CHAPTER:  THE BEGINNING

		"It was a hard journey they made, but one they walked 
out of love for you."

                        	   -- Umande


	The anniversary of Taka's reign was also the anniversary of 
Mufasa's death.  Taka hated to stand in the shadow of his brother and 
forbade Gopa the stork to spread the news.
	Still, out of love for Elanna, he celebrated his first wedding 
anniversary.  By tradition he went hunting and what he killed would go 
to his wife.  He was not much of a hunter, and the best prey he could 
find was an old honey badger too weak to defend itself.  Under most 
circumstances, badgers would not have been considered prey, but this 
gift was his best effort and a token of love.  Elanna would understand.  
Besides, he felt a certain satisfaction in conquering an old fear from 
his cubhood days.
	With a cut on his muzzle and still panting, Taka crept up the side 
of Pride Rock and stalked into the cave, the badger dangling from his 
jaws.  Elanna looked up expectantly.  She saw the gift and knew at once 
what it meant.
	With the excitement of a puppy about to be fondled, Taka closed 
the remaining distance with ears erect and tail twitching.  He dropped 
the gift at her feet and smiled.  "Happy anniversary, my darling 
Lannie!"
	"Oh look, a badger!"  She rose at once and rubbed him sinuously 
full length.  Then she raised on her hind legs and put her arms around 
his neck, rubbing his face with hers and bearing him lovingly to the 
ground where she panted in soft leonine laughter.  "You didn't forget!"
	"You'd better eat it while it's still warm."
	"Forget the meat, my husband.  Have I told you lately that I love 
you?"
	"Every day.  It's what wakes me up every morning and it's my 
lullaby every night."  He touched her with his gentle pink tongue and 
reached up with a paw to fondle her cheek.  "Oh gods, I love you more 
than life itself!"
	In the midst of their intimate moment, Isha came in.  "Sire, 
there's a strange lioness that wants to see you."
	"A strange lioness??  What does she want?"
	"She won't tell us."
	He nuzzled Elanna.  "I'll be right back.  Remember where we left 
off."
	Taka headed to the mouth of the cave.  A miserable creature was 
slowly trudging up the side of Pride Rock.  "Who is that?"
	"Her name is Kako," Isha said.  "She came from the east."
	He could tell that she was expecting cubs, but her face lacked the 
radiance lions called the "light in the eyes."  She slowly strode before 
the Pride Sisters, and each one dropped her eyes in turn.  She was 
beautiful and noble in her suffering.  Taka felt that he could relate to 
her somehow.  He had known suffering intimately, and realized with a 
shock that he could almost read her thoughts.
	She walked unsteadily to the mouth of the cave and looked in 
Taka's eyes.  "Please help me."
	Taka looked back into her hazel eyes.  The sadness in them was 
overwhelming, but she managed to straighten herself and put forth some 
pride in her bearing.  It was clear that she was used to being 
respected.
	"My dear, what brings you to my kingdom?"
	"I'm seeking a home."
	"Why are you homeless?"  He looked at her with pity.  "You have--
you had--a mate.  Did he die, or were you a rogue lioness?"
	She looked at him directly in the eyes.  "I am a good huntress--
one of the best in these parts, and I can prove it.  My name is Kako."
	"Well, Kako, you aren't guilty of some crime are you?  Or--ugh--
sick with something catching?"
	Again she looked at him unwaveringly.  "If you don't want me, I 
can move on.  But I am not sick and I have committed no crime."
	"And you actually want to come here?"  He glanced around at the 
hyenas and back at her.  "Why, pray tell?"
	She stood as regal and silent as a statue and kept looking him in 
the eyes.  Taka could not explain it, but he felt a deep shame, a 
feeling of unworthiness he would have only expected from the white 
lioness herself.  If she needed a home, somehow he must make provide 
one.
	He glanced about at the other lionesses and could see expectation 
in their faces.  Clearly this Kako had their sympathies.  Besides, her 
blend of pride and sadness put thorns in his heart.
	"Kako, my heart is not made of stone.  You do not show me proper 
deference, but I will not turn you away.  Will you accept my authority 
as your King?"
	She gave a single silent nod.
	Taka looked into her large, sad eyes and regarded the droop of her 
ears and tail.  "I will respect your privacy and require my pride to do 
likewise.  But may I hope to see you smile someday?  Your sadness staves 
me through."
	Tears formed in Kako's eyes and began to roll down her cheeks.  
She did not avert her gaze, though her chin trembled and her breath came 
in short gasps.  Taka struggled to maintain his regal pose, even though 
silver tears formed in his eyes and worked their way down his cheeks.  
But after a few moments of exquisite pain, Taka had to look away.  
"Isha, Uzuri, see to her needs."
	Taka wandered into the cave where Elanna sat by the badger.  
"Well, how did it go?" she asked.
	"Lannie," he half whispered, "I think I just saw a ghost."  He 
nuzzled her desperately, drying his tears against her sympathetic 
shoulder.  Then he settled next to her, trying to recapture his good 
mood as she ate.


CHAPTER:  THE SISTERHOOD

	Kako was greatly helped by the love and support of her new pride 
sisters, and she looked for a way to show her gratitude.  She offered to 
join them on the evening hunt though she had not studied the land.
	As the Pride Sisters gathered up, talk centered on the new 
arrival.  The few details they could pry out of Kako's dark past were 
tantalizing.  She had borne cubs before and had survived an attempt on 
her life when she was three moons old.  She said that she had once seen 
the white lioness herself, Minshasa the blessed.  But the reason for her 
exile was sealed away behind her soft, enigmatic hazel eyes.
	Kako had many questions herself.  She did not understand why Taka 
put up with hyenas or why he did not require them to hunt for 
themselves.  "You would think he owed them a big favor."
	Sarabi remembered how Taka had loved her once, and she raised a 
half-hearted defense for the sake of what he once meant to her.
	"There is a curse on him.  I used to deny it.  I thought it was 
foolishness, but I have seen it grow and spread destruction over 
everything he touches.  He despises life, but he fears death, and so he 
goes on through a never-ending nightmare."
	"I could see it in his eyes," Kako said.
	"We were going to be married, but he wanted to leave the Pride 
Lands with him.  I told him that I couldn't, so he asked me to choose 
between my home and his love."
	"And you chose to stay?"
	Sarabi looked down.  "Yes."  She sighed.  "Kako, you must 
understand, I loved Taka like a brother, but not like a husband.  I 
loved Mufasa, and if you've ever been in love, you know how hard it is 
to fight your own heart."
	Kako's eyes filled with tears and her chin trembled.  "It's almost 
impossible, but it can be done.  It really can."
	Sarabi blinked.  A tear ran down her cheek.  "Kako, honey tree, 
I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to bring up painful things!"
	"Don't be sorry," Kako said.  She nuzzled Sarabi.  "Where did the 
hyenas come into this?"
	"Taka went away to find peace at the bottom of the gorge.  Fabana 
stopped him.  She adopted him, and when his mother Akase died, she was 
his only family.  I must admit that her love for him is almost leonine 
in its strength and I feel she is a good person--for a hyena."
	"OK.  I might have invited Fabana to stay, but her whole clan too?  
Does he always act without weighing the consequences??"
	Sarabi sighed deeply.  "I didn't say it made sense.  I only said 
he has known a lot of pain in his life, and somehow they make him feel 
better.  It's strange, but he's always been a little strange."
	"A lot strange if you ask me," Isha said.
	"I didn't," Sarabi said with mild irritation.
	Kako quickly nuzzled Sarabi.  "Well you girls make ME feel better.  
I didn't mean to cause any problems."
	"You didn't," Isha said, nuzzling Kako and then kissing Sarabi.  
"We have our little scrapes, but we're a sisterhood."
	Kako set about to prove herself on the hunt.  She was very 
focused, as intense on the hunt as she was facing Taka.  The hunt was a 
dance between predator and prey, and Kako was a graceful ballerina, a 
thing of beauty and deadliness.  Uzuri gave her wide latitude in 
choosing her own approach, sure she had another Avina in her care.  It 
proved to be correct, and while the others pursued a group strategy, 
Kako silently crept up on a bontebok.  Her rush was sudden, terrible, 
and victorious.  Isha gasped with amazement at her effortless grace even 
in the kill, and came to her as she stood over her trophy.  Isha nuzzled 
her warmly and said, "Well done, my sister!"
	"May we be sisters?"
	"Of course.  I take some pride in my own hunting skills.  It will 
be a bond between us."
	Kako nuzzled her back.  "Even so.  And we are passionate about our 
beliefs.  That is another bond between us."
	Isha led her away a short distance.  "Kako, I wouldn't dream of 
asking you in front of the others.  But if we are going to be sisters, 
confide in me."
	Kako looked away and sighed.  "If we are going to be sisters, 
insist that I say nothing.  Turn from me even if I come willingly to 
pour out my heart.  You must give me the strength to bear this awful 
secret for the love of one I left behind and one I bear inside me.  Help 
me, Isha--a lot depends on it.  Help me!"
	"Forgive me," Isha said quietly.  In lion fashion, she put her paw 
over Kako's mouth and then kissed her.  "I have sealed the secret away.  
But from this point on, let no new secrets divide us, Sis."
	"I'd like that," Kako said, breathing out a sigh and smiling for 
the first time.


CHAPTER:  THE LITTLE STRANGER

	Kako was always present on the hunt, even the days she was sick 
with a fever and barely able to stay awake.  Her pregnancy was only an 
inconvenience to her, one she dealt with firmly.
	One night they were hunting wildebeests.  Kako's gait was 
unsteady, and often gritted her teeth in pain.  Uzuri was loathe to 
order her home, so impressed was she by her courageous dignity, but she 
winced when Kako held her cries to a stifled moan to keep from alerting 
the prey.
	Uzuri stalked closer and closer to the herd, excited by the 
prospect of getting a decent kill for the first time in a long while.
	Fanning out to the full width of the crescent, the huntresses 
awaited Uzuri's signal.  Kako was on the left tip, a position requiring 
some skill, but she had proved her worthiness time and time again.  Kako 
was tense and preoccupied, fighting her discomfort with a will only a 
lioness could muster.
	Uzuri's ears twitched.  She sprang from cover and soared toward 
the herd like a golden hawk.  Sarabi closed in quickly from the right to 
drive the herd as it blossomed into full retreat.  Kako lumbered along 
on the left, trying to block out her pain and give her best effort.
	Uzuri closed on a wildebeest, locked in a battle of two wills to 
survive.  Three other lionesses swarmed over the unfortunate beast and 
soon it was gasping for its final breath with Uzuri's strong jaws closed 
on its throat.  The pride would survive another week.
	On the left flank, Kako let out a shriek of agony.  It galvanized 
the other lionesses who thought she had been gored.  Isha and Sarafina 
came running to her aid.
	Kako was trying to stagger out of the way of an oncoming wall of 
animals. Isha and Fini rushed to her side.  They snarled and clawed, 
parting the wildebeests the way a large rock in a stream divides the 
water until she was out of danger.  Isha trembled like a leaf.  "Whoa, 
girl, that was a close one!"
	Sarafina said, and without irreverence, "I know how Mufasa must 
have felt.  They look different when they're running AT you.  They're 
BIG."
	"I know."
	"Oh gods!!" Kako shrieked, her slow, unsteady gait betraying her 
extreme agony.  Isha and Sarafina looked around at their pride sister 
grimacing in agony.  Her water broke, quickly soaking the fur on her leg 
with blood and humors.  She stumbled a couple of steps toward her 
friends and she moaned.  "Help me!  Somebody help me!"
	"Lay down!  Lay down!"  Isha ran to her as she collapsed on her 
side.  "Kako!  Honey Tree!  It's going to be all right!"
	"Isha, you're so good to me.  I love you, Isha."
	"I love you too.  Don't you die on me, girl!  Now listen to me--I 
know you're in pain, but bear down.  Push as hard as you can, and it 
will be over sooner."
	"I don't think I can."  Kako gritted her teeth as a moan of agony 
escaped her.  "Aiheu!  God help me!  Help me!"
	"Bear down!" Isha said in a commanding voice.  "Do it!"
	Kako's eyes bulged until the whites showed, and sweat popped out, 
matting her fur.  "I'm trying, Isha!  I'm trying!  I shouldn't have come 
out tonight!"
	"I hate to say I told you so," Isha said, trying to be calm.  But 
the tip of her tail twitched nervously.  "Push!  Bear down, for God's 
sake!  Push!!"
	Oh gods!"  She gasped.  "I think something's happening!"
	Blood stained the grass near her tail.  "Look!" Uzuri said.  "Here 
it comes!"
	"Come on, Honey Tree!"  Isha kissed her on the cheek.  "You can do 
it, Sis!"
	A half smile broke through the tense face on Kako.  "Yes, I can!  
I can!  It's happening!"
	With a half-choked-back shriek, Kako expelled a small body still 
wrapped in its maternal cloak.  Excitedly, Isha pulled the sac from the 
infant and began to clean it off.
	Uzuri came over excitedly.  "Oh, look at him!  He's beautiful!"  
The other pride sisters gathered around in respectful silence before the 
start of a new life.
	Isha said, "Mother, behold your son."  
	Panting with the effort of bringing life into the world, Kako 
looked at the small, wet treasure that God had given her.  "Come, my 
son."  She gently nudged the small child against her abdomen and lay 
exhausted as he took his first meal under the starry sky.  With a tired 
smile, Kako said, "He was born at night.  He'll be a mighty hunter 
someday."
	Isha touched the small infant with her tongue.  "Isn't he 
beautiful!  What are you going to call him?"
	"He will be Mabatu, like his father."

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