I.
Kovu only paused briefly by his sister,he could sense Kiara was starting her contractions and knew that they needed to get to the Inlands quickly.Still,he felt compelled to look.
Vitani was sprawled out on her back,her underside swollen and exposed to the world.The unnatural display made him turn her over to her side so that she looked to be sleeping.
He was about to move on when he sensed a lioness come up to talk to him."If she is opened,we may rescue the cub."
That knowledge made something perfectly clear to him as he felt the lioness writhing with expectation to deliver.Kovu turned to give her a nod and then on back to his kingdom.
"Tell the pride to move them back,"he instructed."Go on."
"What about you and Kiara?"
The lion responded by racing off toward the Inlands,his big paws clawing the stone and mud as he blazed his way on down the trail to where two stone archways greeted him.
Kovu kept right on running,knowing he had to find a spot for Kiara's birth and face down this King Nalan that Sarafina had spoken of.He had an idea,but time was greatly critical.
He barely got a chance to marvel at the sweeping greenary that stretched across every inch of the island.Since a large amount of room was available,grazers spread far and wide.
It was easy to get turned around and Kovu was getting set to stop in order for the cub to be delivered,when a range of wide-mouthed,limestone caves came into view not very far.
Not heeding the fact that he might be ambushed by a group of unwelcoming Inlander lions,Kovu started to climb up a tall pile of smooth,step-like stones that lead up to the platform.
No one was around.The sound of the surf was somewhat in the distance and a faint drip from deep inside the heart of the caves let Kovu know that water was very plentiful here.
"Hello,"A voice husky with age said."Lovely scene,isn't it?"
He turned to look up at a mustard-yellow lion that looked to be Tu,but much older.And bigger.Kovu was a good size now but the lion laying above a cave opening was twice his size.
"You sent your son after Scar."Kovu said quickly,feeling his mate growing tense and wishing he had left her in the care of the lionesses."To kill him and all traces of him.Correct?"
"You're very demanding for an intruder."The giant lion came down in one single pounce,calm and incredibly intimidating as he went to stand before the younger and smaller male.
Instantly there were many lionesses that were behind him, all of them leering with great suspicion.Kovu did not look at them.If he died,he wanted to look into the eyes of his killer.
"Do you know the lioness on that lion's back is?"
The lion and his lionesses looked over as Sarafina arrived.
Kovu watched as Nalan's all-knowing expression dropped.
"Honey..."His voice quivered in silent shock.
"I said,"she repeated tersely."Do you know who the lioness on this lion's back is?It's our granddauther.She lost both of her parents.I've lost my daughter,my son and you as well."
"My daughter and son,"he approached her much as she'd approached Tu with the same delusional hope."I've waited so long to see them and you,Sarafina,I've dreamt of often."
Nalan came closer to her,but instead of coming up to nuzzle him she tackled him to the ground with tears spilling out of her green eyes.She was shaking with pure rage fueling her.
"Our daughter is dead because of your son Tu and Simba is dead because your son killed him.What were you thinking?!Teaching him about eliminating traces of Scar.Our daughter, graddaughter and son-in-law are NOT traces of that fiend!"
Sarafina bit him once on the mane,causing him to let out a small,pained roar."Your son is more like Scar then anyone ever was!"she backed away from him to a groaning Kiara.
Kovu immediately laid her down and,stood right at her side as his wife's grandmother coaxed a golden-brown ball of fur to the stone floor.The infant gurgled and squirmed around.
Nalan watched very silently from the side,trembling a bit as he watched his great-grand child being delivered.Than as a second brown cub came wriggling to life,he turned his eyes.
As the two started paddling tiny front paws over to get at one of their mother's tits,Kovu nosed them gently to some. They were a little slippary,but they latched on very quickly.
He smiled in a fatherly fashion,suddenly exhausted,and laid down to rest his chin on Kiara's neck in the warm sun.The rest of the pride mumbled,but he could not keep his lids up.
x.x.x
Sarafina stood beside the young family and waited for her mate of two cubs to say something.She knew what loss was,as she knew what life,love and betrayal were.Did he?
"What can I say?"The large lion asked her,looking very old and debilitated."I didn't tell my son to kill his sister or other relatives.When I told him traces of Scar,I meant followers."
"You meant blood relatives also."
"I'm not the vengeful type,Sara.What I meant by getting rid of all traces was getting rid of his followers through exiling."
"You're lying,"she said earnestly."You never met my eyes when we were younger when you lied.Most of my family is gone and I won't leave the rest.You better find your son."
"Where is he?"Nalan demanded roughly.
"He left his wife and cubs to die at the edge of the Inlands."
"I'm sorry."
She tried to mask her feelings."I'm sure you are."
The lion looked over at his pride,out into the trees and took off in that direction as fast as his old feet would carry him.It had been a long journey,Sarafina noted to herself.Too long.
II.
As Kiara stirred she noticed that she was laying on her side in a wide,cool area.The stone floor felt nicely moist and very refreshing after sleeping uncomfortably for all those nights.
"Kiara."She heard a familiar voice say her name softly.
Kovu was sitting behind her,looking down thoughtfully into her umber-red eyes.The lioness tried to move but found she had two small forms attached to her with very strong grips.
"They're beautiful,"she commented joyfully and nuzzled her son and daughter."They're everything I hoped they were..."
They met eye to eye unsurely.Neither knew just what to say after all that had happened,after their last encounter in the oasis.Kiara forced herself not to look at his scarred eye.
"Can you see out of it?"Her voice didn't go above a breath.
He didn't respond.
Bravely,she willed herself to look at him fully.The mark was deeper then the other one and he kept it completely closed.
Kovu continued to stare at her blankly."What you said back at the oasis,"he finally spoke."You don't know how much of an impact your words have,Kiara.They're what brought us together after our prides fought,but they can also hurt too."
She sighed quietly.
"Words are the deepest wounds.They're hardest to heal."
The lioness looked outside to see that it had grown thickly into darkness.It was her first time here and it was at night.
"And only actions can mend those wounds."she said more to herself then anything before turning back to him."I don't blame you.What happened in the past is what happened."
Kiara moved over to him and upon seeing him try to restrain himself from letting his emotions out,she pressed her head against his chest.Letting some of his pain become her own.
Slowly,Kovu pushed her against him and wrapped his arms around her.The loss of his sister swelled into Kiara but she stayed with him.They would endure this suffering together.
They would endure all suffering together.
"Please don't ever leave again."He requested.
"I won't,"she promised in a soft sob."Or this kingdom.Ever."
"And I won't either,from now to hereafter."Kovu pledged.
III.
Morning radiance filled the profusing green treetops like a web of gold,where brillantly-colored parrots flapped their wings fast in a backwards stretch and grazing animals came out to taste the first soft,sweet leafs bespeckled with dew.
But they bypassed these in order to migrate over to where the new king was standing with a lioness.Both smiled as a young mandrill came forward bearing bundles in his arms.
He was the grandson of Rafiki.
The conjoined lionesses of former Inlanders,Outlanders and Pridelanders were joined to form what would be called the Pride-Inlands.With a small cub between one lionesses feet.
Vitani's cub,Rashow,with his new adopted mother.
Pumbaa and Timon stood not far off with their girlfriends at one side of the cave platform and Zazu stood by the pride.
Kiara lifted her eyes to see her father's face in the sun,then turned to meet Kovu's eyes.He nudge her with his shoulder.
"You survived without me for four weeks,amazing."
She nudged him back playfully.The two looked down at their cubs Ceree and Tanasu,gave them a nuzzle and roared out to their kingdom in declaration of the three different things.
1.The declaration of Kiara as queen.
2.The declaration of their new cubs.
3.The start of a new life in he Pride-Inlands
The End.
A/N:Thank you all my loyal readers.Wouldn't have gotten this far without you.I'll make a mid-queal about this story sometime in the near future.