Namiya swam through the muddy waterhole, fuming with disgust and dirt. All she wanted to do was find her father, then she'd come back for Nieera and Niobe.

She forced herself forward, almost sinking but then made it onto shore. Half of her body was wet and muddy, towering almost to her nose. She shook herself, splatting mud onto where she didn't care.

Namiya galloped forward, until she reached the Mountain Pride. She saw an old lion with ear tufts and black mane, standing with an old lioness with a head tuft and a brown nose. Next to her were three others, a bright creamy female - similar to the old lioness and two males, whose manes were large and fully-grown. One male had dark brown mane along with black ear tufts whilst the other only had black mane.

"E..Excuse me, have you heard of anyone called... Anara?" asked Namiya, coiling backwards, she was invading a Pride but her desperate feeling egged her on. She knew her father's name; Nala had told her. "I'm not staying I..I just need to find him. I need to know my father."

The large male stepped forward. "I am King Malka. What be your name?" he waited, but she didn't answer. "I've heard of Anara, he came from this Pride but left, long ago."

"My name's Namiya. And, do you know roughly where he went?" pleaded Namiya.

"I'm Queen Tama, he went roughly about ... that way." she pointed over to a large forest, full of mountains and hills. "The Arosen Plains."

"Oh, Thank you!" said Namiya and galloped off to that direction.

Nieera and Niobe were falling behind but they were still sniffing out her scent.

"Niobe? Can we stop? I'm not feeling well, I get sea-sick when I cross this swamp." Nieera stated. "My mom and dad used to bring me here when I was young on hot days, but I guess it's been long so I'm not used to it anymore."

Niobe turned to Nieera. "Alright, but how are we going to cross?"

"Hmm..." Nieera swatted her head around, trying to find a log. "That!" she galloped over a dead tree and pushed it over the swamp. "Help me, you idiot." she teased, smiling brightly when he actually helped her.

Together, they heaved and pushed the dead bark over the swamp.

"Now we can cross." said Niobe, climbing onto the log.

At Pride Rock, Vitani and Shupavu were bonding well. Everything they said was in common between them.

"So, you were also trained to fight?" asked Vitani, smiling.

"Well, yes. My mother trained me to fight because she knew I'd have to leave eventually. I was still kind of upset at the fact that my father had two mates and he only used my mother to have an heir. When she had me, my father thought I was weak and sickly and so he abandoned me." confirmed Shupavu.

"But you're not weak and sickly, you're a great lion. Any lioness would be lucky to have such a mate like you," complimented Vitani. "That brings me to something... who do you like?"

Shupavu hesitated to say it but he did. "I'll give you a clue, she has a beautiful fringe that I like to play with, beautiful blue eyes and a very cool personality,"

"Hmm..." Vitani thought hard. "Nala?"

"No, she a bit younger." said Shupavu.

"Umm... I don't know. Nala's the only one with blue eyes in this Pride. You won't believe it."

"It's you, Vitani. I really like you." Shupavu smiled brightly.

"Me?" Vitani gasped but Shupavu was already nuzzling her. "I like you too." The two began purring loudly and Kiara was the first to arrive in on this scene with Kovu, Nyota and Angu.

"Vitani?" gasped Kovu at his sister. Kovu didn't like Shupavu, not one bit.

Vitani quickly stood up, humiliated at nuzzling someone her brother didn't like very much. "What?"

"Kovu, she's fine." chuckled Kiara. "It's very hot, do you want to take Nyota and Angu to the waterhole?"

"Okay then," agreed Kovu.

"Can the others come?" asked Nyota and Angu in unison. They really liked their friends.

"I don't see why not," said Kiara, "And Muta, Renoka and Shani can come."

Nyota and Angu bounced around, happily and cheered.

Sukari was teaching Ayo how to hunt - it was good to learn at a young age.

"See that frog?" asked Sukari. Ayo nodded, beaming under her mother's legs. "I want you to catch it."

Without saying another word, Ayo fiercely charged towards the innocent frog, squeaking her little cub roared. "AAARRRGGGGHHHH!" she yelled as she charged but the frog jumped back into the water.

Ayo limped back to her mother, her ears pinned behind her head. "I couldn't catch it," she sighed. "Mom, how do you hunt?"

"You need to be quiet when you're stalking, Ayo, so the animal won't hear you. You really need to learn how to hunt, soon you'll be hunting wildebeest with me and they're much more harder to catch." explained Sukari.

The sun stayed strong in the sky, baking all of Africa.

"Mom, I'm hot. Can we go home now?" moaned Ayo.

"Okay, I'm hot too anyway. Let's go give your brothers a lecture - they shouldn't have snuck out." said Sukari, walking back. Ayo couldn't hold the guilt in for much longer.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Ayo?"

"Umm.. about that..." Ayo began. "They were going to run to the waterhole and told me to not say a word. I said I would promise and I did but I got worried and told you and now they're in trouble 'cause of me!" Ayo's eyes began to water. She didn't like it when Mapenzi and Giza were mad at her.

Sukari bent down and licked her daughter. "Ayo, you did the right thing. If you didn't tell us, they could've gotten lost or attacked by a leopard, hyena or maybe even a crocodile." Sukari praised. "They'll forgive you, don't worry."

The two began to head back and after being lectured, the two brothers were allowed out again.

"Sorry, Giza, sorry Mapenzi." apologized Ayo.

"Why are you apologizing?" asked Mapenzi, now becoming more friendly with her.

"I broke a promise." Ayo replied to her older brothers.

"Oh, Ayo." Giza pulled his little sibling close. "Mom said you did the right thing and Mapenzi owes you some antelope." Giza smirked over to his younger brother.

"What? No way! She told off-" Mapenzi was interrupted.

"And did the right thing. It's not easy to just snitch on your sibling when you know that they'll be mad at you." explained Giza.

"Fine." frowned Mapenzi. "You're it!" he tagged Ayo and ran away with Giza. Ayo giggled and squealed as she chased after her brothers in the long grass.

Kovu's not too happy with Vitani and Shupavu. Kovu's such a jerk! And a stubborn jerk, too! Lol :DDD

But anyways, Namiya is getting closer to Anara, coming across the Arosen Plains and Nieera and Niobe are right on her tail!

Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! Please Review! :3