Life After The Fall

Healed at last

Silence followed Kovu's statement. Nirmala looked at the young lion, her eyebrows raised questioningly. "You know who poisoned Akida you say? How? You weren't there when he was poisoned,"
"You said he was poisoned through mental means right?" Kovu asked without averting his gaze from Akida's weakened form.
"That's correct," Nirmala affirmed.

"I may not have told you this but I too have been poisoned once. By Cougar and Isis's daughter Maana. That was before the war between our pride and Cougar's pride," Kovu confessed.
"Maana poisoned me using her mental powers and that caused me to lash out aggressively towards Simba and Kiara when they were questioning me consistently."

"You mean Cougar, Isis and their children Zayne, Arsenal and Maana? The ones who stole from the Uchawi Fountain years ago?" Nirmala asked shockingly. "Are you saying that Maana could be the one who poisoned Akida?"
"It makes perfect sense to me, but no one commits a crime without a motive," Kiara said.

"Unless they're just plain crazy and obsessed with the idea of hurting others," Kion murmured disdainfully.
Kiara acknowledged Kion's words with a distracted nod.
"Maana doesn't even know Akida. Why would she poison him?"
"And when Maana poisoned me, the poison wasn't detrimental, it just caused me to react aggressively," Kovu stated.

"It could be that her powers developed over time, due to the fact that her family lost so many of their pride, she's mateless and the hatred she has for us, her powers must've taken on a darker turn," Nirmala said out loud. "Hatred and unhinged mental health can make anyone do the unthinkable."

"Can you guys put this conversation on hold for until Akida gets better please? The stress isn't doing him any good," Vitani interrupted as she pushed the Momordica Charantia plant close to Akida who laid on his side inhaling and exhaling in sharp breaths.
"Vitani my neck is stiff..I can barely move it," he whispered.

Vitani stroked his head and sighed. He ss in so much pain. She couldn't bear to see him like that. If he couldn't turn his neck to pick up the fruit in his mouth; she'd have to do it. Picking up the light green fruit with her mouth Vitani bit it in half with her strong jaws and the pieces fell on the grass.

She gagged with the bitterness but ignored it and picked up a big piece with her paw and dropped it into Akida's mouth.
"Ughh it tastes disgusting...what is this stuff?" Akida groaned as he chewed and swallowed the bitter tasting fruit.
"I know. I don't see how anyone could eat this and smile about it," Vitani said smiling softly. "Here take another piece."

"Vitani I don't want anymore it's tasting awful," Akida groaned.
"Akida you need to eat it, how are you expected to get healed if you won't eat?" Vitani chided.
"Ugh! Fine I'll eat it," Akida said in a pained voice as he opened his mouth to receive another piece of the nasty thing. Vitani shook her head and fed him more until all were gone.

She stick the herbs in his mouth and he chewed them for a while before he swallowed. With help from Kion, Vitani managed to get Akida to swallow the water. When everything was gone Akida was feeling slight relief. He could move his muscles a lot better that before and his chest pain as well as the brutal throbbing in his head was slowly dissipating.

"How long will it take for the antidote to work?" Kiara asked Nirmala. "A day, two days?"
"He ate the Momordica Charantia plant, the herbs and drank the water. If he spends the rest of the day and the night resting, the poison should disappear by tomorrow morning," Nirmala replied.

"Thank the Kings. Do you hear that Akida? You're going to live. You're gonna be okay, everything's gonna be just fine,"  Vitani said with a happy smile decorating her face.
"That's a relief, thank you all for everything," Akida said a little weakly as he attempted to rise off the ground.