~𝒯𝒽ℯ ℒ𝒾ℴ𝓃 𝒦𝒾𝓃ℊ: ℳ𝓎 𝒮𝓉ℴ𝓇𝓎~

~Chapter 40~ True words

Season 3

~At South Rock~

I sat down against a wall in South Rock when Dad came in and asked concerned as he looked at the ash and burns on my body, "Kia, what happened?!" I was silent for a minute then said, "I saved two oryxes from a fire. I fainted but got out of the fire, no thanks to you." "Kia, I was up here like you should've been," Dad said. I scoffed and rolled my eyes then said, "Wow, what a shocker! Another thing I did wrong!" Dad sighed and nugded my cheek a little and said, "Are you okay?" "I'm fine," I said toughly. "Are the oryxes safe?" Dad asked quickly, looking back at me. I raised my eyes a  little so that I didn't roll them and said, "Yes. The oryxes are fine." "How did you get out if you fainted? You'd be dead by now." He asked again. I didn't want to tell him then Bakari came out from behind the rocks that held the tall rock of South Rock up and said, "I saved her," Dad looked back at him, got in fighting position, and snarled. "What are you still doing here?!" He asked folding his ears back violently. "Please, Your Majesty, let me explain. I was on my way back to the Northlands when I smelled the fire and saw Kia laying there helplessly on the burt ground." Bakari explained.

My mind

That's... not what happened. What a liar!

"So you saved my daughter? Why?" Dad asked hesitantly. "Because I care about her- uh, I mean because I'm a GOOD animal. I swear with my life." Bakari stuttered. He didn't want to have to lie to get into the Southlands. But he's a Northlander. And when you're a Northlander... you'll do anything to get your way. Even if it means... putting an animal's life on the line. "Hmm," Dad thought pacing. We all watched him and he looked at Bakari a little gentler than he ever looks at a Northlander and simply only asked, "What do you want?" Bakari smirked a bit and said, "Your place as king," Everyone in South Rock were shocked. Bakari laughed and smiled, "No, I'm kidding! Haha, I just wanna become a Southlander." "Fine. Consider this a trial run. Alzena and Kabira will be checking in on you hourly. If you make one wrong move you'll go back to the Northlands, no questions asked! Got it? We'll see who you really are..." Dad said walking away. Kabira whispered to me jokingly and said, "Sweet, I get to see the hot lion HOURLY," she chuckled a bit and I rolled my eyes then had to laugh to because I couldn't hold it in anymore. Her and I smiled at each other.

~Night~

I was almost to the lake as I was walking through the Southlands at night. The Southlands were beautiful at night! Especially tonight. The full moon was big and bright, the stars were twinkling and shimmering, the Southlands were all quiet and peaceful, the whole Savanna looked light, dark, and neutral blue. The fireflies weren't out this time though. Once I got to the lake, I saw Bakari laying by it. I smiled gently a bit and walked over to him. "Hey," I said. Bakari looked at me as he was laying next to the water and said, "I thought Kabira and Alzena were supposed to check on me hourly. And Alzena just checked up on me 20 minutes ago then got into this long boring discussion about how the moon affects time. So you don't have to." I chuckled like "hmm" and said, "No, I know. Alzena just told me about it, too, heh. Anyway, just wanted to say thank you. You know, for saving me. You didn't have to." I looked down with my ears down. "Is it your dad?" He asked me when he saw me look down. "This has nothing to do with my dad. It's about me and you..." I said. "Sorry, but I prefer a straight proposal. Not long and mushy." He told me with a raised eyebrow. Did he seriously just say that? He thinks I'm gonna propose to him?!? "Look, you saved me. And you didn't have to..." I said again. "Ugh, you already said that! You look like you wanna say something to me." He said as he got a bit gentler when he saw the look on my face. "It's just I said terrible things to you. The worst things in thr world probably and you still saved me... Why?" I finally spitted it out. He looked down and said, "Because if you're ANYTHING like me... I believe that if you spend your life mad, sad, or thinking about an animal's reaction or thoughts about you... you'll never be able to move on. And if you don't move on and never forgive them... you'll miss your chances with them. Because they won't always be here for us to be mad at them." "Wow," was all I could say. "That sounded really wise coming from you," I added something real. "Well you should get some sleep, "princess". "Yeah..." I said then ran back to South Rock.

As I ran there, I couldn't stop thinking about what Bakari had said. 'If you spend your life mad at an animal, you'll miss your chances with them because they won't always be here' Those were the words that swirled inside my head.

~Inside South Rock~

Once I made it there, it was raining. As I walked past my dad I looked at him as I thought about 'You can't spend your life mad at them because they won't always be here'. I laid down against the wall in South Rock and laid my head down. As Bakari's words shriveled through my body once more, I soon fell asleep.

Thanks for reading! And you all should think about what Bakari said. If you've ever been mad or whatever at someone, you can't be forever. Cause you're gonna regret it when you finally get over it and they're not here anymore. Love you all. And think about what I said!