TLG: happy ever after

Chapter 18: Long live the queen

Warning: this might make you cry!

The Tree of Life, almost two years prior to The Lion Guard's first arrival...

"Long live the king! Long live the queen!", the crowd in front of the Tree cheered, filling the air with their voices that were full of excitement and joy. The kingdom's inhabitants were gathered there for a special occasion  ̶  it was the day of their new rulers' coronation. Moments like that had always attracted the attention of the locals from every corner of The Tree of Life, so it wasn't surprising that the majority of them had temporarily abandoned their daily routines to come and watch the crowning ceremony for themselves.

On the edge of a big flat rock, which served as the pedestal from where the reigning monarchs would usually address their subjects, stood two brown-furred figures. The newly crowned king, Sahasi, being slightly larger than an average adult male lion, towered over his best friend, now his wife and queen, Ananda, beside him. Both seemed to feel nervous yet flattered as they were looking at all the bowing animals and hearing their encouraging praises.

Janna, the former queen of The Tree of Life, was watching the event from the entrance to the Tree. The older lioness had decided to abdicate several weeks earlier, shortly after her life-long partner's unfortunate passing due to a mysterious disease. Despite the painful loss of the love of her life, she felt at peace and somewhat happy seeing their oldest son assume the throne. Stepping down wasn't exactly necessary, but it seemed like the right move to help the whole kingdom move on and hope for the better future.

Prince Surak, the king's younger brother, was sitting next to his mother. The young adult didn't really understand what he was feeling that moment. Sahasi claiming the throne didn't bother him since he himself had never wished to become king nor have any position of leadership in general. The smart brave lion with a stoic personality was a good team player, though, so he had been patrolling with the kingdom's guards for the past few months. Despite not being its leader, he had proved himself to be an irreplaceable member of The Night Pride. However, Surak hadn't been in the best state of mind lately. Even though the death of the former king had brought him and the rest of the family closer together, the wound of losing his father was still too fresh to be healed completely.

Rani, the king and queen's daughter, was lying between Janna's front paws. The one-and-a-half-year-old was the royal couple's first-born and the heir to the throne. However, as any other cub of her age, she was more interested in playing games than taking important life lessons from her parents or grandmother. The future queen was stubborn, so she would regularly misbehave and disobey the adults, which often led to her getting into all sorts of trouble.

Baliyo was born almost a year after Rani. As the second-born, he was destined to join The Night Pride and become a guardian, but only once he'd be old enough. For now the young carefree prince felt no obligation to act like a royal, so his favourite thing to do was to annoy his sister, who would return the favour by calling Baliyo 'little brother'. Although that nickname had caused a lot of quarrels between the siblings, the two loved each other, even if they didn't understand what that really meant due to their young age. Ananda and Sahasi's children were also the only cubs at The Tree of Life, so none of their fights lasted too long since, at the end of the day, they simply needed one another.

Two more brown-furred lions were present at the ceremony, but, unlike the members of the royal family, they were a part of the crowd. Both seemed to be around Janna's age and had the mark of The Night Pride on their shoulders.

The first one was called Moto, meaning 'fire', referring to his temper. He had gone by that nickname for the majority of his life; the name assigned to him at birth had long been forgotten. Assertive, smart, quick to react, and fierce yet caring, the adult feline was the embodiment of a great leader, even though his sharp tongue had on numerous occasions caused tensions between him and other inhabitants of The Tree of Life. Moto's body was well-built, he was very strong even for a lion. When it came to fighting, his signature move was to use his unusually powerful paws to overwhelm his opponents with endless blows and punches. Sometimes such beatings ended up looking quite brutal, depending on how long it took the unwelcome visitors to give up and submit, and The Night Pride's leader had been criticized for that. Nevertheless, the technique had proved to be extremely effective at keeping various enemies of the kingdom away, and his home's safety mattered to Moto more than any animal's opinion.