CHAPTER:  PEACE AT LAST

	The hunt mistress had been having a hard time finding food in the 
overhunted and parched Pride Lands.  There was little to do except to 
hunt for all kinds of unwholesome creatures that only desperate lions 
would attempt to choke down.  Togo and Kombi were growing drastically 
emaciated, and Uzuri was even worse off.  The only way her twins 
survived was the generosity of Ugas who would have Adhama pass her an 
occasional hare.  He did not know about his sons yet, but he suspected 
that she was struggling even harder than she would admit.
	Disgusted, she returned empty yet again to her favorite rock, 
there to wait for one simple pleasure she allowed herself.  Every night, 
Shimbekh would come and talk with her.  From Shimbekh, Uzuri learned 
many stories of the hyenas and even a few phrases in their language.  In 
return, Uzuri taught her about Aiheu and all the stories of the great 
kings of the past.  These brought her comfort in her distress, and of 
late Shimbekh had looked strangely tormented.
	Time passed.  One Called Alligator and The Three Monkeys rose 
above the horizon.  The moon sailed like a silent swan to the zenith of 
the heavens, crested at midmoon, then settled lower in the western sky.  
And still Shimbekh did not come.  Irritated, Uzuri was ready to leave.  
"She knows we have a standing date."  But it occurred to her that the 
hyena might be sick.
	Shoving through the brush, a look of desolation on her face, 
Makhpil went to Uzuri and fell before her, sobbing.
	"There now, my child!  What's wrong?"
	"It's Shimbekh," she gasped.  "Holy Mother Roh'kash, she jumped 
into the gorge!"
	"Oh no!"  Uzuri pulled Makhpil close with a paw.  "Oh gods, no!  
You poor creature!"  Tears began to stream down her face.
	Togo and Kombi were attracted by the commotion.  Miserable, they 
huddled next to their mother and Makhpil.
	"We have to set her soul free," Makhpil sobbed.  "I don't want 
Shenzi to know.  I hate her!  It has to be just us, and maybe Ber.  She 
liked him, you know."
	Sadly, Uzuri trudged with Makhpil and Ber to the side of the gorge 
followed by her twin sons.  They sat on the spot where her trail 
abruptly ended.  Togo looked over the side.
	"Get away from there!" Uzuri shouted, pulling him back by the nape 
of the neck and then grooming him nervously.
	Makhpil wailed--a high-pitched, heart rending cry that made Togo 
and Kombi's hackles raise and their tails bristle.  "Roh'kash, give me 
strength to walk this path alone, for my companion is gone into the 
east."
	"We look to the dawn where comes our salvation," Ber said.  "May 
your firstborn find no fault in her.  May he recognize her 
righteousness."
	Uzuri put her paw on Makhpil's shoulder.  "Great Mother, let our 
friend rise with the sun to meet you and nurse at your side.  Roh'kash, 
hear our prayer."  Falling on her back in a hyannic posture of prayer, 
she pawed at the sky.  "Go to the sun, Shimbekh.  Rise with the sun, 
Shimbekh.  It is the dawn of your eternal bliss."
	Uzuri then went to the edge of the canyon and drew in a deep 
breath.  She unleashed a roar--a loud, terrible roar that echoed off the 
walls in a thousand protests of grief.  When the sound finally died 
away, she added softly, "You have put a thorn in my heart, old friend!  
I shall miss you."


CHAPTER:  A PROUD FATHER

	Distraught from the death of her friend, Uzuri sneaked out to see 
Ugas.  He would remind her of all that was beautiful and kind and soothe 
her heartache.
	Indeed, the moment she caught sight of him, her heart was filled 
with joy.  "Ugas!"
	"Uzuri, my angel!"  He nuzzled and pawed her.  "How hungry you 
look.  Please come dine with me, dear."
	"I'm not here to stay long, my love.  I just had something to tell 
you."
	"By any chance, is this about cubs?"
	"Twin sons."
	"Twin sons?"  His eyes grew large.  "Are you serious??"
	"Wasn't that what you wanted?"
	"Yes, Uzuri!  Yes!!"  He practically wiggled with joy.  Ugas came 
up on his hind legs and sprang at her, wrapping his arms around her neck 
and wrestling with her.  She was smaller but had youth on her side.  She 
held back some of her great strength to keep from overwhelming him all 
at once.  And when she felt him beginning to tire, she finally let him 
push her to the ground.  As she lay with her back pillowed in the soft 
meadow grass, he stood over her and tickled her chest with his nose.  
Looking into her beautiful eyes with his warm smiling face, he said, "Go 
retrieve your sons.  I want to look at them, smell them and nuzzle them.  
They will know their father loves them, and Uzuri, we'll be a family at 
last.  A family!"
	Her face lost its smile.  "I can't," she said.  "I must go back, 
beloved."
	"But why?  Think of our sons, Zuri.  Don't they need my love too?  
I would raise them to be Princes and they would get respect they will 
never have out there."
	"Don't be upset, my love."  She reached up and fondled his neck, 
following his mane down his broad chest.  "Someday we will come to you.  
Someday we'll be a family."
	"When?"  He drew his face down to almost touch hers.  "What time I 
have left, I'd like to spend with you.  When you're gone, I don't live, 
I only exist.  Don't you think I'll make a good father?"  He saw her 
tears start.  "Oh, honey tree, I didn't mean to make you cry."  He 
kissed away her tears.  "I was so lonely tonight.  Must you go now?  So 
soon?"
	"Not right this moment, anyhow."  She patted the ground beside her 
with a paw and Ugas lay next to her.  She pushed her face into his soft 
mane and put her paw on his chest, feeling the tides of his breath and 
the reassuring rhythm of his heart.  Her tears began to flow freely.  
"You poor, dear thing!  I feel awful about this.  You must think I'm a 
terrible wife."
	"That's a foolish thing to say," he said, putting her paw in his 
powerful jaws and giving it a little squeeze, then stroking it gently 
with his warm, pink tongue.  "You know, I'm tempted to play on your 
guilt, but I won't.  I want you to stay, but not out of guilt or 
obligation.  I want you to need me the way I need you."
	"But I do," Uzuri said.  "I swear it."
	Ugas glanced over at her.  He fondled her cheek with his paw.  "If 
you think one day you'll wake up and have nothing holding you to Pride 
Rock, you're mistaken.  It will never be easy to leave."  He pulled his 
paw back.  "You'll keep finding one more reason to wait.  It will always 
be one more week, and the weeks will turn into moons.  But I'm old, 
Uzuri, and when I'm dead all the tears in the world won't bring me 
back."
	"I thought you weren't going to play on my guilt," she said.
	"I'm not.  I just have this terrible dread that when you're gone 
I'll never see you again."
	"Don't be ridiculous," she said with a deep sigh.  "Nothing will 
keep us apart, dear.  You're the only lion I've ever loved, and the only 
one I ever will love."  She got up and shook off.  "I'm sorry, but I 
have to go.  My cubs are hungry."
	"Our cubs," Ugas reminded her.
	"I know."  She nuzzled him.  "Darling, I will come back.  I 
promise you."
	"Soon?"
	"Soon."
	"I love you.  Never forget that."
	She looked back at him sadly.  "I love you too.  Wait for me."


CHAPTER:  THE WINDS CHANGE

	Uzuri was true to her heart.  Once her feet were set on the path 
she did not stop until she arrived.  Out of her love for Elanna, she 
kept an eye on Taka whenever she could.
	She heard a rumor from Ber that some of the hyenas were plotting 
to kill Taka, but they needed a way to make it look like an accident--or 
suicide.  It panicked her, not so much because of Taka but what it would 
do to Elanna.  Little did she know they were planning to kill Lannie as 
well, or she would have really done something desperate.
	To settle her mind, she went to see Taka--something very few 
lionesses would ever do, for his mental state had deteriorated to a 
barely suppressed madness.
	He was not in his usual place.  She bullied one of the hyena 
guards to tell her where he went.
	"The cistern place, I thinking," he said in broken leonine.  
Leonine from a hyena!  Indeed, the occupation had lasted longer than 
she'd thought.
	"Ka'del chul," she replied in perfect hyannic.  Now it was his 
turn to be surprised.
	She ran down the slope of Pride Rock along a path covered with 
hyena footprints.  Going around to the lee of the stone, she saw the 
dark-maned lion huddled by the side of the water, talking to his 
reflection.  "No way out.  There's no way out.  If there is a God, 
please help me!  But how can there be a God?  How can there be a God 
with so much misery in the world??  If I were God, things would be a lot 
different around here, that's for sure!"
	"Sire?"
	"What??"  He looked up, more afraid than angry.  Tears had stained 
his cheeks.  "Oh, Uzuri, it's only you."
	"What's wrong?"
	"Did they send you to find me?  Did they put you up to it--all 
those lionesses that want to know if I'm totally mad??"
	"That's not fair!"  Uzuri upbraided him, something only she and 
Elanna could do.  "Lannie was worried about you.  She asked me to keep 
an eye on you."
	"Spy, you mean?"
	"No.  If I was spying on you, would I call out?  I could see you 
quite well from over there."
	"Yeah."  He wiped his eyes with a paw.  "You do think I'm mad, 
don't you."
	"Well, I think you're hurting."
	"Hurting."  He laughed bitterly.  "I'm going to die soon.  Not 
that I dread being dead one bit.  It's dying that frightens me."
	"Surely you're not going to kill yourself??"
	"No, nothing that noble.  My friend, I know my star lore well.  
Well enough to know that the rumors are true, not mere whispers in the 
reeds."  He sniffed.  "Uzuri, you believe in God, don't you?"
	"Of course I do."
	"Then if you swore something by Aiheu, you'd consider that binding 
for all times, wouldn't you?"
	"Of course.  Where is this going, Taka?"
	"You looked after me for Elanna.  Now I want you to swear that 
you'll look after her for me when I'm gone.  I want you to swear by 
Aiheu."
	"I don't have to swear it.  I love her, and as long as I have 
breath in this body, I'll take care of her."
	"When I die that the others will want to hurt her because she was 
my wife.  You must protect my Lannie.  She gave up everything for me, 
and that kind of devotion must not go unrewarded.  Don't let them hurt 
her, Uzuri.  They'll listen to you."
	"I'll do my best.  I promise.  If it makes you feel any better, 
I'll swear it to Aiheu."
	With a pronounced trembling in his limbs that made him look far 
older than he was, he drew up alongside her and nuzzled her.  For a 
moment she could see the frightened little cub that used to call her 
Zuzu.  "I said some unkind things about you in the past," he said.  
"When you remember me, I want you to remember that I felt regret.  Say a 
prayer for me from time to time."  He nuzzled her once more.  "Now be a 
good girl and please leave--I should like to be alone now."
	Uzuri nodded and softly padded away.  She had no way of knowing 
that Shenzi would crush the life out of him later that evening.

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