Nala awoke to find herself in a cave of some sort, but a very straight one, "where am I?"
"You're in a zoo," said a voice behind her, and Nala turned to see an adolescent lion, "who're you?"
"I, I'm Nala," she replied, "where's aazoo?"
"What do you mean where's aazoo," the lion asked, "you don't even know what a zoo is?" When Nala shook her head the lion rolled his eyes, "oh, I don't believe..."
"Paruza, what going on in there," asked a female voice. the lion turned to look for a moment, before picking Nala up by her scruff and making his way towards the voice, "well?"
"Mail delivery," Paruza said as came to the lioness, part putting, part dropping Nala to the floor, "or rather 'female' delivery."
"And you took into your head to question her," the lioness said, not even having to guess at the lion's actions
"Well..." the lion began.
"Out," the lioness said, not unkindly, but firmly, "out, now." the lion stared for a few moments before retreating. Looking down at the cub, the lioness said, you'll have to excuse Paruza, he's a good soul deep down, but quite brusque." When the cub didn't seem to want to say anything, she asked, "oh, I'm sorry, what was your name?"
"Nala," she replied.
"What a beautiful name," the lioness said, "mine's Huruma." When the cub again seemed lost for words, she asked, "did Paruza tell you where you were?"
"Aazoo," Nala replied, "except I don't know where Aazoo is."
"Aazoo," Huruma said, then understood, "oh no little one, it's not Aazoo, it's 'a zoo', rather like saying, a cave or, a tree, you understand?"
"Sorta," Nala said, "is it big?"
"Not very, no," Huruma replied, but it's safe, if a little boring." Nala didn't say anything to this so she asked, "shall we go and meet the others?"
"Um, okay," Nala said, but then seemed to realise something, "did anyone else come in today?"
Huruma was silent for a moment, biting her lip, she knew this would come eventually, but that made it no easier to deal with, "no-one else came in today."
"So when are the others coming," Nala asked.
Huruma was silent for a few more moments, before replying, "Nala, there's no easy way to say this, but if a ny of your friends and family were coming here, they'd have come today."
"But no-one..." Nala started to say, "no, no, it can't be true." As her eyes welled with tears, she turned to Huruma, "they're coming aren't they, they have to."
Huruma felt her own eyes begin to well up, but managed to hold them back just long enough to gather Nala in her paws and lie down clutching the cub to her, "I'm sorry Nala, I truly am, but they're not coming."
"No," Nala said, crying into Huruma's fur, "no, no, please no."
"I'm sorry Nala," Huruma said, "I truly am, I just, I just wish there was something I could do for you."
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