"More!" Nala demanded, though she was already panting from the exertion of eating so much. The hyenas didn't move; they just looked up at her, stunned. "You heard me," Nala snapped. "Bring me more food." They nodded and disappeared from her line of vision, only to return a moment later with more wildebeest carcasses. So, Scar had been lying about having to make a long journey, as well. She was miffed that he had withheld food from her, but if she had been in his position, she would have done the same thing, she supposed.

By now, even her prodigious stomach was having some trouble containing all the food she was consuming, but she pressed on regardless, slowing down but never stopping. After everything that had happened that day, this was more than a meal to her: it was an act of defiance. If she was going to be Scar's queen, she had to kill off any remaining doubts that might be lingering in her mind, and with her limited life experience, she could think of no better way to do that than to glut herself until she couldn't think any more. Stuffing herself past the point where even she felt like she'd had enough was the ultimate selfish, decadent act.

Her taut, straining stomach pushed her further and further off the ground until she was taller than Scar. She had visible difficulty forcing down the last few mouthfuls, but she was a practiced overeater, so she managed all right. Once there was no more meat in front of her, Nala took stock of her situation. She'd never eaten so much at once before; the combined weight of all the wildebeest had to have been more than that hippo. Once she digested the massive amount of food she had eaten, she would certainly be wider than she was tall, and she personally doubted that she would ever walk again, not least because she intended to keep herself fed this level.

And yet, she couldn't completely stop feeling bad about Simba. Guilt ate away at her, leaving her feeling hollow. Well, she knew how to deal with a hollow feeling.

"More!" she cried urgently. "And keep it coming until I tell you to stop!" The hyenas obeyed reluctantly. Nala looked over at where Scar lay watching her, silently daring him to tell her to stop. But he only gave her a slow, approving nod. He really was the perfect lion for her, she realized.

Scar watched with interest as his new queen resumed her attempt to drown her better nature in food. Dozens of wildebeest had died during the stampede, so he had no shortage of new meat for her, but the process she was going through fascinated him. He himself had never been burdened with much of a conscious, but Nala had been a perfectly ordinary--if unusually glutinous--cub when he had started feeding her, and through weeks of hard work, he'd brought her to this point, where she was trying to kill her own conscience to be more worthy of him.

Nala, of course, wasn't privy to any of Scar's private thoughts. Somewhere after she lost track of exactly how many wildebeest she had consumed, something snapped inside her mind. All conscious thought drained away, replaced by a feeling of glutted bliss. She stopped eating mid-wildebeest; she had thought that there was no greater pleasure to be had in life than eating past fullness, but this mindless, orgiastic state was so far beyond that that no amount of eating could improve it.