3 <= you're here => 5

______________________________

"... I told you ten times already, Daddy doesn't have the time to sit with you. Why don't you go and play with the other cubs?"

"And I've told you ten times already that they don't like me! Their moms, actually. They say I'm ill-mannered and shouldn't jump out at other lions from behind rocks."

"Maybe they have a point... in their own way. And what about your mother? Have you tried playing with her?"

"Mother went hunting... again. She's constantly hunting, ever since my little brother died. She says I need to eat better. I asked her to take me with her, but she said I'm still too young."

"And that's why you decided to bother me."

"It's not like you're actually doing anything! How are you not bored spending so much time alone?"

"I've learned to entertain myself. Why don't you try it too?"

"But I have no idea what to do!"

"Let's see. If hunting other lions is forbidden, then maybe you should try mice?"

"Dad... do you really think there are a lot of mice in a lion's den?"

"Hmm... and what about around Pride Rock?"

"Already tried it! Maybe if I go a bit farther away from the cliff where there are no cubs... But mother doesn't let me go far away on my own. She says it's too dangerous in the savannah."

"Mother doesn't need to know. If you constantly follow someone else's rules, then you'll spend your whole life chasing others' tails. Practice somewhere near the watering hole before she comes back... And I'll look over you from this cliff."

"Really? Cool! And you won't tell her anything?"

"I suppose it'll be our little..."

"... secret, I know. Another one! Dad, you must be some kind of a villain, ha-ha!"


It's not like Scar completely ignored his youngest daughter... but he clearly wasn't eager to fuss around with her. Still, Shayena would often come to his hideout at the northern part of Pride Rock while her mother Pira was out hunting for days on end. The little one had no idea just how desperate she was to feed her only surviving child, sacrificing all her remaining strength and time for her sake but still stoutly refusing to join the main hunting party. So, for the most part, Shaye was left to her own devices. And if at first, she tried to play with Simba and the other cubs, she was soon disappointed both in her cousin, who, in her opinion, was growing to be pampered and stuck-up, and the other pride members that would constantly fuss about the young heir, giving him all of their attention and deliberately ignoring the bellicose daughter of the two most quarrelsome and unsociable lions in the kingdom.

Always an energetic and fidgety cub, she sincerely loved hunting and soon, at Scar's "advice", started to secretly run off into the savannah where she would train her skills by seeking out small birds and rodents. Not always successfully, though. But with each attempt, she would get better and better and would venture farther and farther away from the cliff exploring its outskirts. True to form, most didn't even notice her absence and, soon enough, Shaye realized that no one really cared whether she even existed. It had its effect on her character, making her more withdrawn and skeptical.

Scar © Disney
Shayena © SickRogue
English translation ©  IronyFerrum