What's up? So here's chapter 3…

Reldor: Thanks a lot, Reviews and comments are really appreciated.

Chapter 3: Nala

When Sarafina awoke later, all reality seemed so far away. Her vision was blurred, her head was hammering and she had no control over any of her body movements. The events of the last day and night seemed so unreal. It was almost like a dream. She dared to open her eyes but just one second later, she shut them immediately. The light of the sun which shined upwards in the sky was unsustainable. It took her another five minutes to gather herself and she opened them again. There she was, laying in a small den in the middle of the pride lands. Her head directed into the opening which gave her a good view of the grassy fields outside. She felt something move in her front legs and glanced. No it was definitely not a dream.

The small lion cub laid curled up right in front of her muzzle and was wide asleep. She then came to realization. Sarabi… Rafiki… my leg… that fruit. No! She was definitely a mother now and that filled her heart with joy and love. She gently and carefully licked the cubs head being careful not to wake it up. I gave you a name… it was Nala. She now remembered. Her daughter let out a purring noise and moved herself closer to her mother. Sarafina smiled adored.

"I see you have recovered!" She heard a voice and looked up. Just a few inches away from her stood the young male lion that she had to thank for her being alive and for making it through the birth. If he wouldn't have found Rafiki, she would have been no more. The lion smiled as much as adored towards her the cub as she did before.

"Yes! I think so… what happened after she was born? Everything is just a black hole." Sarafina asked shy.

Ni walked closer and sat right down beside her. "As much as I understood, you passed out after you said her name. I don't know what the monkey did. But it seems like it worked. It took about an hour before he came out of the shelter and told us that everything was going to be fine. He ordered me and Kicho to wait here until you finally got back to your senses. I already send Kicho out to get queen Sarabi and king Mufasa."

What followed was a rather unpleasant moment of silence. Both didn't know what to make out of the situation. As soon as Nis' duty was over, he and his bird friend had to move on. Sure Sarafina was going to stay on the pride lands. Yet he had the feeling he finally had found the right place for him to stay, a pride he would feel was going to let him in.

Seeing as how the situation got more and more uncomfortable, the lioness spoke up. "Uhm well… thank you a lot. I think Nala and I will always be in your depth." She replied and nuzzled her daughter one more time.

"Don't mention it!" he answered.

Just in that moment, Mufasa and Sarabi stretched their heads inside with broad smiles. "There she is." The queen smiled as she moved closer to the other two. She greeted her best friend and her offspring and nuzzled both of them. "How do you feel?" She asked gently.

"I live!" She replied simply. "What did Rafiki do to me? It feels like my body took only a couple of hours to recover. She said and stretched herself. A sudden burst of itching pain ran through her body and she gasped.

Right away, Sarabi and Ni stepped up to her in concern. "Calm down, the pain have might been gone on the surface. But that doesn't heal your broken leg. Neither does it repair your inner wounds." Ni remarked as he helped her back into a lying position. Unable to resist, Sarafina lay back down and put her daughter back into her embrace.

"I guess you're both right! For now, it might be the best idea to stay here." She replied defeated. "Besides…" she looked at her broken leg, "I don't have much of a choice."


Recovery couldn't come early enough for Sarafina. She had a lot of things to catch up with the rest of the pride. To her, it was a pain to have to stay in 'bed', have to get fed, unable to do anything. The only good side to it was that it gave her enough time to spend with her newborn daughter. It didn't take long for the lioness to realize what character trades her child was going to have in her later life. Right from the beginning, she was an explorer and always tried to sneak away from her mother. She was unable to follow her everywhere in her condition. So for the most part of the time, it dwelled down to Ni to keep an eye on the young female lion.

Sarabi couldn't be of any help either, having to deal with her own pregnancy for most of the times.

Weeks went by and Sarafina was finally able to leave the den and could wander around alone. So it was one day that the duo took a walk through the pride lands heading directly in the direction of pride rock. Nala constantly tried to run off and left her mothers side. "Nala… I swear, if you don't slow down for a second, I'm going to keep you in the cave until you have all grown up." She threatened her but kept it on a playful level.

"Come on mom! It's just so exciting." She said in a high pitched voice.

"Nala! You tried to run away from me since the day of your birth. If you keep sneaking off, you might get into really big trouble one day." (AN: ^^) She gently replied and nudged her forward with her muzzle. Seeing her child hopping around the veldt filled her heart with proud. She thought about how Nala came to this world, alone in a small den in the rain with her mother broken and beat up. And then there was the young Simba, Sarabis' son. Born a king, surrounded by her friends and pride, with his mother in the best condition. She wasn't envious; it just showed her how cruel this world could be. "Come along Nala, time to meet the rest of the pride." She said to her.

Since Sarafina was in such a bad condition since the birth. She and Nala had been pretty much isolated from all the other lions and lionesses in the pride. The only ones that kept in contact with them were Mufasa; Sarabi and of course Ni. Yet she had not gotten a really good chance to be accepted as a full member of the pride lands yet. So the day where the mothers brought their children into the circle of the pride seemed like the perfect idea and opportunity. On one hand, she had the chance to associate with the other lionesses and on the other hand she didn't have to worry about her little ball of energy running out of control.

They finally arrived in the back of pride rock where a bunch of female lions had already gathered under some small trees while they all kept their eyes on the cubs playing around the place. Sarafina glanced around to see if she could spot Sarabi anywhere near. Yet the queen was had not been present yet.

Nala in the meantime had other things that needed to be taken care of. Today is my chance, if I can become friends with some other cubs early, mom might finally let me go of on my own. She thought. But what if they don't except a cub from outside? Sudden doubt struck through her mind. She knew of the circumstances of her birth. Sarafina and the other didn't see any reason for keeping her in the dark that she was born in the pride lands, yet she wasn't a full pride Lander. So Nala had no idea how the other cubs would react to a 'stranger'. "OUCH!" Nala had been driven in her thoughts so deep that she didn't realize that her mother had stopped in front of her. So she bumped directly into her right hind leg. He rubbed her forehead and looked up.

"Whoa there little one." Sarafina said to her daughter as she felt her crashing into her. She sank her head and signed to look in front of her. "Here! I want you to meet someone." Nala looked up towards another lioness and her cub. It was another female but a bit older than her. Her fur was tarnish-cream with an orange tint. Nala noticed the tuft on top of her head which was kind of unusual for a female.

"Nala! This is Subira. And that is her daughter Tama:" Sarafina introduced her to the others.

Tama walked up to her with a shy expression. "Hi!" She said quietly and shoved her left front paw over the ground.

"Hello!" Nala responded shyly.

"Why don't you two go play for a bit, we will be over here if you need anything." Sarafina said but said it more like a demand. Even with her voice being really gentle.

That was… easy. Nala said and was glad that she didn't have to interrupt any of the cubs to ask if she could join. Her mother already introduced her to someone. And maybe, this was the friend she needed to get a bit more freedom. The two cubs padded away into the distance. Not saying a word for the next moments. "So… do you want to play?" She then asked Tama.

"Sure... why not? What do you wanna' play?" The tarnish coloured cub replied.

"You want to play tag with me?"

Both Nala and Tama turned around towards another female cub that approached them from the side. She had about the same figure as Nala except for her fur and eye colour. Her fur was caramel coloured and she had red eyes. Over and all her appearance seemed really friendly. "Of course, and you are…?" The cream cub asked.

"My name's Kula! Who's it?" The newcomer asked and regretted her question right away as she realized.

"NOT IT!" Tama and Nala called simultaneously and darted off right away laughing. Kula didn't hesitate and darted after them.

The three females ran around, chasing each other around, giving the duty of tagging the others over to each other. All in all, they had a really good time. It was the first time that Nala felt really free. For once, her mother wasn't around to tell not to do this and that. Then again, she really liked being around with Ni. But she always thought that the male lion would do anything to not upset her mother which meant that he would handle things exactly like her. But not this time. "WOW!" She gasped as she tumbled over a small rock on the grassy field and landed face first in the dust. The next thing she saw was Kula standing over her and putting her paw on her nose.

"You're it." She laughed.

"I think I stop playing tag for now." Nala answered and went into a sitting position. She looked around for Tama but couldn't make her out.

"ROAR!" She heard and found herself tackled by Tama who sneaked up behind, the two cubs rolled around as Nala got an idea. What did Ni teach me? She shifted her weight, tensed up her body and pushed her hind legs forward. When the two cubs stopped, Tama found herself pinned down by the younger cub. She looked up in shock.

"Pinned ya!" Nala smirked at her.

"How did you do that?" Her newfound friend looked.

"A friend taught me." The cream coloured cub remarked. She let her go and lifted her head up in triumph. But that moment didn't last for long.

"SMACK!"

Someone or something bumped into her and knocked her over. The net thing she realized was that someone lay on top of her. All she could see was golden fur. It indicated a golden furred male cub. "Can't you watch where you're going?" She snapped annoyed and felt the figure on top of her move. She got back up and indeed looked into the chestnut eyes of a golden furred male cub.


"Sorry!" Simba gasped and let his ears drop to the side of his head.

Nala frowned and licked her right front paw which had been somewhat hurt in the collision. She then glanced around and realized that she and the cub were yards away from the others. She eyed him again. "Good job you know, now I hurt my paw." Nala remarked sarcastically. The day had been so good until now.

"I told you I'm sorry, I… kinda had a rough day. I'm Simba by the way." He answered and showed his concern yet with a little optimism when he mentioned his name.

"Yeah yeah, whatever!" She said and without looking at him. Nala was about to pad away when she got hold up by the golden Cub.

"Look! I want to make up for what I did. Could you at least give me something that can make me help you?" Simba put on a distant smile. "So… let's start over again. My name is Simba." He pushed his chest forward and raised his chin. Nala noticed the cocky movement as he announced his name.

She let out a sigh. "Okay, I'm Nala!" She could see a mixture of disappointment that she didn't react in any way to his name, yet there was a slight feeling of relief when she introduced herself to the cub. "So… what do you do when you're not tripping over people?" She asked with a distant smile.

Simba looked up. "Well... besides becoming the future king, I'm trying to make some friends." He said and made Nala gasp inside.

So this is Sarabis son? Mom told me about him. Tripping people over and announcing to everyone who he is was really a good plan. She continued inside her sarcastically. "Yeah, I can see… from the looks of it, you're really good at this!" She grinned evil and challenging. Simba on the other hand accepted the challenge.

"Oh… you don't wanna' upset your future king. Trust me; this will not end well for you." He put up his cocky smile again.

"You want to rephrase that your highness?" Nala didn't know if she liked his attitude or if she should rip off his head.

"No chance!"

"BRING IT!" With that, Simba leaped towards the female and tried to knock her over. He was about to press her to the ground when… SWOOSH! Nala shifted her weight and had the golden cub now pinned to the ground and made him look up in shock. This is a really good trick. I got to make this my trademark move! Nala giggled inside. "Pinned ya!" She said and laughed out loud.

Simba couldn't believe it. He got beaten by a girl. A girl! Come to think of it, what would have happened if I started wrestling with Chumvi and Tojo earlier on? He then looked back to the cream coloured female lion. "Guess I deserved that one." He said and put on a weak smile.

Nala giggled again and got off from him. "You know, you seem alright. What do you think; want to go for a second round?" She smiled and went into a challenging stand. Simba didn't think twice and attacked her right away. This time, he went for a low attack trying to sweep her off from her legs. He female cub dove to the side and countered Simba. The duo rumbled around and came to a halt aside a small boulder. And again, Nala had Simba stuck to the ground with her paws pressing down his shoulders.

"Pinned ya' again!" She smiled in triumph.

"Okay, I give up! You win." Simba said in defeat as she let him sit up again. "You're really good at this." He mumbled but put on another smile. Nala really seemed like a nice girl, after the disappointment earlier. This was the chance of him getting a friend after all. "What do you say, you wanna' be friends with me?" He asked with slight puppy eyes.

"NALA!" That was her mother. I must have been out of sight for too long. Nala looked again at Simba and laughed. "Yeah! Let's become friends."

Right in that moment, Tama and Kula came walking up to the duo and eyed the young prince. "Nala, what happened? What did he do?" The tarnish cub asked.

"Oh… nothing! Nothing that I can't handle." Nala replied as she eyed her new found friend. "Hey uhm… Simba, these are Tama and Kula. Ladies this is Simba." She stretched out her paw as she introduced the three cubs to each other. Kula and Tama gasped a little. They had heard of the little prince, Tama was there on the day of his presentation.

"Hi I'm…"

"We know… it's not like one could miss your act earlier Mr. bragging rights." Tama replied with a stern expression, she didn't like people running around and shouting out to everyone what's so great about them. She was about to continue when Nala interrupted.

"Relax guys, Simba didn't know any better. Come on, let's call it a day and head back to our mothers. I know mine is already anxious about my beings." She said and padded Tama on the shoulder as the group walked back to the others.

As Sarafina saw her daughter walking up to her side by side with Simba it made her really proud. She noticed the other two accompanying them and giving up slight giggles. Now that was a successful day. She thought to herself. Nala approached and received a gentle nuzzle from her mother. "I thought you were trying to run away again. But it seems that I was worried for nothing this time." Nala purred and looked back to the other cubs beside her.

"Is it already time to go home mom?" The cream coloured cub asked fearing that it would already be the end of fun time. Sarafina smiled as she saw how Nala was associating with the other. "No not at all honey, I just have been worried a bit. Just go along and have some more fun." She licked her and Nala ran off with a laugh.


While Simba, Nala and the others got along pretty well, playing tag and other stuff, another cub on the opposite of the place was not as enthusiastic as the rest of the pride. If it would have been his choice, he would have stayed in his little den except for a little walk. But to his annoyance, he was pushed out of his small home by an old mandrill. It was a mystery to him why Rafiki constantly tried to make him come in touch with the pride. It wasn't like he hated them, he just didn't care for them.

But as it turned out, he had to walk up to this gathering where had to make social contact with other cubs. And so he stepped across in front the adult lionesses without paying attention to them. Why do put up with this? He thought and laid down on a small rock as he observed the scene with his head resting on his paws. He waived his gaze over to the side where he saw a golden male and cream female cub wrestling on the floor with the female getting on top of the cub all the time. His mind wandered of this world as he faded away into a little slumber.

"Hey, are you alright?" A voice asked and pulled him out of it as he glanced into the face of another cub looking at him with big eyes.

"None of your business!" Mwehu answered dry and annoyed.

"Sorry! It's just that you sit around here while the rest is out there having fun." The cub replied and walked up beside the grey-cream coloured young lion. The cub noticed the scar running down Mwehus' left cheek. "What happened there?" He asked carefully.

Mwehu slightly shook his head. "What part of 'none of your business' was so hard to understand?"

The cub was getting really offended. All he tried to do was help. "Hey pal, there's no need of getting rude here. I was just trying to help you out."

"Try again sometime!"

"You know! With that attitude, you're not getting along with the rest."

Mwehu was really angry now, if he wanted to be alone, he wanted to be alone. Why didn't anybody understand? This cub was getting into serious trouble. "Look… pal. I swear, if you don't take a hike. I won't be able to guarantee for anything."

The cub stood up and eyed him with fury. "I don't have to hear you threatening me. Watch your mouth or I can't guarantee for anything."

That did it. Within the next seconds Mwehu was all over the cub and started clawing at him. He didn't expect the scarred cub to be that strong. Already Mwehu smacked him across the face before kicking him directly on the muzzle. The cub sank to the ground in pain and Mwehu sank his teeth into his throat. Oh he wasn't going to kill him. He just wanted to teach him a lesson. The cub was shocked as he found himself in this life threatening position.

"STOP IT IMMEDIATELY!" Someone shouted and Mwehu released the young lion. He turned around and found queen Sarabi and several other lionesses gather around and giving him angry glances. "Who started it?" The beige lioness asked but let it sound more like a demand.

"Does it matter anyway?" Mwehu said as he realized that all eyes were set on him.

Sarabi got eye to eye with him which made the little cub freeze a bit. "I understand that king Mufasa had the mercy to let you into our pride. But that doesn't mean that he gave you the freedom to do whatever you pleased with. Try to behave yourself when you are around the other members." She said quiet.

Mwehu left it uncommented and with a last look of annoyance to the cub, which now lay in his mothers embrace he walked away.

Sarabi gazed after him with concern. I just don't get that child!