Over the next month, Nala settled into her new lifestyle. She never got to eat quite to the level of the apology hippo (for the simple reason that the pride usually didn't have that much extra food), but she was certainly eating more than most cubs her age. Sarafina, despite her own misgivings about Nala's gain, always made a point of bringing home extra food for her gluttonous daughter. The exact amount of food varied, but Nala always ate it all gratefully.

The young lioness porked out noticeably over the course of the month. Her belly hung down nearly to her knees, even when it wasn't full of food, and the extra girth forced her to adopt a slow, bow-legged walk. Nala wasn't a big fan of walking, since it burned precious energy, but Sarafina insisted that she get at least a little exercise. Nala's mother was hoping that this was a phase that Nala would eventually grow out of, and when that happened, she didn't want her baby girl to have any trouble because of a flirtation with overeating. On the other paw, if Nala didn't decide to stop this nonsense, Sarafina knew that she would become immobilized sooner or later, and she was determined that it would happen later rather than sooner.

For her part, Nala griped but did what Sarafina wanted. A little walking was a small price to pay for her mother letting her gain. The cub was becoming a little dissatisfied with the amount of food she was being given, but she didn't know what she could do about it. It wasn't like Sarafina was trying to secretly make her lose weight; she still got pretty consistently-sized meals. It was just that the same amount of food just wasn't filling her up like it used to.

Part of her was completely thrilled about that. It meant that she was gaining well and increasing her capacity. But the rest of her just wanted more food!

One day, Nala awoke from a nap to see the carcass of a female kudu lying by the entrance of her family's den. She ran over to it, hoping that Sarafina had brought it for her, but her mother was nowhere to be found. That was odd. Sarafina usually stuck around to make sure Nala knew what meat was hers, and, come to think of it, she always brought her kills into the den, and she woke Nala when she had something to give her. So this probably wasn't from her mom, then.