Vitani's Story

Chapter 14

"We're expecting another cub!"

What?! Joy flowed through Vitani like a flash, warmed her tense paws and crept up to her heart. "That's wonderful!"

She hopped around on the rocky plateau with nothing but happiness, catching some amused looks from the lionesses. She would have a sibling! Finally she would be no longer alone - she could already see in front of her how she showed her little brother or sister the Pridelands or taught it how to hunt.

"Is it going to be a girl or a boy?" Vitani asked Scar as she stroked his legs.

He laughed purring. "Nobody knows that yet, darling." Then he discovered the prey that Kivuli and his daughter had shot. "Congratulations," he purred even louder. "The pride won't have to be hungry again if you keep hunting like this."

Vitani felt a surge of pride, but then tiredness overwhelmed her. After all, they had hunted all evening! She staggered to the cave and laid down to sleep.

The next morning was hot. It was only reluctantly that Vitani left the pleasant coolness of the cave to greet her parents. Zira's stomach was puffed up strangely and Scar eyed her with a noticeably worried look. They didn't seem to notice their daughter.

"Zira, you shouldn't hunt in your condition. The little one only hinders you! "

Vitani wondered. Confused, she crept past the still arguing lions and down Priderock.

At the Sun Rock she met Sari. Maybe the young lioness knew what was wrong with Zira. After all, she was also the daughter of the royal couple, but had never had the desire to become Queen. This is how Vitani became heir to the throne.

"Hello Sari!"

The lioness turned, her auburn eyes twinkling gently. "Ah, Vitani. What brings you to me?"

"Do you know what's going on with Mom?" Vitani gushed out. "Is she sick? Why does she have such a big belly and why is she not allowed to hunt?"

Sari laughed. "It all has to do with your sibling. It's growing in your mother's stomach right now and if she does something strenuous, like hunting, it could harm the cub."

"Oh!" Vitani now also climbed the rocks and laid down next to Sari. From here she overlooked the dry river bed and some gazelles moving across the country in search of the last tufts of grass.

The thought that she would rule over all of this made her stomach tingle with excitement and fear, but she knew that this was her fate. Her destiny. And at some point she would be ready for it.

But why hadn't it been Sari's destiny? After all, she was the firstborn and thus had a birthright to the throne.

Without even thinking, she asked, "Why didn't you want to be Queen?"

Sari looked at her, her gaze seemed to literally illuminate her. She had Zira's piercing eyes.

It had just slipped out of Vitani. Did she say something wrong?

"It's a sad story." The lioness averted her eyes. "Do you still want to hear it?"

"Yes!" Vitani loved stories.

Sari sighed. Then she turned to the little lioness and began, "It happened about three moons ago."

"I'm three moons old! What a coincidence!"

"Quiet, let me go on." An indefinable expression crept onto Sari's face. She looked somehow sad. "That day I lost my best friend. Her name was Tama ... she was a full-grown lioness, but we still had lots of fun. One day we let drove bark boats on the river, covered with flowers, and imagined that the lion of our dreams would find them."

Absentmindedly she gazed into the distance, a faint laugh pearled from her lips like drops of dew in an endless lake. "He would find them and go in search of whoever sent him this message."

Vitani smiled too. She imagined a scenario like this, with her friend placing small flowers on a bark boat on the river, then nudging it with her paw and rocking it over the waves ...

"It was a day like any other when it happened. The sun shone red from the sky like a bleeding ball of fire, I enjoyed the slight coolness of the morning and the singing of the birds. I wanted to meet her as always, but ..."

Sari's voice broke suddenly. Vitani felt waves of grief overwhelm the lioness. She gently placed her little paw on her pride mate's shoulder.

"I couldn't find her," Sari whispered. "Her favorite place was a small cave near the Sun Rocks, so I went there. But I began to doubt. Whether something had happened? She never kept me waiting ..."

Here her voice broke again and she sighed.

"You don't have to tell me," Vitani said sympathetically.

"Yes, I have to!" Sari burst out. "This is the only way I can finally forget it." The lioness' red eyes bored into her heart and now the Princess finally understood.

Sari had never spoken to anyone about her friend's death before.

"I found her lifeless on the cave floor, covered with blood. I ... I couldn't do anything anymore ... In the days that followed I was barely recognizable. I thought about life, death, the Circle of Life and how unfair it all was. And I wondered how I should become Queen when life, including that of my loved ones, was fleeting. I couldn't withstand the pressure, the responsibility that weighed on my shoulders as future Queen. So I went to my father and informed him of my desire to become a simple hunter."

Vitani listened carefully to Sari's story. She hadn't known any of this, even though she shared a cave with the lioness night after night! It seemed like everyone had their little secret that they kept from her: Her parents, Sari and of course ... Nala.

The mysterious lioness.

Sari must have noticed that her little listener's thoughts had wandered. "What is it, Vitani?"

"Do you happen to know anything about a Nala?"

Sari's face became a mask that did not let emotions shine through. "She's a renegade. Stay away from her and don't believe a word she says, no matter what she tells you. "

Vitani lowered her head in disappointment. She had expected such a reaction, but still ... Everyone told her to stay away from this lioness, but no one told her why.

Sari's eyes softened. "I just want to protect you." She put a paw around her little sister. "Now go play. And stay within sight of Priderock!"