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Jumbe yawed as the sun began to rise. It had been three days since he'd had a good night sleep. Feeling the cub at his side, he could only smile. He leaned in, giving her cheek a lick. "Sala," He said softly, "Sala, wake up. It's time to go." The young lioness cub yawned, her eyes half open as she looked up at her father, "Okay, daddy." She looked at him groggily as he slowly stood up, "Are we close?" The hyena looked at her, "I think we'll be there by the end of this day, Sala." She looked up at him, "Do we have to run again?" He smiled, giving her cheek a nuzzle, "No, sweetie, we don't have to run, we can take it easy now. We're almost there." Slowly, he stood up and stretched, giving out a massive yawn before he slipped out of the termite mound. He turned back to look at Sala, "Time to start, honey." The little lioness, yawned, rolling onto her paws, slowly rising up and following her father into the rising sun.

Slowly they walked, almost marched, the sun rising, following the on their journey. It was slow going, the hyena much bigger than the lioness cub, so she set the pace. Every few hours, they would stop to rest, take a nap, find something to eat, or just play; chasing each other around, rolling in the dirt. Jumbe could have easily won all the games, but he let her win. But as the day finally started to end, they still found themselves in the desert. Jumbe began to question his sense of direction, what he'd heard from the birds those many years ago, that was, until he reached the cliff. The cliff was fairly deep, at least 50 feet from the edge of the cliff to the river below. But just on the other side of the crocodile infested river, they could see it. Warm rolling hills, green grasses spotted with tall trees with beautiful green leaves. The two of them smiled happily, looking from the scene before them, then to one another, then back to the scene. As the sun started to sink below the horizon, the two of them looked for a way over, searching the cliff for a way over. As they wandered down, the cliff, they found a log laying perpendicular to the river below, and bridging the gap between the deathly world on one side and the beautiful lush hills on the other. The log was old, probably not all that sturdy, but it was the only way across. Jumbe leaned over, gently picking Sala up by her nape before turning around, putting a paw on the log. Slowly, carefully, he started to walk across, balancing with her in his jaws.

It seemed to take an eternity, but he was finally across, jumping down onto the other side. It was starting to get late, and they needed to find a place for them to sleep. He lifted his nose to the wind, sniffing out for a scent, any scent that would direct him towards a den. There had to be one here somewhere. He looked around for a few more minutes before he found one. It was abandoned long ago, the scent old, but it was perfect. He got down on his belly, sliding Sala into the den, before sliding in with her. The two of them curled up together, snuggling softly as the fell asleep.

The sun slowly started to rise once again, sunlight creeping into the den as Jumbe started to wake up. He poked his head outside, looking around. The den was fairly well hidden, the entrance on the side of a berm, while a nice tall acacia tree shielded it from the hot sun. Slowly, he started to crawl out, shaking his body, dust falling off his fur. The big hyena gave a long stretch, leg kicking as he felt his muscles getting relaxed. He put his nose to the wind, sniffing around. He could smell a great deal of new smells, most of them lions. He was a bit cautious. A new land, a new pride to deal with, but he was a bit optimistic. He had Sala with him. As he sat down on his rump, moving to scratch his ears and the back of his chin, he wondered if the game was a plentiful as he'd heard, if the king of the lions was as benevolent as he'd heard.

Sala let out a yawn as she slowly started to wake up. She let out a long groan as she stretched, finally noticing that the warm body of her father was not beside her. Rolling onto her belly, she started to crawl out of the den, spying Jumbe scratching away before licking over his foot, nibbling on it a little before putting it back down on the ground. Slowly, the little lioness cub walked over to him, a big smile on her face as she finally started to wake up. "Hello daddy," she said, rubbing her body against his belly, purring lightly. Her father could do nothing but smile at her, leaning down to give her cheek a nuzzle, "Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?" She let out a yawn before looking up at him, "I did." She continued to purr, as she slid and rubbed herself against his front legs, "What are we going to do today?" Jumbe chuckled, "Well, I think we should explore this new place." Sala smiled, "Really? Do you want to do it together?" He smiled, "Well, I was thinking, I'd let you go explore around while I grab us something to eat. Say meet back here when the sun is at its highest point in the ski?" The cub nodded, "Okay." He leaned in to give her a lick, "You're a big girl, I'm sure you can take care of yourself. Just stay out of trouble and try to make new friends, especially with the lions, okay." She let out a giggle, feeling his big wet tongue on her cheek, "Okay daddy. I'll see you back here when the sun is at its peak." She turned around, looking back at him with a smile before she bounded away.

Jumbe smiled warmly, watcher her leave before he got up off his rump and started to look around. He wanted to get some water first before going hunting. Slowly, he slunk into the grass, carefully making his way, looking around for a drink.

High above the savannah, the lone hornbill soared, wings outstretched, catching the warm air currents from the land below. From his height, he could see almost everything, every part of the Pride Lands. Very little ever escaped Zazu, and if it did, it was probably too small to see at his altitude. He was more concerned with larger things anyway; elephants, rhinoceroses, zebras, any real large herd animal, or more importantly, the other predators. Hey hadn't seen any majorly threatening ones in a long time. The only other lion pride had joined theirs, while the hyenas had been driven away. From what he had heard, they were long gone, having taken over the lands ruled by another clan of hyenas. He and the king and queen were rightfully concerned that the ones who had survived the loss of their lands would come to the Pride Lands and attempt a coup d'état. It was an unpleasing thought to say the least. The last clan to rule the Pride Lands had stripped the lands bare, forcing the heard animals to find other pastures. As he flew along, he noticed something gold and black gliding through the grasses, headed to a nearby watering hole. He watched from high above as the grasses parted. Zazu's fear became reality, it was a hyena. A hyena in the Pride Lands. He gasped, "I must tell Simba!" Quickly, he turned around mid-flight and bolted away.

Sala wandered through the grasslands, taking every few minutes to run at her top speed, giggling happily, not really paying attention where she was going as she ran up a small hill. Her paw hit a rock and she fell forwards, rolling down the hill and right into something soft and warm, yet fairly hard.

Vitani had been enjoying herself. The warm morning sun felt wonderful on her fur as she relaxed. The hunt the day before had taken quite a lot of her. She had just started to doze off when something hit her square in the back. She nearly jumped out of her fur, leaping up to turn around , teeth bared, snarling, only to discover what had run into her. It was a little cub, a cub she'd never seen before. She stopped growling as the little one looked up at her with an expression of pure fear. The cub looked a lot like her when she was that age, except for the colors and the spots. Her expression moved from surprise to a warm smile, "Hello, who are you?" The little cub was still frightened as she responded quaveringly, "I'm Sala. Please, don't hurt me." Vitani flopped down on her belly, paws extending out to her, "Just because you woke me up from my nap doesn't mean I want to kill you. I thought you were something else." Slowly, the cub started to calm down, seeing the warmth in her smile, "How are you?" The larger lioness ginned, "I'm Vitani."

Sala smiled, "Are you from the lion pride that lives here?"

"I am. Are you and your mother looking to join the pride?"

The little cub turned her head away, "I don't have a mommy anymore." Vitani looked away, "Oh. I don't have a mother any more either." The lioness looked back at Sala, "Did you come here all by yourself?" The cub smiled, "Oh no, my daddy brought me here. We've been trying to get here for days." Vitani raised an eyebrow, "Your daddy?"

"Yeah," Sala beamed, "He's awful nice. He told me that when we get here, he's going to try to find a mommy for me too." Vitani couldn't help but smile, "What's your daddy like, Sala?" the cub blushed, "Well, daddy's a bit different, but he's very nice. He never wants to hurt me. He always looks out for me. And he's very protective of me, even though I'm not really his daughter."

The large lioness smield, "That's very nice of him. Not many will take in a daughter that's not their own." Sala's tail flicked, "He even let me go off on my own for the first time. Not even my real daddy did that." Vitani chuckled, "Not many fathers are willing to do that, but he must have a lot of faith in you." The cub nodded, "Yeah, but he told me to come back home when the sun is high in the sky, but he also told me to find the lions and make friends with them, and to stay out of trouble." The larger lioness smiled, "Well, looks like I get to be your first friend."

Sala blushed, "Well, you're a little older than me. Do you have any cubs?" Vitani winced at the question, "No, I don't. I'd like to have some, but I haven't found a male yet." The cub nodded, looking up at her, "Oh." Sala paused for a brief second, "Well, I could be your cub. I want a mommy, and you want a cub. It means we could have a family." The little girl gave her a warm pleading smile.

"Is that how you got your daddy," Vitani asked her, wondering if the smile worked on whatever lion had taken her in. Sala blushed, "No. Daddy lost his family too, so we decided to be family together." The older lioness nodded, looking at her, "Well, I guess I can be your mother, and you can be my cub." Vitani barely had the words out of her mouth when Sala pounced her, little arms wrapping around her neck, her nuzzle nuzzling under her chin, "YAY! I have a whole family now!" The act had caught Vitani completely by surprise, her eyes blinking back and forth as she slowly wrapped her paws around Sala. The little cub started purring and nuzzling her neck as the iceberg of a lioness slowly started to melt. She purred back, nuzzling her cheek fondly, big arms holding Sala close until the cub finally stopped, pushing away. "Can we play now, mommy?" Vitani grinned, "Of course we can." Sala growled, latching herself onto one of her new mother's ears, as the lioness growled playfully back at her, rolling onto her back as the two wrestled.

The two of them wrestled for several minutes before they were finally tired. The two looked at one another with warm grins on their faces before Vitani finally got a whiff of the cub. She hadn't been bathed in several days. "You need a bath," the elder lioness said as Sala panted and stared at her, "Do I have to?" She gave the cub a stern look, "Yes, you do, but I'll introduce you to the others first, then give you a bath, okay?" The lioness looked down, "Okay." Vitani let out a chuckle, she'd been the same way at Sala's age. The larger lioness stood up, looking down at her, "Now, do you want me to carry you or do you wanna walk with me?" The cub looked up at her new mother, "I wanna walk with momma." Vitani couldn't help but blush at the words. She'd often contemplated being called that, a bit of a fantasy in her mind since the only two males around were Simba and Kovu. One wasn't all that interested and the other was her brother, either way, she wasn't going to have a cub any time soon, unless Sala's adopted father would be interested in her, and secretly, she hoped he would be when they met.