Chapter 42: Little flower

Asafa saw the lion that had come and received them, and recognised him but couldn't put his finger on it.

"That's Solof Cinder, one of the lions you defeated!" Zahara whispered, she once belonged to this pride and recognised most of them.

'What a weird name he has.' Asafa thought.

Asafa looked at the lion and saw that he seemed to have recently grown into his prime as a young adult lion.

" The others you defeated were Arthur Pendragon, Lemmi winks, Fallen Ent, Ayu and Alexander." She whispered.

Asafa looked at her with one brow raised, their name were very odd.

"They are brothers and came from another pride, their father was king. Their father lost his mind in his last years and named his cubs as such. When they were old enough they were thrown out of the pride." She explained their story.

"No wonder they have such weird names, their father was a mad lion." Asafa responded.

"Yes, his people might not have been happy with him, but his battle capabilities were not to be underestimated. He defeated 5 prides in battle before being killed. He was a war lord and was great at battles, in fact, his territory was even bigger than the pride lands for a short while before he died." She said with a hint of respect.

Her father had once told her the story of the mad lion. And even he respected the mad lion's capabilities in war. Sadly, the mad lion loved war too much and died in it.

"Oh, too bad I never got to fight him in battle" Asafa said, wanting to see how good this mad lion was.

She looked at him weirdly.

"What?" Asafa asked her, seing her expression.

"It was your father that defeated him, along with his brother." Zahara said, making Asafa halt, the truth is that he barely knew about his father's reign except for the rules and laws he had set forth.

"Didn't you know? Your father is famous for stopping the mad lion." She said while looking at him as if he had lived under a rock.

"I.. grew up in a forest, raised by a meerkat and a swine." Asafa said in his defence, but she gave him the eyes that told him that she didn't buy it.

Soon they arrived in a place with a big lake in the middle of the savannah. The lions were resting under a few trees that had grown around the lake.

When they arrived, Solof Cinder showed them the path to Tukufu.

Asafa felt like everyone was looking at him like he was a celebrity. There were even a few cubs that pointed at him while shouting "look mom, it's the lion monster!"

But he did his best to ignore it.

"Asafa... Time has floweth by since the last we saw eachother." Tukufu was the first to speak when they saw eachother.

Tukufu was laying under a shadow a bit further from the others.

Asafa nodded, feeling weird about the way that Tukufu spoke.

"Father!" Zahara spoke in worry as she hurried to his side to show her worries..

"Little flower, you have growneth." Tukufu said in a calm voice as he finally met his daughter again, there was a hint of relief in his voice as he saw that she was well.

He had heard that she became the childbearer of Asafa and one of the queens of the pridelands, which made him relieved that her fate had been good. But even then, as a father, if he couldn't see his daughter he would worry.

Seing how well she looked, and the fact that Asafa himself brought her here, meant that he cared for her.

That was one of the few worries he had about meeting his end, he worried about his daughter's fate. But now he felt. Like he could die at peace when that day comes.

"Father, I've heard that you're hurt, is it true?" She said worriedly as she inspected his injuries.

"It not but a scratcheth." He said, trying to make less of his injuries so that she would not worry

But both Asafa and Zahara saw through his lies.

"Is it truth, that I have grandchildren?" Tukufu asked, wanting to confirm the rumors but also wanting to change the subject.

Zahara lit up.

"Yes! Zawati and Tukufu. Our daughter and son!" She said happily telling him about the two.

Asafa sat silently while his wife and father in law spoke for a while, although it was mostly Zahara that spoke while Tukufu listened patiently.

When the sun was about to set, it was too late to leave, so Tukufu offered them a place to stay.

Asafa accepted the invite, so that his wife could spend more time with her father, after all, this might very well be their last meeting.

When the morning sun had come, Asafa woke up. Looking at his wife that was sleeping heavily, he smiled.

She had stayed late into the night speaking with her father. They even spoke about when Tukufu was young and met her mother and all kinds of nostalgic topics.

Asafa noticed that Tukufu had come to their resting place.

"I need to speaketh with you." Tukufu said in a low voice as he didn't want to wake up his daughter.

Asafa nodded as he stood up before following the limping lion to a more secluded place where others couldn't hear them, but close enought that they could keep an eye on Zahara.

"I haveth a favour to asketh." Tukufu said.

Asafa nodded, willing to hear him out.

" Recently, one of the lionesses birthed my latest child." Tukufu revealed.

"No one knoweth that I am the father, but I worry about his fate after I'm goneth." Tukufu said.

Asafa understood his worries. Tukufu wanted him to take the cub with him, so that the cub wouldn't be killed when they found out that Tukufu is his father.

Asafa thought about it for a second before speaking.

"I can see that you are no longer capable of leading a pride with your injuries and age. So follow me to my pride, live with your grandchildren and newborn son there instead." Asafa said finally. This could have big consequences, but as he saw how Zahara spoke so happily with her father, he was willing to do this.

Tukufu, a man that never smiled, chuckled when he heard that.

"It would beath an honour, but it would also beath honourless of me to leave my pride." Tukufu said.

"I becameth king at a young age, and I grew our smalleth pride to the size it has today. I was born here and I shall perish here. If they want to be king, they will have to do it overeth my dead body!" Tukufu said, with each word, his tone became more serious.

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Zahara means flower in swahili. Little Zahara means little flower!

Nimeweka mawazo katika maelezo.

Also Soulofcinder, Arthur_Pendragon, Lemmiwinks, FallenEnt, Ayu123456 and Alexander40k, you guys are the readers with the highest fan value, so today I made you lions as a reward!