The Lion Swap: Return of the Roar

Part 2: Panic and Run

Kiara slowed to a walk, still unable to believe her luck. Finally, finally, her father had let her explore the Pride Lands without an adult! The young lioness glanced about her, taking note of the trees around her. She realised she was in Redstar Grove, a small forest home to many different types of birds.

She finally stopped at the trunk of a tree where signature drawings had been carved into the base to let any passerby that a certain family of bluebirds lived in this particular tree. The princess craned her neck to see the top of the tree. "Tumaini," she called softly. 

There was no reply from the tree, the only sounds were the crows squawking loudly from a neighbouring tree. Kiara shot the birds an irritated look, causing two of them to take to the skies in fear. They recognised Kiara as Princess of the Pride Lands, and didn't really want to get on her bad side.

"Tumaini!" she repeated louder, knocking the back of her paw on the trunk of the tree. 

"Huh - oh, Princess Kiara!" An excited chirp came from a hollow inside the tree where the bluebird family nested. The beak of a young bluebird - not Tumaini though - poked out of the hollow. It was Chiku, Tumaini's little sister. 

"Hi Chiku," Kiara said, cocking her head to the side so she could see a bit better. "Can you wake Tumaini up? We were going to explore the Pride Lands today."

"Of course," the chattery bird exclaimed. She retreated back inside, and Kiara heard a bit of muttering, groans and a few grumbles here and there. Eventually, another bluebird came out of the hollow and flew down to the ground to greet Kiara. 

"Morning, Kiara," the bluebird yawned. "What was it that you needed to wake me so early?"

Kiara giggled at her friend's antics and met her golden eyes. "It's not early, silly. If you think this is early, then wait til you hear how early my daddy got me up this morning."

The bluebird yawned again, stretching its beak as wide as it could go. "Let me guess: sunrise? I don't get it how you lions do it."

"Eh," Kiara said shrugging. "It's more of a royalty thing. I still don't see why I have to do it, and take part in Daddy's speeches - I'm not going to be the future monarch - that's Kion."

"What speech did he give you?" Tumaini asked, finally recovering from her weariness and shaking her wings.

"The 'everything the light touches is our kingdom' speech," Kiara said rolling her reddish-brown eyes. "Like I haven't heard that speech twenty times before!"

The bird hummed in agreeance, then seemed to notice something. "Hey, how come you don't have an adult lion with you? Or Zazu in the skies?" She pointed one of her wings to the Zazu-free sky. 

Kiara grinned. "My daddy finally let me explore the Pride Lands on my own! Now we can go anywhere without any adults cramping my style!"

"Your style?" Tumaini grinned, teasingly. "I wasn't aware you had one!"

"Hey!" Kiara cried, shaking her fur. "Of course I have a style! Everyone has one!"

"If you say so," the bird cheeped cheakily, spreading her wings and flying a metre or two above the lioness. "Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked. "Let's go!"

But before the two friends could leave, a cry came from Tumaini's hollow. "Wait!" The bluebird's mother came flying out and landed in front of her daughter, her pink chest feathers fluffing up. "Promise you'll be safe, and be back by dusk. And don't do anything dangerous," the mother said. 

"Yes, yes, Ma, I know," the wily bluebird said, rolling her eyes before staring at her mother in annoyance. "It's not like I'm planning on being eaten by a hyena or a vulture or anything."

Tumaini's mother narrowed her eyes, and wagged her tail feathers a bit. "I'm just making sure, dear."

"Well, now that I've promised, me and Kiara are gonna go," Tumaini said, lifting her wings. "Bye, Ma!"

And with that the lioness and the bluebird left the grove, Kiara working up to a run and Tumaini flying ahead. For a while they moved in comfortable silence before Tumaini spoke up. "Do you know what you wanna do?" she asked. 

"Honestly, I'm not really sure," Kiara admitted. "Normally we just get a random idea and go ahead with it."

"That's true," said Tumaini, and the two returned to silence, lost in their own thoughts. 

The two finally stopped to rest in the shade of a towering acorn tree, and stared in silence at the Pride Lands. Not too far away from them, a herd of pronghorns grazed in the grasslands and zebras were panicking and running for no reason in the far distance. 

"Panic and run!" Thurston was crying as usual, "panic and run!"

Kiara raised her eyebrow, and squinted into the distance, trying to see past a thin haze that had settled over the Pride Lands. However, her eyesight wasn't the sharpest and she couldn't see what was happening. "Do you think they're panicking and running for a reason?"

Tumaini snorted. "With zebras, you can never really tell." But she flew up to see what she could see. Before long, she landed back on the ground. "There's nothing threatening them, but maybe we should check it out?"

Kiara nodded. "Best to make sure everyone's alright." 

And with that, they ran (or flew, in Tumaini's case) over to where the zebras where. When they finally reached the zebras, they noticed nothing amiss - aside from the fact that they were close to the Outlands.

Thurston and another zebra were in a standoff, both of them screaming, "Panic and run! Panic and run!" Other zebras surrounding them, cheering, as they both ran in random patterns, zig-zagging and running figure eights, screaming their heads off.

"Excuse me? What's going on?" Kiara asked one of the nearest zebras as Tumaini landed on top of her head.

The zebra looked a bit startled, and glanced down at Kiara and Tumaini for a moment before looking back to the zebras. "It's a competition," she explained, not taking her eyes off Thurston. "We're seeing who can panic and run the best."

"Uhh, for what purpose?" Tumaini asked. 

"To see who gets to yell panic and run whenever a threat comes. Thurston always wins," the zebra said as if it was obvious. Tumaini glanced down at Kiara, and Kiara shrugged, careful not to knock the bird off her head.

Once the two were clear of the 'competition', they both fell into a fit of laughter. Kiara fell on her belly unable to contain her laughter, and Tumaini had to fly off to avoid being crushed. 

"Panic and run... as a competition," Kiara managed to wheeze out. She lifted a claw to her face and wiped away a tear of mirth that had escaped her eyes.

"And Thurston always wins?" Tumaini choked. "How is that even possible?"

The giggles overcame them again, and they could do nothing to control their laughter. Finally, their laughter faded away, and the two females looked around for something to do.

"Hey!" Tumaini exclaimed, spotting a baobab fruit not too far away from them. She grabbed it and flew back to Kiara with the fruit. "Baobab ball?"

Kiara grinned devilishly. "You're on! And you're so losing!"