Art by SaarkelleEliv

Some of you may recall the last time we saw Kula on my profile, succumbing to complications of her pregnancy once labor arrived and dying just after the birth of her cubs, with only one surviver. However, in light of new non canon information coming my way, I saw it fit to revise my vision, and give Kula a much more dignified path. Those familiar with the early scripts for Simba’s Pride will know what I mean. Speaking of, consider this my celebration piece for the movie’s 26th Anniversary! Enjoy!
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Kula was feeling…well, huge. Much bigger and heftier than she had as a somewhat overweight cub just before that tyrant Scar took over her original homeland. But that was long ago, and Kula presently found herself prospering in a new home far away from that barren wasteland. Not just that, but she was now a queen, happily swollen with the heirs of a king who had chosen her quite unexpectedly. As the brown lioness slowly yet gracefully waddled down a jungle path, she recalled how she got here in the first place.

It was several months prior. Seeking to escape Scar’s growing ambition to have a proper heir, and being one of few who were privy to Nala’s plan to leave and find help, Kula decided to do the same, but to go in another direction. Sarabi advised against it, but at that rate, Kula was malnourished, hungry, and honestly done with Sarabi’s laying about and feeling sorry for herself. At least that’s how Kula saw things.

After leaving a few weeks before Nala’s departure, claiming she was going for a hunting trip, she traveled to the northwest and didn’t stop at all, hardly looking back. Eventually after showering over hills and crossing actually fresh rivers, she arrived at a flourishing delta where she was able to feast for the first time in what felt like years.

After one hefty zebra meal, she wobbled into a nearby jungle to digest, only to come across a male lion who was wandering about. He was strongly built, handsome, and surprisingly welcoming to someone who was technically trespassing on his future kingdom’s territory. This lion was a prince named Regandi. He and Kula started to get along quite quickly, and after letting her get some rest, granted her asylum in his kingdom with the blessing of his aging parents. Now a member of what was known as the Jungle Pride, Kula proved to be a useful tracker and huntress. In the side, she spent a considerable amount of time with the prince, finding themselves getting closer.

The day came for Regandi to assume his father’s throne over the vast jungle they governed. Regandi’s first act, to the surprise of very few at this point, was to choose Kula to be his queen. The foreign lioness was surprised at first, but accepted. She loved Regandi for his kindness and his acceptance of who she was.

By the time Kula was done receiving the training required for a queen, she was already expecting a litter of cubs. Already slightly hefty for a lioness, Kula was shocked to watch herself get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until now in the present, she was sure she was just hours away from these little scamps wanting out. The healers said she’d been blessed with a litter of at least four, and Kula could feel every squirm, nudge, and kick of the growing cubs within as she slowly made her way across a log bridge. A decidedly harsh movement inside her belly made her glanced back at her bulging side and chuckle softly.

“Take it easy in there. You all have daddy’s strength, and my hunger.” She said with a shake of her head.

While she missed home and often wondered how everyone was doing under Scar, Kula had never felt more content with his her life was going. Never had she expected to be an expecting queen of the jungle. Literally.

But, as the saying went, danger was no stranger here. For in the foliage behind her stalked a shadow with biting red eyes of evil. Kula’s seeming desertion hadn’t gone unnoticed by Scar’s spies, and who else was sent to deal with her but Scar’s most trusted closer.

Zira.

As Zira finally caught up with her mark, she noticed how pregnant Kula was. This made her change her plan. Herself desiring to give Scar an heir, and heartbroken about his rejection of her true cubs Nuka and newborn Vitani, Zira came up with an idea. A wonderful, awful idea. She didn’t need to kill Kula at all. She just needed to wait until the pregnant lioness popped, and wait for the right moment to take one of those clearly healthy cubs back home for Scar’s approval…