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Tales of the Lion King: 'Long Live the King!'

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"Pridelanders, here stands your king! A prince once thought dead but found alive. A prince that represents both the end and beginning of our hope. A prince crowned by passing through fire and tribulation. Heir of both great kings and my own blood, now standing before you as king of all he sees! LONG LIVE KING SIMBA, SON OF MUFASA, BORN OF PRIDE ROCK!"

The crowd of friends new and old in front of Simba broke out in shouts of "LONG LIVE THE KING! LONG LIVE THE KING! LONG LIVE THE KING!", a formalized but appropriate echo of his battlefield crowning in the rain...

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Several days had passed since Simba's victory at Pride Rock. With the situation now somewhat stabilized, the Pridelanders had the time, if not the appropriate crowds, to acknowledge in formal ceremony Simba as king at Pride Rock, ruler of all that could be viewed from that lofty height (Scar having long before annexed "the shadowy place" that was not part of Mufasa's domains). The land was still mostly barren, but the rains had partly refilled the watering holes and the river was flowing again, albeit at a shallow trickle. Hope, if not life yet, had been restored.

Simba had given the appropriate air of seriousness during the ceremony, but during the acclamations and announcement a modest yet confident smile slowly appeared on his face. He was still learning how to blend many into one, to reconcile new with old. Still learning to adjust out of the jungle to the life he should have inherited at his father's death. Still learning how to love the one fate had reunited him with. But he knew he was learning from good teachers, the ones he would not have to be always perfect in front of like Mufasa was. They were learning together, and their undying loyalty would hold the kingdom and its subjects together through the trials still to come.

Sarabi, having become Queen Mother through proclaiming her own cub King, now came alongside her son and they nuzzled, tears in the mother's eyes. This was a moment bittersweet, though more sweet than bitter; her fatally wronged mate had finally been avenged completely. No matter what happened next, she now felt ready to meet her mate, whether in the peace of sleep or the fury of the looming war.

Simba now gestured to the patiently waiting Nala, required by protocol to remain with the other lionnesses during the ceremony, to come beside him. Nala did so, all smiles and perhaps a little too eagerly for the solemness of the ceremony. She knew that she was in large part responsible for what was happening now, the gaping injustice and misery of her past experience beginning to disappear in love restored. To love and to believe was what she had done, and it was what she still had to do.

Nala remained at King Simba's right as Sarabi spoke again: "Pridelanders, here stands your queen! Beloved of the king, daughter of Sarafina, spirit and blood of great kings! May her example of courage and sacrifice be told from generation to generation, never forgotten as long as there are kings over Pride Rock! May your lineage be unbroken and fruitful to beyond the fifth generation! LONG LIVE QUEEN NALA, BORN OF PRIDE ROCK!"

As the crowd had with Simba, they repeated Sarabi's proclamation in enthusiastic shouts, and the royal couple nuzzled each other. These proclamations alone technically did not make them legitimate mates, but it was universally accepted that the mating ceremony to "properly" do this could not be done under the current circumstances, so Nala was accepted as queen based on the union arranged while they were cubs. Scar had never bothered to formally void the union between the two, presumably because he didn't see the need to do it, so it was still regarded as legally binding by the other Pridelanders.

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Sarabi now proceeded into the crowd of other Pridelanders and escorted her best friend, also now relative by marriage, Sarafina to before the king and queen. She bowed her head before her daughter and new son-in-law, and King Simba proclaimed her a "Hero of the Pridelands" for "her important secondary role in resisting the corruption of King Scar".

Sarafina was escorted by Sarabi back into the crowd, and then Sarabi proceed over to the side area where Timon, Pumbaa and Timon's family were watching. Every member of that group, particularly the still-jumpy-around-lions Uncle Max, was filled with a nervous energy. Sarabi smiled at the group, and Timon and Pumbaa both smiled back - a quiet indicator that they both understood the slightly surreal nature of what was about to happen. Sarabi turned to escort the small group to Simba and Nala; Timon and Pumbaa began following with a nervous eagerness, Timon's Ma behind half-dragging a reluctant Uncle Max.

Each member of that group had been adjusting to the new reality forming around him. There was a liberal application of grace needed all around to help ease the transition; thankfully, the collective assistance in Simba's triumph had granted them all a "blank check" of forgiveness over occasional personality clashes and unthinking attempts at predation. Timon and Pumbaa promised to work on the "rough edges" that had developed with some of the other Pridelanders, particularly Zazu (who seemed to treat anyone of that group with cold politeness). Uncle Max had worse relationship problems, caused by continued nerves around the lions and personality clashes (again, worst with Zazu, who he was constantly bickering with). Timon's Ma had fewer problems, in part because of a quickly-forming friendship with both Sarabi and Sarafina that had surprised some.

Sarabi stepped aside to let the group line in a row in front of Simba and Nala. From left to right, Pumbaa, Timon, Ma and Uncle Max all bowed before king and queen, then turned to face the crowd of lionnesses. Sarabi spoke again: "Pridelanders, here stand unusual but welcome Heroes of the Pridelands! For their undying service and loyalty to our cause, we grant them and their descendants forevermore royal protection within the domains of this kingdom! HAIL THE HEROES OF THE PRIDELANDS!"

The lionesses repeated Sarabi's last line several times. For Timon and Pumbaa, the sweet moment had a bitter aftertaste: "Hakuna Matata" now seemed to be irrevocably dead, the future viewable in front of them rough and bleak; only the bonds of loyalty would keep them alive in this harsh hour. For Timon's family, the moment was hopeful, a prospect of delivering their colony into protection from hyenas; courage was but a seedling now, but soon it would have opportunity to grow. For Simba himself, it meant the integration of new and old had been completed, many into one, born and refined by trials and tribulations soon to come.

Rafiki, having stayed in the crowd because of the ceremonial protocol, now ascended to bow before Simba and Nala before turning and addressing the lionesses: "De king is now estableeshed on da throne of his father. May he prove, may all of us prove, worthy of de Great Kings of de Past."

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At almost the same time, in a desolate and haunted area referred to as the Elephant Graveyard by lion and hyena alike, a similar ceremony was being performed by the members of the Hyena Matriarchy, parading in packs and families to acknowledge Prince Nuka as "Scar's heir and the legitimate king of the Pridelands" with Queen Zira as Regent Queen. The ceremonies, being performed by Matriarch Shenzi over intense personal disgust amongst the hyena ranks, were a concession to political practicality.

The Matriarchy had indeed suffered badly in the defeat at Pride Rock, losing 15-20% of its strength overall and a much higher percent of its leadership, the Pack Mothers and their Pack Leader mates that were the family group heads within the Matriarchy. Several packs had been wiped out, others left with only one or two members which were adopted by another pack. With the leadership temporarily dislocated, Shenzi was kept busy for several days accounting for all the casualties and promoting Pack Mothers and Pack Leaders to fill the holes. Not surprisingly, this often left juvenile and unprepared hyenas in the vital leadership positions.

Shenzi's problems were compounded by two factors. One was the fact that the Pridelanders had taken advantage of their better-organized state to cut off access to most of the vital watering holes. The only ones that the hyenas had any reasonable safety in traveling to were the three on their side of the river dividing the Pridelands; all the ones on the other side of the river were either already controlled by the Pridelanders or at risk of a raid. These raids of 3 or 4 lionesses had already wiped out several groups when they were ambushed while drinking there. Shenzi knew by now that the Pridelanders were hunting them, out of both vengeance and need.

The other factor was Zira's barely disguised antipathy toward Shenzi and the other hyenas. Their forces and loyalty were mutually needed; neither could reasonably oppose King Simba on their own. But Zira was making her presence insufferable by presuming that she could boss around the hyenas behind Shenzi's back, and sometimes against her own orders. Meetings were marked by cold give-and-take and constant reminders that they needed to work together if either of them wanted to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish. The current acclimation ceremonies being sourly watched by Shenzi, Banzai and Ed were insisted upon by Zira. The irritated glances Shenzi couldn't resist shooting at the preening Zira said as much as anything about the relationship between them.

The lie of Simba causing Scar's death had held, to Shenzi's relief, but she was constantly worried the truth would come out anyway. She knew when that happened, it would mean a lot of death and destruction, and probably her death with it. She nevertheless knew that deliberately letting it spill would be suicidal, so for the sake of her life she had ordered all the other hyenas to perpetuate the lie, with dire consequences for any that did not comply. It kept the situation tolerable, though not anywhere near cordial.

Even as the ceremony went on and the hyenas repeated canned phrases hailing Prince Nuka and Queen Zira the rulers of the Pridelands, Shenzi was getting more and more bad news. Another pack group had been wiped out by a Pridelander raid shortly before the Pridelander ceremony began, leaving only one survivor. Pups were slowly dying of starvation, as were elderly members of the packs. Several groups had already spun off to try their luck elsewhere, reducing the hyena numbers even further.

"Banzai, how long do you think we can keep going like this?" Shenzi asked, more to herself than actually to the other hyena.

"Don't say that Shenzi! We've survived worse before, we'll do it again!" Banzai attempted to reassure her.

"I wish I could believe you, but I can't Banzai. I just can't."
Third in the series, and things start getting serious. Essentially, the Pridelands are now split between the hyena forces lead by Shenzi (but with a puppet regent in Zira for Nuka) controlling the areas around the Elephant Graveyard (the "shadowy place" of the original movie) and the Simba-led Pridelanders controlling the rest. Thus begins the "war", which at this point is mostly just controlling the watering holes.

From this point on, this will get darker again because war between lions and hyenas is not glorious but hellish, with all it entails. You will see characters act in ways you probably never expect them to act as. So keep an eye open!
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