Chapter Thirty-Five: Not Alone

Misty Forest – Moonlit Night.

Moonlight spilled softly through the mist, bathing the forest in silver. The trees stood silent, their leaves shimmering like starlight as the wind whispered through their branches. Beneath his familiar twisted tree, Jitu sat unmoving. His massive, frost-touched form looked sculpted from silver and stone, his icy blue eyes half-lidded beneath the moon’s glow.Vitani moved quietly through the underbrush. Her steps were slow, deliberate, each one a quiet vow. No tricks. No challenges. No performance. Just truth.She stopped a few paces away, her voice soft but steady. “Jitu.” He looked at her. Nothing else—no nod, no sound. Just the cool, unwavering gaze that always left her guessing. “I-I know that, you probably don’t want to talk,” she said, settling onto the cold grass nearby. “And I’m not here to make you. I just… needed to say something.” The mist swirled gently between them. A thin ribbon of silver in the quiet night. “I’ve always tried to be better,” she said. “Fierce. Brave. In control. I thought if I was… no one could hurt me. Not like before.” Jitu didn’t move, didn’t speak. But there was a softness in his gaze—barely there, but unmistakable. “I saw what you did. The way you walked away.” Her voice dropped. “How do you carry that… that kind of pain… and not, feel it?” Still, silence. Still, that impossible calm. Vitani stood slowly. “Maybe you won’t answer. Or that you don’t care. But... I had to try.” She turned.Then, through the cold mist, his voice came—deep and low, like distant thunder. “My father left me to die.” She froze. Jitu didn’t look at her. His gaze remained on the mist. His voice, for all its weight, was quiet. Final. Vitani turned back, her heavy breath caught in her throat. “Jitu…” But he said no more. The pain in his words hung in the air, echoing louder in silence than in speech. She stepped closer, her eyes locked on him. Still, he didn’t move. But something in the mist shifted—less cold now. Less distant. She didn’t speak again. Simply sat down beside him. The silence remained, but no longer empty.It was shared. 

Pride Rock – Sunrise.                          The first rays of morning painted the savanna in soft hues of gold and rose. Birds stirred in the trees, and the wind whispered across the grasslands. Vitani stood at the base of Pride Rock, pacing. Her claws scraped lightly across the stone, her thoughts spiraling. Kovu approached first, his emerald eyes narrowing. “You okay?” She didn’t answer immediately. Then, quietly, “I talked to him. Last night.” The others gathered slowly—Simba, Nala, Kiara, and her Lion Guard. The warm morning air seemed to hold its breath. “He spoke?” Simba asked. Vitani nodded. “Only a few words. But… it was enough.” She hesitated. Then: “He said… ‘My father left me to die.’ And... that was it. Nothing more.” Silence. Nala’s eyes shimmered with sorrow. “Oh, Vitani…” Kovu swallowed hard. “I see.” Shabaha murmured, “That’s rough, even for him.” Imara’s voice was low. “He said what mattered to him… or the start of it.” Simba turned his gaze to the horizon, the misty forest barely visible. “To be abandoned… it doesn’t just hurt. It defines you.” Vitani clenched her jaw. “I-I thought I could force him open. That if I pushed hard enough, he’d just...”                                                   “You can’t force healing,” Nala said gently. “You can only offer presence.” Kiara touched Vitani’s shoulder. “But he told you. That means something.” “Even if it was just once,” Kovu added with a soft smile, “he trusted you.” 

“Or he just wanted me to shut up,” Vitani muttered. Simba shook his head. “No. He chose to. That matters.” The wind stirred the tall grass, and the sun climbed higher, bathing the Pride Lands in light. “So, what do I do?” Vitani asked. Her voice was almost a whisper. “How do I help?” Nala nuzzled her gently. “You don’t fix him. You stay, so that he knows, we'll be there for him.”

“Be your stubborn self,” Kovu said with a grin. “Eventually, he’ll have to talk again, just to get you to stop hovering.” Vitani let out a small but forced laugh. “Didn’t think he could hurt like that. He, always seemed so...”As silence began to linger, Vitani looked out toward the forest, picturing his form as he lay beside his tree. From there, a soft fire was lit in her violet eyes. “I won’t give up on him.” Her Guard stood beside her. With new found resolve and resounding acknowledgement. Vitani looked toward the horizon, where silver mist still clung to the forest’s edge. she whispered. “Not anymore.”