Broken Birds
The Outlands, Years Ago:
A very young cub Vitani ran into some young jackals that neighbored the Termite Mounds, and she'd confessed to her mother that she had felt a friendship coming on, but Zira snuffed that dream right out. Lions could not be friends with mindless food like little jackals.
"Oh, quit your sniffling. It's going to get you nowhere! Get up before I give you a real reason to cry! NOW!"
"Mother, please! I won't disappoint you again, Mother!" the toddler sobbed.
The young Vitani could feel her mother grabbing her wrist. The older lioness pulled the cub closer.
Suddenly, Zira seemed to change in appearance. She was now much bigger, sported a slick, red mane, and a scar across her right eye. It was now an unknown male lion.
"You're seriously going to let a bunch of crows get to you? Are you a helpless little lower animal like them?!" he screamed.
"Father, I'm sorry-y-y!" Vitani sobbed, except… this was not her voice, nor her body.
"A real lion doesn't sit here and cry! Get up, Zira! NOW!"The bigger lion's paw came up, looking like it was about to swipe.
Vitani jolted awake, putting a paw over her racing heart. More nightmares of Mother, of course.
Mother…
The images of Zira's sentient waterfall form came back to her vividly. No one would believe her. She didn't even believe herself the more she thought of it.
And her head… it still hurt from… something. Her friends said it had been a fall, right?
This didn't happen. No, none of this happened. She just fell… Right?
SCRATCH, SCRATCH…
The Fiercest gasped and made a small noise. Before she went to investigate, however, she looked around to make sure no one heard her pathetic sound.
Luckily, no. But, only because Tiifu wasn't around. Odd. She'd be wrapped all over Vitani.
Perhaps the watery ghost did exist. Maybe it was a little like the case of Nuka's spirit. Maybe Scar's. Kion defeated Scar's spirit. Had he seen one made of water? How would he have dealt with it? She had to find him...
SCRAPE, SCRATCH…
Vitani leapt to her feet and prowled about around the corridors of the Ponya. Her ears pointed to the noise. At the main part of the Ponya, she saw a bipedal form smearing paint onto the wall with precision.
Vitani looked all around the wall. It was a portrait of her brother and her sister-in-law. She smiled a bit, but it quickly vanished, remembering how disastrous last night went. She digressed, and cleared her throat.
"Um... that's really pretty..."
The mandrill jumped a little. Her hand made a jagged mark of paint on the wall.
"Sorry." Vitani winced, "I know that must've taken hours."
"Oh, that's okay!" the mandrill charmed, "I could make these all day!"
"I really admire the light colors and soft shapes. They really come together to create a distinct style."
"Wow, I didn't know you were so artsy!"
Vitani shrugged, "I mean, everyone makes me plot out patrol maps on the ground in the morning. I think my Guard does that just to watch me draw."
"Oh, right! You're the new Pridelands' Fiercest! What was your name again?"
"Vitani." the lioness introduced, "It's Makini, right?"
"Mmhm!"
"You're, uh... the Mjuzi for Kion and his wife, now --" Vitani rattled her head, "Uh, Kion... Have you seen him? I need to talk to him. Saw some things I can't explain."
"Oh, the Night Pride already started heading back last night. I stayed back to catch up with the Pridelanders and paint —"
Vitani blinked, "What? Why?"
"Why what?"
"W-Why did they leave?!" Vitani began to pace.
"Can't leave the Tree of Life unguarded too long, I guess."
"B-But this is — Wha — I —" the Fiercest began seething, "Dammit!"
Furious, she smacked hard at something with her paw. It had been a husk full of vermillion paint.
Leaving her cloud of rage, she could see that she had gotten the paint all over her paw, and all over Makini's masterpiece.
"I... I am so sorry, I —" Vitani stammered, "I totally ruined your painting —"
"It's okay! I can make a new one any time. I'm always improving!" Makini reassured, "In fact, this gives me an idea..."
The mandrill began to wash the the rest of the painting from the rock with a soaked leaf.
"Here! Why don't you paint how you feel on this rock and maybe I can help you figure out what it means! It's called 'art therapy.'"
Vitani stared into her paint-covered paw. She didn't like the sound of just sitting here for therapy, but Kion was already gone. Kion may have had the advantage of defeating spirits with his Roar, but Makini must've known more about the past and spirits in general. That's what Mjuzis do, right?
Makini was the best option she had, it seemed. Especially with Rafiki opting to stay in his tree more often, lately.
Vitani got a good look at the rock in deep thought of how she would convey her anxieties. She considered Makini's suggestion, and began to make her first move.
Slowly, Vitani took her paw and brought it closer to her canvas. She squeezed her eyes shut.
"Wait." she finally said, eyes open.
She tried and tried to remember the images she saw, but they kept changing and becoming unclear due to the deliberate effort to recall them.
"I… I can't remember, now." her teeth gritted, "It's fading too quickly!"
The Mjuzi frowned, "Aww, that's too bad. I forget my dreams a lot, too. I'm pretty forgetful in my waking life too, actually, and Rafiki says I need to work on that if I want to connect with the past. Which, you gotta see all the old paintings to know what paintings to make in the present so everyone in the future will know what to paint in their present -- We were talking about something else, right? What —"
"My dreams, Makini. The whole reason I was painting?"
"Oh yeah! And how you can't recollect the pa — OOOOHH! I got it!" Makini suddenly chimed, "I got just the thing!"
"You do?" Vitani's eyes widened with a slight roll, her jeering tone going unnoticed by the mandrill.
Makini removed the two gourds from her Bakora Staff, opening the lids of each, and — for once — carefully — poured something onto each palm.
"Rafiki told me that these two gourds on my staff represent the past and the future, and I think I know why, now! So, this staff I have right now wasn't originally my staff, it actually belonged to the old Mjuzi at the Tree of Life..."
Vitani nodded rigorously, anxious beyond belief.
"I found these powders left in the gourds! I asked Rafiki what they were, and he said one is called Zamani, and the other is Baadaye. One lets you see visions of your past, and the other lets you see your future! Rafiki told me he used the Baadaye powder on Scar to show him his future. But, we all know Scar didn't listen to his warning."
Vitani looked at Makini's hand. In each palm were powders of a vivid blue and orange. Mystery of its appearance and origin almost gave it a slight radiance.
"Please tell me you know which one is which…" Vitani knew Makini at this point. It would be in-character for this to be the next thing to somehow tragically and comically mess up.
"Actually I do! I remembered their colors! Colors are the one thing I know I can remember good. You need the blue one!" she then inhaled shakily, "Buuuut…"
"Noo…" Vitani whined to herself, shutting her eyes.
"I kinda… sorta… forgot how the powders are applied." Makini shrugged sheepishly.
"Great…" the Fiercest groaned, stepping away as Makini kept the blue powder in her ahand and placed the orange powder back.
"Don't know if you eat it, or — No, certainly doesn't look like you should." the mandrill thought deeper, "Or was it —"
Suddenly, the wind coming from outside swept the blue powder from
Makini's hand. Vitani was unfortunately in the splash zone. The powder had blown into her eyes.
Makini bit her lip anxiously, "Or that could work."
"OW! Agghh! Makini, what the —"
"Sorry!" the mandrill winced, "Are you okay?"
The Fiercest frantically began rubbing her eyes with a paw, preparing for the stinging and burning. Oddly, there was none. Instead, however, she felt a numbness. Testing to see if it really was such, she blinked a couple of times. She felt comfortable to fully open them.
She began to see little blooms of blue specks in her view. They were like eye floaters, but they glowed, and morphed into mandala-like patterns until it filled her field of vision.
She saw her surroundings change from a dark cavern to her old termite mound home. Everything was starting to look like where she was in her dream, with a blue tint on everyone and everything.
"Makini, i-it's working!" Vitani gawked, astonished.
Suddenly, where the mandrill would be standing, was instead Zira., who towered over Vitani and was berating her, just like in her dream.
"Oh, quit your sniffling. It's going to get you nowhere! Get up before I give you a real reason to cry! NOW!"
"Mother, please! I won't disappoint you again, Mother!"the toddler sobbed.
Zira's form once again morphed into another lion. It became bulkier with a red mane, and with a scar over his left eye. His voice was raspy and scheming.
"You're seriously going to let a bunch of crows get to you? Are you a helpless little lower animal like them?!"
"I'm sorry-y-y!" the cub sobbed heavily, almost unable to breathe.
"A real lion doesn't sit here and cry! Get up, Zira! NOW!" the red-maned lion yelled.
Zira curled into a ball. She was sobbing, but she felt frustration build up too. It wasn't fair, the way she was being yelled at. But she still failed him.
She shouldn't have tried to befriend those crows, as lonely as she was when she would stay over at the Outlands. She mustn't be so desperate to trust just about any animal.
The lion quickly changed his tone as to not completely terrify his little daughter. Screaming wasn't helping, he used a disarming charm that worked on her before.
"You want to be a mighty lion like me, don't you? You want to make the Pride back home proud of you to be one of them, right? I want to be one of them again. Help me, Zira, help the family come back together, and you can see your mother again. Don't you want that?"
Little Zira sniffled, "Yes."
"Yes. There's my mighty lion. Always be stronger than everyone thinks you are. Lions Over All! Lions Over All!" he chanted.
"Wait..." Vitani said aloud, "This is —"
Vitani was seeing way beyond what she recalled in the dream. She realized now that the Zamani hadn't taken her to the recent past, but the distant past.
The vision continued on, and pretty soon, she found herself in a deep, red dystopia. It was the Pridelands, but from an era she'd never known. A time where all animals took on a much more primitive appearance.
She seemed to be chasing a group of a type of animal she hadn't seen in the Pridelands before. Others of her own kind were doing the same thing, even going so far as to needlessly massacring the animals for sport, or as a punishment for existing.
Watching all this activity with a cold and callous gaze was a leonine silhouette standing atop a towering kopje. He sported a familiar mark above his right eye.
"Lions Over All!" he bellowed for all of the ancient land to hear, as if he wanted the lions in the sky to hear him.
"Lions Over All!" the fleet of pillager lions echoed. The message deeply engrained into their minds and hearts.
The visions and voices of these lions of the past had swarmed Vitani. The flashbacks all becoming one and playing back-to-back.
Just then, a gray lioness with eyes and a tuft like Vitani's appeared before her. She spoke with a kind, gentle, and timid voice.
"What's wrong, my little Moonlight?"
The mysterious lioness' appearance fizzled, and there remained Vitani's reflection on a shiny rock. Back to reality.
She yelped and hyperventilated from the bizarre visions. So taken aback by the frightening sights that she felt like she couldn't swallow nor catch her breath. She lied on the ground against the rock, staring upward.
"Vitani!" cried Makini as she bounded over to the lioness, "Vitani! Are you okay?!"
"I... I think I would like some privacy to paint, please." was all the Fiercest could muster, absolutely dazed. ____
Up in the main den lied Kiara. Her eyes filled with tears as she anticipated the future. So many changes were coming their way, and she didn't know how to tell anyone.
"Kiara, honey? May we come in?" asked Nala, who peeked into the entrance.
"It's open." Kiara said flatly.
Nala could still sense Kiara's tension from the humiliation yesterday. It was probably time to talk about it, knowing Kiara's honesty about her feelings.
"Baby, I thought you were finally ready for your coronation. Your dad and I told you we trusted you with the crown."
"I know, Mom, but... everything's changing so much. I don't know what everyone will think about... Just... what if I forget about who I am?"
Kiara was too afraid to say heavier things that were truly on her mind. No, her family wasn't ready.
"Kiara, I know change can be daunting, but sometimes it makes you who you are." Nala rubbed a brow against Kiara's.
"Your mother's right." Sarabi added as she entered the den, "In life, you will always learn about yourself, and become a refined lion. Your father most certainly did, and so did your grandfather."
Sarabi's eyes became glossy at the last part. Her husband would always be a part of her.
Sarafina followed Sarabi, as she always did in life. She had fetched a tortoise shell of fresh, cold water for her granddaughter.
"There ya go, Sweetie." she said, "To calm your nerves, a little."
"Thank you, Nanna." Kiara said sweetly, but still glum.
"Kiara, we trust that you can become a beloved and capable Queen. We've seen your cooperation with herd leaders." Nala said, "And Jasiri. You changed the Outlands forever by welcoming her to the Summit."
"See? Even you've made big changes. You're famous for it! And we can't forget you and that boy Kovu making us all one big, happy family!" Sarafina chimed.
Kiara's heart jumped for a second until she remembered what her Nanna meant. Right. That.
"You're a risktaker, but an openminded and levelheaded one." Sarabi observed.
Kiara smiled nervously, but tears still welled up.
They all saw this, and exchanged concerned looks before they all rubbed foreheads against her in unison.
"Thank you..." Kiara closed her eyes as she embraced them, "But what about Kion...? I totally wasted his time. I made him come all this way just so I could flake on him."
"Kion and Rani would come back in a heartbeat for you." Nala said, "I know Kion doesn't show it a whole lot, but he really wants to see you become Queen."
Kiara again tried to crack a smile, but she was just so touched by her mother's words.
"I need time to figure this out." the Future Queen finally said.
"Alright, we'll give you some space." assured Nala, "Just remember: You will always be yourself, even when you're Queen. The Queens of the Past will guide you, and so will we."
Nala turned away to the exit. The elders looked on at Kiara with love and still with concern before following suit.
Kiara continued sulking long after they left, but she eventually gave into her Nanna's kind gesture of water. Slowly, she dipped her nose into the shell, and lapped up the cool water.
However, as soon as the water reached her stomach, Kiara felt... strange. It's almost like she had lost consciousness, but her body was still up.
Pretty soon, she was trapped in her own body, which began to lick its chops as the water dripped from its chin. Her eyes took on a vivid azure glow as she cracked a grin to herself.
"I feel... much better, now." she said with a sinister tone, one she'd never used before. ____
Finishing her very own masterpiece after several hours of hunched-over work on few hours of sleep, Vitani finally managed to convince herself to sit up and refresh. The lioness had headed over to Lake Shangaza to clean the paint stains from her paws.
As she rinsed her paws, she caught her reflection in the water. She saw her exhausted eyes, and — under her tuft — what appeared to be her gash from last night all patched up.
She wasn't sure if it was the sleep deprivation, or if she'd still been under the effects of the Zamani powder, but when she stared into her reflection in the water long enough, she could swear she saw her mother's ghastly face appear for a moment.
Her body jerked back from the jumpscare. She glanced back to find nothing there. She was confused, and genuinely terrified, even though it may have been an illusion.
Though, this reminded her; perhaps she could contact a ghost she knew was on her side...
She lit a torch and said her summoning phrase:
"Roho ya Moto!"
A puff of fire exploded from the flame of the torch until it resembled her brother.
"What?! What's goin' on?! Where's the danger?!" Nuka whipped around, his paws chopping the air defensively.
"No danger, here." Vitani deadpanned.
"Lookie here, Vitani," he scowled, "You can't just summon me every time you break a claw!"
"Nuka..."
"You know how much energy it takes to —"
"Nuka." she snapped, "I summoned you for a reason. I have a genuine question that only you can answer."
"Fire away." he said bluntly. He'd realized his unintentional pun, and snickered to himself a bit.
"Have you... have you ever seen Mother up there, or... wherever it is you go? What does she look like?"
"Um... not recently?"
Vitani's eyes became curious, "Really? What do you mean recently? What does she look li —"
A raindrop landed on Vitani's nose. She looked up to see dark clouds she hadn't even noticed rolling over the lake.
SIZZLE
"OW!!" Nuka cried.
Vitani looked over to Nuka, and caught a worrying sight: Where there was fire around his being, there was now black, crusty spots that steamed.
"Nuka, what's happening?!"
"Ow, it's the rain! I can't be touched by water, or I'll turn to smoke!" he cried, trying to blow fire onto himself where there wasn't.
"Well, we gotta get you out of here!" she cried, panicking.
"Ugh, come on, say the phrase!" he grunted as he waved his paws frantically.
"Okay, okay! Errr — Roho ya Moto!" Vitani said rapidly. POOF!
The flame shrank into the stick shortly before it could be snuffed another, more permanent way.
"Well, that was brief." she muttered, not knowing at all how to feel today.
She couldn't see that in the distance stood a lioness. One who watched her entire interaction with Nuka.
The lioness turned away, back to the direction of Pride Rock. ____
Not too long later, the rain had mysteriously stopped.
Imara and Kasi muttered to each other about the events last night, expressing concern for Kiara along with the odd weather. They spotted Vitani wandering close to Pride Rock. She seemed pensive, but also dazed. After seeing her stumble a bit, they rushed their stroll.
"Hey, 'Tani." greeted Kasi, characteristically arriving first.
"We're about to head to our patrol routes." added Imara, "We split into groups, today."
"Taz and Shabs already headed out." Kasi said, "You wanna go with them, or us? Please pick us..."
Imara nudged Kasi. The smaller lioness got a better look at her tired friend.
"Hey, you good?" asked the Fastest.
"Um, yeah..." Vitani slowly shook her head, "Headache."
"Right. You probably don't wanna be out here, huh?" Imara said, "You fell pretty bad."
Vitani's memories of her interaction with her mother suddenly flashed back into her mind, along with the frustration with Nuka, and her visions she painted. This day was chaotic, and she just couldn't think of it anymore.
"Uhh, you know what?" she smirked, "I'll go. Joining Team Kasi and Imara."
The two in question exchanged looks. They eventually shrugged, and let their friend take the lead. ____
"Right this way, Rafiki! I can't wait to show you Vitani's work!" Makini beamed with delight as she took the elder's hand and guided him to the Ponya.
"Yes, yes, Makini, I'm coming." said the old monkey. It was difficult to catch up to his protege, now that he was without his staff, and for a long time, now.
"Welp, here it is! Could you believe a lion made all of this? With her paws?!"
"Hmm..."
Rafiki put a hand on his chin and looked all around the walls of the Ponya, noting many changes outside of just Vitani's work. There were detailed paintings all around made by Makini. He smiled a wrinkled and weary smile to himself, feeling proud and confident in his successor, and hoped she could frequent the Pridelands more.
"Vitani's been feeling a little stressed, lately. So I told her to paint her feelings."
“Hmm, yes. Art therapy is a good form of expression. Excellent idea, Makini.”
Rafiki’s eyes continued to follow every painting on the wall. He could see that not every painting had been finished. They were… very different from a Mjuzi’s paintings, to say the least. Not only from the shapes made from non-opposable, blunt paws, but the paintings were dark in palette and in subject matter.
Murky, grayish browns and deep reds were the main colors used in these nebulous shapes scattered on the wall. Circling everything was what seemed to be black birds swarming every picture. Attempts to draw her own kind were made with as precise shapes as one could make with their paws.
The lions caught Rafiki's eye. Some resembled Zira what with the recognizable stripe on her head, but others seemed familiar as well considering the motifs that surrounded them.
"Makini, take your staff and touch the paintings."
"Oh, o-okay."
With a tap to the wall, the finished paintings glowed a hellish red. The cub Vitani cowered below Zira, and Zira cowered below a similar-looking lion with a scar. The birds circled around them all in a terrifying storm. Rafiki's jaw dropped.
"R-Rafiki?" Makini stammered, a bit horrified at what she saw, "What is it?"
He slowly put his hand down from the wall, and finally spoke.
"That lion... I have seen him before..." Makini dropped her staff, "Really?"
"Yes. When I made a recent journey to the Outlands to find paintings I had never seen." he said, "How did Vitani see these lions?"
"Vitani had trouble remembering her dream while painting, so I had just the thing — I gave her the Zamani powder I found in my staff! Pretty smart, right?"
"Makini!" the elder mandrill snapped, "You have to be careful with these powders. You cannot just use it all up on something like dreams. This powder is very difficult to find, and can have side effects if used too much!"
"Really?!" Makini gasped, "Ohh, I didn't think of that! I'll put it away, Rafiki! I'll put it way away!"
"Good. Now, come! I must show you something!"
"Rafiki, wait!" Makini cried, still putting the powders in a safe spot — a nook behind some vines.
However, in an attempt to grab her staff while she hurried after him, she didn't see that she'd knocked a gourd from the hiding spot. A mess of orange powder lay scattered about the ground...