Hi guys. School is OVAAA! And no summer school—*insert AWWWYEAAAAAA face here*. So now I have time to post a few more things. I thought about making each chapter focus on each dilemma each cub (and chick) faces while they're growing up. I might make each chapter solely in their POV, but I have to write up their plot so I don't get writer's block. For now, I think I'll start from youngest to oldest, since Isa's conflict is a bit insignificant, and mainly serves as a subplot of the story, and well…Diallo's dilemma is when real ish starts to go down. XD Plus, he's a bit older when it happens. :/

Emily642: Great to hear! Stay tuned! :D

Toopence: Haha, awesome!

Can'thinkofasuitableusername: Seems so! I wonder what Kovu will think…

Enjoy, guys!

~15~

ISA'S POV

Miraculously, Daddy never suspected a thing. He just ranted about the importance of coming home before sunset, since the savannah was no place for a little birdie like me.

"You don't understand, Isabis." he said frantically. "You could lose a leg, or get eaten, or even get lost."

He'd use that bit every time. I practically memorized the whole Little Birdie lecture when I was a little fledgling. After that on-going speech, everything went back to normal and I fell asleep in my usual spot, huddled between Mom and Dad. By the time I woke up, it was already sunrise. My father was still asleep. Mom wasn't there, but I didn't fret. She usually picked berries for breakfast this early so we'd have something to eat before we each got to our respective jobs. Daddy's majordomo duties that spanned nearly three generations, and me hanging out with my friends.

"Daaaddddddd," I said in a sing-song voice. "Time to wake up."

He didn't respond and turned the other way. I rolled my eyes playfully as I looked off into the horizon. Mom was approaching us, with a leaf filled with our juicy breakfast.

"Good morning," she said with a smile as she nuzzled me with her beak.

She freed the sack of berries out of her right claw and it went rolling around the nest. As soon as I was ready to dive into the horde of berries, she stepped hard on my tail feather.

"Wake your father before you even think about eating one berry." she scolded.

"Of course I was going to wake him up." I smiled back sheepishly.

"Mmm-hmm. Well hurry now."

I quickly scurried over to my father shaking him again. He grunted, and turned away. As a last resort, I leapt in the air and fell on him.

"Zula! The British are coming! Take Isabis and flee!" he squawked as he bolted out of his slumber.

I tumbled to the other side of the nest in a fit of laughter. My mom tried to be stern, but she couldn't help but laugh as well. When everyone was done, we headed to our breakfast. All kinds of berries. Blue ones, pink ones, the really bumpy ones with the dull thorns on it, and of course, the occasional bug that slipped in there. My parents gagged at the sight of one of those things. But I loved them! Whenever Timon and Pumbaa came around, we'd just pig out of those delicacies.

"Why won't you eat any of the blueberries, Isa?" Daddy inquired. "Those are your favorite."

"Nope," I replied, popping a pimply yellow one into my beak instead. "I'm trying to watch my figure."

"For who exactly?" he replied with a cocked eyebrow.

"No one in particular." I lied.

"It's not that criminal you were running around with the other night, is it?"

"Zazu!" Zula hushed.

He was referring to Tau, of course, who'd moved into the Pridelands a little while ago after mambas took over his nest one night. He nearly lost his life and didn't want to stay in the marshes anymore. Hey, I warned him.

"No! Of course not!" I hesitated. "U-umm, look how late it is already. Shouldn't we go give Kovu the err….morning report?"

"Heavens! You're right!" he said in an urgent tone as he stuffed a few more berries in her mouth. "I must get going."

He nuzzled Mom and we both headed out. He stopped by the waterhole and reviewed what was going on. He kept giving my tips on how to be a good royal advisor and I gave off occasional, monotone yeah's and uh-huh's. I knew he wanted me to take his job once he died, but I didn't feel that this was my niche. You know? Who wants to do this for three whole generations? That's a lot of years. On top of that, I'm going to be DIALLO'S advisor. I'd rather get chewed up by a hippo than have to spend every morning with that conceited wreck. Well, after a brief analysis of the Pridelands, we flew back and finally met Kovu, who was accompanied by all three of the cubs today.

"Beautiful day, Sire." I smiled. "I see you brought the cubs out today."

"Good morning, Isa." Kovu said gently. "Where's your father?"

"He should be here any minute. But let me tell you—."

"Hey Dad, can we talk to Isa for a minute?" Diallo asked in a painfully phony goody-two-shoe demeanor.

Kovu fell for his behavior and complied. I grudgingly walked towards him.

"Heeyyy there, Busybirdy." he said. "So tell me about your little…adventure."

"It was perfectly harmless." I scoffed. "I don't see why everyone was so frightened."

"Yeah," Ashanti added with enthusiasm. "Why don't you come with us?"

"No way!" Diallo hissed.

"Awe whassamatter, Diallo? Awe you a big chicken?" I clucked.

Oh the irony…

"I'm not going there, and neither are you, Ashanti." Diallo said in anger.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Ashanti retorted.

"I can do whatever I want, I'm the future king."

"Yeah, but for now, you're my annoying brother, so butt out!"

Iman just looked at them go back and forth.

"Guys, will you just SHUT UP?" he asked in annoyance.

But his voice was drained out by the two's back and forth bickering. Eventually, Kovu took notice and walked towards us.

"Guys stop this fighting right now." he warned sternly. "Or I'll send all three of you back in the cave for the rest of the day. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir…" all three said, including Iman, even though he didn't really do anything.

He was always caught up in whatever mess Diallo or Ashanti (or both) dragged him into. It's one of those problems middle kids have. The oldest (Diallo), is by far the more important child. Even if he wasn't royalty, he'd still be important, on account of he's the oldest. The youngest (Ashanti), gets the most love since she's Mommy and Daddy's last little miracle, and the middle…it's almost like he doesn't exist in a way. Diallo and Ashanti exchanged looks of disgust at one another before both fathers came towards us.

"Alright, guys." Kovu said, guiding his cubs in front of him. "Let's go now."

The cubs followed him, and we looked at them for a few minutes.

"Now what can we do? Perhaps we can go out to the field like we used to and—."

I still hadn't told him that I was meeting my friends at the usual hang out.

"Well, Daddy." I faltered. "I-I was thinking I'd hang out with Audi and the others today. But, if you want to we—."

"No no. It's alright." he insisted sadly. "Hang out with your friends."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

I looked back at him one last time before I flew off. I remember how we spent so much time together when I was younger. Being so young and a bit selfish, I didn't know how much that decision broke his heart until much later in life. He didn't want Isa the social, boy-crazy preteen. He wanted Isa the fun, bubbly, talkative daddy's girl he knew and loved.

"Why the long face, Isa?" Audi asked as she nudged me with her wing. "Are you hurt or something?"

"No…"

"Sick?"

"No…"

"Heartbroken?"

"No…"

"Then what's the matter with ya'?"

"Just some family problems, that's it." I droned.

"Wanna talk about it?" Audi asked me with worry. "You're not your usual self."

"I'll be okay, I guess."

Audi turned away sadly, but we both jumped once we saw three hornbills coming towards us.

"Who's that new boy?" Audi asked, her eyes fastening on the green one.

Do my eyes fail me? Is that really Tau with Hasin and Moyo by his side? It is!

"It's Tau!" I cheered to Audi. "He's a friend of mine."

"Friend, huh?" she said suspiciously. "You look awfully happy to see him."

"Your point is?"

"You love him, don't you?" she smirked at me.

"What? No way!" I scoffed in denial. "He's just a friend."

"Well, he seemed to put an end to your little pity party."

Audi's logic was rare, because of her daily, downright dimwitted behavior, but once she said something smart, there was no way to counter what she said. I was successfully silenced. As the boys got closer, I hid myself.

"Why are you so shy now?"

"I'm not shy!" I said between grit teeth.

"If you need some help impressing your little boy toy, I'll teach you." she said suavely as she gracefully got onto her feet and twirled to the boys.

"Audi, you really don't—."

"Watch and learn, Isa dah-ling." she interrupted as she whipped her feathered tuft to one side of her head. She was one of my best friends, but God, did she have to be so arrogant?

I rolled my eyes.

"How you amuse me, 'dah-ling'." I shot back.

Audi scoffed and eyed Tau, who was walking by with the boys. She evened out her feathers.

"Hasin, who's your new friend?" she asked.

"This is Bolt." Hasin replied heartily. "He's gonna be hanging with us for a while."

"Well…Bolt," She batted her eyes to add more of an effect. I tried not to laugh. "Your feathers look RAVISHING today!"

"Uhhh, thanks Audi." Tau said unsurely. The other guys snickered behind him. He passed by her. I smothered my laugh.

"He's just playing hard to get." Audi snorted.

"All right then, Audi." I declared sarcastically.

"Hey..." a voice said behind me.

"Bolt!" I replied in shock as I leapt out of my hiding place. "H-ho-ow do you...uhh...you need do what...errr...how's it going?"

"I said you can call me Tau." he reminded.

"Oh," I blushed. "It must've slipped my mind, Bolt...err, I mean, Tau."

The boys were laughing again. Oh Great Kings, just smite me now.

"So I was thinking," Tau stammered. "The guys and I are hanging out by the croc pit later on this night. You wanna come?"

I blushed even harder. I gave him this goofy looking stare before snapping out of it. I could barely look him in the eye. Agh!

"Sure..." I said with a smile.

"Can I come too?" Audi asked out of nowhere.

"Uhh...you know," Tau said. "Croc pit is a pretty dangerous place. And...I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself! Yeah, that's it!"

Audi's eyes darted to mine. She kinda gave me that 'I told you so' look. I've never seen anyone as gullible as her. Tau's lie was so obvious. Then he turned to me.

"So, see you later?" he asked me.

"Okay." I giggled.

They turned away, and I could barely control my excitement.

"You're welcome," Audi said smugly.

For the rest of the day, I was so happy and giddy that nothing could ruin this day. For all I cared, a hawk can swoop down and eat me and I'd still be merry. For a moment, I actually pictured how we would live the rest of our days. Hopefully, we'd be married by then, and we'd be one of those stereotypical happy families with oodles of kids. It seems absurd that someone as young as me could ponder about these types of things. Whenever I brought it up with Dad, he'd stammer and tell me to worry about it some other time and live out the rest of my childhood.

"You're going to look sooo pretty." Audi cooed as she played with my head feathers, twisting them into an almost complete replica of her own.

"Don't you think he'd like me for you know…me?" I asked, wincing in pain.

"Nonsense! Now just sit still and look beautiful. Kay, Isa?"

"Whatever…"

By the time she was finished, my feathers were in disarray and a bit crooked. In the blink of an eye, nighttime had finally arrived. Audi shooed me from her tree, wishing me the best of luck.

"Don't forget to make me the maid of honor," she beamed as I departed the tree hollow.

I laughed as I flew towards the croc pit. It's where the crocodiles come to lay their eggs and raise their young. Of course, this was spring and the chance of running into these beasts were very unlikely since they usually came around in the winter. As a result, many careless youngsters like ourselves flock to the pit in the spring months and brag about our so-called close-calls with angry mother crocodiles and how we narrowly escaped death. All of it's bogus, but the stories were very interesting.

"Isa, over here!" Moyo called out.

I looked down, and I saw him. Ema, Hasin and Tau were with them.

"Hey," I said timidly as I looked Tau in the eye.

"What happened to your head?" Hasin scoffed. "Did you get into a pecking fight on the way here?"

"Ha ha ha," I said sarcastically as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I think it's cute," spoke Tau, causing me to blush sheepishly.

"Thanks?" I said.

Hasin growled under his breath, but I thought nothing of it, and we resumed our nocturnal fun.

"Check it out," Ema said as she toppled into the shrubs.

She came out with small pearly white shells, which were cracked and a bit soft. We were amazed.

"This is the closest I've seen to a crocodile," I said.

"Ha. These look a lot like snake eggs." Tau commented. "But they're a lot smaller. But wow, they get huge when they grow up."

"Really?" I asked, eager to learn more about them.

"But one bit from those things could kill like ten of us. Really weird, but interesting to know."

I looked to the left and Hasin was a bit peeved that I'd been paying more attention to Tau instead of him. But that wasn't unusual, so why was he so upset now? I brushed it off and we went along. In the end, we stopped at a place with muddy terrain.

"Ema, take Isa and fetch us some grub," Hasin ordered.

"You could try saying please," Ema scoffed.

"Whatever," I said with an eye roll. "Let's just go."

We passed through a thicket of bright green shrubs and headed to look for appetizing things to feast on during our stay.

THIRD PERSON NARRATIVE

Hasin glared across at Tau as he sat on the other side of him, thinking to himself for a bit.

"What you thinking about?" the golden hornbill inquired spitefully. "Isa on your mind?"

"What makes you think that?" questioned Tau, who seemed slightly intimidated.

Moyo attention focused onto the two as they got up from their seats and exchanged words.

"I see the way you are around her!" Hasin spat, taking two steps towards the angry bird.

"You're acting idiotic." Tau snapped back. "Sit down before things get ugly."

"Guys, stop it. We're just trying to have fun." Moyo insisted. "Just—."

"You should be the last one talking about ugly!" Hasin taunted. "I mean look at you. You're covered in scratches and marks. You're scraggly and damaged! Why would Isa go after you when she could just have me?"

"Hasin, I'm warning you," Tau hissed. "I'm not the one to mess with."

"What are you going to do, huh? Don't make me add another scar to your er…collection."

Tau tackled onto him, slapping him with his wing. Hasin swiped him in his face with his beak, and Tau fell to the ground with a thud, holding his cheek in pain. Hasin took this as an opportunity to finish him off, and wrapped one wing around his neck, when suddenly, two screams were heard.

"Hasin, what are you doing?" Ema scolded as she pulled him away from the scene. "What's gotten into you?"

"She's mine!" Hasin growled to Tau, who was still on the floor in pain.

"Tau, are you alright?" Isa asked frantically as she helped him up.

Unaware that he was still riled up from his violent encounter with Hasin, she would soon fall victim to his bad side.

"Don't touch me!" he roared as he pushed her away with his free wing, sending her to the ground.

In a instant, he realized what he'd just done. Isa cradled her body as she whispered something to herself.

"Isa, please, I didn't mean it, I—."

"You see!" Hasin barked. "Look what he did to her. Isa doesn't deserve a bird like him—she deserves me."

"Shut up!" Ema scowled. "It's your fault all of this happened. Let's just go home."

With that, Ema and Hasin took off to their nest. Tau tried once more to apologize but Isa gave him an angry glare before she took off into the nighttime skies to her own home. He sadly looked up at her as she left.

"It's alright," Moyo insisted, putting a wing on his friend's shoulder. "I know you didn't mean to do it."

"Yeah, but does she know that?"

ISA'S POV

I finally arrived at my nest. I was covered in dirt and tears rolled down my face. My right wing had a series of small, but noticeable cuts on it from where I fell. My mother fell asleep long ago, but my father was still up worrying.

"Isa, where on Earth have you been?" he said with relief. "Do you know how late it is, young lady? Good heavens? What happened to your wing?"

"I got into a fight with some jackals." I lied, trying to hide the fact that I was out with Tau.

"Well, you should be more careful." he scolded.

"I'm sorry…"

"But I'm glad you're okay, Isabis." he said with a warm, fatherly smile as he brought me into his wings. "I'd don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

As corny and overprotective as my father was, he truly cared for me. I was his only child after all. I could care less what stupid Tau or any other bird with a pretty face and shiny feathers had to think. The real man of my dreams was the one who I'd known for all my life. Baba!

Well here's the fifteenth chapter! Sorry the update was so late, I had to take pictures last week for my yearbook, and as I said before, I finished school yesterday, so, cheers to that! :D I'll try and update more like I promised, but I have to look into college and stuff now, so yeah…

PS: If you didn't know, here's a list of the young ones from oldest to youngest (just so you'd know which order of chapters to expect): Diallo, Iman, Ashanti, Shani, Isabis. So next will be Shani, then Ashanti, and so forth. Thanks for reading! :)