The Lion Guard Season 5

Chapter 7: The Kingdom of Tigers

{Nguvu's POV}
I walked through the trees and came upon a large plain, full of the greenest grass I had ever seen, and animals littered everywhere. It rivaled the Tree of Life in terms of size and grandeur. I thought to myself "This must be the Tiger Kingdom that Bahaad was talking about." And so I began to walk further into the land. While walking, I can feel the stares of other animals, like they were judging me. As I kept walking, I noticed the caves at the other edge of the land, they were huge. The cave in the middle was much larger than the rest, a mountain in a cluster of hills. Like a gorilla in a group of baboons. I assumed that's where the king lived. I tried to make my way towards it when I was stopped by two tigers. One with a scar running up his snout and above his right eye and the other with a piece of his left ear missing
"Halt lion!" The one with the scar said with slight distain "You will walk no further into the Kingdom of Tigers."
"You will leave the way you came." The other tiger added "If you wish to keep your life."
I was startled by his last comment. Do these guys have a negative history with lions? Why are they treating me like some kind of criminal?
"I come in peace. I was sent here by Bahaad." I told them, trying to mitigate the obviously growing hostility. They looked at each other, the same look of shock and confusion shared on both their faces. Then they looked back at me, and the tiger with the nicked ear ask me if I was sure Bahaad sent me, and they shuffled around like they didn't believe me. I repeated what I said before and the tigers told me to follow them and to not do anything stupid. The tiger with the nicked ear walked in front of me and the tiger with the scar walked behind me while growling low enough that his friend couldn't hear it and I could. I supposed it was a warning to not try anything because he would see it and tigers were faster than lions. They led me to the large cave at the center of the ring of caves at the edge of the Tiger Kingdom. We walked in and the two tigers bowed down and greeted the tigers inside as "your majesties". Inside were a tiger, a tigress, a tiger and tigress cubs, and an elder tigress. I bowed down along with the tigers that brought me here. The adult tiger walked up to us, and asked the two tigers, who I assume were scouts, who they brought and why they had brought a lion to him. I was able to look up to him, he had a "V" on his forehead similar to King Kion's, except it was yellow. The scouts explained to the tiger, who I assumed was the king of the Tiger Kingdom, what I had told them and he asked the scouts to leave us be. They were hesitant, especially the one with the scar but eventually left to return to their post. The tiger whom I thought was king walked outside and told me to follow him. While we walked, he introduced himself to me as King Majaran of the Tiger Kingdom and the other tigers I saw in the cave are his family. He told me about how the Tiger Kingdom was created.
"Lions haven't been welcomed here for a long time." He started "I was shocked when they said Bahaad let you in. Bahaad is not normally so trusting."
"Really? Why? What have we done?" I asked
"Prior to the creation of this Kingdom, the lions had total control over the tigers. We were their slaves, and we couldn't get out." King Majaran explained "It was only until a group of tigers banded together that we were able to break free. They led a revolution, and started a war between the lions and tigers. Tigers are physically better than lions, we are stronger and faster than lions were, and we were more united than the lions could ever be. We won the war and drove the lions out. Of that group of tigers, only one survived the war. He was my ancestor, the first Tiger King. His name was Rajal."
"Wow, I never knew that." I innocently said "I thought the Tiger Kingdom was just a place the tigers found and took, like the Tree of Life and the Pridelands."
"Would that it were, but the Pridelands were never supposed to be for the Lions." King Majaran said "It was meant to be the Kingdom of Leopards. The lions did what they tried to do to us, they drove the leopards out and claimed the land as their own. Originally, the 7 kingdoms were meant to be the Kingdom of Tigers, Cheetahs, Lions, Servals, Leopards, Bears, and Birds."
"What?"
"The lions always look to conquer, and they took so much from us." He lamented "King Rajal had to rebuild us, the population of tigers were so low that we would soon be erased from this world if nothing was done. So he consulted our jardur, a 'royal majuzi' I think you lions call them."
I nodded in approval.
"And he said the only way to strengthen the clan was with time and there was a foolproof system that would do so." King Majaran finished
"What was that system?" I asked, curious
"Our jardur would match those whose bloodlines would create the strongest cubs possible. He does some ritual and at the end, he tells them whether the bond to provide the strongest and which wouldn't. Then they were mated if they would produce only the strongest offspring."
"What?" I asked, shocked at what I just heard "You should mate for love, not because it's the best for strong cubs."
"My father thought so too, and he tried to change it so we could mate who we wanted. He felt that we were already strong enough, we were part of the 7 Kingdoms for generations at this point. But some tigers remained loyal to traditions and they showed my father how they felt about what he was trying to do"
"Oh," I said, not knowing what else to say or even think. They were so vastly different from lions. Everything about them, their home, their food, their traditions, their way of life. I found myself more and more interested in how different animals lived, for the first time ever in my life, and I wondered how different the other Kingdoms were. But a question popped into my head. I knew 4 tigers who lived outside of this area, and they have never mentioned anything about the Kingdom of Tigers. Why didn't they? Did they not live in the Kingdom of Tigers?
"I have a question."
"Then ask it. You don't have to ask permission to ask, you just cannot expect an answer for everything."
"Oh, okay." I replied. I didn't know what to say, first Bahaad now King Majaran. These tigers were treating me different than Father did. I had dignity and respect whenever I talked to these animals. Father's pride had one condition for respect, and it was submission. Submission to Father. You did what he said and nothing more, and if you did a good job at playing the lap dog, you got his respect. Father gave you respect, he gave you the dignity you should've had. Once you join him, you lose the dignity you had earned. Except I never had dignity, because I was born and indoctrinated into his version of how the world should work. And I remember for a long time, I believed the words he used to justify his actions. I believed in the mission Father created for himself. The dreams of glory I once had, they haunt me to this day. And for a while, I thought of things black and white. Father and animals like him are evil, and the animals of the Tree of Life and the Pridelands were good, and all others like them. Except, I cannot say that these animals in the Tiger Kingdom are evil, when all they were trying to do was prevent a tragedy like what happened before.
"Do all tigers live in the Tiger Kingdom?" I finally asked him "Because I met 4 tigers who don't live here."
"Not all tigers live here, some are snow tigers and enjoy living in the mountains. Others are jungle tigers and enjoy the humidity of the jungle." King Majaran explained "What kind of tigers have you met?"
"They looked like the tigers here, one of them looks a lot like you actually."
King Majaran's eyes slightly widened, as if in shock though trying to suppress it. "Was one of those tigers named Varya?" He asked, taking me by surprise
"Yes." I answered "And 3 cubs"
"3 cubs? Triplets?"
"Yes"
"Where did you meet them?"
"At the Tree of Life." I answered "They were there when I came to the Tree."
"I see," King Majaran looked away for a moment, as if trying to contemplate the words. He looked back, as stoic as ever and said "I should've known she would seek shelter for them. She was always devoted to her family."
Every word he said confused me more and more."May I ask, how do you know Varya?"
"Once upon a time, Varya was my betrothed. Our jardur said that the union of our bloodlines would create tigers the world has never seen. But, I loved someone else and her bloodline was similarly compatible with mine but my mother didn't budge. We were to be mated when my cubs were born. But I developed hatred for Varya because I was forced to be with her. None of it was her fault, but I punished her nonetheless. I wish I could go back and apologize for what I did. I abused her, treated her like a servant, neglected her. I didn't realize the consequences until she ran away. I didn't notice how she was stalling the ceremony so our cubs could grow enough that she didn't need to carry them. I was mated with the tigress I loved, but I still regret what I have done." King Majaran explained
I was shocked, I couldn't find the words to respond with. I hadn't known anything about Varya besides her name and her cubs. I was lost in thought and hadn't realized we were at the top of King Majaran's cave. The scarred tiger ran after us, to let us know another lion came and it was time for me to leave because
"We can only have one lion here at a time, lest they bring their friends and usurp us!"
"Very well. But he is just a cub. He shouldn't be on his own."
"He is a lion." The scarred tiger responded
"He is still a cub."
"We can't trust lions!"
"Then perhaps you should accompany him." King Majaran told the scarred lion "If you believe you cannot trust him, keep an eye on him."
"But, your majesty-"
"Nishan!" King Majaran yelled, at the peak of his rage "Am I not the king?! Do I not know the words I speak?!"
"Forgive me, Your majesty," Nishan apologized "I meant no disrespect."
"He is a cub, just a boy." King Majaran's repeated "I don't care if he is a lion or how capable he may be, he is just a cub and should not be on his own."
"Why must it be me who accompanies him?"
"You have the most suspicion, therefore, you will monitor accordingly on your own." King Majaran said "Nishan. I understand your concerns, and I accept that all tigers will have the same apparitions, given what happened only mere months ago,"
Nishan looked down, touching his long scar. I finally understood. Lions gave him that scar, the scar that took most of his face and half his vision, like Shani.
"However, even you don't have the heart to leave a cub on his lonesome, I know this for a fact."
"Very well, your majesty." Nishan said "I will accompany him."