"Come on Sade!! We can beat my mom to the river if we go this way." Taka, a young lion cub, jumped in excitement as he waited for Sade.

Taka was son to Eshe and Obasi, leader of their pride. Taka had gray fur and blue-green eyes, he often stood out against the other more tanned lions. Not that Taka minded much, he believed it made him more important than the others, as he was different.

"I'm coming Taka! Eshe told us to wait though." A small female voice responded. Out from the tall grass came a little lion cub, this one female. She had tan fur and brown eyes, not much different from the other lionesses in her pride.

"It's fine! Mother is right behind us, she'll catch up eventually." Taka reassured the girl. "Now let's go! I thought I saw something floating down stream!" Taka was back to being eager to reach the river, never thinking about the trouble they might get into for going without Eshe.

Sade looked back to see if Eshe was coming, she really didn't want to upset the lioness. Eshe took care of her as Sade's mother passed during child birth. Taka called for Sade to 'hurry up' and Sade ultimately decided to follow the excited Prince.

"Look! I told you something was in the river!" Sade approached the side of the river, peering out of the grass to see what Taka was talking about.

"Oh my gosh! Taka we have to help him!" Sade told Taka, worried for the drifting lion cub. The cub had tan fur, which was soaked, and the poor thing looked exhausted.

"Hello! My name is Taka!" Taka introduced himself to the cub floating on a broken stick.

"My name is Mufasa." The cub replied.

"Yes and my name is Sade. You need to get out of the water!" Sade said with urgency. The water was dangerous to be in, especially with the crocodiles.

"I have a secret." Taka said instead of helping Mufasa. "But I can't tell you."

Sade sent a bewildered look to Taka. What secret did he have? She didn't know about it? And anyways, this wasn't the time, they needed to get Mufasa out of the water.

"Just tell me." Mufasa said in exhaustion. He didn't want to play games right now.

"Okay! You're about to be eaten!" Taka gleeful said, all this a game to him. Sade felt slightly sick to her stomach at Taka gambling with Mufasa's life.

"Swim Mufasa! Swim!" Sade yelled as she saw two crocodiles swimming towards Mufasa. Both cubs on land raced to help Mufasa out of the water. Mufasa, scared for his life, let go of the drift wood and tried to swim to the bank.

"You have to swim!" Taka yelled at Mufasa. Mufasa kept going under the water as he didn't know how to swim correctly. "You have to kick your legs behind you! Like running on land!" Taka said.

"Oh this is nonsense." Sade uttered before making a, very stupid, decision. Jumping down to the rivers edge, Sade jumped into the water to help Mufasa swim to the side.

"Sade! You'll get eaten!" Taka exclaimed

"At least I'm helping!" Sade scolded back. Sade bite down on Mufasa neck scruff and started to pull him to the sandy side. Mufasa would never make it himself.

"Come on! Up!" Sade said once they made it to the bank. Taka looked down at them from above the eroded river bank. The jump was high but Sade managed to jump high enough to pull herself over.

Looking back towards Mufasa, she saw the cub struggle to jump up. He was too exhausted to jump as high as Sade did and the crocodiles were close to having him as a meal.

Taka let out a nervous sound before reaching down and sinking his claws into Mufasa's paws as he jumped up. The crocodiles opened their big jaws and—

"Get back!" Eshe roared, pulling Taka, and the still attached Mufasa, away from the crocodiles. Sade was quick to run after Eshe as the mother scolded Taka.

"What were you thinking! You're lucky the crocodiles were young and too afraid to fight! You were told to wait!" Eshe was mad to say the least. She walked to the spot she told the cubs to wait at only to find them missing. She should have figured they would go to the river anyways without her.

"Mom! We had to help Mufasa!" Eshe paused in her pacing, finally taking notice of the new lion cub.

"You know how Obasi feels about outsiders, Taka." Eshe said. Obasi was scared of outsiders. There were rumors of an outsider pride killing off others. Apparently, they wanted to rule all of the Kings Strip: a strip of land known to host multiple lion prides. And, more importantly, a strip of land Obasi hoped Taka would one day rule over.

Mufasa bashfully looked to Eshe. "I'm looking for my parents, have you seen them? I'm afraid I'm lost."

Eshe bent her head down towards Mufasa and nuzzled his head in sorrow.

"Oh little one, being lost means you just need to find your way." Eshe turned towards Sade to see her wet and shivering.

"You jumped into the water to help him?" Sade nodded her head. Eshe smiled and lifted her paw up for Sade. Sade smiled as she rushed between her caretakers legs, walking between them to use Eshe's warmth.

"Come on, let's go see Obasi." Taka and Mufasa followed the two females as they playfully fought with each other.

Thankfully, the walk wasn't long and the pride came into view. Obasi napped under the shade tree, his brother above in the branches.

"Obasi! Eshe has come with a stray." Chigaru said, waking Obasi to see Mufasa. Obasi rose from his napping spot quickly to walk towards Eshe.

"What is this? You know how I feel about outsiders." Obasi scolded.

"He was floating down the river, alone." Eshe reasoned.

"I don't care! Have you not heard the rumors? The rumors of an outsider pride twice the size of a lion? Twice as strong?" Obasi ranted as Mufasa slowly shrunk into himself. Sade felt bad and approached Mufasa's side, gently rubbing her head against his own.

"It'll be okay. Eshe will convince Obasi to let you stay." Sade whispered. Mufasa sent a small smile towards the female.

"Does he look like a danger to you?" Eshe questioned back. In truth, Obasi could probably eat Mufasa whole if he wanted too, Mufasa was that small.

"Fine! He can stay on one condition. He must beat Taka in a race." Mufasa felt his ears perk at the word race.

"I'm the fastest cub you'll ever meet!" Mufasa said proudly. Taka only laughed and walked over to Mufasa's side.

"They both must run to the tree and back. If Taka wins, I eat the stray." Obasi said simply. Sade felt her mouth drop open at Obasi's claim. What a cruel way to die, being devoured by one's own species. Sade was sure there was some cruel word out there to describe something so horrendous.

"And if Mufasa wins?" Eshe smugly said back, "He stays." Eshe decided for Obasi. Obasi mumbled his agreement before lining the two cubs up for the race.

"Go!" Obasi yelled. Mufasa and Taka started to run but Obasi stepped on Mufasa's tail, causing him to stumble and waste precious seconds.

"Go Mufasa!" Eshe said as she helped him back up. Both cubs were out of Sade's sight in a matter of seconds, racing towards the white leafless tree.

"I hope Mufasa wins, Eshe." Sade whispered to the lioness. Eshe smiled down at Sade, her head coming down to nuzzle the top of the cubs.

"Me too, little one. Me too."

"Look! It's Taka and Mufasa!" Said one of the prides' lioness. Mufasa ran to Eshe, breathing heavily as Taka followed soon after. Taka tackled Mufasa to the ground, playfully growling at him.

"Taka! You let Mufasa win!" Obasi said, disappointed in his son. Taka stopped playing and turned to his father, ears flattening against his head.

Obasi announced that Mufasa could stay, but he had to stay with the females. Sade was okay with that, as she could now hang out with Mufasa more.

"Good job, Taka." Eshe whispered to her son while turning to join Obasi under the shade tree. Taka instantly lightened up at his mother's pride before turning to the other two cubs.

"Come on Mufasa! We have to show you all the fun places!" Taka ran back towards white tree with Mufasa and Sade on his tail, all three laughing as they went.