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Description
A companion piece to Ni

~~~

Kula had a perfectly standard start to life. She was born alongside her twin brother, Chumvi, to an average Pridelander named Nyekundu. The twins were only a few months (using human aging) older than the king’s own son, Prince Simba. Nkyekundu had had a relationship with her cubs’ father, an asiatic lion from the Night Pride named Sundar, but it had been cut short: he unfortunately died when she was pregnant, due to a bad scorpion sting that had not been able to be treated. Since she never remarried, Kula and Chumvi were raised by their mother alone—despite dealing with the loss of her husband hanging over her, Nyekundu was a lovely, caring, if nervous parent, and always kept her children close.

As a cub Kula was much like her mother, being cautious, gentle, and more level-headed than your average kid. Her mother’s anxiety rubbed off on her to an extent, but she was still very friendly and social. Kula became a part of Simba’s friend group, though she wasn’t particularly close to him—she was more Nala and Tojo’s friend. She had a good relationship with her brother, but like any siblings they butted heads, especially because Chumvi took much more after their wild father, and could be a troublemaker.

When Mufasa died and Simba ‘died’, Kula was not struck as deeply as Nala, or some of the other cubs. She was certainly saddened, and concerned for the future in the new king’s reign, but she had not known Simba or Mufasa too well, and it took time before it settled in that things were truly worse under King Scar. Once it did, however, there was a period their tweens where Kula, Chumvi, and Nala spent a good deal of time around Shenzi’s clan—they weren’t quite a Lion Guard, but the noble youngsters were doing their best to protect the circle of life by getting in the clan’s way when they went after foals, tormented animals for fun, or hunted in protected areas like the water hole. They felt safe in the knowledge that, though Scar rarely cared what the clan did, he would certainly not forgive them attacking members of his own pride. Eventually, however, a few hyenas decided to go after Nala when she was far from Pride Rock, and she was only saved due to a rogue being near, by pure chance. After that, though they hated that they couldn’t make a difference anymore, Nala, Kula, and Chumvi decided it was too dangerous to keep getting involved with the hyenas’ illegal hunting.

There were a few years where life was still good for the pride, though not what it once was. Kula was much like any other teenage lion; she learned to hunt, hung out with her friends, and lamented the declining state of the Pridelands. For a brief moment, she dated Nala’s younger twin brother, Mheetu—this was half because they were actually interested in each other, half because Nala and Chumvi had been flirting, which grossed them out, and they decided to one-up them. The latter relationship never came to fruition, and the former broke up fairly quickly—Kula and Mheetu were quite attracted to each other, but there was nothing more to it than that, and they both felt their relationship had run it’s course. All in all, Kula had a pleasant, unremarkable adolescence.

And then, just as Kula and her peers were reaching young adulthood, the drought hit. Such things weren’t unheard of: a drought wasn’t unlikely to happen during the reign of any given monarch, since it’s a natural phenomenon—a massive chunk of King Mohatu’s reign had been taken up by a terrible drought, these things were survivable. However, King Scar was uniquely bad at handling it. A precedent had long been set that Shenzi’s clan was (for reasons passing understanding to the rest of the kingdom) above the law, and that did not change during the drought. Shenzi did not order her clan to eat less—which in their case would have been eating a standard amount, unlike the other predators who were all rationing—or to drink less from the watering holes. They did not even stop their hunting of the young in the herds, something which had already caused a zebra and antelope herd to flee the Pridelands. With Shenzi’s clan still on the rampage, more and more herds began to leave.

Death from starvation or dehydration is bound to happen during a drought, and death is an essential part of the circle of life. But the death toll during this drought was unprecedented—before long, ten of the lions from Scar’s generation were dead, along with all of those who had been elderly. Soon, even a few of the lions who had become close followers of Scar were dead, too, proving that even friendliness with the king wouldn’t save you. Kula and Chumvi eventually lost Nyekundu, and it was after that that Chumvi, Mheetu, and Tojo decided to band together and confront Scar—they had no intention to overthrow him (remember that, at this point, they think him merely an incompetent, smarmy jerk of a king, not a proudly evil murderer), the boys just intended to try to convince/pressure him to exile the hyenas. After all, the pride was following the laws—it was very clearly the clan that needed to go. At the time that her brother and her friends went to confront Scar, Kula, Nala, and the most of rest of the pride were out hunting. She had wanted to go with them, but decided it that she was of more use with the hunters.

When the hunting party got back, they found Pride Rock bloody and the boys gone—exiled. Scar was sporting wounds, five hyenas had been killed, and, according to the king, Chumvi and the others had attacked him; there had been no warning or reason, they just ran into the den and tried to kill the king. Zira backed this up, as did the other hyenas; though none of their words had much weight to them, Scar was clearly injured. It was also obvious that the boys truly had been exiled, there was not nearly enough blood to indicate that anybody but the hyenas had been killed, here. It didn’t make any sense—Chumvi could be stubborn, even stupid, but he would never have tried to kill Scar! None of them would have!

After the exile of her brother and friends, Kula fell into a depression. She could not look for them, Scar had ordered the hyenas to keep an close watch of the borders (it was evident now that Scar didn’t just not care what they did, he had some sort of special agreement with the hyenas that was not particularly savory), and, besides, the pride needed every last hunter. Kula and Nala were still close, bonding over their shared losses. But Nala kept herself busy fretting over her other, much younger brother, Elewa, and their mother—Kula had no such distractions. In her own free time, she took to sitting at the border between the Outlands and Pridelands, as it was the least watched-over by the hyenas, and she could imagine a kinder world.

One evening, as she was watching the lazy river, Kula would run into an old acquaintance, whom she had never expected to see again....

Description
A companion piece to Ni

~~~

Kula had a perfectly standard start to life. She was born alongside her twin brother, Chumvi, to an average Pridelander named Nyekundu. The twins were only a few months (using human aging) older than the king’s own son, Prince Simba. Nkyekundu had had a relationship with her cubs’ father, an asiatic lion from the Night Pride named Sundar, but it had been cut short: he unfortunately died when she was pregnant, due to a bad scorpion sting that had not been able to be treated. Since she never remarried, Kula and Chumvi were raised by their mother alone—despite dealing with the loss of her husband hanging over her, Nyekundu was a lovely, caring, if nervous parent, and always kept her children close.

As a cub Kula was much like her mother, being cautious, gentle, and more level-headed than your average kid. Her mother’s anxiety rubbed off on her to an extent, but she was still very friendly and social. Kula became a part of Simba’s friend group, though she wasn’t particularly close to him—she was more Nala and Tojo’s friend. She had a good relationship with her brother, but like any siblings they butted heads, especially because Chumvi took much more after their wild father, and could be a troublemaker.

When Mufasa died and Simba ‘died’, Kula was not struck as deeply as Nala, or some of the other cubs. She was certainly saddened, and concerned for the future in the new king’s reign, but she had not known Simba or Mufasa too well, and it took time before it settled in that things were truly worse under King Scar. Once it did, however, there was a period their tweens where Kula, Chumvi, and Nala spent a good deal of time around Shenzi’s clan—they weren’t quite a Lion Guard, but the noble youngsters were doing their best to protect the circle of life by getting in the clan’s way when they went after foals, tormented animals for fun, or hunted in protected areas like the water hole. They felt safe in the knowledge that, though Scar rarely cared what the clan did, he would certainly not forgive them attacking members of his own pride. Eventually, however, a few hyenas decided to go after Nala when she was far from Pride Rock, and she was only saved due to a rogue being near, by pure chance. After that, though they hated that they couldn’t make a difference anymore, Nala, Kula, and Chumvi decided it was too dangerous to keep getting involved with the hyenas’ illegal hunting.

There were a few years where life was still good for the pride, though not what it once was. Kula was much like any other teenage lion; she learned to hunt, hung out with her friends, and lamented the declining state of the Pridelands. For a brief moment, she dated Nala’s younger twin brother, Mheetu—this was half because they were actually interested in each other, half because Nala and Chumvi had been flirting, which grossed them out, and they decided to one-up them. The latter relationship never came to fruition, and the former broke up fairly quickly—Kula and Mheetu were quite attracted to each other, but there was nothing more to it than that, and they both felt their relationship had run it’s course. All in all, Kula had a pleasant, unremarkable adolescence.

And then, just as Kula and her peers were reaching young adulthood, the drought hit. Such things weren’t unheard of: a drought wasn’t unlikely to happen during the reign of any given monarch, since it’s a natural phenomenon—a massive chunk of King Mohatu’s reign had been taken up by a terrible drought, these things were survivable. However, King Scar was uniquely bad at handling it. A precedent had long been set that Shenzi’s clan was (for reasons passing understanding to the rest of the kingdom) above the law, and that did not change during the drought. Shenzi did not order her clan to eat less—which in their case would have been eating a standard amount, unlike the other predators who were all rationing—or to drink less from the watering holes. They did not even stop their hunting of the young in the herds, something which had already caused a zebra and antelope herd to flee the Pridelands. With Shenzi’s clan still on the rampage, more and more herds began to leave.

Death from starvation or dehydration is bound to happen during a drought, and death is an essential part of the circle of life. But the death toll during this drought was unprecedented—before long, ten of the lions from Scar’s generation were dead, along with all of those who had been elderly. Soon, even a few of the lions who had become close followers of Scar were dead, too, proving that even friendliness with the king wouldn’t save you. Kula and Chumvi eventually lost Nyekundu, and it was after that that Chumvi, Mheetu, and Tojo decided to band together and confront Scar—they had no intention to overthrow him (remember that, at this point, they think him merely an incompetent, smarmy jerk of a king, not a proudly evil murderer), the boys just intended to try to convince/pressure him to exile the hyenas. After all, the pride was following the laws—it was very clearly the clan that needed to go. At the time that her brother and her friends went to confront Scar, Kula, Nala, and the most of rest of the pride were out hunting. She had wanted to go with them, but decided it that she was of more use with the hunters.

When the hunting party got back, they found Pride Rock bloody and the boys gone—exiled. Scar was sporting wounds, five hyenas had been killed, and, according to the king, Chumvi and the others had attacked him; there had been no warning or reason, they just ran into the den and tried to kill the king. Zira backed this up, as did the other hyenas; though none of their words had much weight to them, Scar was clearly injured. It was also obvious that the boys truly had been exiled, there was not nearly enough blood to indicate that anybody but the hyenas had been killed, here. It didn’t make any sense—Chumvi could be stubborn, even stupid, but he would never have tried to kill Scar! None of them would have!

After the exile of her brother and friends, Kula fell into a depression. She could not look for them, Scar had ordered the hyenas to keep an close watch of the borders (it was evident now that Scar didn’t just not care what they did, he had some sort of special agreement with the hyenas that was not particularly savory), and, besides, the pride needed every last hunter. Kula and Nala were still close, bonding over their shared losses. But Nala kept herself busy fretting over her other, much younger brother, Elewa, and their mother—Kula had no such distractions. In her own free time, she took to sitting at the border between the Outlands and Pridelands, as it was the least watched-over by the hyenas, and she could imagine a kinder world.

One evening, as she was watching the lazy river, Kula would run into an old acquaintance, whom she had never expected to see again....