One morning (or was it afternoon? Time was an indistinct blur delineated only by alternating periods of food and sleep), Nala awoke groggily only to find that Scar was nowhere to be found. She looked around as best she could with her rather limited field of vision; she called out for the lion and even for the hyenas. Nothing. For once, she was apparently all alone.

She wasn't happy about that. Her immense stomach, so used to being constantly fed, grumbled in protest that Nala had been up a full minute and yet it wasn't getting any food. The lioness was inclined to agree with her gut. She rather enjoyed being able to eat to her capacity and beyond without actually having to move, and the fact that she could find neither any of her helpers nor anything to munch on until they got back distressed her greatly. Scar could have at least left something in front of her to tide her over if he knew he was going to be gone for such an extended period of time--though, in truth, it had barely been any time at all since Nala had woken up.

The young lioness had long since become truly and permanently immobile, so all she could do was stew atop her huge stomach and wait for Scar or his lackeys to return. For the first time in... well, in she didn't know how long, Nala wished she could move under her own power. Immobility was fantastic--when there was someone around to feed her. As the seconds ticked by and no friendly face appeared with food, she began to get seriously (if irrationally) worried that she was going to starve to death.

Then, all of a sudden, she heard something outside the cave. It sounded like someone trying to be sneaky, which was odd. The only people she ever saw were Scar and his hyenas, and none of them would have felt the need to creep around. That meant it was a stranger. Nala obviously couldn't hide herself, so she settled for closing her eyes and tucking her plump head as far back into her monstrously fat body as it would go. She could hear the intruder enter, and she held her breath, hoping that whoever it was would mistake her for a rock or something, but the interloper padded straight up to her and pressed their nose into her flank.

The pressure subsided after a moment, and she heard the intruder breath, "What in the world?" It had been a while since she'd heard it, but Nala would know that voice anywhere.

"Simba?" she asked, daring to raise her head. The young lion moved wonderingly into her field of vision and indeed, it was Simba, who was staring up at her with huge, round eyes.

"Nala!?" he exclaimed. "What happened to you? You..."