Abasi paced back and forth in his den, waiting for Enzi and Hofu to return with Aisha's kill. Mabaya trotted inside with a worried look on her face; she hated it when Abasi didn't have any patience, "Abasi, could you please stop pacing back and forth? You're going to put a hole in the ground," said Mabaya.
Abasi stopped pacing and faced his mate with a stern glare, "I don't want to hear it, Mabaya. I don't know if Enzi and Hofu would succeed,"
"Mother! Father! We're back!" Enzi called out, trotting inside the den with Hofu trailing behind him.
"Welcome back, you two. Did you steal anything for the princess?" asked Abasi.
"We tried to take an antelope from her, but a couple of hyenas stopped us," Enzi reported sternly.
"WHAT?!" Abasi screeched, making Mabaya, Hofu, and Enzi jump, "YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT YOU LET A COUPLE OF HYENAS STOP YOU FROM GETTING THE KILL?!"
Mabaya rolled her eyes, "Honey, will you stop yelling? Give the boys some time to explain themselves," she too gave a stern and angry glare at the two lions.
"Your Majesties, those hyenas were in our way! No matter how many times we tried to stop them!" Hofu said.
"You two should've had some lionesses to help you on the job!" Abasi spat, "I can't have you two come back from the pride lands empty-pawed."
"Father, how can a few lionesses do the job properly?" Enzi questioned with his head high, "Didn't you forget that king Kovu has his guards blocking every entrance around the pride lands? If we keep sneaking into the pride lands, there's a chance king Kovu and his lionesses will kill one of us. Would you want to lose your best lions in this pride?"
Abasi opened his mouth to yell at his son but closed it when nothing came out of it, "You could've thought of another way of sneaking into the pride lands, but no, you chose to have Hofu, and I steal from the weak and defenseless princess. We have to get those pridelanders to step down and hand over their kingdom by force! We can't let them win, father! Do you understand what I'm saying?!" Enzi concluded.
Abasi and Mabaya were speechless, "Do you understand our situation, father?!" Enzi repeated.
Abasi sighed stressfully and placed a paw over his head. How could he not think of a better way to plan something that involves the pride lands? Yet, he chose to have Hofu and his youngest son do something risky that caused them to get detected by hyenas. Hofu and Enzi stood their ground, waiting for a response from the latter.
"You're right, my son," said Abasi, "I should've thought more than to send you two to the pride lands. Because of me, you and Hofu nearly died out there today."
"It's alright, father,"
"No, it's not alright, son. I've been too sadistic and naive to see the flaws of my mistakes. I should've sent some lionesses out there so you two would have backups,"
Hofu cleared his throat as the royal family turned to him, "Your Majesties, what should we do to get back the pride lands?"
"Hofu, we'll discuss this with the pride later," said Mabaya, "But for now, I want you and Enzi to continue your training."
"Yes, mother,"
"Yes, queen Mabaya,"
"Hofu?" Mabaya spoke up, "Since you been loyal and humble towards us for the past year, you may address us as Abasi and Mabaya."
"Yes, of course, queen..." Hofu cleared his throat before correcting himself, "I mean, Mabaya."
"Good. You two may leave," said Abasi.
Enzi and Hofu trotted out of the den to continue their training, leaving the king and queen of the outlands alone. Back in the pride lands, the hunting party had returned to pride rock with their kill. The pride gathered around and ate their lunch for today. Aisha shared her kill with her family, friends, and some pride members while the rest ate the other antelope the huntresses caught.
After lunch, Tanabi and Aisha are hanging out at the watering hole. Kovu decided to postpone Tanabi's lessons due to all the young lionesses going on their first hunt in the pride. It is tradition for any princess to go first in the pride lands. The other young adult lionesses in the pride could go after the princesses.
Aisha, Nama, Azuli, Nalia, and Kali are the princesses, while Neema and Shani are regular pride lionesses. Since Aisha completed her first hunt today, Nama would start tomorrow, Azuli would start the next day after, and so on. The two future rulers sat under the tree, watching all the inhabitants get along and drink some cool and clean water.
Surprisingly, there hasn't been a dry season as Kovu and Kiara predicted two years ago. However, this doesn't mean they can't prepare for it. Kovu had ordered everyone to conserve as much water as possible, meaning they couldn't swim or bathe in the water since large animals like elephants, hippos, giraffes, rhinos, and others tend to take up space in the watering hole.
"You did wonderful out there, Aisha," said Tanabi.
Aisha smiled and nuzzled her future mate, "Aw, thanks, Tanabi,"
"You're welcome," said Tanabi.
Aisha sighed, scanning the kingdom in front of her, "Imagine all of this would be ours next year,"
"Our future kingdom..." Tanabi sighed, "I'll never forget it."
"Yeah," Aisha smiled and pressed her head against Tanabi's chest, taking in his scent.
"I remember the day when we met; you easily beat me in a surprise attack. I didn't know how you could beat me so easily,"
Aisha laughed, "Thanks to my mother; she taught me how to hunt and fight when I was a cub,"
"I see," Tanabi smirked, "Back then, I thought you were weak..."
"Well, you thought wrong. Because I'm strong enough to fight an outsider," she joked.
Tanabi sickered, "Yeah, right! You couldn't even hurt a fly!"
Aisha got up and pushed Tanabi down playfully, "Oof!" he grunted.
"Is that right?" Aisha purred seductively.
Tanabi looked into Aisha's eyes and licked her cheek, "Yup. You're one of the nicest lionesses I've met," he commented.
"What about the ones in your old pride?" Aisha inquired.
"They're nothing special," Tanabi replied, "I don't think they're interested in finding a mate. Heck, they'll only have cubs with random wandering males."
"Rogues are nothing but trouble," Aisha commented, "Hopefully, none of them wouldn't come into my kingdom."
"Don't you mean 'our kingdom'?" Tanabi teased.
"Aw, hush," Aisha batted her future mate's nose playfully.
Aisha got off of Tanabi, allowing him to get back up. The two future rulers nuzzled each other as their tails twitched in a slow rhythm, "I love you, Aisha,"
"I love you too, Tanabi,"
Later that evening, Aisha and Tanabi returned from their outing, where Kovu and Kiara waited for them to return. When they went inside the main den, they greeted the King and Queen before walking inside the den with the rest of the pride.
Once everyone was inside, Aisha cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "May I have everyone's attention, please?" she called out as the pride turned to look at her.
Aisha swallowed the nervousness down her throat and took a deep breath. She's the future queen, and she can tell the pride what's going on. Tanabi gave her a reassuring lick to give her confidence.
"It's alright, Aisha. I'm here to help if you need it," Tanabi whispered.
Aisha nodded, "Thank you, Tanabi,"
"Everyone, listen up!" she started, "When I was about to bring the antelope back to pride rock, I ran into some trouble," Aisha took a deep breath before exhaling, "I saw Hofu and another lion named Enzi in the pride lands, and they started a stampede nearby and tried to take my kill."
Everyone gasped, "Who's Enzi?" asked Jata.
"Enzi's the son of Abasi and Mabaya; he's Tanabi and Shani's little brother and the future king," Aisha answered.
"Wait, what?" Tanabi gasped.
"We have a little brother?" Shani questioned, "We never knew mother and father would try again for another cub."
"Seems like they've replaced you, Tanabi," said Chaka.
"If you and Shani were still evil, you would take over the pride lands like your brother is trying to do," said Kopa.
"That's true. At least Shani and I changed before it was too late," Tanabi replied, "But we have to figure out a way to stop my father and our former pride from attacking the pride lands."
"How are we going to do that?" asked Hodari.
"We'll have to think of something we could do," said Azuli.
Kovu cleared his throat, earing eyes from the pride, "For now, we must continue with the cautions in the pride lands; who knows what Abasi has up his paws,"
"Lions and lionesses, remember your duties as we discussed two years ago. Abasi and his pride might attack at any time," Kiara announced before looking up at Zaki, "Zaki, fly around the pride lands and come back to us if you spot something unusual."
"Yes, queen Kiara," said Zaki as he began flying away from pride rock.
"If any of you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to talk to us, and we'll do anything to help," said Kovu.
"I can't believe our son would turn evil!" Malaika sobbed, "We failed as parents!"
"Honey, we didn't fail," said Mheetu, "We tried to raise Hofu to be a good lion, and now, he's with Abasi's pride."
"I hope he's alright,"
Mheetu and Malaika nuzzled each other comfortably, "I hope so too, Malaika. I hope so,"
"If only Hofu can come back and be a good lion he once was... We would be a happy family again..." Nala sighed, "I hate to see he's changed."
Kali rolled her eyes, "Humph, I'm glad he's not with us anymore!"
This caused everyone to gasp in shock, "Kali! Why would you say things like that?" Kiara yelled, "Hofu's your cousin!"
"My real cousin is dead!" Kali snapped with a frown, "My fake cousin is evil!"
"Yeah!" Jai chimed in as he defended his girlfriend, "He blinded me, and I can't see out of my left eye anymore because of him!"
"Jai, stay out of this!" Jai's mother scolded.
"No, mother!" You know what that monster did to us!" Jai shouted back.
"He attacked me when I went to check up on him!" Nalia cried.
"He knocked me out after he threw Eshe against the wall!" Chaka added.
"He attacked Kali and me when we confronted him!" Kopa yelled.
"He attacked us when we confronted him about attacking Nalia!" Neema piped up.
"And the worse of all, he and Tanabi and Shani's little brother tried to sabotage Aisha's first hunt!" Nama concluded.
"Hofu needs to be stopped once and for all!" Ayanna declared with the pride roaring in agreement.
"He's a threat to all of us!" Faraji declared.
"YEAH!!!" The pride bellowed as they roared in agreement.
"Enough!!!" Kovu roared, silencing the pride, "Hofu may have committed crimes in the past. But he is family!"
"Uncle Kovu. Not to sound rude, but Hofu has hurt some of us, and he might try to kill us. How can we trust him if he's with Abasi and his pride?" Azuli asked.
"Azuli's right, uncle Kovu," said Kopa, "Hofu may be our cousin, but he's acting worse than Scar."
Kovu sighed and shook his head. Before he could respond, Kiara cleared her throat and gave her niece and nephew a sad look, "Kopa, Azuli," she began, "Everyone deserves a second chance."
"Huh?!"
"What I'm trying to say, Hofu may hurt you all in the past. But he is family," Kiara reminded.
"But, aunt Kiara! Hofu might try to kill us one day!" Kali protested, "We have to do something to stop him before it's too late!"
"Kali!" Nala interjected, shocked at her granddaughter's words, "Hofu may have hurt you all in the past. But we must get ready for what will come to us."
"Mother? How are we going to do that?" asked Nuru.
"As Kovu and Kiara said, we must be cautious on our daily activities... If Abasi and his pride come into the pride lands to fight, we must get ready to defend our home," Nala answered.
Just then, Zaki flew back inside the cave and perched on top of a rock, "Sire, there's nothing unusual in the pride lands,"
"Great to hear, Zaki," said Kovu, "for now on, I need you to fly over the pride lands for any suspicion while checking up on everyone below. We can't have the herds attacked or killed by those outlanders."
"Sure, sire. I will do that starting tomorrow morning," said Zaki, "Is there anything else you need?"
"No, Zaki. You may be dismissed,"
Zaki bowed to Kovu and Kiara before flying out of the den.
"Does anyone have any questions?" Kovu looked around at his pride while waiting for an answer. As everyone was quiet, he cleared his throat and continued, "Very well, make sure you all follow our rules tomorrow to stay safe. Meeting adjourned."
End of chapter 36