It was late afternoon and the sun still shone warmly overhead, illuminating the splendorous Pride Rock with its light. From the cave, Dan came out to contemplate the magnificent green landscape, alive and full of adventures that were the Pride Lands. After all, it was his favorite place to reflect and enjoy the tranquility of the world.

"It's strange," he thought, "I really feel at ease, but..."

He felt his heart beat softly in his chest…

"I would like to know..." he muttered.

"What do you want to know?" asked a voice behind him.

Dan looked away from him. There, a full-grown crimson-maned lion was walking toward him, a little reeling from injury, but already on the mend.

Simba!" Dan said, "Sorry, I'm having a little getting used to, how are you?"

"I'm fine" Simba replied smiling, "Now, regarding getting used to it, you can do it, how are you? What does your heart tell you?

"Well… I still have a little trouble getting used to it… I mean, now I am starting to live here... So much time being… with my other uncle…"

Dan didn't want to remember that suffering too much, so it didn't end. Before he knew it, he felt the lion's padded paw on his head.

"Don't worry," Simba told him, "Someone taught me that you can either run from the past or learn from it. And apparently, you are learning a lot"

"Thank you" Dan replied cheerfully.

"Dan!" Shany's voice called from behind him, "Dan!"

Shany arrived not only accompanied by her mother, Tiifu, but also with Kiara.

"Shany, what's wrong?" Dan asked.

"Tomorrow we will go to practice" replied her friend.

Dan was doubtful, but Kiara cleared that up for him:

"Tiifu, Zuri and I will go hunting with Shany and Akira" she told him, "If you want, you can join us"

(Zuri has a daughter too: she was Akira)

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Shany urged.

"Well…" Dan replied, with quite a few doubts. But, seeing Simba nodding to him, he knew that he had to go, "Yes, I would like to"

"Well," Kiara said, ruffling his lock of hair with her paw, "I was hoping that would be the case."

"Good!" Shany said, shaking Dan with happiness.

(The next morning…)

For the first time, Dan had fallen asleep from too many thoughts the day before. Kiara, who had indeed woken up early, stirred him a bit.

"Mmm," Dan growled sleepily, "Five more minutes, Mom…"

"Wake up sleepyhead..." Kiara said softly, tickling him a little, "It's time for hunting practice."

"Ok... I woke up" he replied, opening his eyes, getting up and yawning.

Dan followed Kiara outside, where the cool morning air of the Pride Lands washed over the cub's face. He was thankful now for being so fluffy, because it was also slightly cold. As soon as they got out, they ran into Tiifu and Zuri, and also Shany and Akira.

"Dan" introduced Shany to other female cub, "She is Akira: Zuri's daughter. Akira, he is Dan"

"Um... hi"

"Hi" Akira said, "So... are you the future Pride Land's Prince?"

"Em..."

(At the same time...)

"Good morning, Your Majesty," Zuri said to Kiara. Then she said to the cubs: "Ready to practice being a hunting lion?"

"Zuri, you know you don't need to call me Majesty…" Kiara replied, "You and Tiifu are my best friends. Anyway, ready cubs?"

"I hope that your little prince is ready" Tiffu said.

Dan felt a little embarrassed.

"Ready all?" Tiifu asked, as if she were the leader, "Let's go to the meadow!"

"Is your mom always like this?" Dan asked Shany.

"She has loved hunting competitions since she was a cub" Shany told him.

They all walked for a while while, on the horizon, the sun slowly rose waking up the rest of the meadows. The adult lionesses led the cubs, which trailed behind them.

"Did your mom just call me prince?" Dan asked Shany.

"Of course Dan" Akira interrupted, "As long as Kiara is going to be the queen and I suppose that you are her son, that makes you the prince of the Pride Lands"

"Well, our moms are Kiara's advisors" Shany said, "and they've really admired your queen title since they were cubs. It's normal to call you prince"

Dan had a strange feeling in his stomach: a mixture of pride and shame at being considered a 'prince'.

"I can't wait to start hunting" Akira said, "The stalking, the surprise, the excitement... I want to be one of the best hunting lionesses, and you?"

"Well, I want to learn to hunt too" Shany replied, "And you, Dan?"

"Well I…" Dan replied. However, he didn't know what to say: in his past life, he had never liked hunting (all because of his evil uncle). Although…now things had changed (literally)…could he do that?

"Stop!" Tiifu said, almost in a whisper and waking Dan again, "We are about to reach the prairie. But first, we need to teach them the basics."

"Okay, let's get started," Kiara said, "What's the end goal of the hunt?"

"Catch the prey" Akira replied.

That made Dan sick to his stomach: he never meant to hurt animals.

"Mmm... Really?" Kiara questioned giving a serious look and the cub knew she had given the wrong answer, "Years ago, evil hyenas also hunted to catch their prey, but they caused a lot of terror to the herds, there was a lot of famine, why did this happen? "

"Because they did not respect the circle of life" Shany answered this time, "If there is excessive hunting, the herds would become scarce and several would starve"

Dan listened carefully to the words of his friend.

"Very well answered, Shany," Kiara said, "Hunting not only keeps us alive, Akira, but also helps control the number of packs"

"So you know," Zuri stated, "we don't overhunt, got it? Okay, next is what we're going to hunt: packs. They are groups of animals that move together. We lions also form packs"

The cubs listened carefully to each concept. Of course, the most timid in that was Dan, since he had never done such a thing.

"We hunt in packs," Zuri continued, "We can hunt Wildebeest, Zebra, Antelope, and more. They inhabit this place and we will show you how to do it. Since you are cubs, you will practice with other animals"

"Wait a minute, what about us?" asked Akira, "what are we going to practice hunting with?"

"Hmm..." Kiara replied, looking over the bushes ahead towards the prairie, "Well, there aren't that many antelope or zebras... Yeah, I think a small antelope would be nice."

"Okay... I'll teach you first!" Tiifu said.

Tiifu advanced to the bushes that overlooked the open field on the prairie. There, several antelopes were grazing in the open field. The lioness posed in a stalking position, head and tail low, camouflaging her fur with the leaves. Gently, he moved to a safe distance from the herd of zebras. For a split second, nothing happened, but an antelope felt something and moved.

Tiifu leaped at the zebra with the characteristic ferocity of a lioness. The antelope fell face down on the ground in fear, but her attacker did not plan to eat it, for despite having already caught it, she let it go.

"Awesome mom," Shany said when she returned, "why didn't you catch it?"

"No," her mother replied, "I'm not that hungry. Respect the circle of life, remember? Alright Zuri, it's your turn."

To continue, they had to walk for a while to closely follow the herd that had been scared by Tiifu's first attempt. When they had caught up with them, Zuri proceeded to demonstrate her hunting method. Compared to Tiifu, she didn't do it with such speed, it seemed like he did it with grace and skill.

"I got a little dirty, but I'm not very hungry either," she said when she returned, "Your turn, Kiara."

Again, they had to get close to the herd. Then, Kiara stalked the pack, approaching carefully. Since her first hunt (years ago), she had become an expert because, as soon as the antelope heard the movement, the lioness had already pounced on him. And, in a quick movement, she was left on the ground, with the lioness deciding her fate. However, like her friends, she let him go.

"Okay, enough of the demonstrations," Kiara said as she returned, turning to the cubs, "It's your turn."

"It seems difficult… even the smallest…"

"Don't worry," Kiara urged, "Since this is your first time, you'll work together to make it. Now, you must devise your strategy"

Shany, Akira and Dan then formed a circle and began to plan their strategy.

"Well, I propose that we surround it" proposed Akira, "We must prevent it from escaping"

"Then I'll take it to you," Shany said, "To those trees so it can't move. Akira will close a path for him. When it's cornered, Dan, you'll jump in and catch it, okay?"

"Okay…okay…" Dan said, a little wary.

The cubs put the plan into action, with Shany lunging at a small gazelle that had become separated from her and chasing it into a wooded area. As planned, Akira had waited for him and jumped to block his way. The gazelle was cornered: the only path it had now was where Dan was, inching closer.

"Your turn Dan!" Shany yelled at him, "You can!"

The gazelle seemed to see the fear in the cub, so she took a chance and ran towards him. Dan, closing his eyes, launched himself. But, as expected, he found himself rolling in the grass, while the prey escaped.

Neither Shany nor Akira said anything in that situation. But when the adult lionesses arrived, Kiara, who had seen what had happened, asked Zuri and Tiifu to leave Dan for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Kiara asked, who was now looking at him.

"I don't think I can..." he replied, getting up embarrassed.

Dan just sat down. Then Kiara, understanding how Dan felt, reached out like a mother trying to cheer up her son.

"You freaked out, right?" she asked.

Dan just nodded.

"You don't have to be afraid, Dan," Kiara told him, "I know it sounds hard, but you can do it."

"But you have the ability to have always been a lioness…" Dan muttered sadly, "I… don't feel good when I do this. I mean... I don't want to hurt others."

Kiara gently pulled Dan to her side. When feeling the contact of the warm fur, the cub stopped feeling sadness, because it was something maternal. Then, he felt her lick him gently, ruffling his lock of hair.

"I know you are someone humble and kind" she told him, "But being a lion doesn't mean you always have to hunt: we respect the circle of life. We do not hunt to satisfy our hunger, but that of many"

Dan remembered how he had been fed when he had arrived at Pride Rock. Steeling himself, he asked Kiara:

"Can you teach me again?"

Kiara then taught him her method of hunting, concentrating on the smoothness of the movement of the legs, relaxation, stealth and, above all, on the security of her actions: she reminded him that one does not hunt to satisfy oneself, but to respect the Cycle of life. When they were ready, Dan tried again, approaching another herd of gazelles.

Dan now seemed more sure of his actions, because like Kiara, he surprised the small and innocent gazelle. However, despite having knocked him down thanks to the element of surprise, he did not do her any damage. If not, on the contrary, he helped her up.

"Sorry for the scare," he told her, "I was just practicing."

The gazelle looked at him a little doubtful. After seeing each other for a while, she said cheerfully instead of indignantly:

"Hey, are you that cub that was presented on the rock, aren't you?" she said to Dan's surprise, "The new prince, right?"

"Eh... so to speak..." he replied somewhat blushing, "But just call me Dan, please"

"Nice to meet you, Dan. My name is Nya, my mother is Swala"

They did not continue talking, because at that moment, a shout from another gazelle could be heard.

"Nya...?" she said, "Where are you?"

"Sorry, I have to go," Nya said to Dan, "My mom worries if I stray from the pack. See you soon, Dan."

"See you soon" the cub replied as he watched her go. While he was seeing that she returned to her mother, Kiara approached him.

"Maybe you didn't hunt for food, but a new friend," she told him, "Okay, let's go back to the rock."

Dan nodded and together, they returned to the Pride Rock.

"Nya's mom cares a lot about her…" Dan mentioned as they returned.

"All mothers are like that" Kiara replied, looking at him smiling.

Dan then returned the smile.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Kiara. I feel better when I'm with all of you" he told her.

Kiara felt like a real mother that moment. She thought that maybe Rafiki was right.