Delano looked up at the queen. He nodded and got up. "I've got to do this," he whispered to Tempesta as he left her to get closer to the grave. He looked inside the grave, and sighed: Nyembe's body didn't look restful like it was supposed to be. And most of the pride still hated him. It would have been better if Nyembe could have proven himself, but that didn't happen. Delano sighed, looking at Nyembe's body, and cleared his throat.
"I don't really know how to start..." he said, just speaking his mind. He didn't make any speech on his way here, so he would simply have to create one on the fly. "I guess that I should start at the beginning, back when we were cubs" Delano said, "We used to be friends. Would do almost everything together... Play, fight, get in trouble..." Delano smiled briefly at the memories. "But that time. It didn't last. We slowly drifted apart, going on our own ways..." Delano looked up at the sky, squinting as the rain hit his eyes. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, Nyembe... But, I can't really say that I regret letting our friendship die out. It just happened... Time took its course, and we simply had to be ourselves, you know..." Now the bad parts. "When Mheetu and Vitani came over... a lot of things happened very quickly. You were chosen to marry Vitani. I fell in love with Tempesta... Jafar came back... I don't know if Vitani was right for you, to be honest. She's in love with Mheetu, I think, and you, I don't think that she would be good for you. But you had to marry her, and I don't blame you on trying to get her to love you. But the way you did it... What were you thinking, Nyembe? What I just don't understand is what caused you to think that killing Mheetu would get Vitani to love you. But becasue you did, the pride hates you now. Even I do Nyembe. And it's the last thing I want to do... but now... I hate you..." Delano felt tears from over his eyes, and he found it hard to speak, but he forced himself to continue. "When we were cubs, and even now, I would always beat you. I was faster, stronger. You always said that I am your greatest foe, because you couldn't beat me. But, I don't see it that way. Nyembe, I think that... you are your greatest foe. That somehow, somewhere, you became a different lion. I think that that original lion somehow surfaced in you when you tried to save Vitani today. But instead, your actions killed you..." Delano sniffed, and cleared his throat again, feeling like it was too narrow to breath with. "Hopefully, in the future, you will be remembered as how you once were. Not as the lion that tried to kill Mheetu, but the future heir to the throne. The Nyembe who was on top of the world. I would like to believe that. I can't say for the others... But I hope that they will understand. Something I think that everyone would agree to is that I think we all wanted to see your old self back. But becasue it can't happen anymore... maybe you will do that in our memories, and our hearts..."
Delano stopped, not knowing if he was done or not, but in the end, decided that he was. He retreated a few steps and helped Alma and Marrone finish burying the body.