Don't ask me to define what a ditty is. I'll fail ;)

        This is just something I came up with loosely based on some RP I've
had via the net. It's post SP, but I think that much is pretty clear in the
ditty itself. I originally called it 'A Spin'. It sticks.

====
        "You see," said the warm voice, "a circle is something that we will
never really understand. It has no beginning or end, and when it spins, by
its very nature, it draws all things inside it into one shade of color."

        "No, I don't see," came the much younger, parched and barely
post-adolescent slur.

        A sigh from the male's lips, and an understanding smile. "These
things take time."

        "How much time?"

        "That's like asking me how long the stars have been in the sky. I
don't know, Vitani."

        The pair of lions sat at the very top of Pride Rock, and it was
night. Beauty lay in the scene that could not be understood, though inside
both the lioness and the lion knew and respected the simple quality of the
situation -- Vitani, a weak-seeming creature with the wayward strands of
fur atop her head that had become a mark of notice, and Simba, a golden
idol of strength and security to the creatures living in the lands that
surrounded them as far as the eye could see.

        Days before, the other members of the pride had learned to keep
their distance from the two while they had their late night talks, and more
than a few rumors had been spread through mutters and discourse. Nala, in a
show of trust none but she would have been capable of, waited for Simba
outside their sleeping cavern each night, accompanied by either Kiara,
Timon, Zazu or Pumbaa to fight any onset of loneliness.

        Whatever took place between Simba and Vitani was as silent as the
moon, and as dark as the noon-shadows beneath the promontory of Pride Rock.

        Vitani hated the contrast she saw while looking out from Pride
Rock's heights. To the west lay her former home, and the immediate change
that lay across the Bayete-Border stream from east to west annoyed her. The
sight reminded her of lost family and those sleeping in the caves beneath
her: her pridesisters. She knew what was being said about her, probably
even as she spoke with Simba, but at that moment in time it was too
difficult for her to care. Something in the male drew her to him. If only
she could place it she could destroy it. Vitani feared what she felt.

        Simba loved looking out across his family's ancestral lands. The
scene reminded him of the beauty he fought to protect and the circle that
held all that beauty in its grip. He, like Vitani, also knew what was being
said in the royal chambers below, but , again much like she, was drawn to
something in the exchange that couldn't be understood. He had spoken to
Nala about the situation. Nala trust Simba to do what was best for his
pride. Gaining Vitani's loyalty, favor and trust was paramount to uniting
the once-outlanders with the pridelanders. Not much else mattered at the
moment.

        "What was it that made you move over?" asked the larger of the two.

        "Move over?"

        "Yeah," said Simba. "You know. . . to defy Zira."

        "If I knew maybe I wouldn't feel so lost. It was rash. I knew I
didn't want to fight anymore, not then. I was very tired."

        "Are you still tired?"

        "Very."

         "You might feel better rested if you would stop spending the
nights out here with me." Simba's reply was accented by the caring smile
that Vitani, despite deeply planted memories from her youth, couldn't look
away from.

        Vitani forced a smile of her own and, after a moment of thought,
let it fade. She raised her right paw to her head and used her palm to try
and brush down the awkward lump of hair that hung just over her forehead.

        'She does this whenever she's nervous.'

        Simba, sitting on his haunches about a meter to the lioness' side,
stood. Her eyes hung down and her focus rest on trying to smooth over the
bangs. In all the time they had spent together, the pair had never come
into even casual contact. Simba's blood pounded in his ears as he cleared
the distance between himself and Scar's daughter.

        "I really hate the cold," snapped Vitani, her voice starched. The
words pulled Simba out of his movement like a blow to the brain, and he
quickly returned to a seated position.

        "Yeah," he muttered in recovery. "It is a little cold up here."

        Vitani had noticed Simba's movement, and her words, though she
hadn't wanted to say them, had succeeded in their purpose. She dropped her
paw to the side and raised her head back up. She glanced carefully over to
Simba and where he sat, only slightly closer than he had been before his
little move. He currently sat with one forepaw slightly crossed over the
other in an awkwardly cublike stance.

        'He does that whenever he's nervous.'

        "I don't believe that a circle moves me. I move myself, Simba.
That's where you and I are different."

        Simba took the words with pain.

        'She does that too... whenever she's nervous.'

        "I have a way to explain that, Vitani."

        'He has a way to explain everything. Damn him for it.'

        "I'm not surprised," replied the young lioness.

        "Don't be so harsh. If you really wanted to push me away you
wouldn't let me follow you here every night." Simba was awash with
emotions, none of which he was capable of figuring out in the short time
between his words and her reply.

        "Look, I'm here because you're respected by your lionesses, and
you're here because my sisters respect me. " Her words were only half a
lie.

        "Vitani, I know you want what's best for your sisters," said Simba,
allowing his words to trail off.

        "Of course."

        "Don't get me wrong here, but you can't be oblivious to what they
say about you because of all the time you spend here with me. I've noticed
it, and I'm not allowed to partake in their regular gossip," said Simba. He
turned his body to face Vitani, who had only a moment before turned to face
him.

        "It's 'gossip', Simba. Just gossip. You and I both know it doesn't
have any substance."

        "It doesn't?"

        Vitani squinted her eyes together as she looked the male over, and
she felt her insides rise up.

        'He's so. . . perfect.'

        "I hate you," Vitani said in a whisper.

        "You. . . what?" was all Simba could manage. Fear boiled inside him
at that moment of conversation.

        "I hate you," she repeated, throwing an edge of fondness into her
words that stunned Simba into silence. They sat, two sets of eyes lost in
each other, until Vitani broke the silence. "I hate you because you're so
damned right sometimes."

        "What?" replied Simba, dumbfounded. The lioness' play on words had
broken all his verbal defense.

        "I said I hate you because you're so damned right sometimes," she
repeated once again, though at a whisper. Her eyes had become attached to
Simba's, and neither of the two dared to look away. Aeons passed between
them, kingdoms rose and queens gave birth to princes. Blood spilled over
and was replaced by love. All in an instant.

        Simba, a knot in his throat, broke the last uncomfortable silence
that was to take place that evening. "The circle, Vitani, isn't moved only
by forces within, but without. Its when we're most alone do we affect the
greatest change on others, and ourselves. I think it's time you moved in.
You've done enough to make the circle spin for awhile."

        Vitani's deep blue eyes blinked once, twice, and then again. Her
voice ached to be heard, but she was silent. With a staggered movement she
pressed the side of her neck against Simba's as he, moving on his paws,
approached. Stars exploded and the circle screamed into full motion once
again. Colors blended into a single tone, and two prides became one for the
second time.


        Paws of praise go to Morris for his always-awesome adaptation of
Simba. Oh, and everyone who likes Vitani... you're cool. There :)

        Tanzut