounted for. My sleeping bag was scuffed up from being dragged in the dirt, but it was still usable. My small knife was there, as well as the unopened mini-tent. The lantern was fully functional, and the bug spray still had the cap on it. The seal was unbroken. In the bottom, I found a value pack of batteries I bought for the lantern. All my clothes I packed were perfectly in tact.

I zipped up my backpack, and sat next to it, waiting for Mufasa and Sarabi to return. One thing still remained on my mind…why did they have my parent's eyes? Mufasa had those of my father; kind, fun, but stern if he needed to be. Sarabi had my mother's; sympathetic, loving, and happy. Why would I see them in these two? I've known them for five minutes, and already I felt a strong bond between us.

Just then, they both reentered. I stood up, ready for whatever they were going to tell me. They stopped about a yard in front of me.

Mufasa smiled at me, and asked, "Ayden, were you planning on staying with us?"

"Yes," I said sheepishly. I knew it sounded rude to voice my thoughts that I would just stay without permission so I added, "I wanted to stay with you and your pride, if his majesty permits it, just until I have nourished myself back to health. Then I'll be on my way."

Sarabi smiled and chuckled a little bit. "Actually," she began, "we were going to ask you if you wanted to stay with us indefinitely...unless you have somewhere to go."

I thought for a moment before I delivered my answer. Did I really have a place to go? Where COULD I go? I had no methods of getting home, no place to stay when I got there, nobody to stay with.

"No," I sighed, "there is nothing for me there. All my family is dead. And I don't have any friends who would wonder where I was."

"So you will stay?" Mufasa asked. Was that a hint of hope in his voice?

I hesitated for a moment. Then, I smiled and said "Yes. I'll stay."

"Wonderful!" Sarabi said happily. "Follow us. We need to introduce you to the rest of the pride. We don't want them making the mistake of hunting you by accident."