A Heart's Desire

Chapter 3: The New Queen

Somewhat shortish chapter today. Sorry! This chapter and the next one are not super eventful BUT.......

Chapter 5..........hmm........just gotta wait and see 😈

A few days had passed and Kion had only gotten worse. Rani didn't care about her royal duties. She only cared about Kion. She stayed with him for every second of the day and night. She barely left The Tree Of Life. Baliyo, and the other members of the night pride tried their best to comfort Rani but nothing was working. They could barely manage to take care of her duties because they didn't know what to do or what was the best thing to do. Fuli usually went with them to help with Rani's neglected duties and somehow made things a little easier for the night pride. They were thankful for her help but Fuli didn't want thanks. She just wanted Kion to get better and see Rani happy. Fuli went to The Tree Of Life often to check on Rani and Kion and once again she was not surprised to see that they haven't moved an inch.

"Rani? Everyone is worried about you. You haven't left the tree in days. Your royal duties are barely being attended to and-"

"I can't do anything without him, Fuli. I can't be queen. Not right now anyway. I need someone to take my place for a while," Rani says cutting in.

Fuli was shocked. She knew Rani was upset but this was beyond what she expected to hear.

"Rani, you can't. You're the queen. Everyone needs you. You can't give up now," Fuli argues.

Rani looks over at Fuli. Her fur looked dirty and ruffled and her eyes were dark from lack of sleep.

"I can and I will".

Fuli sighs and turns to leave, "I'll go get Baliyo and see if-"

"He doesn't want to be king. No one in the night pride does. They don't exactly have the leadership skills either," Rani replies.

"So who will you ask?"

"You".

Fuli's mouth drops open. She was only second in command. She rarely led the lion guard or the night pride. How could she lead a whole kingdom?

"Rani, no. You're making a mistake in asking me to be queen. Besides, I'm a cheetah, not a lion. No one will listen to me," Fuli argues.

Rani shakes her head, "This is the right choice. I trust you. You have my and the kingdom's respect. They will listen to you...your highness".

Makini walks out from the vines at the back of the den. She had heard the whole thing and was already mixing the blue-grey paint

"We talked it over with the others. They all agreed you would be best for the job, Fuli. You'll do a great job," Makini says with a small smile.

Fuli sighs and bows her head, "I'll do my best".

"Thank you. Until I am able to return to my duties, I give all my powers as queen to you," says Rani.

Makini paints a symbol on Fuli's forehead but it was slightly different from Rani's symbol. Instead of one curve, it was a line with a curve in the upper centre with a diamond above the curve.

"It means trusted queen," Rani explains.

"Thank you. I won't let you down," Fuli replies.

She slowly leaves the den. Outside, the lion guard and the night pride waited. They knew what Rani was going to talk to Fuli about and this was it.

"Rani made me queen for now and I will do what she's asked me to do. I will do my best in her absence. We need to spread the word about her decision and continue to protect these lands," Fuli orders.

The others nod and bow slightly. Fuli knew this was not going to be easy but she wasn't going to sit around and do nothing. By the end of the day, most of the animals knew of their temporary queen and the leaders of the herds came to the Tree of Life to give Fuli their blessings. Rani was right when she told Fuli that the animals respected her but Fuli didn't want this. Not forever though.

As the sun finally set on another day, Fuli silently prayed to the great kings and queens of the past. Even though she was not a lion or of royal blood, she hoped they could hear her just this once.

'Please let Kion get better. I don't want to seem selfish but I don't want to rule even if it's just for a little while. Please let Kion recover. If not for his kingdom, his friends, or me...please do it for Rani's sake. No one can be happy as long as Kion is ill.'