A/N- Yes, I know it has been entirely too long since this story was updated. I apologize for the delay. I would really appreciate thoughtful feedback on this chapter as I had an extremely hard time writing the last argument and still don't think it is quite right. Please let me know what you think.

Something bumped into Kivehs’ muzzle, startling the half-grown lion out of sleep. His head jerked up, green eyes sparking open and flickering from one side of the horizon to another; but the sunny plains surrounding him and his sister were empty. The savannah grasses were just beginning to green now that the first rains had come, and the spindly branches of the tree above had already sent out their leaves to create a semi-shaded area where the twins napped. Kala twitched again in her sleep, a front paw slapping at the space where his nose had been.

So that’s what hit me, the son of Scar thought sleepily, licking his lips as he woke more fully. His sister whimpered in her sleep, jerking a little and striking out with her paw for a third. One lip rose a little, revealing the sharp, yellow canine below.

“Hey Littlely,” Kiveh murmured, nudging her shoulder with a front paw. “Wake up, you’re dreaming.” The young lionesses eyes flew open at his touch, their sharp green fearful until she recognized her twin. Then Kala sighed in relief, rolling onto her stomach and taking a look around. “Nightmare?” her brother asked curiously, careful not to seem too pushy and make her mad. The twins had been at each others throats recently from spending nearly three months of one on one time as they wandered slowly across the savannah.

“No…” Kala responded slowly. Then the creamy lioness seemed to rethink her answer, grimacing and letting out a breath. “I just didn’t like that…desert we’ve been wandering around in. I was dreaming I couldn’t get out,” Kala shivered a little, though she grinned cheekily at her brother in an attempt to appear at ease. However her eyes shifted uneasily back to the north from where they had come.

“Yeah, that wasn’t real fun,” Kiveh concurred, irritably scratching at his thin mane with a hind leg even though all the itchy sand that had lodged in the red hair was long gone. After leaving the elephant graveyard they had followed the sun on its arced path across the sky, keeping just outside the border of the Pride Lands since the hunting was still good. However they had not even traveled a full day before the bare stone of hyena territory had been eradicated by a lifeless zone of white sand.

Years ago a lightning strike fire had severely burnt the land of the border here. Kiveh could still remember the thick smoke rising on the horizon, listening as the adult lionesses assured one another that it would die out before reaching Pride Rock. His mother had just been herding him and Kala into the cavern to avoid the ash falling from the air when his sister had gasped and pointed fearfully in the direction of the blaze. Scar and Nuka had emerged from the darkness, the aging red king supporting his badly burned son. Their friend had never been the same after getting caught in the fire, it seemed as though the fire had ruined more than his mane.

The lightning strike had done more then change Nuka though—it had altered the very land of the savannah. Without any living vegetation to capture it the nearby sand had blown in on the winds, mixing with the ashes of the fire to create a thin, white layer on the ground. The bright sand had nearly blinded him and Kala as they had traveled, and the amount that got into their pelts had been unbelievable.

“And don’t call me Littlely!” Kala suddenly hissed, pulling Kiveh back from memory lane. “You’re not mom!”

“No, but I am bigger than you!” he boasted, unable to resist the jibe. Irritably his sister snarled, turning sharply and pacing past him. The male grinned triumphantly, just as Kala swatted both hind legs out from under him. Kiveh grunted harshly as he landed on the stony soil, the breath thoroughly knocked out of him.

“I don’t know why I hang out with you sometimes,” Kala grumbled as she walked out into the sun, though the tip of her tail swung from side to side with triumph.

“Well you can get your own lunch then!” Kiveh shouted after her as soon as air refilled his lungs. Getting to his feet and wincing a little bit as his new bruises twinged—Kala had made him fall hard!

“Fine!” she shouted back over her shoulder, continuing her trek onward. “At least I won’t miss the first five times because someone can’t keep their wormy tail still!”

“I’m not a worm!” Kiveh half-roared, forcing it down to a growl as Kala slipped out of sight. The gold lion flopped back down in anger, wincing as his abused muscles protested the impact. No one calls me a worm anymore, he hissed mentally, forcibly pushing away memories of the taunting hyenas who had given him the hated nickname. Then the young male let out a loud sigh.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, he muttered, staring crossly across the short grass. That little squabble was worth it, sarcasm dripped heavily in his tone. Old enough to know better, too young to care, Kiveh sighed as he mentally recited one of his mothers’ favorite quotes. Apparently at two and half years old he and Kala still fit the old saying perfectly. Too much time with just the two of us, the adolescent let out another rumbling sigh, glaring out at the horizon of white sand and doing his best not to fume on about how annoying his sister was.

“Brothers are so stupid,” Kala grumbled as she stalked over the rocky terrain. Practice and endless repetition of drill eventually quieted her paw steps though; even angry she had to consciously think about making the noise that had been programmed out of her by hunting lessons. A dozing oryx snorted in surprise as the young lioness almost stepped on it, appearing suddenly from around a boulder. Horns swept up instinctively in a jab as it stumbled to its feet. Kala jerked her head back in shock but she was too close, getting socked in the jaw by the hard head of the herbivore.

“Yow!” She hollered involuntarily, the sharp pain sending a blaze of red across the back of her eyelids. The frightened oryx bleated alarm as it bounded away, Kala thought about going after it for a moment, but her pulsing jaw just made her more crabby than hungry.

“What a great day,” the young lioness snorted sarcastically, tenderly touching her banged jaw. Her face was set in a solid pout as she crouched and leaped on top of the boulder the Oryx had been sheltering by, settling down on the sun warmed stone. “I’m not so sure this adventuring stuff is worth all the hassle,” Kala muttered, discretely checking that her twin was still where she’d left him. “Way too many bruises, and way too much brother sister bonding time” she complained to herself, examining the landscape. To the north was the white ash desert, the extreme tip of Pride Rock just visible. Though if Kala hadn’t known what it was she could never have identified the peak of home it was so far away. The shadowlands were a smudge of darkness to the east, fading into the mountain peaks that swung in a half circle southward until they disappeared in the haze of distance. The twins were currently in a thin band of scraggly savannah, sandwiched between the talus fields at the mountains base and the spreading desert.

“Ugh,” Kala griped to herself, idly batting at a loose stone with a paw. “I don’t wanna hunt…but I’m hungry.” Snorting in irritation the young lioness sent the small rock spinning, the skating, scratching noise flooding her ears before it tipped off the edge.

“Hurrhh!” a sudden, sharp growl of anger split the momentary silence.

“What the?” Kala jumped in surprise, half-rising to her feet as the snarling grew louder. A blunt nose poked over the low boulder, the white blaze a startling contrast to the brown-black fur on both sides of the face. “Badger!” the lioness yelped in surprise as the fierce little carnivore scrambled its way onto her perch.

I must have hit it with the rock! She just had time to think, instinctively rolling away from the slashing claws. Normally a badger wouldn’t attack a lion, but they were extremely territorial and ferocious when provoked and this one was a big, full-grown male.

“Kiveh!” the lioness just had time to yelp as she slid right off the boulder to avoid the snapping teeth. “Oof,” Kala grunted, landing awkwardly on the ground below. Instantly the badgers blazed face appeared once more above her, fangs bared. With a hiss it swung a forelimb straight at her head. The lioness ducked away from the blow, the claws slicing her ear and forehead instead of the eyes. “Yeow!” Kala howled in agony, lightning hot flashes of pain blinding her eyes.

By pure instinct she lashed out, her front paw connecting with the attacking badger and knocking it off the rock. Hissing and spitting in fury both carnivores got to their feet, squaring off. Blood seeped into Kalas’ fur and clouded her vision in one eye. One of her ankles felt tender, probably twisted in the fall but the young lioness refused to back off. The honey badger lumbered forward aggressively, growling a warning that Kala shot back, trying to hide the pain in her paw.

A gold and red blur suddenly crashed into the badger, sending the black and white animal flying. “Leave my sis alone!” Kiveh growled ferociously, baring his teeth warningly. Shaking its head the badger got back to its feet, eyes tinged red in anger. Kala took a limping step forward to stand beside her twin, the two of them baring their canines at the smaller predator. The black and white striped carnivore hissed once more, though he took a tentative step backwards. No matter how angry he was, the badger wasn’t up to fighting two fierce lions. With a final snort of discontent the disgruntled animal turned and lumbered off as though the twins weren’t worth his time.

“You ok?” Kiveh panted, twisting his neck to check on her. The adrenaline from the surprise seemed to suddenly disappear and Kala felt like the world was spinning. Fighting back the urge to be sick, she closed her eyes and took a couple deep breaths—then the pain set in. Her head felt like it was on fire, and the blood pumping from her head wound had gummed up her right eye so it wouldn’t open.

“Ow, eeh,” Kala whimpered, tears leaking from her tightly shut eyes as pressed a paw to her forehead to try and halt the pain.

“Let me see,” Kiveh ordered gently, softly he pulled her paw away from the wound. He winced at the amount of blood, vaguely realizing he was telling his sobbing sister that head wounds bled a lot. Steadily he licked the slash clean, spitting out the dirt and debris that had been lodged there. “There,” the golden male said finally, rubbing cheeks with his sister once more before stepping back.

“Is it bad?” Kala hiccupped, barely keeping fresh tears in check.

“It’s…” her twin began, eyeing the wound critically. The honey badger had hit her just to the side of dead-center on the head, leaving two claw tracks that traveled from her forehead to just behind her eyes. The other two claws, however, had connected with her right ear, cleanly separating the top third from the skull. The result was a drooping ear that made his sister look very sad, which she definitely was right now.

“It’s what?” the young lioness breathed fearfully.

“It’s a bloody mess but clean at least now,” Kiveh finally told her truthfully, inwardly wincing about how she would react when she finally saw the damage for herself.

“Everything sounds funny,” Kala replied slowly, cautiously reaching up to touch the side of her head.

“Don’t touch it,” her brother ordered gently. “It might start bleeding again.” The young lioness ignored him, looking the other direction where the badger had lumbered off and gently prodding the wound on her head. “Kala?” Kiveh asked quietly, watching her with growing nervousness. Kala kept her gaze turned away from his. “Sis?” he repeated in the same tone, green eyes widening slightly. “Can ya hear me?”

“I guess it’ll be ok,” Kala replied, taking the paw from her head and noticing that the bleeding was already dying down. “Though it sure stings like anything!” She turned to face her brother, forcing a half-smile that died away as soon as she saw his expression. “Kiveh?” the creamy lioness questioned. “What’s wrong?”

“Didn’t you hear me?” the male twin whispered fearfully.

“Hear you?” Kala looked at him in confusion. “Did you say something?”

“You really…” the gold lion whispered, suddenly jumping to his feet and padding over to her. “No keep looking that way,” he ordered as Kala turned her head to follow him. Confused but obedient she stared straight ahead, waiting impatiently. She felt hot breath on her neck and moodily pushed her brother away.

“What’re you doing?” she rumbled irritably, turning to stare at him.

“You didn’t hear me?” Kiveh asked in disbelief.

“You didn’t say anything,” Kala grumbled back, “Now quit breathing on my neck!”

“I said your name, and I called you Littlely,” her twin spoke solidly, gaze focused on his sisters shocked face.

“What,” Kala whispered, shaking her head as though to knock the idea away.

“Look at me,” Kiveh told his sister firmly. The half-grown lifted her gaze to meet his eyes. “Turn your head so your ear’s toward me, but keep your eyes on my mouth.” Kala did as she was told, watching her twin out of the corner of her eye. Kiveh’s mouth moved but the young lioness caught only the faintest whisper of sound in her other ear.

“Were you…were you whispering?” she asked faintly, making sure to turn her head so both ears were aimed at Kiveh. The young male shook his head, and Kala gulped. I can’t…I can’t hear, she forced herself to admit. The next breath she drew caught in her throat and the lioness struggled to swallow it down into her lungs.

What am I going to do now? Unbidden tears sprang from her eyes, rolling swiftly down the light colored cheeks. Kiveh came over, comfortingly rubbing up against her, rubbing his face on her neck so that Kala could bury her face in his mane.

“It’s ok,” he murmured in her good ear. “It’ll be ok. I’ll watch out for you.”

Night came strangely to the thin band of savannah. The sun disappeared early behind the mountains, creating jagged shadows that turned the land into a dusk landscape while the sky above was still blue. As it grew darker the giant rock talus fields continued to radiate heat they’d collected from the sun, and the twins took full advantage of the warmth.

“What a day,” Kiveh yawned, stretching without getting up.

“Uh huh,” his sister agreed, lying nearby with her head on her front paws.

“How’s the ear?” her twin asked, cracking one eye open.

“Functioning,” Kala replied, gently touching the folded appendage. “I can hear you now…lucky me,” she added the last part jokingly. Apparently there had just been blood and dirt blocking the ear canal, Kiveh had helped her clean out the cut with water from a small pond. Though her left ear still drooped down she could hear fine with it, and Kala was quite happy to live with a curled ear so long as she could still hunt. “Kiveh?” she asked suddenly.

“Yeah?” he yawned again, slumping happily on warm rock.

“Thanks,” his sister whispered sincerely. The rapidly, as though if she hesitated the words wouldn’t come, “And I’m sorry I was mean to you this morning.”

“You’re actually apologizing?” the young male looked up in surprise. “Well that’s a first,” he teased, rolling his eyes playfully.

“Hey!” Kala retorted, flushing slightly in embarrassment but glad to be on good terms again with her brother. Playfully the two slapped at one another with their front paws, too lazy to get up and actually wrestle.

“Ow!” Kala yelped as she accidentally hit her own ear and winced.

“Do you wanna go back?” Kiveh suddenly asked, fixing unexpectedly serious eyes on his sister.

“Back? Back where?” she asked in confusion.

“Home,” he replied. Memories of Pride Rock hit Kala like a wave on the shore. The rustle of the acacia trees where the lionesses always took their mid-day nap to escape the hot sun, the familiar, smoothed stone ramp that led up to prides cavern. Once more she heard the comforting sleep sounds of the pride; Sarabis’ familiar rumble and her mothers whistling breath. For a moment Kala closed her eyes, focusing on the memory of her mothers’ scent, so easily remembered that she could almost imagine Sarafina was there beside her. Then a gentle breeze hit her whiskers and the young lioness was back with her brother; the two of them alone on the scruffy savannah. Kala rolled onto her back without answering Kiveh, gazing up at the emerging stars. Her brother was still silent, watching her silently out of the corner of his eye before rolling over to join her stargazing.

“We really should go back.” Kiveh half-sighed, half-growled in frustration. “I’m a male, I’ve got to leave the pride at some point, but you…you belong in the pride with mom and the others.”

“And let you wander out here on your own? Come on,” Kala rolled her eyes. “Maybe if Mheetu had still been around it would have been different but since you’re brother-less I guess you’ll just have to deal with me!” The young lioness shot a cheeky grin at her brother as he mimed getting stabbed in the heart. However she could see that he was still thinking about his earlier words.

“You’re serious aren’t you? About going back?” Kala questioned, rolling over and smacking Kiveh lightly with a paw when he nodded yes. “No brother of mine quits that easy,” she growled softly in anger. “Just cause of one little accident you wimp out…”

“You could have died!” Kiveh broke in, glaring at her.

“The same thing could happen in the Pride Lands,” Kala shot back, glaring right back. Her brother looked away, unable to formulate a come-back.

“Forget I mentioned it,” the male finally growled out. In an attempt to shift the topic he pointed to a bright star that seemed to hover right in the middle of the horizon. “There’s Mohatus’ star…which ones do you think are Ryza and Ligeral?”

“I dunno,” his sister replied, twisting her neck around to take in the spiraling lights. “There’s so many.”

“Do you think dad’s up there?” Kiveh asked, as he swung his gaze round the sky, now in full night and blazing with bright stars.

“Dad? I hope so,” Kala responded honestly, though there was a slight quaver of doubt.

“He didn’t do everything wrong with his life,” her twin whimpered in frustration, looking up with damp eyes. “What about us? Remember how proud the whole pride was when we caught that little impala? He was the one who told the hyenas to back off so we could try. The lionesses never even thought about that side of dad after Simba came back….” His voice trailed off as it became hoarse from stifled anger and frustration.

“No,” Kala agreed gently, her tone calm. “They forgot that his legacy wasn’t just the herds disappearing and the hyenas over running the land…his legacy…” the young female repeated, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Kiveh that’s it!” The creamy lioness jumped up in excitement, green eyes bright with starlight. “Dad’s legacy, that’s us!”

“Umm, yeah…I guess you could put it that way?” her brother responded nervously, eyeing Kala suspiciously. “Am I missing something here?”

“Well you know how everyone always talks about how great a king Simba is, just like his father,” his twin spoke excitedly, shifting from one paw to another.

“Yeah?”

“Well just like that too Kiveh! Mufasa didn’t really do anything super great, but he was a good dad to Simba and because Simba’s such a good king everyone gives Mufasa some of the glory too.”

“Ok….” The gold male questioned, still looking at his sister in utter confusion as she paced.

“Our dad was a prince too Kiveh,” Kala explained, face bright with excitement. “From the line of kings. Kings like Ligeral, Mohatu, Ryza, all those guys we’ve heard about lately!”

“I still don’t get it,” the lion admitted, wondering if maybe his sister was suffering from sunstroke or maybe the honey badger had hit her harder than they’d thought.

“Look,” Kala continued, sitting down in front of him, her tail swishing against the smooth rock surface. “All those kings made mistakes right? Ryza fought against his best friend, Mohatu’s first idea to ration the water didn’t work, and Ligeral…come on! Ligeral built an entire army because he thought his way was the only way to live!” Kala was nearly vibrating with excitement and Kiveh felt a little bit of it rubbing off on her.

“Ok…but what does that have to do with us?”

“Ahh, you’re so slow some times!” Kala sighed in frustration, though there was no real menace in her tone. “We’re a part of that royal bloodline too! The same blood that flows through Mufasa and Simba, that’s in our veins too!” Her green eyes were huge in excitement, catching the moon and starlight so vibrantly that Kiveh had the random thought that two fireflies had replaced her vision.

“That’s how we can repair dad’s legacy, by reminding everyone that he was as good king too. Because of us, because of the good things he left behind.” Kala continued breathlessly. “All those kings in the past, they all made mistakes but they did what they thought was best. Yeah dad might have done a better job,” she admitted, mouth twitching just a small bit. “But he was still a prince and then a king, we can remind everyone about that! About the great bloodline that he and Mufasa BOTH came from!”

“Wow,” was all that Kiveh could manage to get out, staring awestruck at his sister. “How long have you been thinking about this?” Kala shrugged.

“It just all the sudden clicked,” she admitted. “I remember being bothered when we heard the story about Ligeral, remember how it was his daughter Mira that stopped the big fight between him and the other king?”

“Umm, I guess so,” Kiveh admitted, though he didn’t sound to sure of himself. His twin sent a skeptical glare his way. “Hey!” the young male protested in his defense. “You always were better at remembering names than me!”

“Whatever,” Kala brushed it off and continued. “Anyways it was a lioness named Mira who was queen during that story we heard about Ryza from the hyenas.”

“You think it was the same lioness?” Kiveh spoke up, finally putting it all together and sitting up in excitement.

“It’s not that common of a name, at least around here,” his sister said.

“And the time period’s right…” Kiveh muttered, frowning as he thought. “If the alliance of hyenas and lions lasted for a really long time I’m sure more people would remember, but one or two generations….hmmm.”

“We could go and put it all together Kiveh!” Kala said excitedly. “We could track down all the kings of the past! Even just a single story like the one about Ligeral shows that dad wasn’t the only one to try and make peace between everyone. Or Mohatu’s story, about the drought, we could remind everyone about that and how things like that happened sometimes, even to good kings! Think about it, bro! We could clear dad’s name, show everyone that he wasn’t the only one who ran into bad luck while he was king!”

“Tracking down our bloodline and legacy huh?” Kiveh murmured, raising on eyebrow skeptically.

“Uh huh,” Kala nodded exaggeratedly.

“Just one question, where the heck do we start?”