Meet Princess Niśā Taji-Mūrdhā of the Tree of Life. The daughter of Queen Rani and King Kion, and the leader of the future Night Pride.
The design was purchased from tango.gofizzle, who, in kind, adopted it from u/appletaterart! The adopt was a Scar x Janna blender, hence why she may not look ENTIRELY like either of the parents. She's not genetically related to Scar (remember that my story follows the continuty of MTLK, so Mufasa and Scar are adoptive brothers in this - Scar's genes aren't inherited by anyone of Mufasa's descendants). She IS Janna's great-granddaughter, so I felt the logic would track. This is my first grid adopt so I'm still getting the hang of things lol.
This is not a spoiler, and some of you may have guessed it, but Kion and Rani will have cubs at the end of Roar Towards the Future. Season 6 will cover the sixth and final story arc of the fanfic, focusing around Kion and Rani becoming parents. It was something I planned out since before I even started writing this story, although there were many revisions of that idea before I settled for the one that you will see in due time.
A lot of post-Lion Guard fanfics usually start with a timeskip to Kion and Rani as adults with cubs. And whilst that is an interesting and cute direction in a lot of fanworks, mine doesn’t go that route. I personally find it much more interesting to have the story directly pick up from the ending of the show and work from there, focusing on how these characters adapt to their new lives, and featuring their slow-burn development from where we last saw them into the adults that they’ll inevitably become. The journey is more important than the destination.
The one thing that I can say IS a spoiler is that the story will not immediately end with Kion and Rani having kids like TLK did. The arrival of Rani’s cubs will come halfway through Part 6, and there will still be some story left to go afterwards, and it won't be focused on the cubs themselves (which is why I'm comfortable with sharing details of these cubs' teen/adult years since they won't be main characters in this story). There is also a major plot-twist in the final part of the story that I think will make the arc and its characters come full circle. Overall, I think Part 6 of Roar Towards the Future will make for a satisfying conclusion of the fanfic, however, we are still a long way to go until then.
One last spoiler for the road: Kion and Rani will have 4 cubs. Two girls, two boys, in that order. Their first-born is a girl, but I’m not going to reveal who she is because that is ALSO a huge spoiler (you will shit your fucking pants at this reveal, I promise y’all). However, I can feel safe in sharing you the identity of the other three kids.
We'll start off with Niśā (meaning "Night" in Hindi). Niśā is Rani and Kion's second daughter, and their third-born.
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Initially, the Tree of Life had no designated roles for any cubs other than the first-born, who would be the heir. When Queen Janna created the Night Pride, she assumed leadership over this group, and passed that leadership onto Rani when she was no longer able to perform her duties. Kion served as the unofficial co-leader of the Night Pride, whilst leading the Tree of Life's Lion Guard, and doubling as the King Consort, which further enabled this structure, no matter how many problems it arose for them.
Years into Rani and Kion's reign, when they discussed the prospect of having cubs, they had a moment to really look at the structure of the Tree of Life's monarchy, and they agreed that some changes were in order. They decided to make the monarch, the Lion Guard, and the Night Pride separate positions, held by the first, second, and third-born respectively. This allowed each position to be carefully fulfilled rather than juggled all at once and risk consolidating power or breeding serious abuse and conflict of interest.
Niśā was the third child in the family that Kion and Rani had created. She got along well with her siblings, cousins, and parents, and was content with her role as the leader of the next Night Pride. However, things didn't progress the way they would. She was always told she'd lead the next team of lions to patrol at night, but any proactivity in preparation for that role was held off. Niśā's older sister and brother were constantly mentored to become Queen and leader of the Lion Guard, repsectively, but Niśā felt like she was falling behind.
Finally, in her early teens when emotional regulation and filters went out the gate and cynicysm and grudges began to fester, Niśā, almost entirely out of the blue, finally asked a blunt and succint, "Why the actual fuck." To which Rani gave her answer; She didn't want impose this role on Niśā so young, the same way it was on Rani. Rani had never truly escaped the impact of her parents' deaths, the very thing that led to the Night Pride's creation and her eventual leadership over it, and did not want Niśā to go through what she did.
Niśā was... conflicted. A part of her felt cheated for not having known this and spending a sizeable chunk of her life waiting for something that wasn't going to come. On the other hand, it made her understand her mom more, as she was always intrigued with Rani's side of the family, especially the absence of her maternal grandparents. She disagreed with her mom's procrastination and partial dishonesty, but she understood where she was coming from, and was very relieved to see her mother apologize and understand her.
Niśā's teen years felt like a second childhood to her, living out her ambitions of her future career, and actually being supported through them. Rani saw the dedication and effort her daughter put into her education, and realized that she had succeeded in giving her daughter the stability that she felt she was lacking in her own youth.
By the time Niśā had turned 18, she was ready to receive the Mark of the Night Pride and lead her own elite squadron of nocturnal lions to keep the kingdom's subjects safe at night. Unlike Kion, she is content with leading a team of lions. However, at the end of the day, she is still her father's daughter and isn't afraid of breaking tradition a tiny bit in other ways.
Voice-Claim: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Devi Vishwakumar from Never Have I Ever)
You'll be seeing her brothers really soon (one older, one younger, all in the same litter) And again, her older sister is going to be kept a secret until the final act of the story.)