"Mufasa! Mufasa you must help me!" Taka said to his brother, staring at the lioness a few paces in front of them.

"With what?"

"I need you to tell me how to talk to a girl! I need to talk to Malika, she was the light my mother was talking about!" Taka whispered excitedly.

"What? No!" Mufasa hurriedly said, his heart dropping in his chest. He couldn't help Taka without hurting his heart.

"Why? I think she likes me and I know nothing about females. You do though, you lived with them all your life." Taka said reasonably. "Please? Help me." Taka gave the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster to Mufasa.

Mufasa debated it, Taka saved him from the lake, from being eaten and he offered him a place to stay. He had a home, a mother figure and a brother all because of Taka. The least Mufasa could do was help Taka, even if it hurt. What was family for anyways?

"Talk about the flowers." Mufasa advised. Taka sent a confused look at Mufasa, he couldn't smell the flowers on her fur.

"The duck flowers, she smells like them." Taka nodded quickly before he found himself pausing in his step.

"How do you know that?" Taka questioned. He resumed walking next to Mufasa.

"Every time she passes, her fur smells like flowers. Ask her questions about herself, but seem disinterested—"

"But I am interested." Taka interrupted.

"Yes, but you don't want to come on too strong, you might scare her. And most importantly, listen to her. Males seem to have trouble with that." Mufasa shot a pointed look towards Taka.

Taka was repeating Mufasa's advice to him, causing him to miss what Mufasa said last.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Mufasa felt a sense of hopelessness as his brother laughed. He would never get the girl, he might even cause her to run away if he was this terrible at listening.

"I heard you brother! I'll make you proud." Taka said before heading towards Malika with a jump in his step.

"Hi, how are you?" Taka said, surprising Malika. She and Sarabi just finished their conversation about what they would do when they found Milele.

Sarabi wanted to leave Mufasa and Taka while Malika wanted to stay. Malika said leaving them would be dangerous as Mufasa would keep both female lions safe from danger. Sarabi, realizing how true Malika words were, said she was going to scout ahead to avoid her sister's gloating.

"Fine, you?" Malika said, her mind now focused on what Sarabi said earlier in the day. Mufasa liking her? There was no way, he was smart, strong, protective and understood the importance of the circle of life. Surely a lion that perfect couldn't like her; a lioness without a pride or land. The only thing she could only offer Mufasa would be her heart.

"Wonderful, did you know I'm a great listener." Taka proudly stated.

This caught her attention.

"To yourself?" Malika said back, her head turned to the lion. He refused to look at her though and instead stared straight ahead.

"No to you."

"You are the one talking."

"Exactly, you smell like duck."

"Excuse me?"

"Flower! Duck flower."

Malika stopped in her tracks staring at Taka.

"How do you know that?"

"Your fur smells like it, every time you pass." Malika felt a sad smile form on her face as she thought of her home.

"There were duck flowers as far as the eye could see back home. Long stems and white petals. When I was having a bad day, I always looked to the duck flowers, reminding myself that if they could stand tall in the strongest storms, so could I." Taka finally turned to Malika, a look of wonder on his face.

"That sounds beautiful."

"It was."

"I see a way out!" Sarabi ran back to the group from scouting ahead, effectively breaking up the moment between Taka and Malika. Malika smiled and raced up to her sister, bumping her shoulder with her own. Both sisters left the remaining three as they raced out of tue canyon.

Malika missed the look of disappointment on Taka's face at her leaving.

"Did he call her a duck?" Mufasa whispered to Rafiki, the pair behind everyone else.

"And you call me the baboon." Rafiki said back.

"There are elephants! Hundreds of them!" Malika said as the rest of the group joined the awaiting sisters.

"This isn't right, the elephants don't migrate this way." Malika was interested to know why Mufasa knew which way the elephants migrated, but before she could ask Zazu came to deliver some news.

"Outsiders! On the other side of the canyon!" The group turned to see Kiros and his pride, all menacingly looking at the group across from them.

"At least they are on the other side." Taka said optimistically. The albino lionesses started to use the rock islands jutting out from the canyon floor to jump across.

"Nevermind!" Taka hurriedly said, panic clear in his voice.

"We need a plan!" Sarabi said turning to Mufasa and her sister. Malika noticed a bee in front of her face and followed it back to the hive. She had an idea.

"I'll ask the elephants for help!" Mufasa declared, turning to ask.

"They won't help, we are predators, they are prey!" Sarabi yelled at Mufasa but he shook his head and tried to seek help.

"When I say to run, run fast and far!" Malika said as she raced to the bee hive.

"Malika!" Taka yelled, trying to follow the lioness between cracks in the rock.

Malika scaled up the tree and found her footing on the branch below the hive. She looked to see the albino lioness quickly approaching her sister and friends.

"Get ready to run!" Malika said before jumping up and knocking the hive from the branch. As it hit the ground, it broke open causing the bees to start stinging the elephants. A stampede broke out.

Malika's hold on the branch she fell upon was slowly loosening. "Zazu!" The princess yelled in panic. The bird, in hindsight, couldn't do much to help the heavy lioness, but she was panicking.

Malika felt her hold diminish as she fell to the ground below. A wave of pain hit her stomach but she couldn't dwell on it. She had to move before she got killed by the much bigger and heavier elephants. She raced to the nearest tree but as she leapt over a rock, she was pushed by an elephant. Her head hitting a rock and her body going limp.

Malika could faintly hear her name being called, then her body being drug by something. Her body went weightless for a moment before it hit the cold ground again. She felt something being pulled over her, something warm and secure.

Then she heard the voice.

"I got you, I got you Malika. I got you."