Nala was relieved when she finally set Kiara down in their shared den. She was used to bringing much heavier animals back from hunts, but there was a big difference between dragging a carcass and carrying her daughter.

"I suppose you want something to eat?" Nala said unhappily. Despite what she'd told Sarafina, she still had serious doubts about whether this was a good thing for Kiara. But she was a lioness of her word, and she really did want her daughter to be happy.

"If that's okay," Kiara replied timorously.

"Of course it's okay," Nala said, as much to herself as to her daughter. "I'll be right back." True to her word, Nala soon returned with a wildebeest, which she set down in front of Kiara.

"Thanks, mom!" the young lioness said.

The meat tasted better when she knew that she didn't have to fight with her mother any more, and she ate happily. This wasn't as much food as grandma Sarafina would have given her, but she figured her mother was still sort of adjusting, so it was better not to press her too hard. She finished the wildebeest fairly quickly, and then she was surprised to see her mother bringing in a cape buffalo.

"Is that for me, too?" she asked, scarcely daring to hope.

"If you want. Your grandmother told me how much you can eat, and I don't want you to think I'm starving you."

Kiara dug in without a moment's hesitation. This was more like it. She could feel her stomach expand as she scarfed down the meat, causing her feet to fully lose contact with the ground. But she didn't care about that. With any luck, she'd never have to walk under her own power again.

As Nala watched her daughter devour the big animal, she started to become concerned. Sarafina had said how much Kiara could pack away, but Nala hadn't really believed her. After all, Nala had been quite a big cub herself, but she had never managed to eat nearly this amount. Kiara was gorging herself to the point where she was nearly spherical, and showed no signs of slowing down. This really couldn't have been healthy.

Much to Nala's surprise, Kiara managed to consume the whole buffalo. Nala could hear her daughter's stomach complaining as it struggled to digest the massive amount of food Kiara had stuffed into it, but the cub was obviously no stranger to big meals, and in fact didn't seem to mind what looked to Nala like extremely painful distension.