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Description
Old art incoming!

Vitani stared out across the grasslands, awe coloring her mind, even as her face remained carefully neutral. It was an expression at odds with her youthful features--after all, she had not even lived half the moons required for the huntress assessment--and yet, it was the one piece of home she could consistently carry with her. Her companion, on the other paw, suffered no such inhibitions. As Zira's chosen one, he suffered more scrutiny and less harsh treatment than the rest of the young. Many cubs tougher than he had succumbed to the arid landscape, malnutrition, and manic training demanded by Zira, and yet he remained. Curious.

"Vitani!"

In response, she flicked an ear, not bothering to turn her head, for she knew what was coming.

"Mother says that someday this will be ours!"

She fought the urge to scoff, knowing that her brother's feelings were artificially sheltered by Zira and that any transgression would leave him with an exaggerated underlip and tears in his eyes. Depending on their mother's shifting moods, this would mean a beating for her, for him, or both--and why risk it?

The truth was, Kovu was soft. Vitani knew it. Zira knew it. The other cubs knew it--and as a result, Zira suffered no stronger, likelier looking male to remain. Better to extinguish competing sparks before they became a wildfire. Even some of the pridesisters who were raising their daughters to fight and die for him knew it.

Consequently, the idea of killing did not compute in Kovu's mind. He did not know that as soon as he became old enough to sire his replacement, his life was forfeit to a suicide mission to the Pridelands--fine if he died, better still if he died in a glorious battle that also killed Simba.

Vitani knew the plan. She knew that when push came to shove, she would be next in line. It was not a feeling she relished. So instead of responding, she studied the land closely. Kovu had gotten one thing right--this land would not always be Simba's. What he didn't understand, however was its value--and what he didn't know was that it would be hers.

So she gazed on tiredly over the grasslands.

In my headcanon, Zira is severely unbalanced. She suffers from psychosis, severe mood swings, a vicious fear of abandonment, and she is dangerously obsessed with the former tyrant Scar. She knows he abused her, and she resents him for that--but for all that she can't seem to let him go. He's her king, her idol, her god. She equally loves and hates him--which is why she's inclined to take Kovu in, but also send him on a suicide mission (c'mon guys...Vitani beat the shit out of him in the ambush scene, what would Simba have done t him?). In her mind, she simultaneously wants to shelter Kovu and rip him to shreds. She eventually just trains him in a volatile and erratic fashion, and then sent him into the pridelands to soften up the king for Vitani--who she intended to be the real heir. They are very much not related in my verse--all the outsiders call Zira "mother," not just her actual children because it's very much a cult.

Edit: I feel like I should add this in here, but not all bad people are mentally ill and not all mentally ill people are bad. In Zira’s case, she was severely ill and really placed into the worst circumstances possible. Now this doesn’t excuse anything she did, but it does explain it.

I will probably also have some of her descendants display some of her symptoms—but unlike her, they are able to get some kind of help and support systems.

Description
Old art incoming!

Vitani stared out across the grasslands, awe coloring her mind, even as her face remained carefully neutral. It was an expression at odds with her youthful features--after all, she had not even lived half the moons required for the huntress assessment--and yet, it was the one piece of home she could consistently carry with her. Her companion, on the other paw, suffered no such inhibitions. As Zira's chosen one, he suffered more scrutiny and less harsh treatment than the rest of the young. Many cubs tougher than he had succumbed to the arid landscape, malnutrition, and manic training demanded by Zira, and yet he remained. Curious.

"Vitani!"

In response, she flicked an ear, not bothering to turn her head, for she knew what was coming.

"Mother says that someday this will be ours!"

She fought the urge to scoff, knowing that her brother's feelings were artificially sheltered by Zira and that any transgression would leave him with an exaggerated underlip and tears in his eyes. Depending on their mother's shifting moods, this would mean a beating for her, for him, or both--and why risk it?

The truth was, Kovu was soft. Vitani knew it. Zira knew it. The other cubs knew it--and as a result, Zira suffered no stronger, likelier looking male to remain. Better to extinguish competing sparks before they became a wildfire. Even some of the pridesisters who were raising their daughters to fight and die for him knew it.

Consequently, the idea of killing did not compute in Kovu's mind. He did not know that as soon as he became old enough to sire his replacement, his life was forfeit to a suicide mission to the Pridelands--fine if he died, better still if he died in a glorious battle that also killed Simba.

Vitani knew the plan. She knew that when push came to shove, she would be next in line. It was not a feeling she relished. So instead of responding, she studied the land closely. Kovu had gotten one thing right--this land would not always be Simba's. What he didn't understand, however was its value--and what he didn't know was that it would be hers.

So she gazed on tiredly over the grasslands.

In my headcanon, Zira is severely unbalanced. She suffers from psychosis, severe mood swings, a vicious fear of abandonment, and she is dangerously obsessed with the former tyrant Scar. She knows he abused her, and she resents him for that--but for all that she can't seem to let him go. He's her king, her idol, her god. She equally loves and hates him--which is why she's inclined to take Kovu in, but also send him on a suicide mission (c'mon guys...Vitani beat the shit out of him in the ambush scene, what would Simba have done t him?). In her mind, she simultaneously wants to shelter Kovu and rip him to shreds. She eventually just trains him in a volatile and erratic fashion, and then sent him into the pridelands to soften up the king for Vitani--who she intended to be the real heir. They are very much not related in my verse--all the outsiders call Zira "mother," not just her actual children because it's very much a cult.

Edit: I feel like I should add this in here, but not all bad people are mentally ill and not all mentally ill people are bad. In Zira’s case, she was severely ill and really placed into the worst circumstances possible. Now this doesn’t excuse anything she did, but it does explain it.

I will probably also have some of her descendants display some of her symptoms—but unlike her, they are able to get some kind of help and support systems.