No One Else Was in the Room Where It Happened

Zuri's nose crinkled as if a cockroach had wriggled up a nostril and laid eggs. Are they for real? The tawny-orange cub stood amid the growing crowd of discontent soldiers, outraged they had the gall to trash-talk Simba - their king. It was getting harder and harder by the second to stay quiet. Do they not understand how our kingdom works? Pride Land monarchy was subject to no earthly authority, deriving their right to rule directly from the will of the Great Kings of the Past. In other words, Simba can do whatever he wanted. The soldiers' complaints were not at all unfounded, but for the good of the Pride Lands, they must grin and bear it. I can try to talk some sense into them, but I doubt they'll listen if they're so set on change. But she had to do something. Mooch's group needed to back down before things got out of paw. If talking doesn't work, I can always go see the king. He'll know what to do.

Zuri spoke up. "How dare you disrespect our king!" she chastised the crowd. "The king derives his authority from the Great Kings of the Past! He doesn't have to do anything for anybody! He - oh, hold on a second." She paused to lick the fur on her right shoulder, smoothing it out. When it came to personal hygiene, Zuri was the epitome of cleanliness. As the self-proclaimed poster child of Simba's pride, she wanted to look her absolute best. Once she ensured her fur looked nice and shiny, Zuri hopped right back on her soapbox. "Have you all forgotten that King Simba was the one who freed us from Scar's tyranny?" she pointed out. "If it wasn't for him, none of you would even BE here! He is our savior, and the very least we can do is support him no matter what!"

The conversation had veered ahead without her, and everything was... Not calm in the slightest, honestly. So much for Elsa's proposal to go about the matter in a calm fashion. The queen exhaled through her nose and just listened and watched the proceedings from there, only to find herself increasingly annoyed. Before she could say anything, though, a couple of lions spoke up. One was male, and the other female. Rashidi offered to answer questions regarding the other lions that had been around, and Zuri... Basically told everyone to show respect for Simba. Honestly? Elsa did feel a bit guilty about questioning his decisions. She did consider him something of an ally, even if they really had only spoken once. The young lioness had a point, though. Respect was important for royalty. Especially someone like Simba whom none of them would be there without.

She did realize, though, that she had to carefully decide what to do next. She didn't want to spark any sort of argument on this matter. So, Elsa decided to focus on asking Rashidi questions. He seemed to be the one in the know at the moment, so it made the most sense. The young queen cleared her throat again, if only to remind the others that she was still there, and turned her attention to the lion in question.

"I'd like to thank you for taking your time to answer questions, good sir," Elsa said. "If I may, I would like to know what has brought you all here. I mean no disrespect, of course. I just would like to understand what has led all of you here. I imagine from what you've said it has something to do with your loyalty to your queen. I can understand that. But any information would be helpful at this point." She hoped she had gotten her question across clearly. There was no way to really tell what was going to happen from there. All Elsa could do was wait for an answer.