This is no a fairytale

Tama had been relaxing, with her eyes closed as she laid under the lone tree. She had a nightmare or two when she was sleeping the night before, so coming here she thought she could just relax, unwind and hopefully take a nap, if that was even possible.

She felt sorry for her friend Nala, being trapped in the Pridelands like some kind of slave, or something bad under Scar's rule, she hoped her friend could just get out safe, a long with the others that were ---that seemed to be stuck there against their will. Tama felt very lucky in being outcast just because she didn't mate with that fool, Though she couldn't really understand why any one would even want him as king or even a mate.

Tama just laid in the dirt under one of the roots of the tree she could fit herself into, with ease to get out or back in. She was happy she had found the hole, it took her a while though to figure out which hole was big enough for her to slide in and out of with ease without getting caught under the root, and being stuck.

With her eyes closed, her ears were perked up and open, listening to the wind that blew across the Outlands, the wind seemed to whisper change was coming, though Tama was barely paying attention to the wind. She was just in her own little relaxing world, trying to avoid sleep so that she wouldn't have nay nightmares or daymares.

She secretly wished Simba was still alive, and that he was king, she missed him a lot, though he did annoy her. She had to wonder what was Tojo, Kula and Malka up to these days, the group she grew up with basically. At least she knew where Nala was, but as for the others, she had no really idea where her group of friends were.

Luck; it was all the king needed right at this very moment. Right on the border lingering in Prideland territory was a sight no one had seen in a long time. A wildebeest, clearly healthy and well fed. Kiume's claws were extended as he crept closer behind the beast, anxiously waiting for the right moment to pounce. If he screwed this up he would surely hear about it tonight from the rest of the pride's elders. Ever since he declared war with Zivia's disappearance Kiume had been on the lookout for extra food besides hyenas for his daughter Tao. This beast would feed the pride for quite a few days due to its size and stature and a catch like this was hard to come by. With thoughts of his children -biological or not- in his mind the Outland king leapt forward and sunk his teeth in the herbivore's neck. Of course such an attack would come with retaliation as the wildebeest thrashed back and forth trying to shake the king off of it. But alas, the mammal's attempts to flee were no longer granted as Kiume's claws and teeth sunk deep into it. After a few more moments of struggle, Kiume won the battle and the wildebeest lay limp at his paws. His teeth were now stained a light pink as the blood rolled off of them, leaving behind slight amounts of residue. Sheathing his claws, the king sat down and huffed, catching his breath after the battle for survival. He quickly exhaled a deep breath and shook his head and mane.

With a mumble, the king stated to no one but himself, "I'm getting too old for this," Popping his shoulders slightly the king stood once more and grasped the mammal within his jaws. More blood filled the king's mouth as he began his trek back towards home. The scent of a kill already had attracted unwanted attention when Kiume sensed something behind him. He turned his head and saw two hyenas standing on the border from which he had just returned from, evilly staring at him. The king dropped the prey -placing a paw upon it so none would steal it while his eyes were off of it- and snarled, "Step inside my borders and you die you filthy scum, Scar won't be able to help you then. Not like he cares about you mutts anyway," The canines crouched down and returned the snarls at the king's comments before slowly backing away in retreat. Taking his paw off the deceased animal and taking it in his jaws again, Kiume trekked on forward. The king walked on in silence, many things plaguing his mind but there was one thing in particular that stuck around. Zivia had gone missing weeks ago and every search turned up blank. Tao hadn't had any dreams about her sister and Kiume prayed to the Great Kings of the Past to keep her safe. He felt like a failure of a father and king not to have kept a better eye on the female, that was his and Ilani's adopted child that he let slip through his paws.

But as thoughts of Zivia and her disappearance danced in his mind the king came across the Lone Tree. It had obviously seen better days, but the tree still stood strong in this barren wasteland. Although there were no leaves on it, the tree had yet to acquire a bony structure like many of the other trees around the area. Hidden in the ditches that were around the roots of the trees was a familar face, that of Tama; an old friend from the Pridelands who had recently escaped Scar's clutches. With a smile on his face, the king padded over to the tawny lioness who lay undisturbed and dropped the prey animal beside her. "Tama, you mind helping me carry this back to the mounds?" The prey would probably be a sight for sore eyes on most of the pride, and Kiume had to wonder if this was a sign of things to come. He knew Simba was alive, he just wondered what was taking Rafiki so long to retrieve him. Maybe he was training the long lost prince in order to take back the throne? Or maybe the old mandrill ended up being killed before he reached where the true king should be? Either way, Kiume was anxious to hear news that he had returned, and he knew that he was the only one that knew outside of Rafiki that he was still alive. Although most days, he wished Rafiki wouldn't of told him anything about it. Especially now that some of Simba's closest cub friends lived in the pride which he ruled over.

Tama had been also helping out with the hunting, helping out Kiume and whatever she could do for the pride. She knew that probably she could get out and hunt or watch the boarders, but today she was just relaxing under the tree’s roots. She heard the commotion, but she didn’t move from her spot.

She wished that everything could just go back to the way everything was, but she knew that wish was a far off wish, and hopefully someday someone would come in and change everything that Scar had done. But for now, she and the other outcasts were out here, planning and waiting for those smelly hyenas to mess up and cross the border and become hers and the other outcasts’ meal.

At least the scar that Scar had given her had healed over, she knew she wasn’t a traitor, she was only protecting herself from Scar, since she was one of the many who disliked him.

It seemed quiet until Kiume’s voice broke through the silence and Tama looked up to him. She listens to his question and she gave a light nod. “Sure I can help carry that back to the mounds.” She answers him.

She had ran into Rafiki, but he didn't say where he was going or if anything was going on, although he did ask why she and Nala were outside of the pridelands. Rafiki didn't say who was or wasn't alive, just sort of sang his crazy song, and sort of made fun of her and Malka, that she had a crush or not.

Hearing Tama agree to help him carry the wildebeest to the den was music to his ears. After waiting for her to grab onto some of it the king would pad forward slowly. It was a scene like this that reminded him of his past, where the former king Denali had helped a teenage Kiume carry back a small kill of hyena. Oh how the years had passed. It wasn't long after that meeting when the hyenas attacked the pride and gave him his scar. Where he found a new friend in his deceased mate Ilani. And finally where Ilani had given him the best children a king and father could ask for. He sighed quietly to himself as he remembered his mate, it was a struggle to go on without her daily but somehow the king managed. His children were growing up strong and mighty even in these barren lands, and even though they had lost so much through their life they still were the best at everything. A recent conversation with Tao had Kiume hate himself as a father, he had almost denied her right to the throne even though he promised her afterwords that she would be queen. It was times like this where even though he tried to think of the best things for his children, it most likely wasn't. But now as the teenage children of Kiume and Ilani were growing up, Kiume knew that they weren't children any longer. Soon enough they would be adults, able to make their own decisions and not have to entirely listen to their father any longer. And so on this walk home, Kiume came up with a resolution.

When the war was over, he would leave as planned to go back to the Pridelands. However, his children would be given a choice. They could leave with their father to a better land, or they could stay and rule the Outlands with pride. However these thoughts would be later talked about with his children once they were of proper age. For now however, Kiume wanted them to enjoy the last bit of their childhood, even if they could have had a better one in another land. As he thought of his children, the Outland king thought back to Zivia and her vanishing. Tao was right and Kiume knew it, his daughter left on her own accord and now possibly was enjoying life better somewhere else. He had rescued her when she was a small cub, took her into the Outland pride and then continued to raise her along with Ilani. He wondered if she had fallen in love with a lion yet, had cubs of her own. It had been a few months since she had left and if fate was horrible to her, Kiume would be a grandfather. Not by blood, but he would still be a grandfather to these cubs that his 'daughter' would birth. Thankfully for his sake Zivia had avoided the rogues that would pry upon her young adult body and she would be safe, and hopefully fall in love with a good lion. With the thought of Zivia going through his mind, Kiume fell silent and almost forgot that Tama was right next to him carrying the kill back to the den. However the termite mounds were coming up close and soon two of the other pride members were upon the duo.

The kill was taken from the two lions and into the den where the Outland pride lay, waiting for the meet to be split up for dinner. Kiume smiled and motioned with his head for Tama to follow, leading her back towards the way of the tree where she had been laying moments before. Once they were out of earshot from the den Kiume started to speak to her, "Tama I thank you for helping me carry that to the den, I'll make sure you get some extra food tonight. I don't need it all that much," The king paused for a moment, the two nearing the tree once more before continuing again, "I also have to thank you for watching over my cubs. They may not notice it, but I appreciate it more than they do. You act so motherly to them some days, I'm surprised myself that you don't have cubs of your own," He remembered fully why Scar didn't want her in the Pridelands anymore, because she wouldn't bear him cubs like the rest of the females seemed to have done. With the death of two of his cubs Kiume knew that Scar was about to do anything for more. That Nuka kid that his daughter had met over the past year or so wasn't a perfect heir in Scar's opinion, so Kiume feared for the ladies back at Pride Rock. Finally the golden king turned his head to the tawny lioness and smiled, unlike other kings he wasn't making an advance onto her, but rather he was offering her guidance. Just as any king and old friend would do.

She wasn’t entirely sure if she would return to the pridelands once the war was over, or stick here, but she would probably go back to see if her friend Nala was alright. She wished that Scar hadn’t cornered her, and gave her the mark of the traitor. It seemed like they weren’t far from the termite mounds where they called home.

Once they reached them, and the food was taken from her and Kiume. She smiled. She saw Kiume’s motion, and she followed him back to where she was hanging out. She soon began to listen to him as he began to speak to her once again. “Thank you Kiume.” She says to him, and soon began to follow him next to him as they neared the tree. She then listened to him as he began to speak again. This time, about how she was with the cubs that were still around. “They sort of remind me of when I was younger with the group I hung out with, small group at times, but we had our own fun.” She grinned. She didn’t speak about cubs she wanted; she wanted Malka’s cubs if he ever returned or found her.

“If Malka ever returns or finds me again, I want him to father my own cubs, but what if he never comes back?” She finally says this out loud. She meant to think that, but she said it out loud any way. She wanted to blush and turn away from the smile Kiume offered her. Tama moved her head slightly, causing her bangs to move back over her right eye. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen now, but she was happy that Kiume had taken her in. “Kiume do you think someone will ever get enough courage and stand up against Scar so that things could sort of go back to the way they were? Before we all got banished because we didn’t agree with Scar?”

Kiume smiled as Tama spoke about the group of cubs she used to hang out with as he remembered them well. Malka, Tojo, Nala, even Simba and Chumvi were there as well. A small chuckle was given as he remembered those times in the Pridelands, things were much different then than they were now. "Yeah I remember your little group Tama, I had to babysit you all some days if you can even remember that. Ah yes, you and Nala did get yourselves into some sticky situations didn't you?" Yes, those sticky situations really made Kiume relish the fact that his cubs stuck close to home when they were growing up. Well, except for Tao that is. She had wandered past the border and into the Pridelands, a place where, although it used to be a refuge for many like Kiume's own father, evil and danger lurked around every rock. That used to be the Outlands when Kiume first arrived, many dangerous rogues had found their place here in exile. But now since he was king things had lightened up a lot, many of the dangerous rogues had settled down and started families of their own. Although many others had left the Outlands with new goals set in mind, the pride had not lost one member to the Pridelands to join the ranks of Scar. He had that set as an accomplishment in his mind and he took great pride in that. However there was still the fact that Scar was just on the other side of the swamp and he had a massive army that would send hyenas at any time to come destroy them. Just like when he was a teenager.

The comment about her wanting Malka's cubs caught him off guard and he took a wise kingly approach to the situation. He sighed and looked on the horizon as if trying to find the male lion in question. "It is often sought out by members of a pride to find the ones who were close to them as children such as you trying to find Malka. I feel that he is still alive, traveling along possibly with others from your youth such as Tojo and Chumvi. However," he paused for a moment and looked back at the tawny lioness, "over the years we change as lions and mature. I must warn you Tama, do not get your hopes up about Malka. He has most likely changed from being a rogue all this time as I know many others have. There is a large possibility that he has found a mate of his own, settled down and has already had children," The thought was heavy in his mind and honestly he didn't need Tama fantasizing about a lion from her past. It might come back to haunt her in the end and Kiume knew that well. He then switched the topic to what Tama had brought up. Could there be a warrior brave enough to defy Scar and destroy him? Taking back what rightfully was Mufasa's? "I believe that there is a warrior out there waiting for his chance. I don't know who it will be, but I believe that the winds of change are upon us. Things will be like they used to be, I promise you they will. I just don't know how long this will take however,"

Ah yes Nala and herself had gotten themselves into sticky situations, even got Simba into trouble with them a few or more times as they grew up. She looked when he began to speak up again, recalling the little group. “Y..yes we did, even got Simba into some sticky situations too.” She gives a nod. A few times Simba followed the three of them, Nala, Kula and herself when they went off together without the boys. Life back then was so much simpler before Scar took the crown. The stories, the exploring and the getting into trouble, and no responsibilities of the adults, life was good.

She didn’t really mean to say what she did about Malka out loud, she thought she was thinking it and not saying it. He had gotten her out of the Pride lands when he found her injured and tired, how could she not think of him? Her orange eyes looked outward, before looking back to Kiume as he began to speak to her. She was glad that Scar didn’t mate with her, though he had left the mark of the traitor upon her hind leg.

“I know Malka might be still alive, he was the one to help me out of the Pridelands when he found me.” She gave a light smile. Maybe Nala found someone, the two of them were supposed to go find a group to take down Scar, maybe she had, and maybe she found a way out of the Pridelands, though Tama had no idea where her friend was now.

When he looked to her after looking out into the horizon, she listened more. She had changed somewhat, but her bangs still were a part of her facial features. She listened as he spoke about Malka. She gave a nod. Maybe she should just forget about him, but maybe there was still hope, but maybe she should just forget. She sighs out loud with a nod. She was happy that she changed the subject of Malka when she spoke about the current situation with the pridelands. "Will you go back to the pridelands when and if a new king comes to be?" She asks him curiously.