SCENE 47: LOOKING FOR LOVE

	The announcement of Uzuri's pregnancy was a thorn in Taka's side, 
made all the more evident when her children finally arrived.  He felt as 
if the lionesses were deserting him, perhaps even preparing to run off 
and join other prides.  His mate, Elanna was no less distraught; at 
first she saw the pregnancies as evidence that Taka's late night 
excursions were more than just simple "patrols."
	The sight of the newborn Togo and Kombi reassured her; the cubs 
had none of the earmarks of her husband.  Even the scent was wrong, and 
she secretly delighted in the knowledge that Taka was hers.  That 
evening she snuggled alongside his warm body, nuzzling his dark mane.
	"Uzuri's children are quite beautiful, aren't they?"  she said 
dreamily.
	"I have yet to find out; I couldn't even get near her today," he 
said crossly.  "You'd think the lionesses had never seen a cub before."  
His eyes darkened.  "I shall have to make a formal inspection in the 
morning."
	"Good.  That means I have you all to myself tonight."  She nibbled 
on his ear, sending shivers down his spine.
	"Don't try to distract me.  You know what I mean."
	"Yes love, I do.  Now let me show you what I mean."  She kissed 
his cheek as the night drew gentle shadows around them.
	The next morning, Uzuri felt a cold wave of fear sweep over her as 
Taka entered her cave.  "Good morning, hunt mistress."
	"Good morning, sire."  She looked on with astonishment as Taka 
touched the twin cubs with his tongue.  "You are blessed, Uzuri."
	For the first time in her life, Uzuri was at a loss for words.  
She nodded numbly as Taka sat down, his tail stirring restlessly as he 
watched the tiny cubs wriggle and roll about at their mother's belly.
	"I was young and fresh like them once.  Before I was marked, and 
life took it's toll on me, there were people that thought I was cute.  
Remember, Uzuri?"
	"You were a cute cub," Uzuri said.  "I remember."
	"Look at them.  They are too young to know I'm ugly.  When I kiss 
them, they don't want to slink away and rub in the grass."
	"You don't look that bad," Uzuri said, forthright even then.  
"People are just afraid.  Afraid of you and afraid of the hyenas.  Maybe 
you have this unique kind of thing with them.  Maybe they like you.  But 
they don't like us.  They make it painfully clear that all we're good 
for is hunting.  Don't take my word for it--just ask them."
	"It's too late to change that now."  He shook his head.  "I will 
never live to see them gone, just as I will never live to be forgiven 
for bringing them here.  I don't think they like me any more than they 
like you, but they bow and scrape before me, seeking favors."  He 
sighed.  "They'll kill me when they get the chance.  Every time I pass 
one of them, I wonder, `will it be you?'  And every night the same dream 
reminds me that each day may be my last."
	"Oh gods, how awful!"
	"So you're not amused by my plight?  You have a kind heart, just 
like your mother had."
	He spoke to her so tenderly that Uzuri dared address him unbidden.
	"Sire, when you were born you weren't breathing.  I saw Rafiki 
breathe life into you with his own mouth.  Can't you find it in your 
heart to forgive him?  It would mean a lot to me.  Please?"
	With a great sigh of resignation, Taka said, "Of all else, I could 
forgive him.  But for trapping me in this life of pain, I cannot.  And 
what's worse, I am too much of a coward to undo it.  If I could just go 
to sleep one night and never wake up...."  He sighed deeply, then 
reached down and kissed the cubs again.  Taka half laughed.  "I do tend 
to run on like a fool, don't I?"  He silently turned and padded away.
	Later, as he lay upon the peak of Pride Rock, his majordomo, Gopa 
the stork, flew in with a great flapping of wings.  "I have your daily 
report, Sire," he grated.
	Taka peered down at Uzuri, who lay sunning herself on an outthrust 
rock below, her cubs nursing placidly.  Tameka lay beside her, the 
pronounced swelling of her abdomen unmistakable.  "Gopa, where are all 
these new children coming from?  I have cubs practically running out of 
my ears!"
	Gopa blinked, the wattle under his neck shaking gently as he 
glanced down at the lionesses, then cocked his head at Taka.  "Who do 
you THINK brought all those cubs?  The stork?  Well it certainly wasn't 
me."
	Taka looked at him askance.  "What in the devil are you talking 
about?"
	"Forget it," Gopa sighed.  "You want this report or not?"



SCENE 48:  CLOSE QUARTERS

	Rafiki and Uhuru had just finished their evening prayers when 
there was a great deal of excitement among the other hyenas outside the 
baobab.  Fabana was rudely thrust into the baobab hollow.  One of her 
guards looked at Uhuru and relayed the orders of Shenzi's anger:
	"Krull, merketh Fabana om arant.  Beershomb nik gorun om Shenzi 
flethun, om Fabana marukh!  Oblez?"
	"Oblez!"
	"Kreblat Roh'mach!"
	"Roh'mach kreblash!"
	Uhuru glanced at Rafiki.  "It seems we have company.  
Indefinitely."
	"Oh I see."  Rafiki sighed.
	Fabana fell before Uhuru.  "Krull, oms merketha besath!  Beshum 
Taka gatha om Shenzi pardu om I'bu!  Roh'kash ne nabu!"
	Krull tried to comfort her as best he could.  "Fabana, Roh'kash ne 
nabu.  Disi blechuri m'oh, okash."
	Rafiki breaks in.  "That is so sad!  Your own daughter!"
	Fabana stares at him.  "Bet'ra hyanikha?"
	"Bih hyanikha," he said with a nod.  "And without a strong accent, 
I might add."
	"Is there nothing you don't know?"
	"Plenty.  Like why your own daughter renounced you?"
	Her ears pricked up in anger.  "Because I renounced her first.  
She is a butcher and an ingrate.  She would kill Taka by driving him 
insane and pushing him to suicide.  No daughter of mine would do that to 
her own brother."
	"Then it's true, isn't it?  You adopted him."
	"Yes.  Now they will probably tell him I'm dead or or that I've 
run away."  She looks at Uhuru.  "Krull, in the name of the gods, please 
get a message to Taka telling him what had happened to me."
	"Not a good idea," Rafiki says.  "If your heart is still tied to 
your family, and I suspect it is, you must not tell Taka.  Out of love 
for you, he would have Shenzi put to death.  Do you want to make that 
kind of choice?  Son or daughter?"
	Fabana drew in a deep breath.  "Oh gods!"
	Rafiki scratched his beard thoughtfully.  "My lady, you are a 
victim in all this like I am."
	"You're one to talk.  You put a curse on my Taka and all this is 
your fault.  All your...."
	"Now you listen here!" Rafiki cried, grabbing up his staff 
threateningly.  "I won't hear that again from you or anyone else!  I 
breathed into him when he was born.  Gods know how much food I scrounged 
for him when he was a young'un.  I loved that boy like my own son--more 
than I loved Mufasa.  I still do, but given a chance I would take this 
stick and beat him to death, understand?  I pity you, but not enough to 
share this tiny baobab with your constant whining!"
	Fabana looked down, her ears drooped.  "I always knew he'd die 
young.  But if you ever get the chance, please don't beat him with the 
stick.  Put him to sleep with one of your herbs.  And promise me you 
won't let them rip him alive.  That's his nightmare, you know."
	"I know.  I'll do what I can."  He reached over and rubbed Fabana 
between the ears.  "Maybe we'll get along after all."  
	Fabana began to scratch energetically.  Rafiki said, "Oh no!"  He 
reached and got some fleabane.  "You leave the little buggers outside 
when you stay here!"  Krull grinned as Rafiki seized the protesting 
Fabana and began to rub the elixir into her fur.


SCENE 49:  THE SIGN

	Fabana overheard Rafiki's exultant shout and rushed in to see the 
mandrill capering about, chuckling and dancing, Krull sitting across 
from him and grinning widely.  "What is going on, here?!"
	Rafiki whooped and danced over to her.  "Look!"  he said, holding 
up a handful of milkweed floss and dust.  "Just look  at it!"  He held 
it up to her face for close inspection.
	She exploded in a sneeze, sending him into more gales of laughter.  
"What's so great about a handful of dust?"
	"It is the sign!  Simba is alive!"
	Rafiki uas unknowing of the shock his words had on the hyena, for 
Fabana had been at the ceremony when Taka took power.  She had heard the 
lament issue from his own lips of the death of his brother; she had 
heard the grief in his voice as he described the lifeless body of his 
nephew lying next to him.  And now...she shook her head, eyes growing 
wide as she heard Rafiki exclaim to the newly named Uhuru: "We go to the 
King!"
	Her protestations went unheeded, and when the two eluded their 
hyena guardians and set out to find the rightful king, she accompanied 
them determinedly.  If she could not change their minds, she would 
change Simba's.
	The going was slow and tortuous, as none of the three were 
prepared for the rigors the desert threw at them.  The scorching heat 
compelled them to take shelter in the daytime, and this provided ample 
time for thinking.  Too much time for one particular hyena.  Fabana 
agonized endlessly over the elegy Taka had given for his brother and 
son.  He had been sincere; she would have sworn it.  That foolish ape 
must have misread the signs in the floss, if there were indeed any there 
to be had in the first place.
	As they trekked on, the knowledge beat at her as harshly as the 
desert heat.  Why lie to her?  She had heard him praying at night, 
begging the gods to forgive Taka, forgive.  She had seen the paintings 
on the wall of the baobab of the cub, and, while ignorant of the 
markings around it, had understood their meaning clearly enough.  The 
mandrill practically viewed Taka as one of his own family.  The 
knowledge beat at her like a hammer, and finally, unable to stand it any 
longer, she went to Uhuru.
	He listened, a grave but sympathetic look on his face.  "So what 
do you want to do?"  he said at last.
	"I don't know."  She bent her head, looking at the ground.  "But 
if what he says is true, then my child has sinned teribly.  When Mother 
Rroh'kash calls him to her, there will be a reckoning."  Her breath 
hitched.
	Uhuru patted her consolingly.  "Don't despair.  I have spoken to 
Rafiki, and the son of Mufasa promises to be a just and kind soul.  I 
will stand with you, Fabana, and plead Taka's case with you.  Perhaps 
together, we can convince Simba to find forgiveness.  He is a child of 
Aiheu, after all."
	"Thank you!"  Fabana nuzzled him.  "By the gods, my boy may be 
lost, but he will find his way again.  He must."

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | reddit | newsvine | furl | google | yahoo | technorati