Epilogue
A Random Person: It does. A war for the price of two precious lives? Must be near unbearable. It is the last story, but I'm ending it (hopefully) on a good note. Kibuluu's gone and his scourge can no longer harm anything. Enjoy the final chapter.
Hunter305414: Sorry! This was my Romeo-and-Juliet tale, so… the lovers had to die in the end. I'll explain in a longer author's note after this, but death was inevitable. Anyway, read on, I think the epilogue may soothe your wounds.
Keep Calm and Join Team Loki: I cried writing it, honestly. Kamaria seemed like an extension of myself so I died a little inside. Who will take the throne? Read on and find out :) enjoy the final chapter.
Guest: in the end, they were together. It was all that mattered. Enjoy the final chapter.
Whoa it's fandoms: Nice Shakespeare quote. It fits Kivuli and Kamaria really well. And I'm sorry for making you cry, but you might need to keep the tissues handy for the epilogue, but at least they'll be happy tears! *hugs you through the sad tears*
CSIMentalistTLK Lover: 'Tis true. Kamaria and Kivuli are dead. I hated doing it, but I'll explain in a separate author's note from this chapter. Hopefully the epilogue will help your tears of sadness and make them happy tears.
TRON0602: Thank you for the commercial. *Hugs Kali and TRON* Just cry now. Chin's got you. Just let it out. Getting those tears out will help. Let Chin help ease your pain.
I only own the following characters:
Toroka ("Run Away")
Garuda ("Golden")
Jawanga ("Desert")
Enye ("Possessing")
Zirali ("Angel of Death")
Chaka ("Bush")
Myota ("Star")
Moyo ("Heart")
Damu ("Blood")
Gali ("Dear")
Kipendo
Nurisha and Damu's unborn cub
Jua ("Sun")
Giza ("Darkness")
Mwenzi ("Moon")
Amalia
Muujiza ("Miracle")
Kazai ("Love of God" [Arabic])
Tamu ("Sweet")
Kamili ("Perfect")
Naima ("Graceful")
Angaa ("Light")
Kamaria ("Like the Moon")
Kivuli/Amri ("Shadow"/ "Power")
The following characters belong to TRON0602:
Kali ("Fierce")
Usafi ("Purity")
Hafsa ("Sound Judgment")
Nurisha ("Shine Light Upon")
Maji ("Water")
The following characters belong to CSIMentalistTLK Lover:
Jasiri ("Fearless")
The following characters belong to Whoa it's Fandoms:
Rikala ("Again to Stay" ["Ri-"=Again + "-Kala"= To Stay= "Again to Stay"])
Zuri ("Beautiful")
Fahamu ("Intelligence")
Song: "Kiss Me Goodbye," Final Fantasy XII, also, please, hold your reviews until you read my final author's note which is a chapter all it's own.
Two years later…
A pale beige lioness with a hairtuft, skinny yet muscled build, dark eyeshades, a sharp, pink nose, dark earrims, and eyes that were electric blue towards the edge and bright green towards the pupil stood at the tip of Pride Rock, her eyes scanning the horizon. She sighed and smiled.
"Hey, Toroka."
Toroka turned around to see a beige lioness with golden eyes and a creamy gold lion with one blue and one teal eye. She smiled.
"Is everything okay?" Garuda, the lioness, asked.
"It is. I can't help but worry a bit." Toroka said.
"'Roka! We'll be fine." Jawanga said.
"Are you so sure? You guys are really stepping down. Chaka stepped down months ago. Are you…?" Garuda's golden gaze cut off Toroka.
"We'll be fine." Garuda said with a smile. Toroka smiled and nuzzled her niece and nephew.
"Don't worry, 'Roka," a male voice said. Toroka and the twins looked up to see a pink male with a red mane and a white streak through the mane, white eyes, and an easy smile. Toroka glared at the newcomer.
"I better not have a reason to worry, Enye," Toroka began, "because if I find out that you hurt Garuda, I will hunt you down and hurt you myself!" She hissed.
Enye backed up several paces and collided with his twin sister, an orange female named Zirali. Over time, Zirali's blue eyes had turned to a shade of lilac, just a hint lighter than Usafi's lavender. It was then well received that Zirali was, in fact, Kali and Usafi's daughter, and of no relation to Kibuluu, due to her orange pelt coming from Usafi's father. She also had received the nickname "Zira," as she somehow acted just like her namesake despite no blood relation.
"Enye!" Zirali said.
"Well, excuse me, Miss Zira!" Enye snapped.
"Enye…" Garuda said softly as she walked to her mate and nuzzled him. Enye blushed thoroughly.
You say my love is
All you need to see you through
"Sorry, 'Ru." Enye whispered. Garuda smiled and looked into her mate's white eyes and giggled. Jawanga walked over to Zirali and nuzzled her. Zirali purred.
"I get a little carried away." She admitted.
"I know, Zira. I know." Jawanga whispered as he and Zirali hugged. Toroka smiled at the sight as she saw a light brown male appear from the cave. His electric blue eyes were filled with sorrow, but pride.
"You guys all ready to go?" Chaka asked. Garuda and Jawanga turned to their uncle, smiling.
"We are." Jawanga said. Tears filled Garuda's eyes as she nuzzled Chaka. Chaka chuckled and held Garuda close.
But I know these words are not quite true
"Your mother would be so proud of you two." Chaka told them. Jawanga leaned into the embrace that Chaka had Garuda in.
"And our father?" Jawanga asked.
"He would be proud, too." Moyo said, the aging creamy golden lioness emerging from the cave. Her teal eyes shone in love towards her grandchildren as they nuzzled her. Toroka smiled then noticed the sun was breaking the horizon. She looked to her family.
"If your four are going to be leaving, you better get started." Toroka said softly. Garuda and Jawanga nuzzled their aunt.
"See ya, 'Roka." Garuda said.
"You'll be an excellent Queen." Jawanga promised her. Toroka smiled and nodded.
"Thank you. Go. You four won't be doing much traveling in the hot weather." The pale beige lioness said. Enye and Garuda started out, Jawanga and Zirali close behind them. Once they were out of earshot, Toroka sobbed a little. Chaka turned to his sister and nuzzled her.
Here is the path
You're looking for, an open door
"Oh, 'Roka. C'mon now. They're happy. It's what Kamaria and Kivuli would have wanted." Chaka said.
"I know. I'm sad to see them go, but happy to see them happy." Toroka sobbed. From the cave, Ashaki emerged with Myota, both King and Queen looking to see Jawanga and Garuda had already left.
"They already left?" Ashaki asked. Toroka nodded.
"They did. I'm sorry you didn't get to say good-bye." Chaka said.
"It's not good-bye. They'll be back." Myota said. Ashaki nodded and nuzzled Myota.
"Maybe they'll be back with great-grandchildren." Ashaki said, poking fun at Myota. The white lion looked thoroughly shocked.
"I'm going after Enye and Zirali to stop them from procreating! I'm not ready to be a great-grandfather!" Myota said. Ashaki laughed and kept Myota back.
"Now, don't you dare," Ashaki caught Garuda's form in the distance, walking alongside Enye, and smiled, "she really is like her mother, you know."
"Garuda? Yeah, she's a lot like Kamaria." Chaka said.
"And Jawanga's like Amri. They'd be so proud of them." Moyo said softly.
"I think they are." Myota said.
"Speaking of proud," Toroka turned to Chaka, "would we be proud of you and Jasiri?"
Chaka blushed and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Don't think I haven't heard from Indira! Jasiri's pregnant!" Toroka said. Chaka's blush deepened. Ashaki looked to her son.
"Is that true, Chaka? Are you going to make me a grandmother again?" the Queen asked, her keen blue eyes making Chaka uncomfortable.
"Well… yeah." Chaka said. Myota smiled and laughed.
"Calm down, Chaka. Congratulations, son." The King said.
"How does Kopa feel about being a grandfather?" Nala asked, appearing on the scene.
"Jasiri left this morning with Kopa to tell him." Chaka said. Nala smiled, her ever-loving sapphire blues happy. The years had been kind to Nala, but Simba had passed away the previous wet season, succumbing to old age. The older lioness then had become very much an elder to the pride, often referred to as "Grandma Nala" instead of just "Nala" by unrelated cubs.
Leading to worlds you long to explore
"So, if it's a boy, have you two discussed names?" Nala asked, stopping her first question quickly. Chaka smiled.
"We're thinking of naming him 'Tau,' for a boy and 'Nalala' for a girl." Chaka said. Nala smiled.
"Nalala?" Toroka asked.
"It means 'you rested,' dear." Myota said. Toroka smiled at her father and nuzzled him. Nala laughed and looked at Toroka, then to Chaka.
"So, if Garuda and Jawanga aren't going to be the co-rulers…" Nala began.
"Toroka and Chaka talked about it when Toroka was a cub," Ashaki began, "and they decided that Toroka would be a fit ruler should the twins decide not to rule." The Queen smiled at her youngest daughter.
"What about Jua, Mwenzi, or Nurisha?" Moyo asked.
"Nurisha's adopted, and she's recently been Crowned as the Moonlands' Queen alongside Damu as her Prince Consort." Myota said.
"Jua and Giza are somewhere up north, having the time of their lives." Ashaki said.
"And Mwenzi and Amalia have settled in as the Ruling Couple of the Riverlands." Nala said with a smile.
*+-/_\-+*
Go, if you must move on alone
I'm gonna make it on my own
Nurisha woke alongside her husband, Damu. At Damu's side was a white cub with dark earrims, and when his eyes were open they were the same green as Damu's, and a girl cub with Damu's features, but Mwenzi's eyes when they were open. The girl was named "Gali" and the boy "Kipendo," both names reminiscent of Mpenzi and Kali, Nurisha's birth parents.
The White Queen's white eyes became open enough that she saw her stepmother/aunt Usafi alongside her father Kali, the aging couple in married bliss now that Hafsa had found a mate in Fahamu, the son of Zira and Kijani, and Maji had left with them to help rebuild a pride in the Outlands after a fallout with Jua. Nurisha vaguely wondered if the elder of her two brothers had found a mate yet, as Enye had defeated him in that department.
"Nuri?" Damu asked. Nurisha smiled and nuzzled her husband.
"It's okay. The baby's fine. Go back to sleep." She assured her mate. She looked to her stomach and smiled.
What are we going to name you, little one? Should we name you for someone or give you a name all your own? She wondered.
*+-/_\-+*
Jua woke in the dawn-lit field she and Giza had decided to settle down in. She smiled at her friend, her lover, and her mate, as he slept. After a failed relationship with Maji, Giza had comforted the light golden lioness, and the relationship had budded.
Jua chuckled. It was a relationship that no one would have seen coming. Jua and Giza were like the night and the day. It was odd, to think that quiet, demure Giza would have fallen for the bouncing, sometimes loud Jua, and vice versa.
Caught in her woolgathering, Giza licked Jua's cheek and the light golden lioness looked to the chocolate brown lion at her side.
"Good morning." Jua said.
"Good morning, my love." Giza said with a smile. Jua leaned into Giza's brown mane, smiling.
"It could be better." Jua said, her green eyes darkening. Giza knew what that meant and licked Jua's cheek again.
"Oh, really? Like how it was last night?" Giza asked. Jua smiled devilishly.
"Show me."
Kiss me good-bye, love's memory
Follow your heart and find your destiny
*+-/_\-+*
Mwenzi was wide-awake, her ruby red orbs alert as her black counterpart appeared, smiling. Amalia's dark blue orbs looked into Mwenzi's ruby red eyes.
"It's a beautiful morning." Amalia said.
"It is. It's almost like it was made for all of us just by all that were lost in the war." Mwenzi said. Amalia nuzzled Mwenzi.
"I bet it was. Your sister… she died in that war?" Amalia asked.
"As did your whole family, 'Lia." Mwenzi said softly. Amalia's dark blue eyes looked saddened for a second, but she smiled.
"Not every bit. I met my grandmother. That's all that matters to me." The black Queen said.
Won't shed a tear, for love's mortality
For you put the dream in my reality
"Bianca was a good lioness. I am proud to have met her." Mwenzi said.
"I'm glad you met her, too. She was wonderful. She… she didn't understand what I am, but she loved me anyway." Amalia said. Mwenzi smiled at her mate.
"Amalia," she began, "I didn't know what I was, who I was, until I met you." She whispered. Amalia and Mwenzi hugged.
*+-/_\-+*
Hafsa woke alongside her handsome Fahamu. She nuzzled him awake.
"Wh-wha? C'mon Riri, five more minutes." Fahamu said. Hafsa chuckled and jabbed him in the elbow.
"Wake up sleepyhead. Zuri's coming today, remember? So are Muujiza and Kazai, so you better be on your best behavior and awake." The silver lioness said. The red-gray King of the Outlands, now renamed the Westlands and recovering from it's years-long drought, sat up.
"I'm up." Fahamu's ocean-blue eyes were filled with sleep. Hafsa smiled, her lavender eyes triumphant.
"Good." She said.
"I'd be more awake if there was…" Fahamu grinned. Hafsa grinned herself, leaning in to let Fahamu lick her cheek, but then the daughter of Kali and Usafi pushed her mate over and ran for the cave entrance.
"C'mon sleepy! A run will wake you up!" She said. Fahamu groaned and followed her out of the cave with a laugh.
As time goes by,
I know you'll see this as me
A couple hours passed and Muujiza and Kazai had arrived at the Westlands, their children, a light beige-colored girl with red eyes, a hairtuft, and eartufts named Tamu, a light yellow boy with electric blue eyes and a dark hairtuft named Kamili, a golden girl with purple eyes and dark eartufts named Naima, and finally a dark golden boy with golden eyes and dark earrims named Angaa, at their heels. Tamu was the oldest at age one, Kamili and Naima were twins at six months old, and Angaa had just turned two months old.
The King and Queen of the Peaklands greeted Fahamu and Hafsa with smiles and hugs.
"Did you go talk to Ashaki first?" Fahamu asked. Muujiza shook his head.
"We're planning on that on our way back. I did see Kamaria and Kivuli's twins, though." Muujiza said.
"Really? How are they? Did they leave with Zirali and Enye today?" Hafsa asked.
"They did. They all looked very happy." Kazai answered as Angaa set himself at his mother's feet.
Hafsa smiled, sisterly pride evident on her face as she said, "I'm glad."
"C'mon, the little ones could use some down time." Muujiza said.
"Dad! I'm not little anymore!" Tamu objected. Muujiza nuzzled his eldest daughter.
"You're still tired. You didn't sleep last night." Kazai told her daughter. Tamu sighed.
"C'mon, Tamu, we caught antelope this morning." Hafsa told the girl. Tamu perked up.
"Antelope?" Tamu asked. The one-year-old burst past the adults to the cave. The others smiled.
"She's got a stomach like Tojo's." Fahamu laughed.
"Or maybe it's like Malka's." Hafsa chuckled.
*+-/_\-+*
Maji, however, was wandering the border when he saw a dark tan-beige female with bi-colored eyes, dark eyeshades, and a hairtuft approaching. He smiled when he recognized the female.
"Zuri!" Maji called.
Zuri paused and lifted her head, seeing Maji and the lioness smiled. The two lions ran to each other, immediately nuzzling the other.
I loved you enough to let you go free.
"Maji. Hi." Zuri said, her voice conveying all types of happiness. Maji purred.
"Hey. It's been awhile. How are Nuka and Rikala?" The black lion with a white mane asked. The tan-beige female smiled.
"They're fine. Aging isn't affecting their travel at all." Zuri said. Maji set his chin on Zuri's head. The lioness laughed and leaned into Maji's chin.
"How are your parents?" Zuri asked.
"They're great." Maji said softly. The pair decided to head back for the cave, and on the walk there, they found themselves talking about past loves, Zuri about Chinja and Maji about Jua. The pair were strictly lovers, not mates. They had figured no-strings would help…
But Zuri felt more for Maji. She didn't want a no-strings relationship. She suddenly stopped in her tracks, looking at Maji. Maji turned to the bi-colored eyed female, his head cocked.
"I don't want a no-strings relationship, Maji." Zuri said softly.
"I don't understand. I thought that it was helping you heal…" Maji said.
Go, I will give you wings to fly
"It's not. It's making me…" Zuri trailed off with a sigh.
"It's making you what, Zuri?" Maji asked.
Cast all your fears into the sky.
"It's making me love you." Zuri said, her bi-colored eyes looking right into Maji's green eyes. Maji was taken aback.
"Zuri, I…" Maji said.
"I understand if you don't want me. I'm nothing like Kamaria or Jua. I'm ugly. I have two different-colored eyes. It's a bad omen." Zuri said as she looked away.
"I never said that!" Maji declared. Zuri looked back at Maji. Maji shook his head and stood up, walking over to Zuri.
"Kamaria was the one I could never have. Her heart belonged to another. Jua had too much… well just she was too much for me overall. Zuri… Zuri… I…" Maji couldn't get the words out. Zuri cocked her head at Maji, who sighed and finally smiled.
Kiss me good-bye, love's mystery
"I love you, too." Maji said. Zuri smiled and nuzzled Maji.
All of my life, I'll hold you close to me
*+-/_\-+*
The moon had rose as Toroka emerged silently from the cave, away from her parents and her brother. She quietly padded up to the top of Pride Rock, seeing bloodstains that were two years old. She sniffed at it, recognizing the scent as Kamaria's. Through the two years, the blood still retained her scent, and made Toroka see her oldest sister like Kamaria was still alive.
The full moon made Toroka's already light pelt seem brighter, and her central-heterochromic eyes intensified in the night. She looked over the sleeping lands that would one day be hers.
"I miss you. I barely knew you… but I miss you." Toroka told Kamaria.
Won't shed a tear for love's mortality
"I miss her too."
Toroka turned to see her mother. Ashaki settled next to her youngest daughter.
"I didn't know you came up here." Ashaki said.
"It's been taboo since Kamaria died, you know?" Toroka asked.
"I know. Tell me, why do you come up here?" Ashaki asked.
"To clear my head, for guidance. I sometimes… I sometimes talk to Kamaria. Sometimes she talks back, and it helps." Toroka said, her eyes filling with tears. Ashaki saw her youngest daughter's sadness and nuzzled her, tears in her eyes as well.
For you put the dream in my reality
"She's guiding you because she loves you. Chaka's told me that she's guided him, too. I never heard anything from Garuda or Jawanga about seeing her, but I'm positive that she's with them too." The Queen said softly. Together, Crown Princess and Queen cried silently for the fallen Kamaria. The two held each other, both sad that Kamaria was gone and happy she was at peace.
Finally, mother and daughter separated. Ashaki sniffled and smiled at her youngest.
"I'm going to go back in. Today's just… it's been fully two years and…" The Queen said. Toroka nodded.
"It's fine. I'll be in a second." Toroka said. Ashaki smiled and walked back towards the cave. Once Ashaki was out of earshot, Toroka looked at the moon, swearing she saw Kamaria's face smiling down at her.
Kiss me good-bye, love's memory
"I hope… I hope I can be as good a Queen as you would have been." Toroka whispered.
You put the dream in my reality.