CHAPTER:  OUR LITTLE SECRET

	Isha did not know if Kako had heard any of the snide remarks.  She 
grimaced with embarrassment as she went to see Mabatu's mother and clear 
things up once and for all.
	"Isha!" Kako said with her usual sunshine.  She nuzzled Isha and 
patted her shoulder with a paw.  "You're so sweet taking care of my 
Baba.  He had such a good time last night, he was talking about it on 
and on!"
	"Oh?"  Isha smiled timidly.  "Anything I should know about?"
	Kako's ears twitched, but she made nothing of it as if she didn't 
hear the question.  Isha was not about to ask it again.
	Baba saw her and came running up, eyes shining.  "Isha!  Isha!"  
He pounced on her, kissing her with his soft, warm tongue and rubbing 
her face.
	"Hello, Rat Fink!"
	He smiled broadly.  "Hello, Isha!"  Sitting next to her, Baba 
looked at his mother and said, "Guess what I'm going to do when I grow 
up!"
	"I like guessing games," Isha said quickly.  "Baba, I have a 
little secret for you if your Mom doesn't mind."
	"A little secret?" Kako said with a grin.  "Ooooh, sounds 
serious!"
	"Oh it is," Isha said slyly with a wink and a smile.  Gently but 
urgently, she nudged the smiling cub around a few rocks and bushes, then 
said as calmly as she could, "Baba, I don't think you should tell your 
Mom about us yet.  In fact, you shouldn't tell anyone."
	Mabatu's ears sagged.  "Oh."
	"Honey Tree, getting engaged is a big step.  At your age, you 
could still change your mind."
	"But I won't!"  He nuzzled her.  "I love you, Isha!  I'd marry you 
right now if they'd let me."
	"I believe you, Fuzzy Love."  Trying not to hurt his feelings, she 
nuzzled his small body and kissed him.  "Just follow my advice and hold 
off until you get older, like when you're approaching your mantlement.  
Then when you say it, they will understand it the way I do.  You see, if 
you DID happen to change your mind...."
	"But I won't!  I love you!  I really do!"
	"I know.  But let's just say IF you did, you wouldn't have to make 
it up to me.  And I'd understand."
	"You DO love me back, don't you?"
	"What do you think, Baba?"  She lay down and with her paw easily 
scooped her small suitor to her side.  Fondling him with a paw, she 
purred, "You're a special part of me, and if you were taken away, it 
would leave a wound that would bleed.  You're my little golden 
treasure."  Mabatu began to grunt with pleasure at her touch.  "If you 
really love me, it won't be a long two years.  The days will speed past, 
but don't wish them away.  Once you cross that threshold and become a 
lion, all your free and easy days of cubhood are gone forever.  
Understand me, Rat Fink?"
	"Yeah."  He pushed out from under her paw and rubbed his face 
against hers.  "I love you."
	"I love you too."


CHAPTER:  WE'RE TALKING KINGS AND SUCCESSIONS

	Only two and a half months after Elanna married Taka, she began 
having contractions.  She was in danger of having a miscarriage, or at 
least that's what Kako could gather from a few snatches she overheard.  
The hyena guards would not let her too close to Taka's cave, and they 
would not give her a straight answer.
	An old mandrill was escorted quickly to the cave, his hyena guard 
supremely impatient with his unsteady, lumbering gait.  Kako had heard 
of Rafiki.  Whisperings from the hyenas and a few disparaging remarks 
from Taka would lead her to believe that some evil sorcerer was being 
confined in the baobab.  The other lionesses, however, told a different 
story.  She did not know what to believe.
	Rafiki passed close by Kako.  He paused and looked at her.  In a 
kind and bashful voice, he said, "My dear, I don't believe I've seen you 
before.  Has it been that long?"
	The mandrill yelped as one of the guards nipped his flank.  
Quickly he drew his fingers in blessing across her cheek and started on 
before he could be bitten again.
	Kako was watching and listening, but was in a poor position to 
tell what was going on.  She would have to ask Uzuri later.  The 
conversation was anxious and rose and fall, but she could make out very 
little.  Then she heard very clearly, "Rafiki!  Do something!  Anything!  
My son, my son!"
	A few moments of near absolute silence went by.  If this mandrill 
was really a great sorcerer, he would perform some great spell, probably 
in exchange for his freedom.  That was the plan, wasn't it?  "Aiheu," 
she whispered, "give him the power.  Give him the power."
	After a few moments, she heard a loud cry from the cave.  It was 
not an apelike sound but the heart-rending howl of a fully-grown male 
lion whose strength and courage could not even keep a small cub from 
dying before his eyes.
	Isha, her ears and tail drooping, went past bearing a small dead 
male.  "Oh Isha," Kako whispered, pawing her shoulder as she walked by.  
Isha looked around, her eyes red with hopeless tears.  Soon after that, 
escorted by hyenas, Rafiki dragged past as well.  Kako watched the grief 
stricken mandrill limp by, leaning heavily on his staff.  If possible, 
he looked even older and more bent than before.
	Taka came out on the promontory and shouted in his anguish, "If 
there is a God...."  He took in a deep breath and concluded, "....please 
help me!!"  He sat on the end of the promontory, his face bent low and 
sobbed.  Fabana slipped alongside him and held up her finely chiseled 
nose, howling like her heart would crumble.  Even the lionesses that 
hated him most were silent, transfixed by the depth of their grief.  
Then Taka raised his muzzle to the sky, pulled in a deep breath and 
roared with pain.  All of the lionesses took up the sound.  The hyenas 
howled and yammered, and from a nearby acacia, a flight of weaverbirds 
scattered like a living cloud.  The silence that followed could almost 
be nudged by a paw.  All eyes were on the dark-maned lion as he trudged 
down the promontory.
	Still weak in the knees, Taka wended his way down Pride Rock and 
crept slowly to where Kako stood with her son.
	"It seems the Gods have spoken," Taka said.  "There will be no 
prince from my line."  His chin began to tremble and tears spilled down 
his cheeks.  "She can never....the damage has...."
	Fabana quickly pressed her shoulder against his.  "Remember, son.  
You're a king."
	Taka did his best to keep some royal dignity, but he looked like a 
trembling blade of grass caught in a strong wind.  Kako quietly padded 
over and kissed him.  "I'm so sorry.  You poor dear-I mean, Your 
Majesty."
	"Kako, you came to me from the gods.  Your goodness is one of the 
few things that can laugh at the curse that burns my blood."  He sighed, 
and with great effort said, "Mabatu is my Prince, and your future King."
	"You honor us, Bayete."
	He looked at Mabatu.  "Hello, sport."
	"Hello, Your Majesty."
	"You are a prince now.  You should call me by my name, or if you 
feel like it, you may call me...please call me....Dad?"
	Mabatu came and sat next to him, burying his head in Taka's mane.  
"I love you, Dad."
	"I love you too."  He kissed Baba.  "You're my last hope, son.  Go 
to sleep a little early tonight `cause tomorrow, I'm waking you at 
sunrise.  I have something I want to show you."
	"What?"
	"You'll see."


CHAPTER:  ON THE PROMONTORY

	Mabatu stood on the end of the promontory with Taka and saw the 
sunrise.
	"Look at the light," Taka said.  "See how splendid it makes the 
plain look?  That is my kingdom, and someday it will be yours."
	"When?"
	"When I die," Taka said, solemnly.
	"Then I hope I never get to be king," Mabatu said.
	"What a beautiful, foolish notion!  We all have to go into the 
east when our time comes.  What makes life worth living is what you do 
with the time you have.  Like this morning.  I made sure I woke up to 
show you this, because it was important to me.  When I'm seated among 
the stars, I'll look back on this memory and smile."
	"Me too."  Mabatu leaned against Taka's dark mane.  "So Dad, when 
you were my age, did your dad do this with you?"
	Taka said, "My father was...."  He stiffened and his jaw began to 
quiver.  "He was always....  I mean, we never...."
	The words stuck in his throat.  Tears began to stream down his 
face.
	"What's wrong?"
	"Oh nothing."  He wiped his eyes with a paw.  "Please, don't watch 
me cry.  Please?  Just go run along and see your mother--I'll be with 
you in a minute."
	Reluctantly, sadly, Mabatu nuzzled his king and stalked down the 
promontory leaving Taka alone with his private grief.
	"Aiheu!  Roh'kash!  Anyone!" Taka cried in an anguished voice that 
echoed off the distant hills.  "If you're really out there, why did you 
take my son??  Why??"  He dropped his face to the ground and sobbed 
helplessly.

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