Note: Reminder for this chapter- sorry it's been so long- Kubwa and Kidogo are adolescent male lions that live in Koru's pride, (The Riverlands) which is settled a few miles outside the Pridelands. In Swahili, Kubwa means big and Kidogo means little.

Chapter 9: Betrothal

Elsewhere in the Pridelands, Kivu, Ciara and Kendi lay in a field of savannah grass. The sun was overhead, but there was enough cloud cover that it wasn't scorching for the royal family. A pleasant breeze blew Kivu's mane. Ciara couldn't help but smile at her husband.

He noticed her stare, "What?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing," Ciara replied, looking away. "Your mane just looks nice today."

Kivu nuzzled Ciara. "Yours always looks nice."

Ciara purred in response, then let out an "OUCH!"

"Gotcha!" Kendi said with her mother's tail in her mouth.

"You're doing a good job with your hunting practice, but you're biting me too hard." Ciara warned her daughter.

"Oops." The peach cub said and dropped Ciara's tail. "Where's Reon? I thought you said he was coming."

"I told Tali, Jai and Reon to meet us here." Kivu said. "They're just not here yet. Have patience."

"Patience? What does that mean?" the cub asked, hoping over to Kivu and Ciara's front side.

"Er... it's like being okay with waiting for something, even if it takes a long time." Kivu answered.

"You will need to use patience your entire life, especially when you are Queen someday." Ciara added.

"Pff, that's not 'til AGES from now." Kendi rolled her eyes.

"All the same, it's valuable practice."

Kendi sighed, "Yes, Mom."

"Let's see how you would pounce on a mouse." Kivu said, poking Kendi in the side with his paw. "Pretend there's one in front of you in the grass."

Kendi ducked low and narrowed her eyes. She pretended to see a little mouse eating a seed. Its tail twitched so unexpectedly. The cub moved silently toward the pretend mouse and pounced.

"Rawr, Got ya!" Kendi exclaimed and rolled around with the pretend mouse, and threw it up in the air with her paws.

Kivu turned to Ciara and smirked. Ciara chuckled. To her parents, Kendi looked little more than a cub flailing wildly around.

"At least she has focus." Kivu smiled. Ciara nodded.

At last, Reon arrived with Jai behind him.

"Hey, there you are." Kivu said.

"Where's Tali?" Ciara asked.

Jai sat by his sister. "She had to stay behind. Mairu isn't feeling well..."

"Still?"

"Yes. It may be her time soon."

Kivu and Ciara frowned. "I know she's elderly, but I was hoping she would make it to see our coronation." Kivu said.

"Yes, me too."

"She still might. You know how stubborn she is." Jai said, trying to lighten the mood.

Reon greeted Kendi. "Whatcha doing?"

"Playing with this mouse I caught."

"I don't see a mouse."

"It just got away, duh."

"Oh."

"Now we can practice hunting on each other! Mom didn't like me biting her tail."

"I don't want you to bite me either!" Reon protested.

"Don't be a baby! Go over there in the grass and I'll show you how I caught that mouse." Reon reluctantly obeyed.

"Did she really catch a mouse?" Jai whispered to Ciara and Kivu. They shook their heads 'no'. and Jai had to force back a smile. They watched the cubs play for a while. Ciara had to remind Kendi to let Reon have a turn to practice hunting too. After a short time, Kiara and Kovu approached.

"Oh, hey Mom! Dad!" Kivu stood and bumped heads with each of them. "What're you guys doing out here?"

"We were doing a patrol when we saw you." Kovu replied.

"There was something we wanted to discuss with you." Kiara explained.

"What is it?"

Kiara turned to Jai. "Jai, if you don't mind, could you take the cubs for a moment while we talk to Ciara and Kivu?"

"Yes, of course." Jai nodded.

"Thank you."

"We'll be right back, Kendi." Ciara said to her daughter. The four of them moved away.

"'Kay." Kendi replied, distracted. "Now let's practice fighting!"

Jai watched the cubs but kept his ears lifted to see if he could catch any of the conversation.

"What is this about?" Kivu asked when they were far enough away.

"There's something we've been worried about." Kiara started. "The Pridelands have a tradition: At birth, cubs in the royal bloodline must be betrothed to another suitable cub...but there are no male cubs in the Pride that aren't related to Kendi."

Kivu and Ciara were quiet for a moment. "This is what you're worried about?" Kivu said incredulously.

"Kendi is a long way from forming a relationship with anyone." Ciara imputed.

"I know, but tradition says she must be betrothed."

"You know how important the traditions of the Pridelands are." Kovu added.

Ciara wanted to be polite, so she let Kivu speak the things they were both thinking.

"Mom, you weren't betrothed to anyone when you were a cub."

"Yes, there were no male cubs in the Pride at that time. It was something my parents worried about a lot. They didn't like breaking the tradition. You know how my dad is."

"Why do we even have that tradition?" Kivu huffed.

Kovu answered, "It is so that if something happened to the current King and Queen, the heir could immediately stand in, with their intended, even at a young age."

"That's absurd." Kivu muttered.

"Has that ever happened?" Ciara asked gently.

"No... but that doesn't mean it couldn't." Kiara said. "I was lucky to have re-met Kovu as a young adult. If something had happened to my parents, royal protocol states I could not be Queen until I had a King to rule with.

Kivu and Ciara thought this over.

"Well, I know the traditions are important." Kivu said slowly. "What should we do then?"

Kovu answered, "We need to find a match for Kendi. We could search outside the Pridelands for a pregnant female looking for a Pride."

"And just hope she has a boy?" Ciara commented.

"Er... yes. I know it's not a very good plan so far..."

"We can also look for lioness with cubs around Kendi's age." Kivu added. "This could really take some time, though. Lots of travelling. I'm guessing I would go find this suitable lioness and cub? I could be gone for weeks."

"I'd go with you." Kovu said.

"I don't like the idea of you being away from home for so long..." Ciara said, looking at Kivu. "Kendi needs both of us."

"Do you know if any of the non-related young lionesses are wanting to have a cub?" Kiara asked Ciara. "Mebala? Taeliss? Ahila?"

"I... haven't discussed that with any of them." Ciara replied, a little embarrassed. "It might be an awkward conversation. But I could ask them. It would be nicer for us to know the parent of Kendi's betrothed instead of them being a stranger like the other plan."

Kovu looked embarrassed for Ciara. He rubbed one paw on his opposite leg as he said, "Ask them. If they agree, they may leave the Pridelands temporarily to find a mate. Tell them I said they are allowed to go as soon as possible. Notify me if they aren't interested. After that, Kivu and I can go search outside the Pridelands for pregnant lionesses, or ones with small cubs."

"Sounds like a plan." Kivu said

"Even if one or all three candidates do get pregnant," Ciara noted, "this plan is betting on that at least one of them is a boy..."

"Of course, there is no guarantee any of the cubs would be a boy..." Kiara said calmly, "But I think this is the best plan we have so far."

Ciara and Kivu nodded.

Kiara smiled, "I feel less worried already. I know my parents still felt some quilt over breaking the tradition with me when I was growing up. My dad wants to keep as close to the Prideland's rules as possible to honor his father. I hope this will alleviate some of the worries they're having now too."

Kivu nodded again.

"Thank you, both of you." Kovu said. "We are going to finish our patrol now."

"I'm going to take out a hunting party soon, if that is alright, Kiara." Ciara said.

"Yes, of course. You don't have to ask, you are days away from becoming lead-huntress yourself!"

Ciara grinned and nodded.

Kovu and Kiara dipped their heads in farewell, and went on their way. After they were gone, the young couple looked at each other.

Ciara sighed, "I don't really like this."

"I know." Kovu replied. "I don't either. It was luck that you and I fell in love without knowing we were actually betrothed to be married anyway. I wouldn't want to force Kendi to marry someone she didn't love."

Ciara nodded and blushed. Kivu licked her on the cheek.

"Well, who knows. Maybe luck will be with us again, and Kendi will grow up to like the new cub on her own, like us." Ciara said, "We should just probably make sure she has no idea about being betrothed. She would rebel against it."

"She is a rebel, isn't she?"

"Yes...our little rebel."

The two walked back to Jai, Kendi and Reon. Jai turned his ears forward again so they wouldn't know he had been listening. The cubs had been too engrossed in their play-fight to overhear anything. But just incase, Jai had added some cheers and tips for the cubs during the conversation.

Not much later, Ciara left to find some lionesses for the hunt. Jai, Kivu and the cubs went to watch from a safe distance.

Back at Pride Rock, the majordomo hornbill, Kudzu, was leading Mani up the stone steps toward the cave opening.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on Torrent. You say he stayed in the cave the whole time?"

"Yes. Keeping an eye on him was quite easy." the bird replied.

"Still, thank you."

"You're welcome, lion. I shall take my leave now." And with that, the bird flew off.

Mani shook his head. "Same old Kudzu. To the point." As he walked up the stone steps, the old light gray lioness, Sanu, and her daughter, Zuna were exiting the cave. Mani couldn't help but overhear part of their conversation.

"You are a grown lioness," Sanu rasped. "You don't need anyone, especially a young lion, telling you what he requires from you. If he doesn't want you for YOU, and instead wants you for the cubs you could provide him, then that's his loss. He doesn't deserve you."

"But Mom..." Zuna replied. "I love him."

Sanu sighed. "I know dear. It will be okay. This decision is yours to decide."

Mani passed the two lionesses with a polite dip of his head, pretending to not have heard them. They must be talking about Clous.

Sanu slinked past Mani. "Come on, I heard there is a meal ready." She muttered to her daughter. Mani entered the cave. He looked around, but didn't see Torrent or anyone else. Mani moved deeper in the cave and around a corner to the very back of the crevice. There, he saw a large tan cub curled up at Simba's side. Nala lay next to them. Both were alert and saw Mani right away.

"Oh, hello!" Mani said. "I was looking for my son. I hope he wasn't bothering you." Mani moved closer to the old Royals.

"Not at all." Nala said gently. "He's a little angel."

Mani wanted to scoff. Angel? Torrent?

"I was telling him some of my old stories." Simba said. "I must have told him a few too many. He dozed off after a while." he chuckled.

"Hmph, he said he wasn't tired." Mani uttered with amusement. He padded to Torrent and with his large paw, poked him gently in the side. "Torrent, time to wake up."

"Uh?" the large cub stirred and opened his sky-blue eyes. "Oh." He stood and shook his fur, and fixed his hair tuft with a paw. "Oh, I was asleep?"

"Don't worry, Simba fell asleep in the middle of telling the story too." Nala smiled.

"I did not!" said the old lion. "Well... okay maybe I did."

"I'm sorry." Torrent said, genuinely feeling bad.

"Don't be. Hakuna Matata, remember?" Simba grinned.

"Come on, Torrent, it's meal time." Mani turned to go.

"Thanks for the stories." Torrent said with earnest. "Do you want to come eat with us?" he waved his tail happily.

"What a polite young man. Yes, we would love to." Nala said, and they both stood slowly. Simba stretched and yawned. The years were showing on both old lions, with wrinkles and duller colored fur, but both were still happy and healthy.

The lions left the cave and went down the steps. The prey were out in the grasslands, so there was a bit of a distance to walk. Tempest caught up with Mani and Torrent. Mani told her how Torrent had been handing out with Simba and Nala, and she remarked how that sounded cute.

After meal time, Taeliss, Mebala, Zula and Jayden went to the sunning rocks on Pride Rock's side to rest. Ora went with them.

"Did you eat enough?" Zula asked the black cub.

"Yes, Aunt Lala."

"Oh, good. I thought your dad stole it all." Zula joked. Ora giggled.

The five lions found several of the large flat rocks to claim. There were a couple other lionesses nearby resting too. Ora jumped into her mother's arms and Jayden started giving her a bath.

"Jayden, random question." Mebala said.

"Yeah?"

"Me, Taeliss and Zula have never met them, so what do Kubwa and Kidogo look like?"

"That is random." Jayden said between licks.

"I know, but we had a discussion earlier about them and I was wondering if they were cute."

Jayden snickered, "You would."

"You know Mebala," Taeliss said. "Always thinking about boys."

"Oh hush," Mebala responded, "You are wondering the same thing as me!"

"Ew...why think about boys at all?" Ora muttered.

"Someday you might like a boy." Jayden said.

Ora didn't say anything, just leaned in happily to Jayden's grooming.

"Well, what do they look like?" Zula asked

"I've only met them once, briefly, when I visited Koru at his pride." Jayden said. "They really look alike. Except one is bigger than the other. They're both light gray. And their manes are black, and in that "adolescent" phase. You know, just the big patch on the chest and some on their neck."

"And the eyes?" Taeliss asked.

"Um.. maybe golden? Or red? I'm not sure I remember."

"Are they cute?" Mebala prodded.

Jayden shrugged. "You might think so."

"Wait, wait. When you say 'adolescent mane', do you mean big ones? Or small?" Zula asked.

"Jeez, I didn't measure!" Jayden replied.

The girls giggled.

"Go visit the Riverlands if you want to meet them so bad."

"No way." Mebala said. "What would we do, just walk up and say, 'Excuse me, we are doing a survey... we are just taking a look at your manes.'?"

Taeliss and Zula laughed.

Mebala continued, squinting and pretending to scrutinize a lion's mane. "Yes, I see, thank you, and now your eyes sir?"

The girls laughed harder and Jayden joined in, "Are they red or gold, sir?"

"Then we'll ask to see their tail ends!" Taeliss added to the ridiculous scenario.

"Turn around now, sir." Mebala said in her false questionnaire voice. "Don't ask why, just do it."

They all laughed more.

"You guys are crazy," Ora said. "Grown-ups are weird."

"You got lucky, kid." Mebala told Ora. "Your mother is friends with the funniest lioness in the Pride. And I'll let you in on a secret...some adults never grow up. But that makes us the funest ones."

Ora smiled. She didn't say anything, but felt the warmth of agreement rise up within her.

"Or the weirdest ones." Jayden grinned.

"That too."

"So, which of the twins do you prefer?" Zula asked. "Big, or small?"

"Well, big, duh." Mebala answered.

"Do you think everything's bigger on him?" Taeliss whispered with a sly grin.

"That's obscene!" Jayden barked a laugh.

They all giggled. Ora didn't hear.

"Too bad there's not three of them." Taeliss said. "Zula needs one."

"I'll take Small. You two share Big." Zula joked.

"If he's big enough, there could be enough to go around." Mebala said.

"OH, STOP!" Jayden warned, but couldn't help but grin until her cheeks hurt. At least Ora looked to be minding her own business, or otherwise had no idea what the adults were talking about. She was distracted by a small black beetle that was crawling across the rock.

"Is that Ciara coming over here?" Zula said, suddenly looking in the distance. They all perked up their heads and looked. The orange lioness was indeed walking over to them.

"Quick, fix your fur, it's a mess." Mebala nudged Zula.

"Hey! My fur always looks like this!" Zula said, swatting her ornery friend.

"At least Zula doesn't have food on her face right before talking to the Queen-to-be." Jayden said.

"Oh f-, where?" Mebala scrubbed her face with a paw. Too late, Ciara approached them.

"Hello, girls." Ciara dipped her head regally and smiled.

They all greeted her back formally.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Taeliss, Mebala, could I speak to you privately for a moment?"

"Sure." They said in unison with widened eyes.

"Thank you, we can move over there," Ciara gestured with her tail to a few meters away, "since little Ora looks comfy, and I wouldn't ask her to get up." Ciara gave a warm smile, then moved into the direction she indicated.

"OOOO... getting called into the principal's office!" Zula taunted as Taeliss and Mebala stood up. "What'd you do? Go number two inside the den again?"

"HAH! Again?" Jayden exclaimed.

Ora giggled and whispered, "Number two..."

"NO!" Mebala shouted. "Shut up!" She said when Taeliss laughed. "That was one time-I was sick- I couldn't hold it, don't! SHH!" She swatted Taeliss. "UGH come on, Ciara's waiting." She practically dragged Taeliss away. They followed Ciara.

The orange lioness led them far enough away so the others wouldn't hear. She turned to face the younger lionesses. They stood at attention, ready to listen.

Ciara let out a breath, "This is going to be the most awkward thing I've ever discussed with someone, so I apologize in advance."

Mebala's already wide eyes doubled in size, no doubt thinking of the number two incident. Taeliss just continued to look dubious.

Ciara continued, "I have been asked to inquire about your availability or desire to become mothers. The thing is, we need a male cub to become betrothed to Kendi. Prideland tradition states she must be betrothed shortly after birth. Kiara and Kovu are worried since we don't have any unrelated male cubs in the Pride for her to join with one day."

Taeliss and Mebala began to calm their expressions as Ciara explained.

"So I am to ask unrelated young lionesses, that is you, - and I am to ask Ahila as well-, if you would like to leave the Pridelands for a short time to look for mates, in the hopes that one of you might have a boy to betroth to Kendi."

"Wow." Taeliss said. "That is..."

"Big." Mebala finished.

"Yes, I know, and of course, it is completely acceptable if neither of you want to do this. I know most lionesses ideally want to be in love before having cubs. Having the male here to partner with to raise the cubs is easier, so we know it's asking a lot to do the opposite, so this is in no way required. We have a plan B if you two decline."

Mebala gasped. "This is our chance to proposition Kubwa and Kidogo!" she blurted to Taeliss.

The gray lioness smacked her friend in the arm. "Doofer, Kubwa and Kidogo are adolescents! They can't father cubs yet."

Ciara's mouth twitched as she held back a grin. She focused on not laughing.

"Er... Oh. Right." Mebala blushed, realizing what she had just said in front of the Princess. "Sorry."

"No apology needed. I didn't know you were fond of those two." Ciara said.

"We've never met them!" Mebala said, "We were literally just joking about going to me them to check them out."

"Mebala!" Taeliss shook her head.

Ciara giggled. "You guys remind me of me and my friends when we were younger. It makes me feel young again." Her green eyes danced.

"You are young, Ciara." Mebala said, beginning to relax. "Though, I'm sure the stress of being a royal makes you feel ages older."

"Some days it does."

"You said there was a plan B," Taeliss said, getting back to the main conversation, "What is that, exactly?"

"Plan B is an exploration mission away from the Pridelands undertaken by Kovu and Kivu. They would search for a lone pregnant lioness, or one with small cubs. Specifically, a boy, of course. This isn't the main plan because we agreed we'd rather be familiar with the mother of Kendi's betrothed, as would be king one day. The mother would be important to us." Ciara smiled. "Also, even if Kivu and his dad found such a lioness and cub, there would be the chance they couldn't persuade her to come to the Pridelands. They could be gone for weeks looking for lionesses."

Ciara paused. The girls took in the words but didn't speak yet.

"But it's not my intent to bend your decision in one way or the other. This is each of your decisions. No pressure...truly I mean that."

The girls nodded, and were silent for a moment, just looking at the ground.

"Our mothers did this." Taeliss said. "They met rogues, then had us."

"Yeah, and they helped each other while raising us." Mebala said.

"We'd have each other too."

"You'd have all the help you'd need." Ciara added.

"What if we both go, and we both end up having girls?" Taeliss asked.

Ciara replied, "That would be unfortunate, but is a possibility. We would go along with plan B at that point.

After another few seconds of silence, Mebala asked, "May we have some time to think it over?"

"Yes of course. Kovu said if you do choose to go, you are allowed to leave anytime. Just tell me before you go. But if you decide not to go, please let me know your decision either way."

"We will." They said in unison.

"One more thing... I know you might want to tell your friends or your mothers about this, and that is fine, but we really don't want Kendi to overhear any of the information about her betrothal. It's best if the other cubs didn't hear about it either. If Kendi found out she was affianced to someone, I'm sure she'd get the idea she didn't like him. We are hoping she will just end up getting along well with the new boy and come to like him on her own like Kivu and I did growing up."

"Oh yes, we will be careful who we tell." Taeliss said. "I'm glad you mentioned that. Sometimes someone is a loud-mouth." Taeliss pointed her blue eyes at Mebala.

"Hey!"

Ciara chuckled. "Thank you for being discrete. Just let me know what you decide in the next few days."

"Okay, we will." The girls turned to leave.

"Oh, and thank you for considering!" Ciara called after them.