Extracted right from FF.net:
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This story is about a real lioness named Kamunyak who has a very strange habit for a lioness to possess. You will find out about it later, if you are not already familiar with her. I can only hope that you’ll enjoy reading what I have here. But first I have to first thank my friend Eol, for being my beta, and helping the story along when I couldn't do it myself. I am forever in her debt. I shall be the commander of her evil minions when she decides to take over mars. Earth shall be next!
She made me add that last part.
Of course, I don’t own The Lion King, or any of its characters. However, I do own Kamunyak, Java, Chiron and Asali. This applies for this chapter, and all the others. Anyway, let’s begin!
Kamunyak, Blessed One
Chapter 1: A Glimmer of Hope
It was a hot day on the savanna of Macheo Valley, even against Macheo Valley standards. All sorts of animals had begun to gather around the banks of the river since morning, and now nearly everyone was there, prey staying well away and well aware of predator, as always.
Kamunyak was sitting peacefully in the shade of a large tree, content with watching everything that was happening and waiting until things had settled down a bit before she had her drink, even though she knew that she would be given plenty of room by the herds, being a lion and all.
But now she was getting bored, and she couldn’t be blamed for that. After all, she had been lying there for three hours. So naturally, she got up and headed away from the river. She could come back later, and perhaps she would find something elsewhere to better occupy herself with until she did decide to go back. While she walked, the tall grass concealed her. To many, it would look as if she was stalking something.
She could go to her pride – her family – for entertainment if she had one, but sadly, Kamunyak was a rogue. Some say that she was separated from her pride at a very young age; others say that her mother, who was a rogue herself, abandoned her. Kamunyak herself did not know the truth. All she knew for sure was that as long as she could remember, she had been by herself. She was really very lucky to make it to adolescence all by herself, because even with a family to look after them, most cubs do not live for very long.
Before she knew it, the grass that had hidden her completely was now only just tall enough to tickle her wrists. It was a little bit like a glade, and in this large glade with her was a small herd of wildebeests. She could not hunt them now, for they were downwind to her, and by the time she got back into cover, they would have fled. She wasn’t hungry, anyway. A carcass that she had managed to get her hands on the previous night was good enough for her. As far as lions went, Kamunyak did not have a very big appetite.
Just as she had predicted, the wildebeests downwind from her suddenly lifted their heads up from the grass that they were grazing on, looked in her direction and ran away.
Kamunyak didn’t think that she had done anything wrong, but clearly she had, for soon an angry growl came at her from the grass on her right, and out leaped a thin, yet muscular lioness with her sharp teeth bared and claws extended. Before she knew it, she had been pinned onto the ground. With fearful eyes, she looked up at her attacker.
Out of the grass emerged several other lionesses, all just as thin as the first. “A pride!” exclaimed Kamunyak silently. She had been looking for a pride that she could join for some time now. Being a rogue was tough, and now that there seemed to be less and less herd animals to hunt every day, she would have to join one quickly if she wanted to survive. But something told her already that if this was the pride, then it would not be easy.
“Do you know what you’ve just done?” roared Kamunyak’s attacker, before she could get a word in. “Do you have any idea how hard is for us to get our hands on a meal these days? Do you?”
“I’m sorry,” muttered Kamunyak, as if she didn’t know if that was the right answer. But no one heard her, anyway.
“It’s alright,” called a more dominant, female voice from the crowd. “Let her up.”
Immediately, the one known as Asali did as she was told. Kamunyak rolled clumsily back onto her feet, and before her stood the one who had ordered her release. She was a little taller than Kamunyak was, and since their faces were but a few inches from each other’s, it made Kamunyak feel like she was a child being looked down upon by an adult. She was spoken to as if she was a child, too.
“What is your name?” questioned the lioness.
“Kamunyak,” answered Kamunyak reluctantly.
“Kamunyak, eh?” said the lioness, looking back over her shoulder to her hunting party, as if looking for a sign of approval. “Nothing but a young teenager and a rogue,” she added scornfully. “You’d do best to keep out of the way and in cover if you come across another group of hunting lionesses – especially if it’s us. If we lose another bit of meat because of you, then you’re going to get it, understand?”
Kamunyak could only nod, and her eyes remained locked onto the other lioness’s, even when she had turned away from her, and was walking back into the grass with her hunting party.
Then, Kamunyak remembered that she wanted to be part of a pride. “Wait!” she called, running hastily after the group.
“What is it now?” said the same lioness who had warned her of disrupting their hunts before.
“I was just wondering if – well, if you could bring me to your alpha male; if I could join your pride,” answered Kamunyak.
The lioness’s face did not change at all. “Kid, I am this pride’s leader. We don’t have no alpha male with us.”
“Oh… but…”
The lioness burst into laughter and most of the others did so as well, but to a lesser degree. “Can you believe this kid? She’ll believe anything I tell her!” she said to her lionesses, then turned back to Kamunyak. “I’m not the leader,” she said, seemingly amused. “We do have an alpha male, but why should we take you to see him?”
Under no other circumstance would Kamunyak take what this lioness was saying and had said to her, but she knew her manners, and she knew that if she didn’t use them now, she wouldn’t have a chance with this pride.
“Because I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t, and I might be able to help you get a few more kills than you’re getting now,” replied Kamunyak, sounding a little more unfriendly than she had intended to sound.
“You think you could make a good difference to the amount of meat we eat? I doubt it!” said the lioness. “But I’ll let my kin here decide. What do you think?”
“Take her back, we could use another lioness,” said one.
“Yeah, she’s only young. We won’t be the ones deciding in the end, anyway,” said another. The rest agreed.
“Fine,” said the leader. “We’ll take her back, but Chiron isn’t going to like this.”
So Kamunyak was walked back to the lionesses’ home. The leader of the hunting party was the only one in front of Kamunyak. The rest were either guarding her flanks, or walking behind her, as if they thought that she was going to attack them while they weren’t looking. Nothing was said during the short journey, except by the party’s leader. She mostly just spoke of how the alpha male would definitely say no, and how Kamunyak would have to continue on being a rogue.
They stopped only when they came to a large acacia tree that hung over itself with a sharp bend in its trunk, whose branches spread out like an umbrella and provided more than enough shade for the whole pride. At the base of this tree sat a boulder that was large enough for two to stand on at a time with plenty of space to spare, and upon this boulder stood an aged, yet not quite elderly lion with a wise and solemn expression on his face.
“You come back not with meat, but this stranger,” was the first thing that came out of the lion’s mouth. “I hope, Asali, that you do not mean for us to consume this poor girl.”
“Of course not, Chiron!” said the hunting party’s leader with a polite chuckle. “We found her near the river while we were hunting. She asked us if we could bring her back to you for something, and we agreed. I think it would be best if she told you what she wants for herself.” Asali turned around and walked past Kamunyak, so close that they nearly rubbed sides. “Go on, kid. Tell him,” she whispered to her, an almost evil grin having spread across her face, eager to see her failure.
Kamunyak stepped forward nervously. “I apologise for interrupting your lionesses’ hunt, sir,” she began, not forgetting to bow, “but I’ve been by myself for as long as I can remember, and times are getting really tough now. I was hoping that you would allow me to—” She stopped suddenly.
“Yes?” asked Chiron.
Kamunyak could almost feel Asali’s smile of anticipation grow even more.
“I was wondering if you could allow me to join your pride. I know that it’s hard to get food these days, and I can help with that. And I don’t eat much either, so you won’t have to worry much about having an extra mouth to feed. I can take care of myself.”
“If you could take care of yourself, you wouldn’t be asking me if you could join my pride,” said Chiron, without any intention of making the teenager in front of him look bad.
A few in the crowd behind her chuckled, but Kamunyak didn’t bother to look behind her to see who it was.
“But sir, please—”
Chiron stopped her from saying any more with a physical gesture, and then there was a short period of silence as he stood there, looking her in the eyes. Anyone could tell that his head was filled with many thoughts. Then came the words that broke the silence, “What is your name, child?”
Kamunyak answered.
“Kamunyak… I have heard that name before, I am sure of it. But I am not sure where, or why. Nonetheless, Kamunyak—”
“Wait!” called a voice from the crowd. All heads turned towards its source, and there stood a young male lion. His pelt was the colour of sand, and his mane was a lot darker and fuller than other manes that belonged to other lions of his age. He ran through the crowd and right past Kamunyak, then jumped gracefully onto the podium upon which Chiron stood.
“What are you doing, Java?”
“Father,” said the lion, “just think about this before you make your decision: if you were in Kamunyak’s position, nearly starving, all by yourself with no one to protect you, and no family to entertain you, wouldn’t you want you to say ‘Yes, you can join the pride,’? You wouldn’t really care whether or not the pride would benefit from you or not, would you?”
“No one would,” admitted Chiron.
“Then?”
“But she is a rogue. Something that she did must have caused her to be evicted from her original pride.” He turned to Kamunyak. “Tell me, what happened?”
“Sir, I was born a rogue. For as long as I can remember, I have been alone. I have no unpleasant history, you must believe me,” said Kamunyak, as politely as she possibly could.
“That’s the thing!” hissed Asali from the crowd. “We can’t trust her, nor can we believe her! She’s a complete stranger and we know nothing of her. She could even be lying to us about her very name!”
“You may not know who she is,” said Java caustically.
“Ah, but Asali is right, my son. We know nothing of Kamunyak. What if she is not who she says she is?”
“What’s the worst that can happen? She’s a runaway princess from the Pride Lands, and when she’s found, we’ll be treated as if we kidnapped her? Unlikely! King Simba is wiser than that as to be so rash!”
“Ah, here we go again. Your stories about the Pride Lands – the runaway king, the evil uncle – when will they stop?” said Chiron, rolling his eyes and brushing him off.
“But they are not stories, father. Just because you have no evidence that something exists, you immediately decide that it in fact mustn’t exist. Just have a little faith. Really, what’s the worst she could do? She’s only one lioness, not ten,” said Java.
There was silence once more.
Then Chiron said, “Very well then. Those are wise words, but be warned – if she causes any trouble at all, you will be the one to be punished for it, Java. You understand me, do you not?”
“Oh, I’m sure there’ll be no trouble caused at all. Wouldn’t you agree, Kamunyak?” He said her name as if he had known her all her life.
“Oh, yes,” agreed Kamunyak. “Definitely.”
“See?” said Java smugly to his father, and chuckled.
The decision had been made. The lifelong rogue was no longer a rogue; now she had a pride, perhaps even a family. She would no longer spend cold nights alone, there would be no more yearning to talk someone other than herself, and for once in her life, she could rely on others to help her. ‘Everything’s going to be alright now,’ she thought to herself. And she had no one to thank for it but this complete stranger – Java.
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Ah. Reminds me of the good ol' days. I'll post more every day.
