The Lion King - The Bonds of Trust

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: I Just Can't Wait To Be King!

After meeting with his uncle Scar, Simba ran down a hill past other lionesses from the pride to meet with his mother Sarabi, Shani, his best friend Nala, and her mother, Sarafina.

Nala was a lion cub that was Simba's age who had cream-colored fur, and bright green eyes looking almost exactly like her mother, Sarafina. Sarabi was resting on top of a rock being in the shade of a tree while Shani was busy using a rock to help sharpen the point of her spear as Simba came running towards them.

Simba said first greeting Shani, "Hi, Shani!"

Shani replied with a smile, "Hi, Simba! Did you have a good chat with your Uncle?"

He replied, "Yeah! I'll tell you about it later."

Shani nodded as Simba looked at her weapon with a raised brow, "How sharp is that supposed to be?"

The young African woman answered as she finished tying the point of the spear to the stich,

"Just sharp enough for me to get mangos from high branches and to protect myself from any threats. Why do you ask?"

The young prince answered nervously, "No reason."

Shani shrugged her shoulders in response and Simba came towards his friend Nala while she was getting licked clean by her mother, greeting her,

"Hey, Nala."

Nala replied with a smile, "Hi, Simba."

Simba whispered to her, "Come on! I just heard about this great place that I wanted to show you and Shani."

Nala said she kept getting licked clean by her mother, "Simba! I'm kinda in the middle of a bath."

Having just woken up, Simba flinched as he heard his mother say, "And it's time for yours."

Simba attempted to make a run for it, but Sarabi grabbed him by the head, placed him in her paws and began licking him clean. the young cub whined as he kept attempting to escape from his mother's grasp,

"MOM!"

He complained as Sarabi started licking the top of his head, causing his hairs to stick up,

"Mom! You're messing up my mane!"

Sarabi smiled down at him in response while Shani just sat there and giggled at the scene.

Simba then climbed out of his mother's paws and asked while smoothing out the top of his head, "Okay! Okay! I'm clean! Can we go now?"

Nala asked, "So where are we going? It better not be any place dumb."

Simba answered, "No! It's really cool."

Sarabi asked with a grin, "So where is this really cool place?"

Simba turned to her and answered, "Oh...Around the waterhole."

Nala asked with a raised brow, "The waterhole? What's so great about the waterhole?"

Shani added, "Yeah, we've been there thousands of times and so far I haven't seen anything exciting come from it yet."

He turned to Nala and said through his gritted teeth, "I'll show you when we get there!"

Catching on, Nala said, "Oh!"

She then turned to her mother and asked, "Uh, Mom? Can I go with Simba?"

Sarafina looked to Sarabi and asked, "Hmm...What do you think Sarabi?"

Sarabi said with raised brow, "Well..."

The two cubs turned to her and asked with wide grins, "Please!"

Sarabi finally answered, "It's alright with me."

The two cubs cheered with joy as they began to run around excitedly.

Sarabi said to the two cubs, "As long as Shani goes with you."

The two cubs shouted with joy, "Alright!"

Shani said as she gathered her bag and placed her spear behind her back, 

"I'm down for that!"

As the young woman joined the cubs, Sarabi added, 

"And as long as Zazu goes with you."

The three stopped and Simba exclaimed as he and Nala looked to each other with dismay while Shani looked to them with a raised brow,

"No! Not Zazu!"

the young woman walked behind the two cubs as they started walking on a path towards the waterhole with Zazu leading the way, unknown to what Simba really had in mind. The hornbill said as he flew above the trio,

"Alright, step lively! The sooner we get to the waterhole, the sooner we can leave."

Shani smirked and shook her head in response. As they continued walking, Shani heard Nala ask Simba in a whisper,

"So where we really going?"

Simba answered, "An elephant graveyard."

Nala exclaimed rather excitedly, "Wow!"

Simba warned her through another whisper, "Shh! Zazu!"

Nala replied, "Right! So how are we going to ditch the dodo?"

Overhearing the conversation between the two cubs, Shani started feeling uncomfortable about their little plan. She knew that Mufasa had already told them not to go there earlier, and had a huge feeling that the elephant graveyard wasn't safe. But most of all, she knew that Mufasa would kill her if she let them go down to that dark border or if anything happened to them.

Shaking her head, Shani said with concern, "I really don't think this is good idea, guys."

Simba turned to her and asked, "Why not?"

Shani explained, "Because Simba, your father already said we weren't allowed to go there. And besides, who knows what else is in an elephant graveyard."

Simba asked, "Why should we be worried? After all, we already have you to protect us."

Shani asked with a raised brow, "Really?"

Nala said, "Yeah! You're the bigger and stronger one out of all of us."

Simba added, "You can handle anything that comes our way."

Shani thought to herself for a moment. She was bigger and stronger than Zazu, and she was already trusted with her role in being a protector to Simba. Not to mention, since her encounter with Scar, she has been training herself as well as being trained by Mufasa to better defend herself in the event she is alone or if anything happens to her and Simba. She was more than capable!

After a moment or two of thinking, Shani said through a whisper with confidence,

"You know what? You're right! I am bigger than Zazu, and I have been improving in my training lately. Alright guys, I'll take you to the elephant graveyard. But only for a little bit, understand?"

The two cubs nodded in understanding and Nala asked, "So how are we going to get rid of, Zazu?"

Simba added, "Yeah, he might rat us out! And he'll suck the fun out of everything!"

Shani answered, "I think I might have an idea on how to get rid of him. Now it's a long shot, but it just may work."

They nodded in response and the human girl and the two cubs huddled together to discuss their plan while they continued walking towards the waterhole. Flying above them, Zazu caught a glimpse of Simba and Nala chatting together and said with a smile while flying down towards the two and Shani,

"Oh just look at you two. Little seeds of romance blossoming in the Savannah. You're parents and Shani will be thrilled, what with your being betrothed and all."

Shani looked on in surprise as Simba asked with a raised brow,