Queen of The Outsiders

Nala let out a joyful cry when she saw the once dry and desolate outlands, now green and full of life and prey. There was even a small herd of elephants! A wide river marked the border between the pridelands and outlands, and it was inhabited by a small family of crocodiles. Aside from those small dangers, the land was perfect.

There was an abandoned termite cave with large stone pillars and a cave fit for a king. There were also smaller caves that were just right for the cubs and an adjacent cave for the two lionesses. The bigger cave of course was for Scar. He had insisted on Zira, Nala and him being the rulers of the pride and sharing the cave but the two lioness had insisted on him keeping the cave for himself. The old lion deserved his own domain after what had happened in his childhood.

It was a lazy afternoon and all of the older lions were basking in the warm glow of the sun. The cubs were running around playing tag and hunting grasshoppers. Nuka pretended to be Scar and did his best to look strong and opposing.

"Vitani!" he squeaked, and his sister detached herself from Kovu to scrambled up to her older brother.

"Yes Nuka-I mean my king?" she squealed puffing her chest up.

Nuka grinned, "As my head lioness, I order you-

"Hey!" Kovu yelled tackling Nuka, "If she's the head lioness and you're the king, who am I supposed to be?" he demanded

His brother and sister stared at him blankly, before shrugging. "I dunno, there's nothing left for you to be, I guess." Vitani muttered.

Kovu's eyes teared up but before he could cry, Scar padded up to him and gave him a few licks. He narrowed his eyes at his daughter and oldest son.

"Children, when your mother and I are old and no longer able to make wise decisions, you will rule together. None of you will be left out, you will make decisions as one large council." he said remembering how his own father had simply put him to the side and hadn't even considered to let him rule anything. "After Nala of course," he added

Said lioness's head shot up and she stared at Scar in surprise, "M-me?" she stammered

Scar smiled, "Of course, unless...You don't want to?" he asked curiously

"No! I mean yes, I want to but It's just I never thought that you-err," she started

"You didn't think that I considered you worthy to lead the pride?" he asked, and Zira laughed at her friends blushing face.

Nala nodded, Zira on the head with her tail.
"Nala," Scar began "You are one of the bravest lioness's I know. If not for you, we would have never left the pride lands, you are not afraid to break tradition when you see that the outcome will be beneficial-

A sharp cry of pain interrupted them and the three adults turned to look at the cubs, but the cubs were staring in the direction of the sound.
The direction of boundary line.
"Go back to the cave!" Zira yelled at her cubs, "Nuka watch your siblings, but do not under any circumstances, do you leave the cave!"

The three adults rushed off in the direction of the noise and gasped at what they saw. A large brown lioness and two cubs were surrounded by angry, snapping crocodiles. The group must have gotten to close to the bank, and the crocodiles now considered them as food. Nala wondered why the the lioness didn't just take the cubs and retreat, when she saw a lioness she hadn't noticed before. The new lioness was small and looked underfed and her paw was caught in some brambles. The more she struggled the more stuck she got and the crocodiles were steadily advancing.

Scar roared, startling some of the crocodiles back into the water. But a good few kept coming towards the terrified group. One of the cubs released a horrified wail as one of the crocodiles snapped at the scrawny lionesses tail, tearing off the tail tip. The lioness screamed and struggled even further.

Nala roared and leaped onto one of the crocodile's head clawing at its thick skin, while Zira leaped onto the bank and untangled the injured lioness. She then let out a gasp of surprise when she saw the other lioness's face. "Tuti!"

Scar and Nala leaped onto the other side of the bank with the new group and snarled and swiped at the crocodiles. Finally with one final snap the crocodiles, retreated into the water and swam away. Scar, Nala and Zira led the group back to their cave, and Zira immediately began to tend to Tuti's wound.

When the danger had passed at the bank, Nala had realized that the other uninjured lioness was Abasi, Simba's first mate.
"Abasi," Nala paused in between licking Vitani's fur, "What are you doing here?"
Somewhere in the back of the cave, Tuti moaned as Zira pressed damp grass to her severed tail.

Abasi whimpered, "Simba...He...Well,"

Scar touched her shoulders with the tip of his tail lightly, "Calm, yourself then speak." he said
She nodded, seeming surprised with his kind tone.

"I had won the 'Circle of Fights' for the third time this year and of course, Simba had mated with me, b-but after a time when the cubs were born," she said motioning to her cubs who were huddled up next to their mother. "I realized that they were different..." she whispered lowering her head.

Nala cocked her head to the side, "Different? What do you mean?"

Abasi tapped the smallest female with her tail, "This one, Nabila, one of her paws is smaller than the others so she has a limp, and Musa," she pointed her tail at the male at her other side. "He is deaf. But Simba still wanted them to fight! So I refused and he had my cubs and I guarded by Tuti in the cave of death."

"The cave of death?" Scar inquired

"Its were he puts the ones who opposed him," Tuti murmured from the back

"But thankfully, Tuti helped my cubs and I escape." Abasi finished.

Scar sighed and rested his head on top of Zira's, "He's become an even bigger monster, then he was as a child. What of Mufasa? Hasn't he done anything to stop Simba?"

Tuti released a wail of sadness and Abasi shuddered. "Simba...He-he uses his father as a source of entertainment for his prized cubs. He let's them jumps all over the great king or he has, Sauda, his first daughter who sounds like his late mother, pretend to be the great queen and taunt the king. He even forces the king to walk in the middle of a circle of his cubs snarling and snapping at his skeletal body. He keeps the great king guarded in the cave nearest to him."

Scar stared at the lioness in disbelief, "He does this to his own father? But why? How? As a cub he adored his father!"

Abasi shook her head, "It's because of what the mandrill said to him. He told him of a prophecy before Simba pushed him from atop pride rock."

Nala gasped, Simba had killed Rafiki?! What prophecy could make him so upset that he would kill the wise mandrill? "What prophecy?"

"I don't know, it was something about an old king coming to kill him."

***

Over the years the cubs grew stronger and pride of the outlands grew stronger and bigger. A year after Tuti, Abasi and her cubs had joined, two loner males along with their two sisters and friend had joined. Scar had no problem with the males as long as they promised not to try anything. And the males didn't, in fact they had been kicked out of their prides because of their lack of dominance.

The two brothers; Auni and Balozi, preferred joking and cub watching to fighting and killing, which had made them into great pride guards. Their sisters; Sanaa and Siham and their friend; Samiha had shown a great talent in spotting and fighting off stray crocodiles and hyenas so they had become the pride's strongest scouts. Tuti and Abasi had become even better hunters under the teaching of Nala and Musa and Nabila had become wonderful storytellers. When anyone in the pride felt down, the two adolescents appeared to tell them a story of the great kings or of their own great king; Scar.

Nala was the head huntress and never failed to bring prey, after every hunt so the pride stayed healthy, even when a small drought sent the herds away. Of course after the drought the herds had returned and grown fat from the sweet new grass.

Scar and Zira ruled sternly but fairly and everyone was content. Nuka and Kovu found that they were at their best when it came to strategic decisions and Vitani was training under Nala to become a great huntress. Nuka was even courting Siham whenever he had the chance and Vitani found herself drawn to Balozi, whenever she wasn't hunting. Even Kovu was fighting off the advances of Sanaa though not very hard, and Auni and Samiha often disappeared for long hours of the night.

All was well, except for one tiny thing. Nala was lonely. She saw all of the love around her and she fiercely wished that someone would come to like her.

"Nala? Hellooo, earth to Nala!" Zira yelled, butting her head against Nala's shoulder.

"Huh?" the lioness gasped as she stumbled over a rock. She glowered at the grinning lioness and swiped at her.

"You should have been paying attention!" Zira trilled and easily dodged the attack.

Nala huffed and flopped onto her side, "Whatever,"

Zira laid next to her best friend, "What were you thinking about?" she asked

"Nothing much, just..." Nala sighed and glanced up when Scar came to join them.

"Something wrong?" he asked giving her fur a lick.

"No...It's just..." she sighed again and rolled onto her back. "Why am I the only single lioness in the pride?" she finally demanded.

Scar's eyes widened and he shifted uneasily, this was not a conversation that he wanted to be apart of. Zira snorted, "You aren't the only lioness, Tuti, Abasi and Nabila are single too." she pointed out

Nala glowered at her friend, "Tuti, Abasi like each other" she stated, remembering how Tuti had looked at her friend for a time with such longing. "And Nabila is a child." she snapped

Zira shrugged, "Maybe another loner will turn up? Or..Ooh, we could go on a raid and capture another prides lions?"

Scar snorted and swiped at his mate playfully, "I'd love to see that," he drawled, sarcastically.

Nala sighed again and rolled over and over, Kovu who was approaching them with Sanaa in tow stared at his adoptive sister curiously, "Fleas?" he asked his mother who burst into laughter while shaking her head.

Scar cocked his head at Sanaa who was bouncing on her paws, "What it is, Sanaa?"

The reddish brown lioness, grinned and glanced at Kovu out of the corner of her eye, "A large light greyish brown loner is approaching our territory, he looks full grown judging by his long flowing brown mane and he's dreamy!" she purred, looking to see if her description of the male had bothered Kovu, which it had.

"Dreamy?" he snarled, incredulously "He's probably a flea bitten, snaggle toothed mess!" he snapped and stormed off in the direction of the termite caves. Sanaa grinned wildly and followed him.

"That girl," Scar sighed and got up to meet the loner before he entered their territory.

"WAIT!" Nala roared, leaping to her feet. "Let me intercept him!"

Scar frowned, not understanding why she would want to see the newcomer so badly, when it hit him. "Ah, alright. Zira go with her and on your way get Vitani, and Siham."

***
The newcomer's name was Enzi and he had just been kicked out of his new pride for opposing tradition.
What tradition?
Forcing lionesses to fight to see who was superior.