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"Feeling better," Nina asked when Simba had left them.
"Yeah," Bairi replied, "a little."
"I'm sure you'll get over it," Nina said comfortingly.
"You think so," Bairi asked, "it was so horrible."
"I've got to admit," Nina said, "it isn't to my liking..."
"Hey hey hey," came a voice from nearby. Bairi turned just as the voice's owner came into view. Another meerkat appeared, riding on the neck of a dark-brown, rotund, creature, with a black mane and pair of what might have been teeth, protruding from top jaw.
When the pair saw Bairi, they stopped and stared. "Hey boys," Nina said.
"oh, er, hey Ma," The other meerkat said, "um..."
"Yeah..." the larger creature said.
"Boys," Nina said, "meet Bairi." She waited a moment, then said a little more quietly, "Bairi, meet my son, Timon, and his best friend, Pumbaa the warthog."
"Oh, er, pleased to meet you," Bairi said.
"Yeah," Timon said. He waited a moment then asked "now Ma, would you care to explain to me 'what the hell is going on!'"
"Calm down Timmy," Nina said, as she felt Bairi shift uncertainly, "Bairi here wandered in on the jungle."
"Oh, right," Timon said, "so this..."
"Camel," Nina supplied.
"Yeah," Timon said, "so this camel walks in on the jungle, and you..."
"Hey Timon," Pumbaa said, "calm down would you, you're scaring him."
"Calm," Timon asked, "Pumbaa, it's my own moth..."
"Timon," Nina said, "I'm fine."
Timon stopped at this. After a few seconds, he sighed and said, "yeah that was a bit over the top." After a few more seconds, during which he seemed to regain his composure, he asked, "sorry 'bout that buddy, okay?"
"Bairi nodded, still a bit confused, then said, "yeah, er, okay."
"So," Timon said, "where you from anyway?"
"The desert," Bairi replied.
"Pff, yeah," Timon said, "good joke."
"Huh, joke," Bairi asked, "what joke?"
"Really the desert," Pumbaa asked.
"Really the desert," Bairi replied.
"Ah, come on," Timon said, "how do you live in the desert, by eating sand?"
"Well, we get the occasional oasis," Bairi replied, "but mostly it's just desert."
"What's to eat out there," Timon asked.
"Anything you can get," Bairi replied, "even bark if you have to."
"Hang on," Timon said, "you eat plants?"
"Yeah," Bairi replied, "why, what do you eat?"
"Bugs," Timon replied.
"Bugs," Bairi asked, "what are they?"
"You don't know what bugs are," Timon asked, "ah, come on, everyone knows what bugs are, surely."
"Well, I don't," Bairi said, a little defensively.
"They're everywhere," Timon said, "and, sure, they're not very big, but they taste great."
"Er, I still don't get you," Bairi said, "unless you're talking scorpions, I've them a few times."
"Well, scorpions ain't exactly what I was meaning," Timon said, "but they're close enough."
"And you eat them," Bairi asked, a touch incredulous.
"Yep," Timon said.
"Then next time I see a scorpion, I'll save it for you," Bairi said, "you're welcome to them."
"So, uh," Pumbaa began, noticing Bairi was a bit uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going, "what exactly these oasis things?"
"Oases," Bairi corrected, then explained, "they're basically just pools with a few palm trees around."
"They don't sound like much," Pumbaa said doubtfully.
"They aren't," Bairi said in reply, "but after days of endless dunes, who cares?"
"How about family, you got...," Timon began to say, then saw Bairi's reaction, "...oh?"
"Not a good topic boys," Nina said, "really, not a good topic."
There was an embarrassed silence, which was broken several minutes later, when Simba approached, and made a throat-clearing noise. Bairi turned to look, then said, "Sire."
"You're ready," Simba asked.
"As much as I'll ever be," Bairi replied.
"Okay then," Simba said, "follow me please." Bairi nodded, and began to follow.
"Would you mind if we sat in on this one," Timon asked.
Simba turned to regard him, and said, "I wouldn't mind, but then again, it's not my call."
Bairi understood the implication, turned to look at Timon and Pumbaa, then said, "I think I'd like that." He turned back to Simba and said, "and no offence or anything sire, but I'm not entirely..."
"...Comfortable," Simba asked, after several seconds of silence. "Don't worry," he said, when Bairi nodded, "you're perfectly safe."
"I know," Bairi said, "I know, but even so..."
"I understand," Simba said, then continued to walk.
The lions, both maned and maneless, were arranged in an arc, with a space in the centre between Kovu and a possibly older maneless lion, on who's other flank was the maneless lion Simba had talked to when he first arrived.
"Why do some have manes and others don't," Bairi muttered to Nina, as Simba moved into the space.
"The ones with manes are males," Nina replied, "the ones without manes are females, and are called lionesses."
"Oh," Bairi said, embarrassed at not having thought of it himself. He moved a little so that he was, he judged, at the centre of the arc, and knelt down. He was still too panicky to really notice the murmuring between the lionesses, until it stopped. When it did stop, he found his gaze drawn to Simba.
"And now," Simba said, carefully controlling his tone, "I think we'd like to hear a little bit of your story."
"Oh, er, certainly," Bairi said nervously. He spent a few panicky moments scanning the pride, before deciding that closing his eyes would keep him calmer. "I-it started with the sandstorm," He said, "they blow up all the time in the desert, and you can't but sit them out."
"The desert," one of the lionesses interrupted, "nothing can live in the desert." After a pause of a few seconds, the lioness said, "sorry."
"Carry on," Simba said."
"Right, er," Bairi said, getting his placing again. "The sandstorm blew up fairly quickly," he went on, "and so we all lay down to wait it out." He paused for a few moments, before continuing shakily, "but when it blew down, everyone else was gone." His voice was beginning to brake now, "they were all gone, all of them."
"Hey, easy easy," Timon said, and oddly enough, this seemed to help a little.
"In your own time," Simba said.
"They were all gone," Bairi repeated, "and, and there was this dark spot on the horizon."
"And you went towards it," another lioness asked.
"So I went towards it," Bairi said, "and it was the strangest place I'd ever seen."
"Where was this," another lioness asked, before another pause, and another apology.
"It was the jungle," Nina replied, "and, boy, were some of the others scared." There was a pause of a few seconds, then she said, "sorry sire, but..."
"Bairi," Simba asked, "are you well enough to continue?" The camel tried to speak, but his voice wasn't coming. "Very well," the king said, "Nina if you would be so good as to fill us in on the rest before it's time to retire?"
"I'll do what I can sire," Nina said in reply.
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