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Eager not to face whatever person Mipa had gone to consult, Kovu renewed his efforts to break free of the snare, this time knowing that his life could very well depend on it and time was assuredly short. The dark maned lion twisted and turn, arching with all the strength in his back. Unwilling to go back to clawing at the death-grip the loop had on his poor constricted paw, Kovu worked on bending the sapling as much as he could. Eventually it would break, or so he hoped.

But the blasted tree was tall and springy, it couldn't be any older than himself. It had all the give in it bounce back after all of Kovu's desperate pulls. He took a deep breath, the back of his neck again landing on the ground, much to his chagrin. He needed to rest, but he also didn't have the time... "Wait a minute..." Kovu muttered and turned around. He rotated his body where it was supported in the air, until his forepaws gripped the ground. He then commenced to walk forward, his claws sinking into the grassy turf, gripping it by the roots. His leg stretched out into the air behind him as he pulled himself forward, inch by grueling inch.

"Come on...you blasted...thing!" grunted Kovu. He was now running out of space between him and a fallen log in front of him and also his leg felt like it was going to dislocate out of its socket. He closed his eyes and groaned, his claws sinking into the turf, he struggled just to hold on, and then pull himself just a few more inches... Sweet relief. There was a soft ripping sound behind him and Kovu found himself flowing forward, his haunches lowering to the ground. He slumped, panting as his belly came to rest against the ground. Looking behind him, he saw that the sapling had not broken, but rather he had lifted the damn thing out of the ground, its root ball protruding with black soil near the ground where it lay felled by brute strength alone. The lion sighed and heaved his breath, just happy that it was done. He rest a few moments then proceeded to loosen the coil around his foot with his teeth.

The moment he was free, he was on his feet, trotting down the path Mipa had taken through the trees.

He wasn't sure why he was going after her. She had thought about killing him after all. She wouldn't have killed me, thought Kovu, who had seen the nervousness in her eyes...but he couldn't quite be sure that she wouldn't have if she'd felt there was no choice, or else gotten someone else to do it for her. Other questions rose to mind. Where did she learn to make a snare like a human hunter? Why does she wear a grass covering? What is she doing out here? How did she get so fat? The last seemed most mysterious of all. Kovu had never see a fat lion before of either gender. Food was scarce at best in the Outlands just outside the lush Pridelands. He had difficulty imagining how much food it would take to swell a lioness to Mipa's proportions. To Kovu's eyes, she appeared prosperous and rich beyond imagining, almost as if he had stumbled onto a hidden cache of wealth; and for a lion, wealth meant food (and mates).

He was sure that there was a secret here, and selfishly, he wondered at the possibility of that secret possibly being his. So he followed her trail through the grass, pausing here and there to sniff for her fragrant spoor. His head turned when he heard a soft voice. He lowered his head and sneaked as quietly as he could to the source.

"...Jobie, what am I going to do?" Mipa half asked and half wailed. Kovu paused in the long grass, listening.

"There's a male here, a male lion! and he's big! I'm scared Jobie." Mipa cried. Kovu listened as best he could, but he could hear nothing of the voice of her companion. Cautiously, he crept closer.

"I should have killed him! It's no different than a big antelope..." Her voice quavered, "I know he's a lion too! but his face and that beautiful mane... I couldn't."

Kovu stuck a paw in one ear, but still he could not hear Mipa's friend as they spoke. A few feet more and he reached a small parting in the grass. Glancing it aside part way, he finally saw why.

Mipa sat heavily on the ground, her back to him. Her tail twitched this way and that and her wide flanks showed through gaps in her grass coat. In front of her was not another lion as Kovu had been expecting, but in fact, a skull. The skull rested on a stick at head level in front of the plump lioness, empty sockets staring into space. It was cleaned of flesh and stark white, but Mipa talked to it as if it were alive. So this is 'Jobie', thought Kovu with amazement.

"Jobie, how could I?" Mipa responded to a silent question. "It's been so long since I last spoke with another lion. Not since they cast me out!" She spoke the word with obvious ire. "He'll know, Jobie. He'll know I'm an outcast. He'll call me fat and lazy just like the rest of them!"

Kovu hid as she turned her head, but he saw she was only blowing her nose. The sides of her snout were slick with tears. "Jobie, what if he fights? What if he drives me away from here? I can't go out into the desert again...I can't."

Kovu's heart pounded in his chest. He'd never seen a lioness so hurt and deprived of social contact that she'd resort to talking to a skull. And it was obvious that she was hurting as he watched her, suddenly feeling guilty for stumbling into such a private scene. But he could not unhear what he had head, and sickly he was still curious to listen and she pleaded and begged answers from the dead empty skull. He wanted so desperately to help her, to offer the aid that he'd been deprived when he'd been hurting and alone back with Zira.

But might it be dangerous to interrupt? How would such an obviously unstable lioness react to his sudden appearance. It might be safer to wait until she was less emotional. But then, who said he was gaining anything by waiting, and it was dishonest besides now that he could not easily depart undetected. She might even respond better to honestly. Above all, however, he knew he couldn't make her feel cornered, she was stressed out and fearful enough.

That's enough, thought Kovu. He could not sit here and hide while while this female cried her heart out to a dried up old skull all about her fears and worries about him! He was determined to settle things, for one way or another. The uncertainty was clearly tearing Mipa apart. Besides, he reflected, I've never been much for waiting...

Kovu stood and did not care to conceal the sounds of his paws as he walked forward a few steps into the glade. He didn't want to get too close to Mipa, to avoid starling her, but she'd surely heard him walk through the tall grass, and then it would really look like he was sneaking around. He was half surprised when the lioness did not round on him immediately, but then clearly she was preoccupied.

"Mipa." said Kovu softly, sitting on the loam covered turf and curling his tail about his slight profile.

The lioness's back, which had been arching outward slightly in her slouch suddenly went as straight as a board. Her ears perked at the top of her head and the hairs bristled up at the nape of her neck. She emitted a tiny "Eeep!" sound and then slowly turned her head, eyeing the seated lion with one eye.

Kovu waited for her to speak.

"Kovu...?" she asked with trepidation.

He inclined his head slowly. He made no sudden movements, he wanted her to take the initiative.

Her shoulder shook with a pent up flight or fight response. Her face contorted through a range of emotions, finally settling on anger. "H-how did you get here?" she asked accusingly.

Kovu tilted his head slightly. "I followed your scent..." He cast his eyes wide and saw something else as well, behind the heavyset lioness, "And there's that." He gestured with his nose to the exposed ribcage and fresh carrion just beyond the skull on the other side of the clearing.

Mipa tossed her head in a curse and paused to look back at the empty eyed pig skull. "I know you told me to clean up!" she hissed at the skull before turning back to look now fully at Kovu. "Y-you...you need to go." she stammered, looking at the larger male's paws.

Kovu looked at her face, but she wouldn't meet her eyes. "Mipa..."

She took a deep breath and said, "Just leave, Kovu!"

The young male puffed out his chest. He was not about to just turn around from the first lion he'd seen in a weeks travel from here. "Mipa, I'm not going to do that."

Growling, the chubby lioness got up unsteadily and squared her four feet in a wide stance, her tail waved high over her head. "So you are here to drive me away, aren't you?!" She snarled, "Well...y-you won't find me easy!"

Kovu sucked in a breath. The lioness before him, although quite overweight was more than capable of killing him, he had no doubt about that; even with her waistline, he knew she was far from harmless. Still, he had no intention of fighting her, he'd run before he had to fight... still things looked like they could get messy. He stood, only to not be at a disadvantage should she pounce. "Mipa, please! How many times do I have to say I'm not here to hurt you?"

Mipa's nose wrinkled in a bestial fashion as she continued to snarl. "You're just saying that! You're just like the rest of them! You're all the same!"

"The same as what? What are you talking about," cried Kovu, his voice now rising as well.

The lioness it seemed, however was beyond reason, she was ready for a life or death brawl. Her coat of grass fronds rattled with the tension across her whole corpulent body. Her paw dug furrows in the moss under her feet.

Kovu back up a step as she came forward, shoulders pumping under the thick padding on her back. She didn't stop. "Mipa. Please, just stop and think about this for a minute."

The closer she got, the larger her curved fangs seemed to gleam in the bright moonshine.

Now or never, the female didn't look like she was going to listen in her current state. Maybe Kovu could try to out run her, or else he was going to have to subdue her. Now was the time to decide.