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A short Pridelands story by Chris Boyce.
14th November 1996.
With thanks to my friend David Morris who proof read this and provided much
valuable comment and suggestions. I reverently touch your mane.
_______Nala lay amongst the sleeping lionesses a little before noon. To one
side of the group of six she lay with her rear paws draped over her mother,
Sarafina, her head propped on her fore paws where she could feel the
blistering heat reflected from the hard packed ground. The rains were now over
and the savannah was at it's peak of greenness, in just a few weeks the browns
would return to cloak the dust. The grazing animals were busy taking whatever
advantage they could of this plethora of riches. Their cup overflowed and as
it did so the predators: lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, wild dog and even the
jackals took whatever they could. It was a good time to be alive in the
Pridelands. Unlike her mother, Nala was not asleep. She lay still thinking,
going over and over the same thoughts in her mind, she had not been able to
stop thinking and of what? What kept the beauty that stalked by sunset from
her sleep? One name dominated her thoughts, one name was all that held her
from sleep, one name: Tana. She flicked her tail thoughtlessly, it cracked
down on to her mothers left haunch. Sarafina flinched and, almost lovingly,
she murmured something through the mist of sleep.
________"Oh Scar, do it again. Please..."
'What?' thought Nala as she raised her head a little and turned her ears to
her mother, 'At least she sounds happy.'. Sarafina fell back into whatever
dream filled world she belonged to. Nala dropped her heavy head back on to her
soft creamy fur that covered her fore paws. 'What,' she thought yet again,
'am I going to do about Tana?'. Sala and Tana's arrival into the pride had
been received with mixed emotions, first they had been treated politely and
with courtesy as befits guests, especially ones that had known Mufasa for so
long. He had explained how he had met the sisters one day when he was hunting.
He had, or so he said, rushed a gazelle and literally bumped into this
beautiful creature. He admitted to more than a moment of desire. She had seen
this clearly and had reportedly said:
______"I'm sorry, but we seem to have the same thing on our minds."
Mufasa had been taken abruptly aback by such forwardness and lost his usual
self-assuredness and lapsed into incoherence:
________"I did...well...I didn't mean...that...sorry...I..." and turned to
escape, his eyes fixed to the ground as he shook his head in embarrassment.
________"It's Ok, I thought it was a good gazelle too. Though I'll never find out now."
"Gazelle? You mean? Oh, I am so sorry I though you...well, I meant."
He lifted his head, still avoiding the small lionesses gaze. Her eyes could
melt even the hardest of lion's hearts, Mufasa's was boiling over though he
had already shown rather too much of the steam that had been produced.
________"Why yes, what else did you think I meant?" She seemed earnest, as if
the thoughts that so troubled Mufasa were as far away as the Pridelands.
Mufasa shook himself, his mane billowing and flowing around his shoulders. The
lioness watched him intently, bearing deep into his eyes to size up this great
stranger.
________"Who are you?", she said as the last of the shake left his tail.
________"My name is...Mufasa, and yours?"
________"I'm Sala. That's my sister behind you.". Mufasa opened his eyes wide
and twisted round in near panic to see another, somewhat bigger, more muscular
lioness standing no more than a length behind him. He felt vulnerable and
small, he had been caught unawares. He could do very little to regain his
dignity and so opted to capitulate.
________"Have you been there long? I seem to have got off on the wrong paw. I didn't mean to be so indelicate."
________"Indelicate. I've not heard it put like that before. Now then - Mufasa
Tell me, you're not from round here. I know ALL the lions around here."
________"Tana, careful. You mustn't, not now."
________"Sala, you've had your chance and you fluffed it. Now let me try."
Sala shook her head in resignation. Her sister, when in the presence of a lion,
was not to be trifled with as many scratches on Sala's shoulders and sides
could attest to.
________"Now then. You are a big one aren't you?
We've not seen many like you round here, have we Sala?"
________"TANA!" Sala growled at her sister in a
manner that carried more than a hint of 'stop that!' about it.
________"Oh, ignore her; I always do. Now, about you..."
Mufasa had been lucky to escape with only his dignity lost. He had had to
invent some story about searching for his lost brother just to get Tana off
his back, or rather, to prevent her from getting him on her back. However he
was not so lucky as he tried to put some distance between himself and the
sisters. He had wondered whether they were part of a pride, if so he might
be in some danger from their male, or even males. On the other paw he supposed
that they were quite likely, being still young, to be on their own. Yes, he
thought as he rounded a corner of a massive boulder, that must be it.
Otherwise that Tana would have not been quite so eager to impress. It was then
that he had ran into the second lion of the day. This one however was no Sala.
________"Ah." Mufasa said as he stopped dead in front of a heavily built lion
almost as big as he was. The pair stood no more that a length facing each
other. Both not knowing who was more surprised.
________"Who are you? What do you want here?" the other asked gruffly. Mufasa
considered for a moment. Here was a lion easily his equal in strength. He was
clearly in no mood to be trifled with. Small talk would not help here, one
wrong word and Mufasa was sure that he would be forced into conflict. In the
past, when he had been king, honesty would have been the best, and indeed the
only, policy. Now he was more circumspect. There seemed no reason to tell the
whole truth all at once.
________"I was just passing through. Is this your
land?"
________"Get out before I throw you out." Mufasa
saw a glimmer of hope that fighting could be honourably avoided.
________"Oh, I am so sorry. I didn't know it was yours.
You know you're so well known, I should have recognised it was you."
________"What? Known for what? What are you talking about?"
________"Why, for your greatness of course. Your name is said in whispers as
we honour you." Mufasa hoped he wasn't laying it on a little too thickly.
_______"Honour me? Yes, you should honour the
great Zimmale." Mufasa allowed himself a little smile.
________Yes indeed - the great Zimmale,"
dropping his voice to a reverent
whisper, "ruler of the great lands." Zimmale stood for a moment then shook his
head to one side irritably.
________"Pah, I've no time for this. Get out of my way, my lionesses have gone
off on their own again. They know they mustn't leave me while I sleep." Mufasa
backed away, lowering his head in deference to his opponent.
________"I cannot say if I have seen any lionesses.
You must go and find them. Of course you must. I rejoice in our meeting."
________"Huh, rejoice eh?" with that Zimmale padded off growling under his
breath. As soon as he was out of sight Mufasa rushed off as fast as he dared -
in the other direction. He thanked the stars that he had taken so much time to
listen to Zazu's daily waffle. He had never before realised that a few well
chosen words could be mightier than the claw.
________Nala thought on as she tried to find a softer spot on her fore legs,
'Why can't Tana be more like her sister?'. Sala had taken to the Pridelands as
though she had been born there. She spent much of her time listening and
getting the feel of the pulse of daily life that breathed and flowed all
around her. The rhythm of the pride flowed into her as easily as she had once
suckled her mother's milk. She made great efforts to get to know every lioness
by name and to know as much about their lives as possible. She always showed
that she felt herself to be at the bottom of the pride hierarchy and made some
lionesses feel slightly uneasy as she deferred even to Nyala on all matters.
Sarabi, thinking that Sala deserved better than she had allowed herself, had
decided that it was time for her, and thus also Tana, to show their skills
in the field. Sarabi herself was still not entirely sure of her place, she had
yet to get used to the idea that she and Nala shared the status as pride
queen. She was to find that practically nothing had changed. She had, if only
she had seen it plain, shared that status with Nala for nearly the year since
Simba had returned. Nala protested at Tana's inclusion to the hunting party:
Sarabi, Sarafina, Sala, Tana and herself. She did not seem at all keen to test
herself against the wildebeest, zebra and, unusually for this region, the
eland. Their great weight was more than sufficient to crush a lioness,
particularly one as small as Sala. Sarafina had been said to have pulled one
down single pawed, this though was viewed with some scepticism, though the
carcass proved a kill had been made and no one owned up to assisting Sarafina:
the great Saffi as she had been temporarily known. She found the adulation was
rather too much for her taste and had quickly grown tired of having to thank
everyone for their generous words. Sarafina soon resolved to confine
demonstrations of her power to less formidable prey. It was Sarafina that
picked Sala to partner her, the contrast in build between them being almost
as great as between Nala and Simba. Saffi had a barely concealed weakness for
Sala's brand of directness and a even less concealed dislike of Tana's. The
hunt, only partially serious, had started badly. Nala had let her feelings get
the better of her and had made a half-hearted attack on a wildebeest out of
frustration when Tana had asked her once too often about Simba's habits.
Sarabi kept back from the front line to size up the newcomers. She was not
pleased when Tana failed to show any inclination to back up Nala, even though
the attack had been ill-judged and quite out of character. Nala had got away
relatively unharmed but her patience had now worn thin beyond what a huntress
could be expected to hunt with. Sarabi pushed out alone into the open, beyond
the cover of the longest grasses and scrub and up to Nala, who was lying
panting and clearly in some distress where she had fallen after a bull had
kicked her for her efforts. She was barely persuaded to retire to leave Tana
for Sarabi to deal with. Sarabi had never had a daughter and being with cub
again she felt it was perhaps a good time to get some experience with dealing
with them. Nala knew her mate's mother was right and she secretly thanked her
for taking the irritating Tana off her paws.
________Sala meanwhile was hanging back and watching Sarafina carefully.
Sarafina wanted desperately to tell Sala to get ahead and take the initiative,
to lead the hunt and show what she was born to do, but she had to keep silent.
Sala only wanted to watch and learn and to leave the leading to those she felt
were more capable of it than she. Thus it was to be Sarafina that broke first
on the next wildebeest cow that wandered too far from the herd in search of
even greener grass. Sala, anxious to show she was marking Sarafina carefully,
rose from cover a second or two after Sarafina. The delay was only to ensure
she had read Saffi's mind correctly. She had indeed judged correctly and now
opened out her strides to cover the ground to the wildebeest. Her speed amazed
the watching Nala. She was by Sarafina's side in no more than ten strides. She
read the wildebeest's turns as if she were making them herself and easily
outran the much heavier Sarafina. So it was Sala who struck first and as she
leapt gamely for the wildebeest's forequarters it seemed likely that she
would claim her first kill alongside the queens of the Pridelands. She had
aimed well and struck cleanly, by all the stars she should have killed the
'beest at the first attempt, however her lack of bulk allowed the wildebeest
to remain on it's hooves, even with the determined lioness at it's throat. It
could not do the same when, a few moments later in close support, Sarafina
added her phenomenal forequarters strength and weight to the attack. The hunt
honours were shared that night. The queens were in awe of Sala's speed and
agility. Here, they agreed, was a weapon of considerable tactical usefulness.
It seemed probable that she would open up the hunting of the smaller
antelopes, gazelle, tommies, impala and even springbok, which had previously
been thought of as not worth the effort. Sala was obviously game enough for
larger prey but her skills would be better directed towards the smaller,
faster species. However much as Sala impressed, Tana was a bitter
disappointment. She was almost the size of a Pridelands lioness and yet her
heart was not in the hunt; her heart was distracted by other things which,
Nala was determined, would not be given up to her lightly.
________Tana spent more and more time with Zenani. At first this seemed
innocent enough, but little by little Tana probed Zeni on her parent's habits,
likes and dislikes. Zeni tried to keep her distance from Tana much as she had
managed to keep away from Immue. Tana however was not as cold as Immue had
been, she seemed genuinely interested in Zeni and to a lesser extent Nyala.
With Immue the cubs had always been on their guard, except under times of
stress. Tana always steered their talks towards Simba: what he did, who he
saw, where he went, what his routine was. Since birth Tana had always had
things her way, she had had a clear understanding with Tana and they had both
always lived in small prides. Here, on Priderock, Tana was faced with what
was, to her, a challenge too great to simply give in to. She had, or so she
thought, to take the best lion. That meant she had to take Simba. She was so
bound up in her plotting that she hardly noticed when Sala and Simba
disappeared for a few days. When Sala came back, quietly pregnant, Tana became
even more determined to get what she felt was her birth right.
________Tana had showed one amazing capability: she always seemed to have a
plausible excuse for not going hunting. This allowed her to stay behind with
the lions. Simba pleaded with Nala to get Tana off his paws but short of force
there seemed no easy way to do it. That force was finally unleashed when Tana
attempted to prevent Nala from getting back to Simba after a bad evening's
hunt a few days after Sala's success. Tana actually tried to cut Nala off from
Simba. Nala saw Simba's frantic gestures and heard him pleading with Tana to
let his mate pass into the cave mouth. Tana foolishly stood her ground between
Nala and Simba:
________"Nala, you must understand he's a mate to all us lionesses. Just look at Sala."
________"Tana, you get back where you belong or you'll have to crawl back."
Nala was not really prepared to back up her threat, that was until Tana spoke
next.
________"He's not yours. He's ours now. He needs us more than he needs you!"
________"Tana," Simba pleaded, "Just let my mate pass, Nala's mine and don't you ever dare forget it."
________"Not any longer." Tana bared her teeth and snarled aggressively at
Nala who for a moment seemed likely to strike Tana. Her expression softened
and she backed off a little from Tana. She turned away and looked determinedly
at Sala who watched horrified from a short distance.
________"Tana," Simba tried again to release himself from Tana, "don't do
this. You can't win, so there's no need to fight." Nala smiled at Sala who
stared hard into her eyes, then she pushed her body round, pivoting on her
rear paws in an instant and leapt upon Tana with such speed that she could
not stand and was turned over to quiver helplessly on her back. Nala's left
forepaw, it's claws extended, ripped down Tana's side leaving four cleanly
bleeding wounds some six inches long. Nala looked down on the lioness who had
dared to usurp her place and said, in a slow, low voice that carried to all
parts of the rock. Her sides moving strongly with her deep breathing:
______"Pinned ya..."
Sala watched for what seemed like the longest seconds of her life as she saw
her place in this great pride crumbling under Nala. Tana's blood trailed down
her fur onto the rock to stain the spot that was to mark Tana's last stand.
No one present dared to say anything, the loudest sound was that of Nala's
breath. Tana lay helpless and terrified under the now undisputed queen of
Priderock.
_______Tana closed her eyes and waited for the end. It did not come. Instead
she felt the great weight and warmth of Nala ease from her to leave her free
to rise to her paws. There was no question of her renewing her defiance, she
had lost and had done so completely and publicly. Tana was humiliated as well
as defeated. She wished the ground would open up and take her under. The rock
was not so accommodating. Tana rose to her feet, her head low and submissive,
her ears flat against her head, her tail dragging on the ground. She walked
slowly away thinking that this would be the last time she set paw upon the
rock she had so desperately tried to call home. All the lions on the rock
watched her leave, all felt that she had gone too far. All except Nala felt
that she had not deserved to be humiliated in quite such a comprehensive
manner. It was perhaps unfortunate, or merely imprudent, that she had decided
to make her move at the mouth of Nala's home. She had unthinkingly chosen the
worst spot on the whole of the Pridelands. To prevent Nala from coming and
going freely from her shared home with Simba was to cut off the two in a much more
intimate way than Tana could ever have envisaged. Tana, it seemed, had never
really loved a lion and could never have understood that the cave was much
more a part of Nala than it might appear.
________Where Tana spent the next few days is not known. Some thought she had
left the Pridelands altogether, others that she was lying low in some thicket
somewhere, some even went as far as to suggest that she had taken up with the
hyenas and was living in the graveyard. Simba was genuinely concerned for her
safety, as was Mufasa. Mufasa even went as far as to go to the graveyard and
search for her there. This caused uproar and gave Zazu sufficient information
for a weeks worth of reports. Ghosts were seen everywhere. All the animals
seemed to be seeing white lions in clouds; Ed even managed a coherent word:
'Mufasa'. Shenzi was reported as lying shaking in a hollow somewhere, not
daring to come out in case 'he' was out to get her. Eventually it was to be
Pumbaa who found her, or at least Tana found him, down by the waterhole one
evening. She simply walked down the rough track that led from Priderock and
stood by his side as he drank. She was thinner, dustier but seemed none the
worse for her experiences, apart from four healing scars on her side. She
said very little and Pumbaa asked little thinking it was best to let her say
what she wanted to in her own good time. Nala had long since forgiven her and
now realised that a good swipe would have been all that was needed to have
put Tana in her place.
________"Do they want me to leave?" she had asked Pumbaa a day or so later as they met once more by the waterhole.
________"Who? Leave where?"
________"Here, the Pridelands? I will, if the lionesses want me to. I don't know if I can stay here, no one wants me."
________"Sala wants you and no, no one wants you to leave." he paused
wondering if this was the right time to say such things, he decided it
probably wasn't but who could tell, "They just want you to stop chasing after
Simba. Hey, I feel sometimes that I should leave here too."
________"You do? But you're part of the Pridelands, it wouldn't be the same without you."
________"No, I'm just a smelly pig, a bit of bacon that's being fattened up
for when times get hard. It's only Simba and Timon that like me."
________"What about the cubs? What about Mufasa, he likes you?"
________"He's all right but those lionesses, they look
at me sometimes, you know..." Tana didn't really know and said as much.
________"No, I have no idea."
________"Like I'm not worth chasing. But hey, life's too short to get down like this. You know what I say?"
________"No. What do you say?" Tana was intrigued
and a little confused.
________"Hakuna Matata!"
________"Haku...What?"
________"It means there's no worries here. There may be somewhere else but
right here life's good. You know, if you stopped chasing lions then maybe
they'd chase after you."
________"No, whenever I get close they just run away."
________"Look at your sister, she got a lion. She didn't chase anything."
As the conversation progressed a warthog sow came cautiously down to drink
at the far side of the waterhole. She drank for a while then looked up and saw
Pumbaa across the expanse of the pool, now filled with the rains. Pumbaa felt
her stare and glanced at her uneasily. She stared back seemingly sizing him up,
she did not seem to be at all concerned about the rough looking lioness
standing by his far side. She only had eyes for him. Pumbaa went rigid, for a
moment he did not know what to do.
________"She seems a bit serious about you." Tana said as a little of her former self returned.
________"Oooohhh!" Shouted Pumbaa as he rushed away up the track, Tana
followed at a run, neither stopped until they were safely under the lee of
the protrusion of Priderock. Safe, that is, until Nala ran across to see what
all the rush was about. She saw Tana and froze, her fur on her back bristling
up and her claws extended.
________"What are you doing here? Didn't you learn your lesson?"
________"Nala, Tana wants a second chance. She has come back to apologise."
said Pumbaa decisively. Nala was taken aback by Pumbaa's directness and
clarity. She had previously only thought of him as a joking threat to her
mate. Here was a quite different warthog, he even smelt a little better. Tana
picked up the olive branch and held it up to Nala with sincerity.
________"I'm sorry, I thought I would never
get to love a lion.
When I saw what you did I knew I had no idea what it was to be a true mate. Can you
forgive me?" Nala considered this for a few moments, she could not endure the
endless feud that a lack of forgiveness would entail. Here, in front of her,
almost alone stood the biggest single problem on the Pridelands. It could
almost be solved here and now. She could simply kill her with a single blow as
surprise was on her side. She took a step towards Tana, within a fore leg's
reach of her head. She stopped and stared at her tormentor and knew she had
to end it now. Nala stepped forward and raised her right paw, resting it on
Tana's shoulder as she brushed her head against Tana's.
________"I forgive you, but I'll not forget so easily." She detected a
familiar scent, one which told her that Tana was more than ever in need of her
lion. Tana cried gently as Pumbaa backed away and scurried off to tell Simba
of Tana's return.
________Nala lead the subdued Tana back up on to Priderock. Nala sat silently
on the bare rock just outside the cave mouth, carefully covering the stain
marking Tana's stand as if to erase it from their memories. Tana stood ahead
of Nala, her head low and her shoulders pressed down. Neither lioness said a
word. It was Tana that broke the tension by turning away submissively. Nala
called after her:
________"I'll talk to Simba. I'll ask him to forgive you too: he forgave me."
________"It's too late. I won't be needing him anymore." Tana replied sadly.
________"What about next time? There's always a next time for young lionesses like us."
________"Like us?" said Tana incredulously.
________"Yes, us two and your sister." Tana raised her head and tail and
walked towards Nala pushing her nose to the side of her head, feeling the
warmth and strength of a lioness perhaps not so much unlike her....
________Tana's injuries inflicted by Nala kept her away from the hunt for a
few days after her return to Priderock. Sarabi decided it was best to arrange
a few day time sorties to get her back into the feel of things. It was Nala
who volunteered to take her out one morning. She had already talked to Pumbaa
about giving Nyala her first serious hunting experience and that meant with
live bait. Nala had arranged for Pumbaa to be just a little north of Zazu's
reporting stone atop the ridge later that day. Nyala was to try to stalk him.
She was very excited at the prospect of actually chasing after something real
and fast. Nyala still had some way to go before she was adult but she could
now run well and keep it up for some distance. Her young supple body was
ideally suited to matching the twists and turns of a warthog as he bounded
through the grass. This, thought Nala, would be ideal practise. However she
did not manage to find Pumbaa that morning after her talk with Sarabi. So it
was that Nala and Tana lay silent in the grass watching a trotting warthog
cross the track that led to the river. Behind the warthog they could just see
Nyala trying her best to keep out of sight. She was not making too bad a job
of it when something large, noisy and green slid along the track towards the
warthog and stopped and fell silent. Tana watched anxiously.
________"What's that?"
________"Tana, keep quiet, how can you ever catch anything if you talk all the time?"
________"Sorry. I just thought..."
________"Shut up and watch." Pumbaa thought he heard Nala's voice on the wind
and stopped but decided it was just the rustle of the grass. He walked on,
hearing clearly the pawfall of young Nyala behind him.
________"Time to get a move on." He said to himself as he broke into a trot.
Nyala walked forward onto the track and across the green things path. She
looked in and just for a moment thought she recognised those eyes, but where?
She walked on for a moment forgetting that she was meant to be stalking
Pumbaa. Her fore paw slid off a round stone and her pads crunched on the dust.
Pumbaa immediately reacted and broke into a run. Nyala felt the stone under
her paw but still she tried to remember. Remember that she was after Pumbaa
and there he was getting away! She felt foolish as she tried to spring ahead,
her young hind legs lacking the strength to propel her with any real force.
She accelerated as best she could as Pumbaa, surprisingly light on his
trotters, turned hard right. Now Nyala found out what her tail was really
for as she leaned into the turn her tail flying out to take her hind quarters
round behind her. She ran fast now and had managed to close on Pumbaa just
a little. Where, she thought as she ran, was her mother? Surely she had to be
watching this from somewhere. Surely she couldn't be hiding anywhere here?
________"Now!" shouted Nala as Pumbaa rushed headlong past her and Tana who rose from the grass a little behind.
________"What! It's an ambush! They're gonna eat me!" yelled Pumbaa as he saw
from the very corner of his eye that two unrecognisable lionesses, looking
seriously dangerous, were chasing him as well as Nyala.
________"Come on you two!" shouted Nala into the rushing air that she forced
herself through. Pumbaa ran for his life, Nala had asked him to be a hunting
target, he had not imagined that it might be for real. He ran as fast as he
could and soon reached the track, he crossed it and just as he was about to
reach the relative safety of the longer grass beyond he felt his fore trotters
being taken from under him by some unseen obstacle. He felt his life falling
from him as he hit the ground. He felt a massive weight of fur and sinew flow
into him as Nala stopped dead over him. He expected that his last sight would
be of this lionesses soft and warm belly fur, instead he saw it ripped from
him as Tana rushed Nala.
________"He's my friend, he saved me!" It was all that Nala could do was to
lash out haphazardly at Tana. She felt her left rear paw strike flesh as she
slid painfully over the ground beyond Pumbaa.
________"I wasn't going to kill him! I was just stopping you blundering into
him." Nyala was approaching by now and slowed to stand and watch as first
Pumbaa and then Nala and Tana got up. Pumbaa shook himself as he said:
________"You mean you two weren't going to eat me?"
________"NO Pumbaa. Though that clumsy..." she bared her teeth and glared at
Tana. "...she'd have flattened you. She certainly flattened me! The pair of
you - get out of here!" Nala stood and took deep breaths as she tried to
calm herself down. Tana backed away uncertainly, she hoped she hadn't got on
the wrong side of Nala again. She ran off over the track to lie in cover
just on the other side. From there she could make a quick getaway if things
got any more serious. The blood from her nose dropping on to the dust beneath
her.
________"Mum, Tana didn't mean it." Nyala said as she moved to her mother's side.
________"Yali, I guess I know she didn't." Nala growled at Tana with a barely
disguised smile. "But it doesn't hurt to know your place in the great circle.
Doesn't it Tana? Hey Pumbaa are you Ok?"
________"Yeah, you gave me a fright there, you didn't tell me about Tana."
________"Hey, queens don't have to tell everything. Come
on, we've got to run through this twice more at least before midday."
________"All right, I know when I'm not wanted." With this Pumbaa
ran off and Nala and Nyala walked over to Tana who rose to meet them.
________"Tana, come on, up you get. Does that
hurt?" said Nala as she dropped her head down to Tana's.
________"No, it's just a scratch", Tana thought for a moment and remembered
what Nala was capable of when she was really serious. "I'll be fine."
________"Are you sure? Just be more careful. Speed is
all very well but if you can't stop you'll end up hurting someone."
________"Yeah, I'm sorry Nala, I'm really sorry."
________"I'm sorry too, I've got to learn to save my claws for the kill. Let's
give Pumbaa a while to get away then we'll do it all over again...".
Text Version of Time For Tana.
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