CHAPTER:  THE NEXT DAY

	Baba was anxious to hear news of his matchmaking game, but his 
mother's polite smile prepared him for disappointment.  "It was 
interesting," she said.  "Things just didn't work out.  I felt guilty, 
like I was about to cheat on my husband, and he felt like he was 
sneaking out on his wife.  In the end, we just sat and talked politely.  
He's a good friend, and I'm glad I got to know him better, but neither 
one of us had nerve to go make love."
	King Mabatu passed by.  "Hello Baba.  Good morning, Kako."
	"Good morning to you too," she said.  "I trust you slept well?"
	"Yes, thank you."  He glanced at her longingly and trembled.  "I 
enjoyed our little chat last night."
	"So did I," she said, following the curves of his mane and the 
build of his shoulders with her eyes.  She had to look away.  Baba did 
not know what to look for, or he would have seen much that morning.
	Listless and somewhat detached from the rest of the world, Kako 
went through the motions of her morning routine, taking a long cool 
drink from the stream, grooming her face and neck with a paw, and 
settling down for a nap with the Pride Sisters.  Only her eyes rarely 
closed, and during a brief bout with sleep, she twitched and moaned a 
great deal, waking with a start and crying, "I can't!"
	Mabatu fared little better.  Baba saw him perched on a kopje, 
watching the goings on of the savanna with a sullen, withdrawn air.  He 
climbed up and sat next to his father.  "What's wrong, Dad?  Are you 
feeling sick?
	"No, son.  I was just thinking."
	"About what?"
	"About you.  How much I loved you, and how much I'd give up for 
you.  You do love me too, don't you?"
	"For shame!"  Baba buried his head in the old king's mane and 
purred affectionately.  "Of course I love you!  I owe you my very life!"
	Mabatu leaned on him.  "Son, those words carry a bitter irony you 
can't understand now.  But someday you will."
	"What does that mean?"
	Mabatu pawed his shoulder.  "You have a son now.  Bringing him 
into the world was one of life's sweetest pleasures, but raising him is 
one of life's hardest responsibilities.  Look around at these faces.  On 
the surface, they appear to be looking in every direction.  But deep 
down inside they are all looking to me for protection and guidance.  And 
someday they will all be looking to you.  You see, son, there's only one 
difference between you and a rogue lion."
	"What's that?"
	"A rogue lion has nothing to lose.  Always remember that."  He 
laughed bitterly.  "Listen to the old lion going on.  I'm rambling and 
not making any sense."
	"I think you make lots of sense," Baba said.  "I never knew my 
real father, but I don't feel so bad about it now."  He rested his head 
on Mabatu.  "What did I do to deserve all this?"
	The king purred.  "You made an old lion feel much better.  That is 
enough."
	That evening, Kako tried to lose herself in the hunt.  But she 
does not concentrate well.  One of her daughters said, "How do you stand 
it?  I mean, you're in your season--you and him together alone!"
	"This is one subject not to mention in front of Baba or Isha.  Is 
that understood?"
	"Sure, Mom.  But you were taking a big risk last night being alone 
with Dad.  It's clear to all of us that you still love him."  
"I kept my head about me.  Nothing happened."  
"Oh?  Really?  You weren't even tempted for a moment?"
	"My son lives, doesn't he?  My love for your father is strong, but 
my mother love is even stronger.  God bless him, Baba was trying to fix 
me up with a date.  He doesn't know, and he must never know why your Dad 
and I are not together."
	"I think it's a shame to give up so much and not be able to tell 
him."
	"I think it would be a worse shame to have him feel guilty."
	"True, true," the others said.
	Kako sounded in control and very rational, but she could barely 
concentrate on the task at hand and she was very forgetful.  Umande 
watched her in anguish as she strove to act normal with the turmoil she 
felt inside.
	Kako taught them Uzuri's crescent formation, and they decided to 
use it.  She took up her old post on the left point, but gave the pre-
arranged signals with her ears that guided the others unfailingly 
through the steps of the predatory ballet.  
	Wildebeests had congregated on the meadow near the termite mounds.  
The splashing of water in the creek was a perfect cover for the delicate 
leonine tread that brought the huntresses ever closer.
	Most of the young calves were in the center of the herd protected 
by a wall of formidable adults.  But one young mother let her 
inexperience show, and she was at the rim of the herd with her calf.  
"Aiheu abamami," Kako silently mouthed.  "Aiheu provides."
	Her ears flicked forward.  At once, several lionesses plunged from 
the surrounding grass.  The Wildebeests cried out in alarm, taking 
flight.  The central column of huntresses drove the well-ordered herd 
into two bodies that fled in opposite directions.  Shennanii tore into 
the right company, grabbing hold of a large bull by the shoulder, 
climbing on his back and slowing him just enough for others to seize his 
flanks, stomach and lower back.  He fell into their deadly embrace as 
Shennanii closed on his throat.
	Kako strode swiftly after the screaming calf, cutting it off from 
the rest of the herd.  She bounded ever closer and readied herself to 
aim a blow at its shoulder that would make it hers.  Then out of the 
corner of her eye she saw the cow approaching, horns lowered.
	Umande heard a lioness scream.  Galvanized, she broke off her 
pursuit of a calf and searched frantically for the source.  Lying in the 
grass trembling was a golden body smeared with its own red blood.  
Trembling, she drew close.
	"Momma!!  Oh gods!!"
	Wide-eyed, Kako reached for her with her one good arm.  "Mandy, go 
get Mabatu!  Quick!"
	"Momma!!"
	"Go, honey tree!  Run!  Get Mabatu!"
	Umande, sobbing, ran screaming past her pride sisters.  "Kako's 
dying!!  Get Mabatu!!"
	"Which one??"
	"Both of them!"
	Umande and Shennanii rushed back to the Pride Kopje and saw Mabatu 
and Baba going over some star lore and laughing, blissfully unaware of 
the tragedy unfolding near the termite mounds.
	"Come quick!" Mandy shouted.  "It's Kako!  Hurry!"
	Mabatu and Baba tore across the grassland.  The peaceful stars 
were beginning to come out, and a hush was settling across the land.  
Crickets serenaded the newborn moon and a distant hyena was heard 
serenading his lady love.  With maddening consistency, the flow of life 
did not pause even for a minute as Kako lay gasping in a pool of her own 
blood.
	Mabatu drew near and shuddered.  She started to say something to 
him, but she looked over and saw Baba.  "Be strong.  Remember the 
promise."
"Even now?"
"Even now."
"You were a good friend to me."
"So long, my king."  
"Yes, my friend.  So long."
Baba drew near.  Tears streamed down his cheeks.  "Oh Momma!"
"My little boy!  Oh, but you're not little anymore, my handsome 
lion.  Be good to Isha."
Isha fell to the ground and wailed in anguish.  Habusu and Lisani 
huddled next to her and sobbed.
"Don't die!  Please don't die!"  Baba lay his head against her 
side like a helpless cub.  "Oh gods, I can't lose you, I just can't!  
Get up, Momma!  I'll take you to the shaman!  Get up, Momma!  Please!"
Mabatu touches his mane softly with a paw.  "Nothing can stop it 
now.  Don't spoil her last moments with you."
Baba looked into his mother's eyes.  "I love you, Mom!  You hear 
me?  I love you."
She managed a weak smile.  "You have no idea how much I love you," 
she said.  Her eyes looked over at Mabatu, then closed.
The lionesses sat about stunned.  Mabatu got up stiffly and nudged 
his Prince.  "Baba, you lead the roar.  She was your mother.  I have to 
go patrol the border now."
"Right now?"
"Yes.  I'm sorry."  He stroked Baba's mane.  "I remember when my 
mother died.  I know what you're feeling my son."


CHAPTER:  ALONE

	Mabatu left the group and headed off into the trees.  He rounded 
the other side of a small kopje and collapsed.
With his cheek pressed to the earth, he reached out with his 
forelegs and extended his claws, digging them deeply into the grass and 
pulling back to plow furrows in the grass.  "Kako!!  God, why didn't you 
take me instead??  Why, why??"
	His stomach knotted, and tears flooded his eyes.  "I must stay in 
control," he stammered.  He raised his head up and pulled up into a 
crouch, then tried to stand.  He bit his lip to keep from crying, but 
couldn't.  "I'm in control.  I can do this!"
	He raised up on his forepaws, then crumbled to the earth, rolling 
on his side and curling into a ball of misery, sobbing.  "I must stay in 
control," he hissed through clenched teeth.  "I must!"
	For many moments he lay there and shuddered, too weak to move.  
Then with a supreme effort, Mabatu actually struggled to his feet.  He 
turned about and started to head back home.  His legs trembled so badly 
he could hardly control them, and his joints were weak.  "I can't let 
Baba find out," he said.  "He must never know."
	His stomach hurt, and tears streamed down his cheeks.  He took a 
couple of steps, then collapsed again and lay helplessly as his body was 
wracked with powerful sobs that with passing minutes died down to a 
soft, plaintive utterance like the cries of an infant cub separated from 
its mother.
	"Why, Aiheu?" he whimpered.  "Why did you take her from me?  
Didn't you think I could be trusted?"  He rolled on his back.  "I was 
weak for a moment, but I overcame it!  I could have withstood 
temptation!"  He covered his eyes with his paws.  "Help me!  You have to 
help me!  If you still love me, give me strength to go on!"
	Just then, Umande breasted the wall of grass and shrubs.  She 
smelled the fresh earth and saw the look on his face.  "Oh Dad!"  She 
wept and nuzzled him.  "Daddy, I love you so much!  So much!"
	He pawed her face and kissed her.  "My little Mandy!  You don't 
remember your Mom too well, but honey tree, she loved you with her whole 
heart!  She used to call you Mimo."
	"I remember.  Just this morning she called me Mimo, right before 
we went...."  She broke down and wept.  "This morning she was so alive!  
So warm and alive!"
	"I know!"  Mabatu rubbed his head against her cheek, but then he 
started.  "Are you alone??"
	"Yes.  I was not followed."  She came and laid her head in his 
soft mane and pawing him desperately.  "I couldn't stand it anymore.  
How can I call Mother my friend??  She was so much more than that!  She 
has to be mourned properly--we can't let her Ka slip away like that."
	"You're right, you know."  Mabatu looked about and kissed Mandy 
gently.  "Let's do it right.  Baba will think I'm proclaiming the border 
if we're careful."
	Mabatu and Umande got up and climbed to the top of the rock.  They 
waited for Baba's roar of grief, and they picked that moment to answer.  
"I love you, Mother!" Mandy cried.
	"Beloved, my heart is dead!" Mabatu shouted.  Tears coursed down 
his cheeks and he drew in a deep breath, releasing it in a loud, long 
roar.  Umande raised her nose to the sky and joined him.  The 
foundations of heaven were shaken, and the sound of their pain echoed 
off the distant hills in a hundred eerie permutations.
	When the sound finally died down, Mabatu kissed Umande.  "Well, 
Mandy, let's go mark the boundaries.  I think I'll need someone to lean 
on."
	"Are you sure you can make it?"
	"I have to make it.  She died with such courage, surely I can find 
the strength to pee on a shrub."  His voice had renewed strength, but a 
tear still managed to escape and roll down his cheek.  "Honey Tree, I've 
made some sacrifices for my children, but they were paid back many times 
over.  You are such a comfort to me.  I love you."
	"I love you too, Dad."


CHAPTER:  NO SWEETER REST

	Baba remembered that his new father would sleep in a certain 
place, but about one moon after his mother died, he noticed that Mabatu 
made a mysterious pilgrimage.  He would reappear in his usual place each 
morning, but apparently did not spend the night in that spot.  This 
intrigued Baba and one night he determined to follow his father.
	Quietly tailing him, Baba watched as King Mabatu walked, ears 
drooped and tail hanging limply.  The King crossed the broad meadow, the 
creek, and beyond to the termite mounds and the place where Kako died.  
By her bleached bones--or what was left of them--Mabatu fell on his face 
and rolled on his back.  "Kako!" he sobbed.  "Kako!  My little Kako!"
	Baba, against his better judgment, walked to Mabatu and touched 
him with his paw.
	The old king jerked around.  "What are you doing here??"
	Tearfully, Baba stroked his mane with a paw.  "You don't have to 
hide it from me anymore."
	"Hide what??" Mabatu asked fearfully.
	"You loved her, didn't you?"
	Mabatu sighed.  "Yes, I loved her.  Her ties to your father were 
stronger than death itself.  And I loved her stronger than death itself.  
She knew that--she asked me to be strong for your sake.  The poor Nisei, 
always looking after us, even at the boundaries of death itself!"  He 
pawed Baba's mane.  "Ask me no more about it, Baba.  Not if you love 
me."
	"As you wish, father.  But tell me: you come here every night, 
don't you."
	"Yes.  And when I die, I want to die here.  It's a beautiful spot 
to meet Aiheu in.  Yes, a beautiful spot for anything.  Kako and I were 
apart in life, but we will be together in death."
	Baba wept.  "If I have to drag you here myself, you will rest 
here."
	Mabatu nuzzled him tenderly, then lay in the grass and said, "Son, 
you have a wife whose fur is warm and soft.  Leave me with the dead and 
go treasure the living while they may be found.  I'll be OK, I promise."

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