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That last step had been one too far. Well, not too far, but... enough for now, perhaps. Sarabi stepped forward.

"Ladies," she spoke, and all eyes turned to her. "I know we're all very excited about Albion. I am certain that we have never seen a white lion in the Pridelands before. But we must consult with Simba about him. Albion, please will you follow us."

It was a statement, not a question, and the mysterious white lion fell into step with the lionesses without objection with Sarabi herself at the head of the group.

What would Sarabi have given to let the rest of the group catch up with her and to take part in their mutual discovery? Behind her the lionesses continued their flirtatious conversation with Albion, and Sarabi surreptitiously listened as well as she could. She smiled at Wawindaji's youthful yet confident enjoyment of his newness and the richness that seemed to tumble from him like marula fruits from a tree. Zamani's seductively low voice hummed at the periphery of Sarabi's hearing and only Albion's halting, uncertain but spell-bound replies indicated what she was saying. Sarafina continued with her mistress act; in fact, she seemed to be enjoying it a great deal.

They were not far away from Pride Rock and it took only a little while for them to reach the cool, deep shadows of the primary cave.

"Simba?" spoke Sarabi, crossing the threshold and giving her eyes a moment to acclimatise to the dark. He wasn't immediately visible and she blinked. A moment of squinting did not reveal the king either.

By this time the others had caught up. She held her ground while the others filtered in around her. Everyone else looked as uncertain as she felt.

She looked around at the gathered lions. "He isn't here, but I'm sure he will be back soon enough. Albion, Simba is the king... and he is my son."

Albion's bright blue eyes widened in surprise, and then he dipped down into a gracious bow; an impressive sight for such a noble-looking lion. "I apologise greatly. I did not realise who you are."

She dipped down as if to meet a cub on its own level. "That's quite all right, Albion. We don't stand too much on ceremony here."

He smiled awkwardly at her and tentatively straightened up again.

She did the same, and then turned away to find a comfortable spot to rest. "Make yourself comfortable. We're expecting Simba back any time."

~*~

Despite Sarabi's hopes, that did not transpire. The sun arced overhead and eventually began to throw out long shadows, those of the trees slowly stretching and those of the animals performing intricate dances.

She returned to the cave from her vantage point at the platform of Pride Rock. "I don't see him," she reported to the assembled lions. She looked around at them all in the fading light.

Albion was the easiest to see in the gloom, his white pelt and considerable mane making him almost glow.

The Queen Dowager had been considering him while watching for her son, and now she made a decision. "Albion," she said, and his posture perked up. "Walk with me."

"Yes, my lady!" he answered, pushing himself to a stand and following her out of the cave.

Privacy was difficult to get in the Pridelands. The type of privacy a lion wanted dictated the best way to get it. Sarabi had important things to talk about with the white lion, and the core of what she wanted to say to him needed to be unheard by rival prides. She feared that if she led him to the pinnacle of Pride Rock their voices would carry so she led him on a wander through the acacias.

Albion had something of the cub about him: a tendency to trot and skip to keep up with her. That may be a problem, she thought, and slowed her pace to encourage him to walk in more placid a manner.

"What is it, Sarabi?" he asked, his head turned to her as they walked along.

"I don't know how long Simba will take to come back. I hope it will be soon, but he could be gone for a long time," she explained, and then paused as she thought about how best to explain the problems they had had with Scar. "When I was queen," she said heavily, her eyes set on the middle-distance, "the king of the day... died." She kept her voice steady for this. She longed to do Mufasa the justice of describing his death as exactly what it was: a murder. But if she did, perhaps this gauche lion would be discouraged from doing what she needed to ask him to do.

Albion went silent for a moment. Even his breathing had stopped. Sarabi avoided looking at him, waiting instead for him to speak. "I'm sorry to hear that."

She nodded brusquely. "Very soon after this his brother, Scar, took the throne. That would not have been a problem in itself and would even have been desirable, if not for his ambitions.

"He was a selfish king and cared more about enjoying his luxuries than in maintaining the healthy balance of his kingdom. The circle of life began to collapse and the herds moved on."

She glanced at him, her face as unreadable as she could make it, to see his reaction.

"That's terrible," he said, and his tone suggested he very much meant it.

She looked ahead again. "Simba fled as a cub, but returned a strong adult. He challenged Scar and won, and took the throne. Since then, with my guidance, he has returned the Pridelands almost to their former glory."

Albion smiled and looked around appreciatively. "It's beautiful."

"It is," she agreed. "Our problem lies in his disappearance." She stopped walking and sat. Sensing that the tone of their conversation was about to change, so did Albion.

She appraised him. "Tell me Albion. What experience do you have with other male lions?"

"Other male lions?" he asked, nonplussed by the question. "I had a brother when I was a cub, but he was sold to another circus."

"You were the only male there?" she pressed.

Albion nodded.

Sarabi groaned inwardly. This is going to be a lot of work. "I would like you to be our leader until Simba returns."

The white lion's eyes widened. "Your leader?" His eyes darted around as this sunk in. "I don't know what to say."

"Say yes," she said, her tone soothing. "You will have me and Sarafina to guide you. We taught Simba how to run a kingdom, and we can guide you until Simba comes back."

Albion had held his breath again, and the two lions sat in the almost-darkness together, each watching the other with some measure of anticipation. Then he exhaled. "I..." he said haltingly, but had nothing more to add.

Sarabi saw how uncertain he felt about it and looked into his eyes. "Please think about it. If you cannot give an answer now, then give it in the morning instead. But know that I am only asking you to look like a king." She smiled. "Appearance is an important part of leadership, and you look big and healthy. Much of the work is already done already. I will guide you with the rest."

"Okay," he mumbled.

This seemed the best Sarabi was likely to get from him so she nodded graciously and stood again. "Let us return home."

Wordlessly the male found his feet and followed her.

~*~

Sarabi was very aware of the politics of the situation that she had created. The younger lionesses likely had no idea what she had discussed with Albion and would probably have speculated about it between themselves in whispered conversations. Sarafina on the other hand, had better awareness of the need to project an image of strength to lone lions and other prides - not to mention the other species of the Pridelands - and perhaps she had suggested this to the younger lionesses. That was, she might have done if the unspoken barrier between young and old hadn't made the young lioness' have their conversations in secret. Although Sarabi hadn't discussed the idea of making Albion the de facto king with Sarafina, she suspected that the other mature female would understand her line of thinking and perhaps explain the need for it with the younger lionesses.

The youthful need for excitement, gossip and scandal against the older desire for security, stability and balance. Without discussing it openly she could not know which way this situation had tipped.

Either way, it wouldn't do to have secrets within the pride. Secrets, after all, could lead to divisions. However, Albion hadn't accepted her request yet, and until he did she had no news to share with the rest of the pride.

Until then, Sarabi had little option but to use the leverage of her senior role and keep the secret.

She and Albion returned to the cave amidst several pairs of eyes reflecting green light. Expression was hard to read in those reflections but Sarabi didn't look at any of them, instead keeping her head high and finding a place to settle, groom herself, and eventually lay down to sleep.

Albion, clearly unsure of what to do, did the same at first. The atmosphere in the cave was tangible, a sea of unspoken questions, and it was plain that he felt uncomfortable.

Then, Sarafina came to the rescue. "When did you last eat, Albion?"

Unseen in the corner, Sarabi breathed a sigh of relief.

He lowered his paw from where he had been licking it clean to eagerly grab onto this distraction. "Oh! Yesterday evening. I usually eat in the evening."

"You must be hungry."

He looked around uncertainly. "I am. I was wondering about that. When does the keeper come?"

All eyes turned to him. Even Sarafina looked nonplussed. "'Keeper'?"

"You know, the human who brings you food," he said gaily, although he seemed to already realise that perhaps this wasn't how things worked here.

Sarafina recovered. "We... don't have a human to look after us." As she said this she glanced at Sarabi, and Sarabi could imagine a concerned expression on her face. "We hunt our own food."

"Oh. How do I do that?"

Sarabi spotted an opportunity and looked up. "We can teach you." She said nothing else, instead letting the younger lioness' natural eagerness do the rest of the work.

"We can help!" blurted Wawindaji, eager for this opportunity to be included in anything involving Albion. "Can't we, Mkali?"

The other young lioness nodded.

Sarabi cleared her throat and the lions, who had already begun to stir, all looked in her direction. "It sounds to me as if Albion is very new to hunting." She paused for long enough for him to confirm with a nod. "Perhaps, given his hunger and inexperience, we might hunt for him on this occasion."

Wawindaji and Mkali squealed and skipped. "We'll do it!"

Sarabi laughed. "Kipepeo? Zamani? Are you staying or going?" Now that the group was about to split between those overly keen on action and the more thoughtful members of the group, she was eager to encourage all of the lionesses to allot themselves.

The two looked at each other. "We'll go." Although they didn't quite have the youthful exuberance of Wawindaji and Mkali, clearly they were still determined not to be left out.

Sarabi looked at Sarafina who hadn't moved. Staying behind seemed to be her vote.

"Okay everyone, Albion!" Wawindaji said, almost pronking her way to the entrance. "Let's go hunting!"

And in no time at all, they were gone.

Sarabi looked at Sarafina. "Shall we talk in the moonlight?"

Her companion smiled. "That's a wonderful idea." They moved outside.

Under the moon and stars Sarabi could once again see well enough to read Sarafina's facial expressions, and vice versa.

"Go ahead," spoke Sarafina, laying comfortably down on the cool, impacted soil of the cave entrance.

"I invited him to play the role of king until Simba comes back," Sarabi told her.

Sarafina didn't look overly surprised, only raised an eyebrow as if to say,that was a smart move and you made it fast. "And?"

"He was intimidated. He didn't say yes but he didn't say no either. I encouraged him to think about it until morning and tell me his answer then."

"Hmm," answered Sarafina. Between them, they seldom looked directly at one another during this conversation. Talking under the moonlight was something of a low-level tradition for the pair of them. It had a sense of occasion that daytime talking didn't, and so long as they didn't look directly at each other neither lioness would dazzle the other, and they could read each others' facial expressions. Expressions, they knew, were every bit as important as tone of voice.

Sarafina seemed to be working through something in her head. Then she turned to almost look at Sarabi: her way of demonstrating that she was ready to speak. "I would say he needs an incentive, but what do you think?"

"Reassurance," Sarabi replied at once. "I offered him reassurance that I would guide him, but I think he still feels too overwhelmed."

"That may be a problem," Sarafina spoke. "Confidence is everything in a king."

"It certainly is," agreed Sarabi, and rested her chin on her paws. "My question at this point is: how do I improve his confidence about being king? One cannot be half-king. Either he is king or he is not."

Sarabi went quiet for a moment, but then she looked toward Sarafina once again, and Sarafina spoke. "Being king is a very unique position and you have done what you can to reassure him, but this is confidence, not objective ability we are talking about."

Sarabi looked at her long-time friend. "Go on?"

"If he feels more confident about other things, he might accept your proposal."

The two hummed at this and sat under the stars for a little while longer, but there seemed nothing more to say. They could only watch for ideas about how to improve Albion's confidence.