Daren woke up in the warm den and looked around him. Sunlight was pouring in from outside and he blinked in surprise. As he stood up, his whole body began to ache and he frowned, trying to figure out where he was. Then, the flood of memories came back to him and he felt as if his heart would break. Sinking down onto the den floor again, he laid his head on his paws and his eyes filled with tears. He wished the animal that had comforted him when he was falling asleep was still there.

Daren's ears perked up when he heard something outside the den and a second later, Rafiki stepped inside. He went over to the little prince and patted him on the shoulder.

"Come outside, Daren," he whispered.

Daren followed Rafiki out of the den and found himself the large clearing from the night before. He looked up and a bit of a smile came onto his face. He hadn't just imagined the rock above the den. It was really there. And, it looked exactly like a smaller version of Pride Rock. Daren looked again at the rock in surprise. One of the animals from the night before was standing on top of it, looking out over the clearing. The animal looked ever stranger in the sunlight. Frowning, Daren remembered the strange animal had introduced himself as "Jayson".

Jayson looked down at Daren, and smiled gently. Then, he looked out across the clearing and the soft breeze ruffled his soft, fluffy reddish-brown fur. After a few moments, he leapt off the rock and came to sit facing Daren. Jayson was only just a bit bigger than Daren but his eyes were full of compassion and wisdom.

"Prince Daren -"

"Can you please just call me Daren?" The cub was a bit surprised at his own outburst, after being quiet for so long. Jayson smiled.

"Of course, please forgive me. Now Daren, last night I introduced myself to you. I am the leader of this pack, and this is my mate, Cayliess." He motioned to an animal that looked somewhat similar to him, but with some prominent differences. Daren realized that she was the animal who had comforted him the night before.

Then Daren frowned. "But what are you?" he asked. As he waited for the answer, he noticed the three deep scars on Jayson's hip and had to stop himself from gasping. They were just like Daren's new scar.

Jayson knew that Daren had wondered where he had got the scar, but he also knew that it wasn't the time to be talking about it. Instead, he just smiled. "We are called floxes. We're a cross between lions and smaller animals called foxes. We are much smaller than lions, but we can hunt just as well."

They're such strange animals, thought Daren. But he was so grateful to Jayson and his pack for helping him, that he didn't even care.

Jayson looked up and nodded, as he noticed a pretty lioness walking towards them. She came and sat down beside him.

"Daren, this is Lisha," said Jayson, looking over at the creamy lioness. Daren's eyes followed Jayson's gaze and he noticed two long scars that ran down her neck. As if the flox could read his thoughts, he answered Daren's question. "When Lisha was young, she was attacked. We happened upon her after it had happened, and she was very near death. She was able to tell us her name, and a bit of what had happened, but then she fell unconscious. When she woke, she was so injured that she was unable to speak. To this day, she has no voice." Shaking his head, Jayson sighed. Then he looked up at Lisha, and the lioness smiled at him. Smiling back, he turned to Daren. "Lisha has agreed to take care of you. You'll live in her den with her – that is, if it's alright with you."

Daren looked up at the lioness, feeling a little bit afraid. His eyes met hers, and he immediately nodded. Her eyes had calmed him right away, and he felt somehow connected to her.

"Yes Jayson," he replied. "That's just fine."

Jayson smiled, his heart feeling less heavy at the thought that Daren might be able to be raised to become a great leader, like he would have been under his father's direction. Jayson could just remember that his father had been a close friend to the Pride Land King, Kovu. Jayson remembered visiting the Pride Lands once with the pack, and his first meeting with Rafiki. He had been younger then, and less knowledgeable, but he had deeply respected Kovu's great son, Kimoni. The evening before, Jayson had mourned inside when Rafiki had told him of the great King's murder.

As Daren sat in the clearing, he noticed Lisha looking at him. Her eyes seemed to draw him towards her, and she smiled. Then she turned and walked towards her den. Daren felt almost as if she had been calling him, and so followed her. They went into a den, bigger than Jayson's den had been, but still very comfortable. The soft sand and mossy branches covered the floor, and a bit of sunlight filtered into the den from the entranceway, giving it just the right amount of light. Daren smiled, and the lioness smiled back down at him. As she did so, Daren drew back in surprise. Lisha had a marking on her left cheek, the fur of it lighter than the rest of her. It looked just like a moon. Daren frowned. Didn't his name have something to do with the night sky? Daren realized that he was still exhausted, and went to lie down. Then, he thought the better of it, and stood up again. Looking up at the lioness, he tilted his head a bit.

"Lisha, can I please go back to sleep? I'm still so tired."

Lisha looked down at the sleepy cub and smiled. She nodded slowly, and then went over to a mossy patch and settled down. Daren went over to her and she pulled him into the deep moss. Soon he was fast asleep, with Lisha watching over him.

Weeks passed as Daren spent his time living with the floxes. At night, he slept in the den with Lisha, and during the day, he did things around the forest with Jayson. He explored the woods, and the kind flox leader taught him many things. Daren was even allowed to watch a couple times while the floxes hunted, although he was still too young to attempt doing it himself. He began to love the floxes like he had loved his own family in the Pride Lands. He deeply respected Jayson, and was always grateful to Cayliess for being so kind to him. There were a few other floxes too, that he really liked. Among his favorites were a few adventurous hunters and a very good story teller.

Daren also noticed that he had grown very close to Lisha. Although she never made a sound, he was able to understand what she was thinking or saying. Sometimes, Daren just liked to sit and talk to her, and feel that she knew exactly how he felt. She really was a caring lioness, and he couldn't have asked for a better one to have taken care of him when he was so far from his mother.

And sometimes, Daren even played with the flox cubs. He had to be very gentle though, because they were so much smaller than him. The young fluffy cubs loved him, and would come running whenever they saw him. In fact, a few of them began to call him Uncle Daren, which made him chuckle quite a bit. But although Daren had been learning and grown so much, he still was a young cub himself. It was hard for Jayson to imagine that the young lion had already been through so many devastating things.

One beautiful morning, Rafiki wandered over to where Daren sat, watching the sunrise. The baboon looked at the young prince, and smiled. Daren had learned so much since the first night they had been there. And he had been able to heal quite a bit, from all his terrifying experiences.

Rafiki placed his hand gently on Daren's shoulder, and Daren knew what was coming.

"I must go back to the Pride Lands. Do you want me to take your mother a message?"

Daren nodded. "Please tell her I love her," he said. Then he thought for a moment. Looking around the clearing, he dashed out of it and searched through the bushes. Pressing deeper and deeper into the forest, he finally found what he was looking for. Finally he returned with a white daisy in his mouth. Rafiki smiled as the young cub walked towards him. "Please take this to Kianga," he said. The baboon nodded, and hugged Daren tightly.

"Take care, Daren. I will be back soon to help you more with your studies. Until then, be safe." He hugged Daren again before taking the flower gently and walking over to say goodbye to Jayson and Cayliess. Then he left the clearing, as Daren watched the last link to his mother and Kianga leave him.

Suddenly, Daren was aware of someone sitting next to him. He turned to look, and gazed over at Lisha's comforting eyes. Daren snuggled close to the lioness. Her eyes seemed to say, "don't worry, everything will be alright." Daren nodded, before he fell asleep against his dear guardian.

And meanwhile, Rafiki traveled on towards the Pride Lands. How good it would be to be back at home. Or so he thought.