My Lion King Forum

"Oh. So, you ran off too. Did something happen?" Kean said.

***

Adilenne didn't look at it from that perspective. "I hope they'll understand. For now, they don't need to know the reason for this, alright?"

"Yeah. My grandparents are forcing me to get married before I even turn sixteen," Kattina explained. "Or, at least, have a future husband chosen. Why did you run away?"

***

"Sure thing, sweetie," Eugene said. "I'll come up with something. I promise, they won't find out the real reason for awhile."

"Oh, that sounds awful. Why would they do that?" asked he. "As for me... um... there is that girl I like, and my relatives went to meet her and her family, but they came back and told me that I can't be with her. Not much of a story, but I ran off to find her, and to find myself."

***

"Thanks, Dad. Thanks to you too, Mum," said Adilenne, and kissed them both.

"It's kind of hard to explain," Kattina said, looking down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at him. "Why wouldn't they let you be with her? What was so wrong about this girl?"

***

"You're welcome," Eugene said. "You should probably go to bed. While your sister's gone, you'll have to take up some of her responsibilities, and you need as much sleep as you can get."

"Oh, alright," said Kean. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to. I don't think there's anything wrong with her, but my great-aunt thinks she's ugly. That's ridiculous, she's the most beautiful girl in the known universe. A bit like you," added he, as he observed Kattina a bit better. He couldn't see much though, since it was very dark.

***

Adilenne nodded. To be honest, she wasn't tired, but she needed some time alone, so she went to her room, sat in the bed, and thought of everything that happened.

"This was a very special day," she concluded.

Kattina made sure he couldn't see any familiar features about her as he tried getting a closer look. Then something dawned in her mind. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Kean," he said. "Rather plain and casual name, if you ask me. Very ugly one, I thought of changing it. What's yours?"

Kattina's eyes widened when he told her his name. This was the boy she was supposed to meet earlier. She was a bit disappointed now that it was too dark to really see what he looked like, but at least she got to talk to him. "My name's Kat-." She stopped. Should she tell him her name? He had been truthful about his, but he was just a citizen here. He wasn't a royal or anything. If she told him her name, what would he do? True, it was obvious he had liked her from seeing her ride Maximus, but what if that was just because he knew she was the princess and just wanted to be a royal? And what if he decided to take her back to the castle? She didn't want to go back. Not yet. "My name's Katherine," she said finally. "It's kind of a boring name, too."

"Nice to meet you, Katherine," said Kean. "I don't think that name is boring at all. And you look really pretty, from what I can see. Do you want to be friends?"

He couldn't deny it. Something felt strangely familiar about this girl. But he didn't think she would lie. He didn't think she had any motives for that. Plus, all the Katherines her knew earlier were ugly and stupid, which this one wasn't.

"Nice to meet you, too," Kattina said. "And I would love to." She looked down at the ground and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she said, "I've actually never had a guy friend before."