Vitani and Kiara met each other right under their mothers' noses every week. The mothers' and daughters' never noticed each others meetings as both parties got better at hiding their secret friendships.

As the days went by, Princess Kiara grew from a chubby, wide eyed cub to a slender and poised future queen. Vitani's slim figure gained toned muscles as she fought for food and hunted for herself everyday.

Time passed, and Vitani and Kiara got closer than sisters. But one day, while the two young lionesses were resting under a tree near the border, a dreary but very real thought hit Vitani like a ton of bricks.

The princess's big birthday was coming up. At the time of this birthday, she would have her first hunt and start following her mother and father to partake in royal duties and responsibilities. And Kiara would have less free time on her paws and possibly a larger chance of being discovered when breaking the rules.

And Vitani knew that the time for their meetings to stop was at paw, but she didn't want to hurt her friend. More importantly she didn't want to leave her best friend forever. But she knew that this was best for Kiara. And that was what was important. Even if it was hard.

So as Kiara took a much needed nap under the shady Acacia tree at the border of the two lands, Vitani decided to do the responsible and adult thing, she would end their friendship.

Vitani let her vibrant eyes fall onto her friend. She watched Kiara's brown tail tuft swish back and forth gently as she slept and let her mind wander and wonder about how she would tell Kiara.

"Vitani?" Kiara said groggily. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothin'," Vitani replied, cutting her eyes to the horizon to see the orange sun slowly sinking. "It's getting dark, we better split up."

"Okay," Kiara agreed as she put one paw down and pushed herself, slowly, off of the ground to her feet.

"Bye," Vitani said quickly, turning her back on Kiara and going to head back to her home cave.

"'Tani, wait!" Kiara said, trotting up to her friend and stopping at her flank. "What's up with you? You seem worried."

"It's nothing. I'm just tired." Vitani said, refusing to face her friend.

"Vitani, it's more than 'nothing'. I can tell."

"I swear, I'm just tired." Vitani said, her voice beginning to grow into a growl with each word.

"Vitani," Kiara said in a warning tone.

The Outlander stopped and lowered her eyes, her head sinking down low. She let out a defeated and sign and decided now was as good a time than ever.

"Look, princess," Vitani started, lifting her head to face Kiara but not making eye contact. "I think it's time for us to stop."

"Stop what?" Kiara asked, tilting her head.

Vitani rolled her eyes. Boy could Kiara be slow.

"These. . .meetings of ours."

"What do you mean?" Kiara asked, furrowing her brow as her friend took a deep breath and lowered her head again. "Vitani, you're not making any sense,"

"I mean, I'm done crossing the border to meet up with you!" Vitani burst, finally meeting Kiara's eyes for a second. "Don't come back tomorrow because I won't be here!"

And with that, Vitani took off into the lush grasses and sprinted back to the bone dry dust of the Outlands, Kiara's wide brown eyes watching her.

The princess's big round eyes were filled with salty tears that were spilling over the edge onto her buttermilk colored fur.

***********

Against Vitani's orders, Kiara did come back to their meeting spot the next day after her daily lessons and duties were finsished. And she stayed there, pacing up and down the border for hours after the typical meeting time. But Vitani held true to her word and didn't show up.

Kiara kept coming back for the next month, pacing the border until darkness enveloped the land and the nocturnal animals crawled out of their dens. But Vitani never came back.

After that month of faithfulness, Kiara stopped coming. She focused her mind and energy on her vast kingdom and devoted all her time to her homeland.

Not to say that she didn't always remember her old friend from the Outlands.

Wow. . .this is a bad ending place. Good thing I'm not a professional writer, or this story might have continued!

That's the end of this series!

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