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In honor of Betrothed's upcoming 10th anniversary, I thought I'd celebrate. (Also... HOW has it been that long?! HOW?!)
And I'm starting with updating as many of the character refs as I can! Now it's time for one of my personal favorite minor characters, Chaka - Sarabi's maternal aunt.
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Chaka: "beloved" - Swahili
Huntress and Scout to King Khalfani 's Pride
Mate: N/A
Sister: Batini
Niece: Sarabi
Parents: TBA
Voice Actor: Amy Adams
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True to the weather of her birthplace, Chaka is a constant ray of sunshine. Or at least tries to be. Younger sister to Princess Batini, Chaka went to live with her when Batini married her betrothed, King Khalfani. The sisters represented the last of their royal family, and their territory was joined with Khalfani's after the marriage. Unfortunately, the Desert Kingdom had been having longer and longer periods of drought and searing heat every year. Food and water became difficult to find. Even with Chaka's scouting and navigation skills, paired with those of their majordomo hornbill Zamir, living in their homeland started to look more like a fight for survival rather than living. To further complicate matters, Khalfani and Batini try and fail to have cubs. Over and over again. Only one baby is ever born, and he never takes a first breath.
Adding insult to injury, during the worst part of the drought that they'd experienced yet, Khalfani falls ill with an unknown sickness. Chaka blames the drought, but Khalfani (partially delirious from stress no doubt) thinks it might be the work of something more sinister. As a glimmer of hope, though, Chaka's sister discovers that she's pregnant. Everyone is cautiously optimistic, except Khalfani - who seems to slowly be going mad. Chaka does her best to keep his spirits up, but secretly she wonders if he even recognizes her anymore. Together, Chaka and Batini plot to lead their now-wandering pride to the Pridelands in search of help. They know Khalfani would agree if he were stable. It was something he talked about at length if they continued to have trouble finding food and water. But the illness had started to rob him of his better judgement. So the sisters start the journey - making sure that the increasingly-paranoid king doesn't notice. He'd already started mumbling to himself that he was sure someone was following them and stealing any scraps of food from the meals they happened to catch.
During an early morning walk before the heat starts, Chaka walks to clear her mind of the stress she'd been hiding for so long. As if the Great Kings themselves understood her (and her family's) plight, she happens upon a large topi. The biggest she'd ever seen. And its leg has been freshly broken. Chaka chases it toward her pride and breakfast is soon served. They aren't dining for long when Chaka notices a strange lion emerge from the rising heatwaves off the sand. She runs to see who he might be. She is initially charmed at his politeness when he asks for food and is surprised but equally as charmed when he tells her that he's King Khalfani's nephew. She leads the lion, Rehema, back to her family expecting them to be welcoming at best and suspicious at worst. To her shock, Khalfani rouses instantly from his sleep at Rehema's approach and lunges at him. Khalfani yells accusations at his nephew and hardly lets him get a word in about his own difficult situation. Khalfani commands Rehema to leave immediately and that he will not show mercy if he seems him again. Rehema seems to know it's better to obey because he leaves quickly. Feeling sorry for him, Chaka sneaks out in the night and takes a piece of topi with her. It doesn't take her long to find Rehema. She leaves the gift of food with him with only a "I was never here." as he thanks her. To her relief, no one knows what she did.
Soon, and almost not soon enough, the Desert Pride arrives in the Pridelands. Chaka sprints to Pride Rock immediately to announce their arrival and hopes that it isn't too late to save her king, her sister, her unborn niece or nephew, and her whole family.
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The comics:
Original ref:
Chaka design created by and © Nala15 . Art © Nala15 .