Sarafina sighed. Taka disappeared like before without any trace. Ahadi and Uru, planned a search, unlike before. They put pressure on Sarafina's mother to get her daughter to tell her what she knew. She said what she always said. She truly didn't know. But she wanted to find out. She snuck into the Elephant Graveyard. She knew it was risky. If the wrong hyena found her, it would be the end of her. Thankfully, the hyenas here weren't so bright. She was able to avoid the detection of any that were nearby. She soon found her target.

Or targets to be exact. Shenzi, the girl of the group. And the boys, Banzai and Ed.

They were eating scraps, until Ed noticed and used noise to get the attention of the other 2.

Banzai and Shenzi, saw he was pointing at a lioness. That quickly got their attention.

Shenzi snarled. "You're very far from home".

"My name is Sarafina. I'm a friend of Taka's".

That quickly shut them up. Excluding Banzai, of course who asked. "Sarafina. We heard of you. We hadn't heard from Taka in a long while. We heard he disappeared, then he came back, then he disappeared like before".

Sarafina sighed. "Do you know where he possibly went"?

They shook their heads.

"You don't need to tell me. I just need to know that someone thinks he's safe".

Shenzi sighed. "Look. We're sorry. Really. But we don't know. To be honest, we're kinda bummed out that he never told us where he went. Was he afraid we would tell Ahadi or something. We don't owe that guy anything".

"I heard he made new friends".

Banzai was shocked. "New friends? Sheesh, what are we? A bunch of leftovers".

Shenzi sighed. "Look if we hear anything about Taka, we'll let you know".

"Thank you".

Shenzi nodded. "Now, get out of here before someone sees you".

Sarafina nodded and left.

Banzai sighed. "I'm gonna miss Taka".

Shenzi nodded. "I'm gonna miss the food he brought us". Ed nodded in agreement.

Sarafina made her way back home. She thought the hyenas might know something, she suspected they knew something after he disappeared like before. But it turns out there were as clueless then as they are now. She sighed. Her mother would kill her if she where she was. Sarabi said she would cover for her. Sarafina was grateful to have a friend like Sarabi. While they didn't agree with how Taka should be treated. They were best friends in every other regard. Sarafina then considered the Outlands. Taka mentioned he went there before as he didn't want to get the hyenas involved with his problems. Sarafina knew that while the Outlands had no hyenas, there were jackals and vultures.

She looked out to the Outlands. She considered, but turned around at the end. There was no guarantee that she would find him. For all she knew, he might be somewhere else". A certain mandrill watched her. The female turned to him. "Don't you think about it".

"What"?

"Taka was a special case; we can't go and bring someone to a new world whenever we feel sorry for them".

"I'm not saying, we do that. All I recommend is we assure her that her friend is safe and happy".

"I'm not saying I don't feel bad for her. But we can't get involved in every little problem".

He sighed. "You're right... What about one of his hyena friends? We can tell them so they can tell her".

She glared at him and that shut him up.

Sarafina wasn't the only one who had Taka on their brain. The hyena trio were also now talking about the issue.

"I say we find him".

Shenzi shook her head. "Nobody asked you. We could get killed".

"But I miss him".

"Him or the food he brought".

He glared. "I'll admit we used him for free food he brought. But he was our friend, we owe him a lot".

Shenzi and Ed supported those words with nods. Although Shenzi was slightly unsure. "Look if we really are gonna consider this. We should talk about it now".

Banzai didn't see the issue. Shenzi slapped herself with her forepaw, then explained. "Where to look, see if anybody knows his whereabouts, that sort of thing".

Author's Note

I apologise for the very short chapter. But I was wondering if anyone wanted me to add another character or characters after I finish the Time of Great Giving arc. I thought I'd ask now to give anyone a chance to give a yes or no response. As for chapter 18. It will be published soon.