Nala15 Contest Entry

My entry for *Nala15's "Hidden Scenes - Bethrothed" contest!
~~~~~~
Uru paced on the spot, quite a bit away from Ahadi and the rest of the pride.
She had done it.
She was now married to Ahadi.
He was her King and she was his Queen.
A beautiful soul… but not the one she wanted to be with.
Not one that she loved as a soul mate, only one she loved as a good friend.
She had hidden her sadness through the ceremony and throughout the day, but now that she was alone, she shed several tears.

Why did she have to go through with this…? She had accepted several weeks ago that this was truly happening, and this was what her life was now, but she couldn’t help thinking.
Very thankful she had woken up in the middle of the night, she decided to try and give herself some alone time and silently crept out of the cave the pride slept in. Ahadi was such a caring lion, but he was a little clingy in Uru’s taste, always has been. Closing her eyes, she let the cool night air ruffle her fur and make her nose twitch. She felt the long grass between her toes and let it tickle her underbelly. Oh how she loved this field. During the day the zebra and wildebeest pass through it, so most of the long grass is trampled, but Uru always noticed there was a spot here or there they missed.

So why not take the opportunity?

She opened her eyes and took in the scenery in front of her; the Pride lands always looked so magnificent at night, with the dark, cool colours that replace the hot, sandy ones of the day, and the normally alive lands quite peaceful as every animal slept.
Uru suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

This was probably the last time she would get the chance to be like this on her own for a long time.
She knew being Ahadi’s Queen would mean responsibility, and that would also mean she couldn’t shirk her duties or stay up all night.
Looking up, she saw a brilliant display of natural lights, stars twinkling like unmoving fireflies.
Seeing this beauty made her think of what she had gone through in the last couple of weeks, and filled her with great sadness.
This was too much.
All of the sadness she had been holding in for so long burst out of her and turned into a deep rage as she roared into the sky, scaring several sleeping birds around her as they flew off away from her booming voice.

“Ahadi once told me that the past kings were in the stars! So I am calling out to you! Stars! Father! Past kings! Mother if you can hear me!” She looked angrily and the stars, scrunching up her nose.
“Why have you forsaken me?” She cried as loudly as she could, tears of sadness, anger and desperation flowing freely down her face.
“Why have you all destroyed my chance at true love because of a damned tradition?! Why is this tradition based around love and trust when there is none of the sort that we need involved! Why can’t I lead a life I want to?! I want to love Ahadi and be the Queen that he so deserves, but I can’t! I just can’t!! So why go through with it?! Why do I have to ruin his life and my own? Tell me!! ANSWER ME!!!”

Uru stared up at the stars, as if expecting an answer, and when they did not she growled in anger, looking down at her paws.
“Of course… stars can’t answer my problems…” she huffed at herself, panting slightly as she once again looked up into the night sky.
Minutes past, but they felt like hours to Uru.
This time she spoke more quietly.

“I understand that it was all for the good of our broken prides… for friendship… but why me? Why not wait for a cub that was willing? Or better yet why couldn’t you have just accepted my mother, grandmother and myself into your pride out of kindness? Even pity? It’s not like one old lioness, one mother and a day old cub could do any harm…”
She sighed heavily.
“Why me…?”

Staring up at the sky, Uru noticed there were oddly more stars than usual in the sky tonight, all beautiful and bright as they littered the dark blue sky, the moon moving out of a haze of clouds, now bright and full above her.
Oh how she wished she could just stay underneath this blanket of beauty until she loved Ahadi the way she needed to, until she was ready to be the Queen her best friend deserved… but she knew time did not work that way.
Time waited for no one.
Falling to her stomach, she lay there unmoving for what seemed like eternity… just waiting to be lost in her own thoughts… until a voice snapped her out of her trance.

“Your majesty! What on earth are you doing here?!”
Uru spun her head around and silently rolled her eyes as she saw Zuzu flying over to her, landing on a rock next to her, looking both stressed and worried at the same time.
“I got up for some water and noticed you were gone! So I searched for you! Why are you all the way out here? Why are you not back with the King?”
“Because…”
Uru had the crazy thought of saying what she really wanted to say to the major-domo. How she is here because she did not belong beside Ahadi. How she found it a lot more comfortable sleeping under the stars than in that cave full of stuffy, hot air. How she just wanted to be left alone for a while. And how she wished she could yell to the sky until either her voice gave out or her problems were solved.

“…because I just wanted to see the stars tonight.” She said, her sentence clipped and soft.
Zuzu looked confused for a moment, then looked up at the sky and smiled.
“Ah that is true, your majesty… there seem to be more than usual… what a pretty sight…”
“Indeed…”
Uru continued looking up, barely hearing what Zuzu was saying.
“I’ll tell Ahadi when he wakes you are out here, I don’t think it can hurt if you sleep out here tonight, it being such a nice one.”
“…Thankyou Zuzu.”
Zuzu smiled, bowed and left Uru to her own thoughts, whom was for once grateful the damned bird did what she really wanted her to do for a change.
“…I’ll do my best…” Uru whispered.
“I’ll do what I must… for it is tradition is it not?”
“…”
“…I’ll do my best…”

Laying her head down in her paws, she kept her eyes up as she watched the stars twinkle and even saw one shoot across the dark sea in a beautiful flash.
She remembered shooting stars were told to grant wishes.
So she closed her eyes as tightly as she could, and muttered the words only she could hear.

“My wish… great kings of the past... Great Spirit whom watches over all of us... please… please… give me strength to do what is right… what is right for the pride, the kingdom, my family and Ahadi… and watch over me as I tread this path of unknown… keep me safe… I beg you… keep me safe… in this sea of unknown…”
She didn’t know when she fell asleep, only that the next day would bring the first day of her new resolve. But little did she know that this resolve would be tested to the extreme, in a way that she thought was far too soon.

“…please… watch over me…”

~~~~~~
Since this is the first contest I have really entered, I went all out on this picture; background, shading, effects, the works.
And I must say
...
.....
.......I actually like this.
I really like this.
Especially the sky, FINALLY a background I'm proud of.
So even if I don't win; I'm happy I found out I can actually do backgrounds and such when I set my mind to it XD

Anyway, my entry is Uru venting her feelings to the kings of the past about being bethrothed to Ahadi.
I always thought in Nala's comics that she hid her sadness quite well, and never had one of those "yell into your pillow until your voice dies" moments. So I drew that

Because this is a night scene, I used Uru's colours from this picture
[link]
I hope thats okay ^^

*takes a huge sigh*
And I've been sitting here so long my butt is numb XDD
Anyway, I hope you like my entry, Nala!
I hope it's good enough ^^

Design For Uru, Contest @ Nala15
Art @ Me, Miscomunication
Do not copy, redistribute or anything like that without my permission. Thanks.