Abandoned

Chapter 4

A week later the guard saw a mountain pass.

"That's gotta be it, if only Kion could arrive at his destination." Ono sighed.

"Yeah... Kion..." Fuli looked down in the ground. Beshte wanted to comfort her but didn't have anything good to say, so he kept quiet, Bunga still just glared at fuli from time to time, and Fuli seemed to be fed up with it.

"Jeez, Bunga, it was a week ago, let it go." She snapped.

"Have you let this thing with Kion go? Thought so." Bunga defended himself.

"Oh god damn it, that's not the same thing." Fuli facepawed. Then they heard a voice.

"Strangers, who are you?" A lioness asked.

"Oh, hi, we're here to heal my friend's eyesight." Fuli said and nodded towards Ono.

"Oh, well, welcome then, let's take you to the queen, I'm Rani by the way." The lioness said.

"Fuli." Fuli greeted, then they entered the Tree Of Life.

"Yeah, it's Mercedes?"

"Hi, babe, it's Oscar, I just wanted to say that I'm on my way... Hello?" Oscar said into the phone speaker as he realized she hung up on him.

"*sigh* Fuck..." he mumbled as he drove through the asian landscape, he overtook a tuk tuk as he thought what he was gonna say when he got back home. 'Hi, babe, sorry I just left, I just got so pissed off that I needed time away from you so I just took the car and drove all the way to Beijing without telling you'. That's an awful excuse, but it's the truth. Oscar thought, he knew that what he had done was in-excusable, leaving his girfriend home with no clue where he was, she must have been so worried when she didn't wake up next to him like she used to. I'm a horrible person. Oscar thought as he cruised behind a truck, he sighed as he couldn't overtake the truck because of oncoming traffic. He just wanted to come home now, nothing else.

"Hey, Kion, have any log appeared yet?" Kion heard a voice behind him.

"*Sigh... No, Nirmala, it's no use..." Kion said.

"It's called the river of patience for a reason." Nirmala chuckled.

"How long will it take for a log to appear?" Kion asked impatiently.

"That depends on the forest, Kion." Nirmala answered.

Kion sighed, Nirmala giggled a bit before she went away to help some other animals.

"It depends on the forest." He repeated to himself.

"Welcome, Lion Guard." Queen Jana greeted.

"Thanks, your higness." Fuli bowed.

"So tell me, what brings you here?" The queen said softly.

"It's our friend Ono, his vision was damaged when he flied into an active volcano." Fuli said, earning a surprised look from Rani.

"A volcano?"

"Long story." Fuli shrugged.

"Hmm... I see, Ono, me and Nirmala will start preparing your healing as soon as she gets back, she's working with some other animals right now."

"Oh, thank you, your majesty." Ono exclaimed happily and bowed.

"Haha, no need to thank me, young egret, instead, why don't you show these animals around, Rani?" The Queen asked.

"Will do, c'mon, Lion Guard, let's go." Rani said and motioned with her tail to follow her.

They walked around and Rani showed them around.

"This is the lake of reflection, here animals who struggles with themself can sit for hours, just staring at their own reflection in the water." Rani explained.

"That sounds awfully boring." Fuli commented.

"Perhaps, but meditating is good for your mental health, especially in cases of deep depression, or animals with anger issues or really any mental oppression." Rani said. Huh, sounds like Kion could use that then. Fuli thought to herself.

"Should we move on?" Rani asked, earning a nod from the Guard. They passed some kind of river, the whole river wasn't visible though due to a turn behind a small hill.

"What's that river over there?" Bunga asked.

"That's the river of patience, too bad I can't show you that today though." Rani responded.

"What, why not?" Bunga let out a sad expression.

"Our patient who's currently there is... Extremely impatient and could lose focus really easy if we disturb him." Rani explained.

"We totally understand, right, Bunga?" Fuli looked askance at the honeybadger, who just shrugged.

"If you say so, I'd love a bath though." 

"Wow, you actually want to bath?" Fuli asked as she let out a crooked smile.

"Now that you mention it, I think I changed my mind." Bunga said.

After the tour Rani showed them where they could sleep for the coming nights.

"I don't think your preparation will take much time, Ono, soon you will hopefully see great again." Rani smiled.

"Hopefully?" Ono's voice trailed off. Rani shrugged.

"Well, I'm not the healer, plus when it comes to this stuff, it's never a guarantee for things towork out correctly, in almost every case things go according to plans, but we're not some gods who can just whip with our tail and suddenly everyone's happy, but you know what I think?" Rani asked.

"What?"

"I think that you will do just fine, remember, the odds of this failing are still very slim." Rani smiled.

"Well, thank you, Rani." Ono bowed.

"No need to bow for me, Ono, I'm not the queen, just the princess." Rani joked.

"Well, if there's anything, you ask Ullu, she's up patrolling all night, well, good night, lads." Rani said and took off towards the Tree Of Life. Fuli laid down, a bit away from the others, she wanted to be alone right now, she looked up in the stars and studied them, so many different, there was white stars, red stars, some red and green blinking object, she used to see those in The Pridelands as well, almost as in a loop, just like the stars, just... a thousand times faster, she still wondered what those things were. Maybe I'll someday know. She thought to herself, then she sighed and looked down in the ground.

"Goodnight, Kion." She mumbled as she closed her eyes, and everything went black.