The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 11: Hospitality

 The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 11: Hospitality

The cold of the night's eve woke up Emba, he slowly got into his paws and yawned, stretching while looking through the cave's entrance, glaring at the dark blue sky of the late afternoon, the stars were still hidden. He walked over the rocky, cold ground of the cave, towards the bottom of it, seeing his parents sleeping and gasping when noticing his mother's wound. He hurried his steps a bit, trying to take them as silent as possible, he then approached Rani and got close to the wound. "Mom." He mumbled, Rani moved a bit and let out a sigh of troubled yet deep sleep. Emba glanced at his father and walked towards him, standing on his hind legs and putting his paws on his back, patting it gently yet repeatedly. "Dad?" Kion was laying on his side, facing the rocky wall.

Kion's sleep wasn't as deep as Rani's, he only made a sound of sleepy inquiry, having heard his son's voice.

"What happened to mom?" Emba asked.

Kion yawned and moved a bit, his ear twitched slightly. "What is it, son?" He was now awake enough to answer his son's question. He let out a sigh and briefly after so, he yawned again. "Don't worry, son. Your mom is fine."

"But, what happened?" Emba insisted, still murmuring. "She is wounded."

Kion delayed a bit to provide an answer. "She fell."

Emba raised an eyebrow, looking at his mother's wound once again, trying to make up the scene on his mind, thing that his young thinking found plausible. "From where?" But he still wanted more information.

Kion sighed, a bit frustrated. "I don't know, she just told me." He let out a final, made up yawn, pretending to fall asleep to avoid more questions.

Emba stood there for a moment, thinking while seeing Rani's wound. He got his paws off his father's back and approached his mother again, getting in front of her head, he leaned towards her forehead and licked it. "Get well soon, mom." He mumbled and remained sitting before her for a long moment then just walked away from her.

Ari, Zale and Keru were sleeping on a low level of the cave, inside a hole on one of the cave's walls, with a brief stair like natural path that led to the aperture's inside. Emba jumped in there and approached his sister, patting her head with a paw repeatedly. "Ari." He mumbled, a bit loud to wake her up. "Ari." He insisted.

Ari opened her eyes narrowly. "What?" She inquired with a sleepy voice.

Emba gestured upwards, towards the entrance. "Let's go explore, my parents are asleep."

Ari closed her eyes with disinterest. "And get in trouble for nothing?..." She yawned briefly. "...no thanks."

Emba sighed. "Come on, we won't get in trouble, it's barely night we can go and return without them noticing."

"Explore?" Keru said, he had been woken up by Emba's words. "Where?" He got into his paws and approached Emba.

"See, Ari?" Emba insisted by pushing her with his front paws. "We are two already, don't be a killjoy."

Zale stretched and yawned. "I'll go with you." He approached his brother and his cousin.

Ari remained with her eyes closed, after some uncomfortable silence, she opened one eye and looked at the insistent faces of her brother and cousins, who were just smirking at her, gesturing towards the exit with their eyes.

Ari sighed with resignation and stood up slowly. "Where to?" She expressed with tiredness.

The four cubs exited the cave with silent yet hurried steps, walking carefully over the path that led to the ground under the Pride Rock, running right when reaching the grass of the savanna, running to the west. Their laughs of expectance, curiosity and pure fun ignited by the cold wind and the sound of their paws crushing the dry grass merged with the awakening of the first stars, they felt like giants running on a playground, with no fears or worries at all, just the impatience of finding something new and interesting.