Commission art by JezvyEliv

Note that this is following my own headcanon for the Lion King universe. This does not line up with the timeline of events for the Lion Guard specifically. It’ll become clear as you read the following passage.

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Nirmala was among one of the principal believers in the circle of life in her found pride. As the top healer, she had to be. But Nirmala’s faith went beyond just the pragmatic understanding of the balance of nature. While many were skeptical about the spiritual aspects of their world, Nirmala believed, even when some of her prayers and inquiries to the stars seemed to fall on deaf ears. Still, she carried on healing, both physically and mentally. As a lioness who lost her true family long ago, she knew loss, and she knew how to move on with life after such awful happenings.

Shortly after the marriage of Rani and Kion, the present rulers of Milele made it known that they were leaving their kingdom for good shortly after their daughter’s coronation. It gave Nirmala an idea of her own, especially after a chance conversation with Rafiki.

Nirmala wasn’t the typical lioness of this region. In fact she came from much farther east before she was welcomed into Regandi’s pride. She was aware that she was in fact, a different kind of lion than those she lived around. Knowing that her kind was low in number, and hearing first hand from both Simba and Rafiki that the great lions of the past truly were watching, Nirmala left her home, promising to return soon.

Weeks of travel led the asiatic lioness to her homeland, and up to the highest peak of the mountains that her birthplace was nestled in between. Nirmala has yet to tell of what exactly transpired up there. But when she returned to the jungle where Regandi and Kula reigned, she was practically ready to burst. Pregnant. Mere days after her return, she gave birth to four healthy cubs, and there wasn’t a time where the already highly spirited Nirmala was happier.

When asked who the father was, or how it happened, she’d always speak in a riddle or with vague implications. All that she says for certain, is that her cubs were a blessing of the highest order, and that carrying them on her journey home was the most euphoric experience of her life.