The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 7: Dichotomy

In the rising sun, the roar of Kion started the mission, the pride ran with determination, heading to the Pride Land's boundaries. Emba was following them from afar to prevent his father from seeing him, the grass was still tall compared to his height so he easily managed to stay covered while chasing the group. Kion, Kovu, Rani and Kiara leaded the horde, they passed by the last trees of the Kingdom, jumping the border with ease, which was a little river that crossed the entire land. The group split in two, one leaded by Kion and Kovu and the other by Rani and Kiara, taking opposite paths.

Emba ran rapidly towards the river and tried to get to the other side with a jump, but it wasn't enough so he gasped and held from the rocky, muddy end with his paws. He let out a gasp of effort and tried to bring himself up. He glared down at the running water then glanced back upwards, frowning and inserting his claws on the mud, that helped him to get a better hold so he took a deep breath and with a growl he managed to finally get safely on the other side, continuing his path, trying to run faster as he had almost lost his sight on the two groups. He suddenly stopped running to choose which group to follow. He decided to go after Kion's, so he turned a bit rightwards and started to run that way.

Kiara and Rani ran together while the other lions followed their fast steps. The canyons and gorges of the Outlands started to show up, waking the lions' caution, they looked at their surroundings, unable to find any hyenas at the moment. The group was finally running on the dark gray rock of the canyon, having entered the Outlands, they reached a dead end and went down a rocky, unstable path that led to the gorges. After some slips and gasps the horde of lions entered the gorge, keeping the rhythm of their rush. They looked at every crack and level at their sides, managing to see some hyenas running on the narrow paths of the parallel rocky walls. "Ready?!" Kiara shouted and roared beastly, the echo of her battle cry echoed through all the cracks and passages of the place, the lions roared back and that made several groups of hyenas to come out from their hideouts and run towards them, laughing with hostility, approaching them from behind and from ahead, also covering the sides.

"Attack!" Rani commanded, being the first to jump at a hyena and bite his neck, moving her head to the side, letting go the dead hyena. With roars of battle, Kiara and the rest of the lions joined Rani and started to attack the hyenas, throwing blows and bites at them, same as their adversaries, the beginning of an intense battle.

Meanwhile, Kion, Kovu and their group were approaching Ferezan, the cheetahs' territory, which was vast in tall trees and robust bushes, the green combined with the gray of the small, rocky caverns. Kion and Kovu slowed down, so the rest, starting to just walk over the tall grass between the unending rows of trees, getting looks of doubt from the cheetahs that were seeing them from the trunks of the trees and the top of the caverns. Kion glanced at each one of them, with an unwanted hope of seeing the one who had been his friend and comrade for years, lowering his head when realizing the time and place where they now were.

"Kion." Kovu noticed he was getting thoughtful.

Kion kept thinking about his childhood, his adolescence and part of his adulthood, remembering, reliving the days when he fought in the Lion Guard, at the side of her. He sighed and looked at the front, rushing his step slightly. "Keep moving." He said.

A trail of rocks received them, so they kept walking and followed its path. From the top of a great cavern, Azaad, king of Ferezan, spotted the group of lions and immediately recognized Kion, he growled and turned, going down the rock with agile jumps, falling over the dry leaves that adorned the cavern's outside, surrounding it to head to Kion.

Kion's ear twitched, with a gasp he looked at his group. "Stay calm, this ain't a hosti…" He groaned when Azaad jumped aggressively at him and brought him down with his paws, chirruping at him menacingly.

"You are not welcome at Ferezan!" Azaad frowned at Kovu and the others. "Lions…" He looked back at Kion and growled at him, opening his jaws, aiming at his neck, but before he could throw an attack, another cheetah jumped at him, pushing him, sending him to the ground. The intervening cheetah then let Kion to get into his paws and approached Azaad.

"Azaad!" The female cheetah helped him to stand up, pushing his neck gently with her head, giving him a glare of caution. "They've come in peace." She turned and looked at Kion. "Haven't you?" There was a nostalgic tone in her voice.

Kion had his gaze locked on her eyes. "Fuli." They shared the same look of memories and feelings of empathy and antique friendship.

"Kion." Fuli tried to approach him but Azaad got in her way, looking at him with a straight face.

"What matters you seek here at Ferezan, lions?" Azaad looked at Kion's group.

"We…" Kion was still stunned by the remembrance he was dealing with and the shadow of the present that covered it. "We want to talk." He sighed and looked away. "That's all."

Fuli walked by Azaad and gave him a look of warning, signal he understood, knowing she wanted to take care of whatever matter the lions wanted to discuss. She sat down in front of them and gestured at the cave's entrance. "Pride landers." She glanced at Kion and Kovu. "Follow me." She started to walk towards the dark entrance followed by the lions, leaded by the two kings. When all of the lions entered the cave, Azaad entered after them, frowning and with a distrustful glare.

Paths of fire illuminated the sides of the brief rocky hallway they were walking through, an orange light at the end of the hallway showed up and then revealed to be a big fire in the middle of the tall, rocky room. Fuli guided the lions to a corner of the cave, sitting down before them, she gestured at them and with that made them to sit down as well. Azaad approached the group and sat down next to his mate, still gazing at the lions with a not so subtle hostility. Fuli looked at them for a long moment, then she glanced at Kion. "Speak."

"Fuli, I want to m…" Kion was interrupted.

"Speak properly to the Queen of Ferezan!" Azaad exclaimed.

Fuli sighed with frustration. "Azaad." Fuli growled at him. "I'll tolerate that manner this time."

Azaad stood silent for a moment, then he frowned slightly and looked at Kion. "Proceed."

"Thanks." Kion said with a bit of sarcasm, upset. He glanced back at Fuli. "I want to make something clear. We don't want any trouble, not with you, not with anyone." He gave Azaad a brief glare. "Understand?"

Fuli nodded. "We do."

"Good." Kion felt a bit odd when looking at her, so he chose to glance at several spots while explaining himself. "We've been informed about wanderers on our land." He wanted to choose his words well. "We think one of them might have been from, well…around here."

"You say we are intruders, don't you?" Azaad inquired.

"No, king of Ferezan." Kion wanted to show some respect to reduce the tension. "Our kingdoms have established barriers, we have respected Ferezan, we are only asking you to respect our land."

"And who established those barriers, Kion?" Azaad took a step forward.

"You, actually." Kion lifted his head a bit, not showing fear or intimidation to Azaad. "We only made a decree."

"The decision of four animals is not a rule for ou…" Azaad was interrupted by Fuli.

"We respected the word of the Council of Kings back on the Pride Lands." Fuli received a glare of anger from Azaad. "But still, Ferezan has become a free nation, and everyone here has permission to leave and come at any time."

"And I understand it." Kion replied. "But we also have our law, and no exiled is allowed to enter the Pride Lands without permission."

Azaad growled at Kion, approaching him menacingly, Kovu and the lions behind him growled defensively and also adopted hostile positions. Fuli rapidly got between them and tried to calm them down. "No agreement will be done with a fight." Fuli warned, glancing at Azaad. "I need a word with Kion."

Azaad looked at her then again at Kion, still frowning at him. "That's why we're here. Go ahead."

"Azaad." Fuli mumbled at her mate and got closer to him. "Let me talk to him alone. For our kingdom. For us." She stroked him with her forehead. "Let me." She looked into his eyes. Azaad still frowned with disapproval, he glanced a couple of times at the expecting lions. With a final glare, he sighed and began to walk towards Kion's group, getting before them and gesturing at the cave's exit, forcing the lions to follow him to the outside, with Kovu among them.

When finally being alone with Fuli in the cave, Kion switched his gaze from the exit to her, he approached her and sat down. "You two have built something worthy here, and I have no desire to end it. I need you to understand that." He peeked at the rocky corners of the cave. "Ferezan is strong." He looked back at Fuli. "Just as its queen."

"Not that strong, Kion." Fuli lowered her gaze a bit. "My kingdom lacks of resources." She finally decided to also sit down, sighing and looking at him. "We have no other choice, Kion. Ferezan can't respect your barriers, at least not for now."

Kion kept a straight face. "Of course." He glared down a bit, thinking about the proposal he wanted to express. "Fuli." He glanced at the queen again. "What have you heard from the other kingdoms? There's been some, uhm, rumors…about…"

"War." Fuli completed. "Yes, I've heard many, from the Pride of Baturu."

Kion sighed, nodding as he had also heard about that. "Baturu…" The Pride of Batoru had rapidly acquired a fame of violence and conflict. He was thoughtful, still figuring out what words to choose to ask Fuli what his kingdom needed. He nodded at his own thinking and looked at her. "Fuli. As a member of the Council of Kings, I have the power to open our barriers to Ferezan."

Fuli's glare widened a bit, she let out a subtle gasp. "Would you do that for us?"

Kion looked away and got into his four paws, turning and sitting down again, with his back facing her. "Aid comes both ways."

"I'll talk with Azaad, our barriers will b…" Fuli was interrupted.

"Sorry, Fuli. But I'm no talking about bounds here." Kion looked at her. "We need troops."

Fuli raised an eyebrow. "Troops?"

Kion nodded, glancing back at the front, away from her look. "The Pride Lands is not a place of warriors anymore." He lowered his head a bit. "We won't survive the war without them."

Fuli glanced down, turning her thoughtful glare at her side, reflecting on Kion's proposal. "We do have warriors, Kion." She looked at him. "But they only serve one kingdom."

"Persuade them." Kion adopted a more straight tone of voice. "And I'll persuade my pride."

Fuli sighed and started to walk in circles, studying the option. The struggle of her kingdom was something impossible for her to ignore. Her decision came earlier than Kion had thought. "Ferezan's warriors will be at your service." She walked towards him.

Kion was still glancing away from her. "And the bounds of the Pride Lands won't exist for you nor your kingdom." He looked into her eyes. "Queen of Ferezan."

The memories made a powerful echo in their thought while looking into each other's eyes. Kion faced her, saying no word. He lowered his head along with her, they rested their foreheads against the other's, closing their eyes, hearing the cracking noise of the fire behind them, feeling the light of old friendship they thought was gone for good, a tear ran across Fuli's cheek, event that also occurred to Kion.