TLG: happy ever after

Chapter 21: Panic and run

Author's note:

It's a mega chapter, alright! This one might not be SUPER exciting, but it's definitely LONG (4500 words, give or take). Not to spoil anything, it's just that there's more description than action. However, you may (and hopefully will) enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it :)

...

The next day didn't begin as usual. First of all, there was no report from the temporary Night Pride, who hadn't gone on their patrol due to bad weather. The group that consisted of two bears, a wild dog, and two brown hyenas, however, was expected to participate in cleaning up the mess created by the storm. For that reason Ullu, Ono, and Anga were sent to assess the damage first thing in the morning.

Secondly, Surak and Nirmala weren't going to perform the typical royal duties since dealing with the consequences of the storm would definitely require as much manpower as possible. The Tree of Life was a huge kingdom after all, so even with the help of The Lion Guard it would still probably take a whole day to restore the balance in all the lands' territories.

By the time the acting king and queen, The Night Pride and The Lion Guard gathered together in front of the Tree, ready to work, the bird trio had finished their scouting tasks and were coming back from different parts of the kingdom to make their reports on the current situation in individual biomes.

"Good morning, everyone! Glad to see you all here!", Nirmala greeted. The lioness had slept well the previous night and was in a very good mood.

Her mate, to the contrary, was as serious as always. "Today we all are going to be busy. The storm last night wasn't the worst The Tree of Life has ever faced, yet it caused a lot of destruction, that's for sure.", Surak immediately set the mood to a more professional one.

"Indeed it did.", Beshte agreed. "A couple of trees near the watering hole were on the ground. I guess they had been torn out by the wind."

"The wind must've been as strong as you then!", Kubwa complimented The Strongest.

The polar bear, despite being even more massive than Beshte himself, admired the hippo's abilities. Moreover, the white giant saw his friend as a role model. When he was asked to be a part of the temporary Night Pride, he accepted with enthusiasm. Since Kubwa was arguably the largest animal around, his strength would without doubt be useful in case The Tree of Life needed protection.

"Aw, thanks, Kubwa!", he smiled.

"So... Shall we go clean that up or...?", Neva asked unconfidently, slowly getting up.

The grizzly bear was much smaller than his distant relative. Being quite nervous, he would rather avoid any physical confrontation if possible and only agreed to join the team because all his friends already had. Personally, he wasn't thrilled with the idea of walking at night and looking for bad guys, but he really didn't want to feel left out. Even though Neva had no obvious role in the group, he was someone who was always ready to help the ones in need, especially if that was someone close to him.

"I believe that at the moment we're waiting for the news from the scouts. You may sit down for now, sweet boy!", Roho answered the bear's question, making him feel a little embarrassed as he suddenly became the centre of attention.

The wild dog had been chosen to be the leader of the temporary Night Pride. She might've been the only representative of her species in The Tree of Life, yet thanks to her extremely company-loving nature had tonnes of friends and never had to feel alone. The gregarious canine had been the first to accept Beshte's invitation since she had always dreamt of being a superhero who saves the day. However, despite that Roho often seemed to be too dreamy and even unreliable to some animals, she had a good heart and actually possessed the necessary qualities that made others want to follow her lead. No matter whatever group she would be a part of nor whatever they would do together, Roho's companions always trusted her to make decisions. Over the time her confidence had grown, so now was her real chance to show everyone what she was made of.