CHAPTER 69:  OLD FRIENDS

	Old Fabana was watching some lion cubs playing from the shade of a 
friendly acacia.  It was nearly mid-sun, and she slowly, stiffly got to 
her feet.  "Come on, children!  Time for your nap!"
	"Oh Auntie Fay, can't we have a little longer?"
	"No, Lakayla.  Your growing body needs its rest."
	Slowly, but with a proud bearing, Fabana led the lion cubs to the 
cave.
	"Where did your other eye go?" Lakayla asked.
	"I must have forgotten it.  Oh, it will turn up one of these 
days."
	Lakayla laughed.  "I'm serious."
	"I was attacked by a large animal.  A dog."
	"They're fierce creatures that just want to kill for the fun of 
it.  That's what mom says."
	"Your mom is wrong."  She looked back on Fielder with the wisdom 
of age.  "Dogs are vulnerable, just like us.  They have feelings that 
can be hurt, and they can want things so much that they can go too far 
and do something they regret.  Then they feel bad--just like us."
	"You mean you don't hate the dog?"
	"Once I did.  Now I feel sorry for him."
	"What did he want?"
	"Something I couldn't give him."  Fay nuzzled her.  "Run along 
now, and don't ask so many questions."
	Fabana settled to the cool floor of the cave, and the other cubs 
piled on her one by one to form a large heap.
	Tanabi eyed her and smiled.  There were times he forgot she was a 
hyena and thought of her as just another one of the pride sisters.  She 
stayed behind with the cubs when the lionesses went out to hunt, freeing 
up another lioness to gather food.  
	Though she was rather frail with age, none of the cubs dared to 
challenge her authority, even those larger and more robust.  She could 
even make Marli's cubs behave.
	Of course Roh'mach Bashak and his family would always greet Fay 
affectionately when they'd visit Simba.  When this happened, invariably 
some of the lions--usually the very young--would ask Fabana why she 
didn't live with her people.
	"But I do.  My people are the ones that love me.  Some were 
hyenas, like Jalkort, my parents, and Ber.  Others like you are lions.  
It's all in what you call family."


 
EPILOGUE:

	Melmokh was wandering the Pride Lands.  He looked at Pride Rock, 
bitter because of the setbacks he had endured, but still hopeful that he 
would achieve his dreams.
	He was attracted to those who suffer.  And though tired and empty 
inside, he was stalking a grief, an angry grief.  He had no idea that it 
would lead him to the cave atop Pride Rock, the home of the King 
himself!
	The lionesses were gone, and the cubs were playing in the field.  
But what luck!  King Tanabi's twin sons Imani and Watanga were 
experiencing the grief that only one would inherit the kingdom, and it 
would be Imani.
	Watanga was confronting his father bitterly over the decision.  
Tanabi and Misha listened to his outpouring of ire and hatred with 
absolute consternation.  "How can you speak of us this way?" Misha said.  
"How can you say we don't love you?  Watanga, how can you put this thorn 
through our hearts?"
	"Love, you say?  If you'd just given me half a chance to prove 
myself--just half a chance!  I'm as good as Imani.  Maybe even better.  
But you never gave me a chance!  And let me tell you about thorns 
through the heart: every time I wanted to play, you would tell me to 
study if I wanted to be king someday!  You knew all the time!  That's 
why you called me Watanga, `cause I'd never be anything but a wanderer!"
	Melmokh watched with glee.  What an opportunity!  He went to touch 
Watanga to influence him, when Watanga turned around.
	"Melmokh, have you learned nothing?"  The cub spoke in a deep and 
powerful voice totally unlike his own.
	"How did you see me?  How did you know my name??"
	"I see all and know all."
	Melmokh tried to look into the cub's eyes, but he saw in them an 
overwhelming goodness and righteousness which burned him like fire.  He 
quickly looked away.  "Aiheu!  You tricked me!"  He backed back till the 
wall of the cave stopped his progress.  Swallowing heavily, he could 
almost feel the walls closing in on him.  "Aiheu, have mercy!  Have 
mercy!"
	"You have made no progress, though I have extended you the benefit 
of the doubt and shown you great patience."
	"Don't kill me!  I'll do anything you ask, but don't kill me!  I'm 
a miserable wretch who just wants to be left alone!  I'll go away, far 
away!"
	He turned to flee, but found that Tanabi and his Queen had 
vanished.  In their stead were the brilliant forms of Mano and Minshasa.  
He was trapped.
	"No!  Don't!"  He fell before the cub and with his eyes tightly 
shut began to kiss his feet.  "My life is not worth living, but I'm 
afraid to die!  Don't hurt me, Aiheu!  Please!"
	Aiheu looked on him with pity.  "Since you cannot escape me this 
time, let me tell you what's about to happen so you won't be afraid."
	"You're going to kill me!  How can I not be afraid??"  He began to 
rub the cub's forearm with his paw.  "Like all living things, I'm part 
of your spirit!  If you kill me, you would decrease!  You would only 
harm yourself!"
	The cub shook his head.  "Your spirit will go on living, but in a 
real sense, you will die.  Everything that made you Melmokh will perish 
along with your past."
	Melmokh cowered down.  "All of it?"  He whined and pawed at Aiheu.  
"Will nothing be left?"
	"If there were, the memories would only torment and sicken you.  
It is best that you remember nothing."
	"For my own good?  Even the wisdom it took me centuries to 
acquire?"
	"It did you no good, Melmokh.  You attained much knowedge, but 
aquired so little wisdom.  You don't even know how to love!  What else 
is worth knowing when your heart is desolate?"
	Melmokh said, "But it is not my fault!  I have tried to love!  
Really I have!  And if I were a rock or tree that didn't care, that 
would be different, but I can hurt.  Hate, jealousy, fear, these all 
come easy to me.  They are as unpleasant to me as they are to Mano and 
Minshasa, yet I have drunk only from those streams.  Must I die never 
knowing love?  Never knowing happiness?"
	"Your last thoughts as Melmokh will be happy ones."
	"Will it hurt?"
	"No.  I will make sure it does not."
	"Is happiness anything like pleasure?  I know what pleasure feels 
like, but I can't remember ever feeling happy."
	"Happiness is even better than pleasure."  Aiheu trotted over to 
the cistern.  There in the mud by the water lay a small lion cub.  "Look 
at her, Melmokh.  Look closely.  That's where you will find happiness."
	"Is she dead?"
	"She has never lived.  I made her from the mud.  Complete in every 
good thing except that she lacks a living spirit."
	Melmokh looked at his Lord slowly, hope dawning at last.  "Mine?"
	"Yes.  And you will know enough love and happiness in this small 
body to outweigh a thousand lives as Melmokh."
	Melmokh padded over to her.  He felt strange.  "Oh, isn't she 
beautiful!"
	"She pleases you?"
	"Yes, but...."
	"But there's more to it than that?"
	"Yes, Lord.  I'm not sure what."
	A small coal of happiness inside him began to grow.  There was 
much tinder that had accumulated over many cheerless centuries, and all 
those buried feelings burst into flame.  Tears began to stream down his 
cheeks.  "Is this it?  Is this happiness?"
	"Yes."
	"If I could feel this way, I wouldn't want to hurt anyone.  Why 
not let me go, My Lord?  Why kill me now?"
	"You are already dying.  It is the happiness that is burning away 
your past.  Don't fight it.  Let the feeling flow through you.  All your 
pain is burning away."
	"Then let it burn!  Yes, Lord, let it burn!  I want it to burn!"  
He ran his paw over the small, furry child.  "Look at those tiny little 
paws!  And those ears!  I never had a mate or a child of my own.  Oh, 
look at that little pink nose!"
	The hyena shuddered and his shape began to dissolve into a mist.  
"Oh gods, I feel so happy!  Happy at last!  So very...."
	Within seconds he completely deresolved, leaving only a golden 
fog.  Aiheu breathed in, capturing the spiritual essence.  He then 
carefully parted the female's jaws and gently breathed into her the 
breath of life, watching her chest rise, then fall.  She gasped and her 
eyes opened.
	Aiheu looked at her with mirth and amusement in his eyes.  "Wake 
up, Shandra!"  He smiled and nuzzled her.  "Happy birthday, little 
girl!"
	She smiled, yawned, then stretched luxuriously.  Rising to take 
her first steps, she rubbed against Aiheu, then toddled over to Minshasa 
who lay ready to nurse her.  With a friendly paw, Minshasa cuddled her 
to her milk.
	"Well," Minshasa said with a sigh, "There's always room for 
another."
	"No thanks," Mano said.  "I just ate."
	She smiled wryly.  "Oh you are so wicked sometimes!"  She jerked 
her head.  "Come over here where I can nuzzle you!"
	Mano settled next to her and purred softly, rubbing his face 
against the sweet comfort of her cheek.  Aiheu smiled and raised his paw 
in blessing.  "Daima pendana.  Love one another as I have loved you."  
And so it was that the shadow of the Makei was lifted from the land.

        "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.
        And God saw that the light was good."

                                -- Genesis 1:3-4


THE END:  SHADOW OF THE MAKEI

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