Alternate TLK: The Hated Cub

Little Taka mewed softly as Shavu placed him beside her daughter. The mews were soft, weak and raspy, another sign of how ill the babe was, no thanks to the fact that Uru made her dislike of him painfully obvious. Red eyes slid to the other lioness who was currently bathing Mufasa. Her green eyes shimmered with love and pride and the cub was obviously the healthier of the twins. None of the pride could understand Uru's hatred of her youngest, but it was obvious that Uru disliked the red-brown cub. Her looks to him were always angry; disgust and utter contempt, but that was nothing compared to how she left him in the cold and cut his feeding time painfully short. Shavu carefully washed the young prince, trying to restore warmth to his cold body. The fact that the cub was still alive was from some luck, but mainly the joint efforts of the pride. None of the lionesses could understand why Uru would neglect her cub, but maybe now that a lesser lioness was in charge of his care would ease things. The den was much too tense that most of the pride slept outside.

Uru purred lovingly as she watched Mufasa sleep. The cub was perfect in her eyes, her proof of how only she and Ahadi could make the best children, strong sons especially, and sadly no beautiful daughters. But there was always next time. Uru had been young when her oldest son had been born, not much later had her daughter been born. But those two cubs meant nothing now. Mufasa was the child she had been waiting so long for and now she had been blessed. Taka...was just excess baggage. An accidental leftover from her experiments. She had wanted to wipe out the cub the instant he came into the world, there had been nothing to stop her. A swipe of her claws, clamping her paw over his nose and muzzle, even flinging him off of Pride rock. But for some reason she never went through and she was disgusted. The cub was an unsightly blight to her perfect world, he was ugly. Kana and Mega were not sired by Ahadi, but yet they were both attractive lions. Kana was strong and muscular, his features were sharp, precise, but handsome. Mega had rounded features, but was quick and witty. As for Taka...he was just a scrap, not worthy of being called a cub. He had none of her beauty, but then again his sire was not exactly the top list in looks. The Queen knew that the pride had been keeping Taka alive. Not that she told them not too, she guessed that they would probably find ways to disobey her. Let the fools have the rat, it left her more time to focus on the son that truly mattered.