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-can'thinkofasuitableusername: Thanks! I have a clearer idea of what the plot will be now, so updates will be more frequent.

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-Emily642: Thanks! I was afraid he didn't interact as much with his cubs as he should've. :D

Chapter 14!

~14~

ASHANTI'S POV

"I think Diallo's conceited." Shani scoffed, causing all three of us to erupt into laughter.

It was Shani, Isa and I, basking on a large rock, having one of those typical girly discussions about boys and what not. I used to find those types of girlish things repulsive as a young cub, but now, being at that preteen age, they were the highlight of my day.

"He can't help it," I replied, still giggling. "He's gonna be king, after all. He's bound to have a little ego."

"So what? It's still annoying how he thinks the world revolves around him."

"He'll grow out of it—I hope…" I tittered.

Our focus turned onto Isa, who was in a daze.

"What's the matter?" Shani teased, nudging her with her paw. "Thinking about Bolt?"

"Wha!" Isa yelped, bolting out of her daydream. "Of course not! What would make you come up with such a ridiculous idea?"

"Come on, Isa." I laughed. "You go on and on about him, everyday!"

Shani started laughing again, but Isa grew silent.

"I do not!" she retorted, her cheeks growing red. "And Shani, you should be the last one laughing. You always stammer like a broken record whenever Iman is around!"

"Do not!" Shani growled in denial.

Shani was like glass. You could see right through her. It was obvious she was crazy for Iman. But she'd have to get over that little crush once she grew up. She was intended to be Diallo's bride after all.

"Don't look now," I laughed. "But Iman's coming our way."

Shani jumped out of her spot, landing on all fours. Isa and I were giggling like maniacs as he and Diallo headed towards us.

"Your mane's coming out nicely, Iman." she spoke with a hint of flirtation in her tone.

"Really?" he responded smugly. "I didn't notice."

He was usually a quiet cub, but he got a bit cocky once the slightest bit of reddish-brown strands of what would soon be a long, flowing mane, grew from the tip of his head. By now, it was a little more noticeable, turning from a few dozen to about a few hundred. Of course, when news first broke about Iman's spurt, Dad was jumping for joy at the thought of his precious little son turning into a man. He was even going to throw this huge banquet to celebrate his journey into manhood, but Mom and Grandad fortunately coaxed him out of it. Diallo was a bit of a late bloomer I guess, because he had about half the mane Iman did even though he was older. This of course lead to Shani and Isa's daily teasing. I kind of felt bad for him, but I must admit, it was pretty funny watching him get all mad over such a silly thing as who grew their mane the fastest. Men. Nevertheless, Dad seemed to love Diallo the most out of the three of us. I don't know why. Maybe because he was the oldest, or maybe because he took on most of his features, or maybe because he was going to be king, or maybe because he was more likeable than we were. Who knows?

"Isa! Isa! Comes quick!" a shrill, annoying voice called from afar.

It couldn't be Zazu, because the voice was way too girly and childish.

"Audi?" Isa asked quizzically as the brick red bird and her feathered clique flew towards us. "What's the matter?"

"There's something you have to see! I mean, really REALLY have to see. Bring your little feline friends if you want to, but HURRRRYYY!"

Feline friends—really? Does she know our kind ruled these lands before she was even born? She ought to have a little more respect than that. We followed her to the waterhole, where everyone circled around this smug looking golden bird.

"Hasin!" Isa gasped. "Why'd you make Audi drag us here?"

"Sit down, Small Fry." he said arrogantly. "This is urgent."

He looked at us with this look on his face that oozed cockiness.

"I crossed paths with—get ready for this—aliens."

"Aliens?" about half of us said in pure shock.

"They were in the fields, a few miles from here." Hasin continued. "And they're very…very…dangerous."

I didn't know whether or not to believe this stupid bird's story. He was probably doing it to be an attention-seeker, but his friend was trembling like a leaf by his side. The poor thing was too shook up to even speak of the ordeal.

"What did they look like?" inquired Isa.

"First off, they were like these mutant monkeys without the tails. They stood on their two hind feet." Hasin reported. "They didn't have any fur or feathers. They probably have to steal them from other animals like us. One of the old ones spotted Moyo and chased after us, shaking one of his paws. It's a good thing we escaped. We could've been food in a matter of seconds!"

I wanted to learn more about these animals. They sounded so different from us, I was compelled to go and search their lair. Did they eat meat like us? Did they have cubs like us? Or do they lay eggs like birds? Do they hunt? There was so much I wanted to know.

"Take me to them," I ordered him.

"Are you crazy?" Hasin scoffed. "So I can become mince meat? You go there if you want, but I'm never setting foot in that place again!"

What a coward. I wouldn't be surprised if his story was complete bogus. I turned around, seeing if anyone else was brave enough to come with me. The others backed away. Even the mighty Diallo seemed a bit unsure of going.

"I'm coming too!" Isa announced, perching herself onto my shoulder. "Let's go!"

"You're crazy, cub!" the golden bird scolded. "They'll chop you up and eat you with their razor sharp teeth."

"Can't wait!" I added sarcastically.

We both laughed as we headed towards the fields to find these foreigners.

THIRD PERSON NARRATIVE

Ashanti and Isa's ambition died down once they journeyed closer and closer to the lair. As they grew further away from the safety of Pride Rock, their hearts began to race.

"Are we there yet?" Isa asked impatiently. "This part of the Pridelands gives off a rather ghoulish atmosphere."

They found themselves in stalks of long, parched grass within a few steps and suddenly, they stopped when they heard strange sounds they've never heard before.

"You check and see what it is," Ashanti whispered.

Isa took a gulp before she parted the leaves. It was two of them, carrying a load of objects in their hands. They both looked very young. Isa noticed that the shorter of the two struggled a bit.

"Help me out, Andrew." she scowled. "I'm dying here!"

"I can't believe we're out here again after what happened last year," the other one scoffed. "Try not to get eaten by a lioness this time, Jeanette. You were lucky I was able to kill that damn thing."

"Did you hear that?" Ashanti said in a whisper. "They killed something! We should go now!"

"No way! We came too far to back out now."

She hesitated as she put her leg out of the grassy refuge. Nevertheless, she held her breath and made it all the way.

"Come on, Ashanti," Isa scowled. "Are you coming or what?"

Ashanti didn't respond. Perhaps this was a bad idea after all. Isa got annoyed and ventured into the lair when no one was looking.

ISA'S POV

"Look over there," one of them said in a whisper.

I'd take it she was a female alien, since she had soft feminine features and didn't look as homely as her male counterpart. I looked at her, scared of what she'd do next.

"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you." she said with her rosy lips curled into a smile.

She cupped her hands together, beckoning me to come towards her. I felt a little less tense and I readied myself to go to her, but something caught hold of me. And before I knew it, I was about a yard or two in the air.

"Jeanette, look at this, a hornbill!" he chortled.

His voice was loud and annoying. We faced each other. He looked a lot older than the other aliens I just saw and he had grayer fur. His skin was a lot paler too.

"Look at this beauty, Andrew." he said as the other male observed me. "Wouldn't he make a fine addition to our collection?"

HE? The nerve of this man! Is he that much a dunce that he couldn't tell that someone as beautiful and graceful as me was a girl? The lone female in the group intervened and took me gently from this madman's hands.

"Father!" she said in disdain. "It's obvious that this he is a she! You can tell by her feathers, see?"

At least there's some hope in humanity.

"And you're not keeping this poor bird," she added. "From the looks of it, she's still a fledgling. Do you really want to separate this poor thing for her mother and father?"

Hmmm, I'm starting to like her.

"Fine, keep your little animal friends." the older male scolded rather coldly as he and Andrew turned away.

"Don't listen to him," Jeanette said with a smile. "He's a tad bit ignorant."

Ashanti came out of the bushes once the other two were away. Jeanette laid eyes on her almost immediately.

"Is this your friend?" she asked me.

I nodded in approval, and she had this look of confusion on her face. I didn't blame her. It wasn't everyday that you saw a lion and a hornbill getting along.

"Wow, she's beautiful," she said as she stroked Ashanti's head with her idle hand. "You'll be quite a heartthrob when you grow up, young lady."

"See, I told you she's wasn't bad." I smiled at Ashanti. "These are good people."

Of course, Jeanette couldn't comprehend what we were saying. It's weird really. They couldn't understand any language but their own. As for us, we could understand the language of every species that came our way. Suddenly, I heard the older alien call Jeanette's name.

"Come on," she said in a hurried tone, pushing us into her den. "I can't let my father or Andrew see you two."

We hurried in, hoping not to cross paths with those males again. We look around her den. It wasn't cold and stony, like Ashanti's. Nor was it twiggy and round like my own. Instead, it was pale and shaped almost like a pyramid made of a material that was not quite transparent, but you could still see everything that happened outside in black shadows.

"That bird couldn't be any more wrong." Ashanti scoffed.

"He has a tendency for that," I replied. "He was probably just looking for attention again."

I looked around once more. There were these weird box-shaped things. I placed my wing on one and it had a leathery feel, kind of like Rafiki's aging palms. The insides of this contraption were sharp and rigged.

"Look at these," I said in a whisper to Ashanti.

She opened it with her nose and we saw a picture and some weird scribbling inside. We could understand humans, but we couldn't read like them. As we continued to take note of our recent discovery, Jeanette walked back in.

"You found my books." she smiled. "I bet you've never seen one of these before, now have you?"

We both stared intensely at it as she picked it up.

"This is one of my favorites!" she said in a whisper. "My mother used to read this one to me all the time back in Cape Town."

She flipped it some more. There were more pictures inside and more of those weird hieroglyphic looking things again. There were so many curls and lines and dots, I don't know how she could read them. But surprisingly, she read through them as if it were nothing.

"This story is about an African princess named Jina," she said with so much enthusiasm.

She pointed at one of the pictures. It was another one of those alien things. This time, she had this bronze colored skin and she wore these sheepskin clothes. The fur on her head was black and draped to the middle of her back. Unlike Jeanette, her face was adorned in what seemed to be red and white streaks of paint under her eyes and on her forehead.

"She was the princess of a faraway kingdom called Mao, and the daughter of the mighty king Anando." she recited from the yellowing pages. "She was the youngest of three children—all girls. Her two older sisters were Hanna and Chipo. They were rude, malicious and manipulative and they were very jealous of their father's love towards Jina."

I noticed Ashanti took what Jeanette said into deep consideration.

"Then, when they got older, King Anando decided that it was time to choose the heir to his throne." the foreigner continued. "He declared that he'd choose the sister who proved their love for him. Almost immediately after the news spread, Hanna and Chipo schemed together. They wanted to figure out a way to make sure Jina didn't win. When the time came to search for a gift, Jina wove her father a neat basket and filled it with all of his favorite fruits and sweets. On the way home, Hanna and Chipo stopped their young sister. They convinced her to follow them into the dark jungles. They beat her and then they fled with the basket. By the time Jina recollected herself and found her way out of the jungles, night had already arrived. It was too late to find another present. She hoped that her father would understand."

Poor girl. I would hate to have such cruel sisters like that.

"When it came time to present their gifts, Hanna and Chipo showed them the baskets of fruits and sweets, he was overjoyed. But when it was Jina's turn, she showed up empty-handed. Instead, she professed her love through words. Outraged, Anando exiled Jina and agreed the split the lands between Chipo and Hanna."

The picture showed the same foreigner in tears as another, much older one, likely Anando, pointed to the jungles. Two homely female ones stood behind Anando, smugly looking at Jina as she wept.

"So after that, Ji—."

"Jeanette!" the older alien called out. "Help us start this bonfire."

"Coming!" she responded, closing the book. "You guys need to go now. We'll finish this story later."

Jeanette rushed out of the tent and once the coast was clear, so did we. Fortunately, it was darker outside and the others couldn't see us. We quickly hid ourselves in the grass and got ready to go back home to Pride Rock.

"That wasn't so bad," Ashanti said to me. "That girl was really nice."

"Yeah," I responded. "I don't know why Hasin was so worried."

"Do you think we'll get home before anyone worries? It's almost sunset, you know."

"Just follow my lead,"

"Where were you two? Don't you realize how late it is?" Kovu said with a glower as he looked down at us.

"It's really funny, Mr. Kovu—err, I mean, Sire." I said sheepishly. "We were looking at ummm—."

"Flowers!" Ashanti added suddenly.

"Flowers, right!"

Kovu had an eyebrow cocked as we continued to fib our way out of trouble.

"And…and…we lost track of time and by the time we realized it was time to go home, it was sunset!"

"We're sorry, Daddy." Ashanti added girlishly. "It'll never happen again."

After a long pause, Kovu sighed.

"Alright, just don't be out too late," he said with a smile. "I was worried sick."

He guided her into the den with his paw and she turned back at me with a smile wide on her face. We both shared our goodnights and I flew back to my home. I hoped my father would be as understanding of our situation.

Well, here's Chapter 14. Don't forget to review! :)