Chapter 3
(Toma's POV)
I was resting inside the cave away from the blistering sun outside when Zazu came flapping inside, apparently in a rush. He hurried over to Kovu, the king of the Pridelands and my dad, and began explaining something in a hurried manner as usual. "Sire, please come quickly! There seems to be a rouge lioness in the Pridelands!" "Okay Zazu, keep your tail feathers on. We deal with rouges almost every other week, no big deal really." Kovu said as he stood up. "Yes sire but you never know what one could do. Now can we go see why she's here?" Zazu asked impatiently. "Fine, let's go." Kovu said as he walked down from Pride Rock.
I followed them down just to get a little bit of exercise. Zazu led us towards an old scraggly tree and under it was a young lioness that seemed to be having a fitful sleep. She looked way too young to be leaving her pride still. She was in her late adolescent stage. Kovu went and nudged her awake. She woke up with a start and gasped, and then she cowered under my father's shadow. We all took slightly defensive stances and growled at her. "What are you doing in the Pridelands?" Dad asked her impatiently. "I'm, uh, um, uh, not exactly sure." She answered after a moment's hesitation cowering even more. She was very scared, anyone could see that.
I went up from my defensive stance and studied her. Her fur was a medium tan with a light underbelly fur that covered half her muzzle. She had hardly any muscle on her, though she looked well fed, and she had hazel eyes. In over all, she was a very pretty lioness.
"What is your name then?" Zazu asked her after a moment, "Claire" She answered. It was an odd name, but it seemed to fit her just fine. "Come on then Clarie, we're bringing you to Pride Rock. That's where you're going to hear your judgment." Dad said to her. She looked like she was about to pass out from fright. "Come on, get up and follow us." Dad said. She nodded and stood up shakily and followed us. Dad was in front of her, I was behind her to make sure she wouldn't run off, and Zazu was flying ahead of us.
We reached the cave after about five minutes of walking. We hurried the young lioness up the stone steps and made her wait outside with Zazu watching, and rounded up the other lionesses in the cave and brought the rouge adolescent inside. There she was met with stares, curious glances, and growls, like most rouge get.
"She could be a threat to the cubs! There's no way we should let her stay here!" One lioness shouted, "But think about it! If we welcome her into the pride, we could have even more strength in numbers!" Another shouted. The arguing went back and forth for a while before dad said enough. "We will let her stay here for two weeks. By then we will see if we should allow her into the pride or throw her out of the Pridelands. Is that understood?" He said. The rest of the lionesses nodded and dad dismissed them. Dad motioned for me to follow him and we talked in the corner of the cave. "Toma, I need you to keep an eye on her and see how she does. You're going to be her guardian for the next two weeks, understood?" He said. I was about to protest but I bit my tongue. There was no use arguing with him. I just sighed and nodded. I looked back towards the Clarie. This was going to be an interesting two weeks.
