The next few weeks happened so quickly I wasn't too sure what was going half the time. It was like a frenzy of lions coming to Pride Rock. All of them greeting me with smiles and others with tears—sometimes a bit of both. It was strange being called "Kopa". It was a name I was so used to hearing and using but never for myself.

Malka was one of the only lions to be very hesitant to greet me, given our past. But he hugged me nonetheless and introduced me to his son Afua. He was around the same age as my own cubs and after hearing about his mother passing I grew somewhat of an attachment to the cub. Until Malka opened his mouth and asked if I was absolutely sure I was The Lost Prince Kopa.

We had moved from the cave now. No longer were those cooling walls our home. Pride Rock welcomed us with open arms with a Pride willing to accept us all.

Beba and his family didn't stay long after our move. I understood him. A Pride of lions wasn't the place for a pack of cheetahs. His cubs had grown and I was sure with time we would see each other again. He promised to stay near the Pride Lands and be there for the ceremony.

I missed them.

Mheetu and Shanni stayed at Pride Rock with us as well as Siwatu and Shyra but soon they would be joining Tama and Tojo's Pride to get a taste of the world elsewhere. It wouldn't be forever. Just a week or two after the ceremony. Their cubs needed a new atmosphere and some new grass to roll around in. Time to grow just a little bit and understand why Uncle Tana can't be around like before.

Kiara and Kovu were the most welcoming. My sister had stripped herself of the title "Future Queen" and made sure the rest of the Pride Lands knew: there were no hard feelings. She had said numerous times, after my endless begging for her to reconsider, that this was my birth right. That I was the one true king. I wanted to believe her. To feel like what she and everyone else was saying was true. That this was my place. To rule and be leader of...practically everything. Even what was behind the Northern Border, it would be mine too. The hyenas had, to my astonishment, cleared it and we didn't exactly know where they were now. 

I was sure that after the ceremony, it would be my job to find them. 

But I didn't feel anything. I felt like I was floating and everyone around me were putting the pieces together for me. I didn't want that. I was happy that I found out who I was. That I was no longer lost. But, I was still Tanabi. That is who I am. That was the lion I had been for some time now and in a way it hurt that everyone was so quick to change it to my death name Kopa. There was one Kopa now and that was my niece with the strange eyes. She deserved the name. I died Kopa but I awoke Tanabi. That is me. 

"Baby?" Vitani calls and I feel my stress deflate slightly. I turn and I am stunned just like on our wedding day. The ceremony would be when the sun rose. It was starting to come up behind the tall grass now. She had the ceremonial red lining on her forehead along with some flowers around her neck. She radiated some kind of peace that I never knew any beast to possess. My light. My Vitani. 

"Are you ready for Jama?" She asks coming closer to me. I attempt at a smile but it doesn't last long. Her ears drop and she sits in front of me. "You can always say no." 

"You know I can't." I sigh and sit. 

"Kiara and Kovu can take the Pride Lands and we can go back to the cave. We can still be us." 

"Being future King and Queen will change us?" I ask and I panic. I don't want it to change us. I love us. 

"I hope not. But, we'd have so much more to handle when we are King and Queen. All you have to say is no and we can go back home." She reassures and I know she means it. I'm sure the last thing she wanted to do is become queen of the lands she once almost took by force. 

"Baby, you still see me as me right?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Am I Tanabi to you still?" I feel tears come down from my eyes and I'm too tired to wipe them away. I didn't get a second of sleep last night. I just sat and stared at the tip of Pride Rock and thought of myself and my family walking across it in the morning. And morning was here now. 

Vitani looked at me for a long time. Her eyes darting across my muzzle a dozen times. Then she stood and she rubbed her body against mine and rested her head on my back as she softly purred her answer. 

"You will always be my lost prince. But I fell in love with Tanabi. My rogue with the biggest heart." She pulls away, tears in her electric blue eyes. "And the biggest head." She teases and gives my lips a peck. "Now come, Jama and Rafiki should be done with the cubs." I smile at the thought of our cubs in their ceremonial colors. We walk side by side and I chuckle wholeheartedly at the sight of our cubs. 

Salama and Adya's heads were dyed a bright shade of yellow. They would be princesses. Maalum bore a light orange color, he would be in the Guard when he ripens up. Kellan a bright red, a prince. And Imara, a bright orange--future king after my reign. 

"Daddy look!" Salama giggles and swats at her sisters head. "We're pretty!" She giggled again.

"Always." I correct and her cheeks become red. 

"Are you ready?" Jama asks as she and her father walk to me. I gulp but I nod. She begins to mumble a chant, it was hard to decipher what she was saying but it sounded important. She then cracked a baobab and with the sweet juice inside she rubbed her thumb in it and rubbed it on my forehead. 

"The time has come." She beams. 

"You knew all along didn't you?" 

"A monkey never tells." She winks and she bows. Rafiki comes and repeats the steps of his daughter and makes a second mark, this one green. 

"You have been reborn. The Great Kings must've seen something in you." He says and wraps his long arms around me. "You will do great things, my friend." He says and pulls away. "It is time." He says and leads me to the tip of Pride Rock where first Vitani and I release a roar from the very pit of our beings looking down at the lions and cheetahs that have been with us for so long. That had believed in us from the very first moment. Hearing them roar along with the other lions and animals in the lands made my heart soar.

Then, slowly, our cubs followed being lead by M.K. and Ayodele who flapped their wings with tears in their big eyes. Our cubs would be the first royal cubs to not be presented at birth. Imara cowered looking down at all the beasts below but he giggled when a swarm of leaves encircled us. He would be a great leader one day. 

Simba and Nala came next and joined our bellowing. 

It was the last perfect day. 

________________________________________________________________________________

2 Chapters Left...