“The leopardess? Is that a funny story?”
“Yes, and worse, it’s true! You’ll embarrass him, but at least he won’t cry.”
Makaka yawned and stretched. It was time for his nap, something he coveted every second of snuggled against her soft fur. His eyes looked up and he saw Uzuri turn to look back. His warm smile had the usual effect of starting a bath, something he always enjoyed more than Togo and Kombi ever did. Makaka took nothing for granted, and he found the joy in everything he did. But he felt suddenly as if something was wrong. Very wrong.
“Uzuri, stop!”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, but I have to see Rafiki.”
“You’re just having a panic attack.”
“No, it’s real. I’m sure.” He kisses her. “I’ll be back, I promise!”
With his heart in his mouth, he ran as fast as his short legs would carry him across the broad savanna. Gasping for air, he was heedless of snakes, a flock of noisy guinea fowl, or even a vulture picking at a carcass.
Worn down, he finally stumbles into the baobab. “Rafiki! Come quick! I need your help!”
Rafiki was lying on the floor, curled up in a ball.
“Rafiki, wake up!” He shakes the limp mandrill, but there is no response. “Wake up! For the Gods’ sake!” Begins to panic. He grabs an owl quill. Holding the tip in front of his nose, the shaft did not twitch. He held the small tuft of down fluff on the base of the feather in front of his nostrils. There was a very slight stirring.
Makaka went to the door. “Uzuri! Anybody! Help! Can anyone hear me?? Oh gods, can anyone hear me??”
He began to sob. “Don’t leave me, Uncle! Don’t leave me!” There was a gourd of Bonewort lying shattered beside him. It was his usual medication--it had never affected him that way before. He held up some of the herbs. There was something else in there as well. A small strand of a brighter green that he could not recognize. Rafiki had evidently poisoned himself, but with what, Makaka had no idea.
“Oh gods, please help us! Aiheu, if you can hear me, please don’t let him die! Please!”
Makaka realized he nearly spent his nap time blissfully curled up on Uzuri’s side. He fell over Rafiki and began to sob again. He knew he’d never put the herbs in the gourds himself. Though he gathered herbs, Rafiki always checked them before he put them in the gourds. He racked his brains for one small hint of what to do. He tried to stop crying, but he couldn’t. “Oh gods, please help us!” Makaka’s breathing began to be labored. His stress had triggered an asthma attack.
“Not now!” He had to keep his courage up and fight it if Rafiki was to live.
Makaka bowed his head to the ground. “Mano, protect him! Minshasa, comfort him! Aiheu, save him! Please, if you can hear me, somebody help him!”
The wind shifted unexpectedly from the North to the West. The smell of wild honey came wafting into the baobab tree. As he breathed in the fragrance deeply, he relaxed. It opened his lungs, numbed his pain and made him very calm, collected. His hands began to glow softly.
“Who are you? What are you? What are you doing to me?” Makaka took in another deep breath of the honey fragrance and let it out slowly. With that breath, his fear leaked out. He took his hands and for lack of other ideas tried placing them on Rafiki. A tingling went out through his fingertips and palms. He felt like strength was flowing into Rafiki.
Rafiki took in a sudden gasp. His eyes popped open. “What happened?”
Makaka grabbed him about the neck and hugged him so tightly that he almost choked.
Rafiki kissed him. “I had left my body. I was floating above, looking down on myself. I remember saying, ‘Oh gods, send my Makaka to help me.’ And you came. Somehow I knew you’d come.”
CHAPTER 61: MAKAKA’S COOL PERIOD
Makaka was anxious to play with someone roughly his own size. While Togo and Kombi were not quite his size, at least they played roughly.
“Hey, fellows!” Makaka said.
“Yo, Makaka. Wanna play?”
“Gee, that would be swell!”
Togo looked at Kombi. “Is he speaking in simian?”
“I don’t think so. We have a serious problem here.”
Kombi felt of Makaka’s forehead. “Stick out your tongue, Master Makaka.”
“Aaaah.”
“Now belch!”
“Buuurrrrrp!”
Kombi said, “Uhhh! Gross! I love it! There’s hope.”
Togo shook his head. “I’m not so sure. Walk around, Makaka.”
Worriedly, Makaka paced back and forth. He watched Togo’s long face. “What's wrong with the way I walk?”
“That's not walking, it's just going from place to place. We have to perscribe some therepy. It’s the only humane thing to do.”
Kombi put his paw on Makaka’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring pat. “Leave it to the doctor. He’ll clue you in.”
Togo stretched, letting his claws snap out full length, then yawned. “OK, first of all, I want four in the floor!”
“Drop down,” Kombi said.
“Now do like this.” He started forward with a syncopated slide. “A one and a two and a one-two-three. If you wanna be cool, gotta walk like me. Keep your chin turned up and maintain your pace, or your not really walkin, you’re just a changin your place.”
Makaka put his heart into it. “A one and a two and a one-two-three!”
“More bounce,” Kombi said. “Keep a slinky slide that’s the mark of the pride. Oh baby, you’re cookin now!”
“Gee! This feels swell!”
Togo abruptly stopped and Makaka ran right into him. “Let’s do something about that ‘swell’ thing! This is a full-blown cultural emergency!”
Kombi said, “Repeat after me. Cooool!”
“Cooool!”
“All right!”
“All right!”
Kombi began to smile. “Can you dig it!”
“Can you dig it!”
“He learns fast!” Kombi said, “This one takes real effort.” He held up his paw and, being quick on the uptake, Makaka high-fived him.
“How does that feel, ape dude??”
“Gee, it feels swell!”
Kombi shot Togo a pained glance. “I hate to see the little guy suffer. Cancel all my other appointments.”
Meanwhile, Togo and Kombi’s mother was getting her stiff shoulder rubbed by Rafiki. Uzuri half closed her eyes and purred as the mandrill’s skilled hands massaged the pain away.
“Today Makaka ground his own Campa root,” Rafiki said. “You know, that boy is headed for great things. When I was his age, I was out playing with my friends. He’s probably saying his morning prayers right now.”
“I don’t know about that,” Uzuri said. “Children have to be children. They’re not just small adults. I give him love--and that’s not to say that you don’t--and you give him wisdom. But he needs to get out and play. And I don’t mean alone. He needs to learn from other young and growing minds. He needs to burn off excess energy. He needs to have a life.”
“And you don’t think he has one?”
“I didn’t say that. I only meant that everyone needs to do some service, but they all have to be served too. Makaka is a child. He needs a childhood.”
Rafiki put his hands under Uzuri’s ears and began to rub in little circles. She purred again, closing her eyes. “Oh yes!” she murmured.
“You make a valid point, old girl. Maybe I forget sometimes how it felt to be young. Do you think the cubs would accept him?”
“All right!” Kombi shouted. “We’ve created another masterpiece!”
“Too cool!” Togo answered.
“Just gotta get with the program,” Makaka said, slinking about with a swaggering flip of his tail. “Cool isn’t a thing, it’s a way of life.”
“It just gets me right here,” Togo said, patting his chest. “Another soul snatched from the jaws of utter geek-dom.”
Later that day Rafiki returned,
tired but refreshed by his time with Uzuri. “Hello, Makaka.”
“Yo, daddy-o.”
“Huh?”
“You look beat, dude. Why don’t you chill while I raid the pantry.”
“Chill?” He watched the way Makaka slinked to the cache of fruit. “Is there something wrong with your legs?”
“Man, my dogs are barking! You know what they say--sometimes life’s a....”
Rafiki clapped his hand over Makaka’s mouth. “TOGO!! KOMBI!!”
CHAPTER 62: DIETARY REQUIREMENTS
"Aiheu showed them that the earth was large but not boundless, and offered them a choice: "You may choose amongst yourselves who will be fruitful and continue the line, or you may choose to be treated alike, and I shall decide how to limit your numbers."
There was only a short discussion before they answered, saying: "My Lord, we are brothers and cannot deny others what we desire for ourselves." In those days, their love for one another was fresh, for they were equal as spirit children and none oppressed the other.
Aiheu smiled upon them, saying: "There is wisdom in compassion. You shall all be fruitful, but you will face challenges from your own people and from other peoples."
Aiheu seperated them into two groups, and one group dwarfed the other. “To the greater group, I give the plants of the field and the fruits of the trees. But lest you strip the earth of all green things with your offspring, I give the lesser group a taste for blood. To them I give the eaters of plants.”
Some of the plant eaters were upset and cried out to God that they should not all die. To this, Aiheu answered, “I offer you to the hunters, but they must catch you first. Be vigilant, wise, and careful, and you will not perish from the land I give you.”
For a while life was fearful for the hunter and the hunted, but as the seasons passed they discovered new pleasures, and from them new life. And only then did they fully appreciate the wonder of their existance.
-- THE LEONINE STORY OF BEGINNINGS, VARIATION C-7-A
Rafiki and Makaka heard the climax of a hunt very close to the baobab. Makaka is stunned; he was seeing his friends in a new light; he knew they hunted for a living, but he’d never seen a kill in all its gory detail before.
Makaka turned to Rafiki. “They are so gentle sometimes.”
“So are you. You must the creation, when Aiheu offered a choice to all living things, and all of them agreed that this way was better than the alternatives. We all live, love, and die. We are all children of the same God, and when we do what we are called to do, we return to him, all reaching the same destination and the same joy. There will be no room in a heart full of love and wonder for hard feelings.”
Makaka headed over to join the fray. Quickly he grabbed a piece of meat and bit down. As he chewed, his face screwed up in displeasure. But unwilling to spit it out, he continued to chew slowly.
“Good, isn’t it?” one of the cubs said. Makaka nodded his head, swallowed hard, and went back to Rafiki.
"Ugh!" He stuck out his tongue as if it had been burned. The moist, musky smell filled his breath as he breathed out, and flooded his throat, emanating from his red-flecked face. “Eeew! Do you have any Tiko root?”
Rafiki got some from a gourd. He handed a piece to Makaka who chewed it rapidly, filling his breath with the rich minty aroma that took the smell of raw meat away and settled his stomach.
“They like this stuff?”
“Love it. Still, you were very brave. I don’t think I could have swallowed that stuff--not raw, anyhow.”
He kept chewing the Tiko root. "Oh yeah. That’s much better. May I have some water to wash it down?"
Uzuri came over bearing a piece of meat with a broad smile on her face. “This is the best part. It was hard to get this away from those greedy gusses.”
“You did this for me?” Makaka said.
“It was no trouble. Not for my special little boy.”
Makaka looked at her expectant smile. He picked up the piece of meat and without hesitation took a large bite. “Thanks so much,” he said, a little drop of warm blood running down his cheek.
Uzuri is pleased. “My boy is going to grow up big and strong eating like that!”
He came and put his arms around her neck, stroking her soft fur. Makaka’s heart was so full of love, he forgot to feel sick.
CHAPTER 63: MOURNING BECOMES HER
Uzuri had been depressed since the mantlement of Togo and Kombi. For that reason Habusu was sure he was bearing the most wonderful news. He rushed quickly to find the hunt mistress.
"Guess what, Uzuri! I just saw Togo and Kombi!"
"You did? Where??"
"Right next to the Pride Lands! They are our neighbors now. They took over their own kingdom when Ugas died. How about that! Now you can sneak down and see them whenever you want."
"Yes," she said, a little weak in the knees. “I see.”
"I knew you'd be thrilled."
"Yes, of course." Uzuri's jaw began to tremble, and tears filled her eyes. She ran off quickly rather than be seen in that state. She knew the only place where she could go and find understanding in her predicament, and she headed at once for Rafiki's baobab, running across the savanna without a single pause to rest.
Rafiki was looking into his scrying bowl. Without even looking up, he said, "Come in, Uzuri. I've been expecting you."
She looked at the bowl of water. "Just how much do you know?"
"I knew you would come by."
"And how about Ugas. Is he?"
"Yes, he is." Rafiki looked at her face with some concern. "So you found out today, did you?"
"Habusu told me." Trying to maintain her perpetual dignity, Uzuri seated herself, head erect even in grief, and only her tail tip betrayed her inner struggle. "I want you to help me. This is secret--tell no one. Ugas, my husband, must be mourned.”
“Of course.”
“I want you to come with me. My heart is heavy, and I have no one I can tell. I need someone, Rafiki, as once you needed me."
“What an honor,” he said, putting his hand over her paw and giving it a little squeeze. Her regal demeanor was well-kept, but Rafiki knew how she must feel inside.
“Uzuri," he shyly ventured, "Ugas was my good friend. He spoke often of you. He would ask me about Togo and Kombi. Too bad he never met them--his own sons."
"It was too bad," she agreed tonelessly.
Rafiki worried about all the pent-up grief she carried. "Where do you want to hold the ceremony?"
"Our special place. The bank of the stream that runs along the border of our kingdoms. There is a patch of reeds there. We would meet there at times."
"I know."
"He told you? Did you know him that well?"
"Very well." Rafiki watched the tip of her tail twitch. Her stare was regal but rigid and forced. His heart went out to her. "I’ll keep your secret, but you must keep mine. I have a little something for you."
He reached in a gourd and pulled out a lock of golden fur. "I brought this back for my shrine." Presenting it to her, he watched her quivering nostrils smell the old fragrance.
Her trembling paw reached out and stroked the lock of mane. Her eyes welled up with tears and she bent to face the ground. "Ugas," she stammered. "My beloved Ugas!"
Rafiki took the liberty of putting his arms around her strong, shapely neck and held her to his breast. She leaned her head on his shoulder lightly.
"Uzuri, how it breaks my heart to see your grief. I know what it’s like to lose a mate. I will pray for you day and night."
"You're a good friend," Uzuri said quietly. "I knew you would understand."
That was the closest Uzuri came to telling Rafiki she loved him too, and the mandrill gave her a little squeeze. "You were always a queen to me. You always will be."
Uzuri, as soon as she regained her composure, said, "Until high moon." She pulled herself erect, walked with regal dignity out of the baobab, and bid him farewell.
Rafiki was nervous. He ha
d wanted to arrange the service a little earlier, for there was a danger ahead, and the “special place” would be used for other matters.
He stuck a stick straight into the ground. As the moon’s shadow shortened, he watched the midmoon hour approach. “Please, o gods, let us get this over with before it’s too late.”
As if in answer to his prayers, Uzuri came a little early. She stalked in somberly and for this brief time set aside her reserved manner. Ugas was dead, and she would not want his spirit to look down on her and find her cold.
“Oh, Ugas! Oh gods, my husband, my lover, my heart! He’s dead!”
Tears began to stream down her face. She wanted to roar, but dared not. Instead, she nestled in the sanctuary of Rafiki’s arms and sobbed.
“That wonderful lion! That kind and gentle soul! What little time we spent together made me more noble, more grand just for having loved him! And let me tell you, Rafiki, more important than his breath on my cheek was being there with him. He was caring, with a voice as warm as a good nuzzle, and a nuzzle as warm as the sun. Sometimes we would just lie side by side, and I would smell the honest fragrance of his mane against my cheek. He always made me feel special and beautiful. The last time we made love, he said--” Tears began to stream down her face and she looked at the ground unable to control herself.
“What did he say?”
“He looked at me sadly and said ‘Love me as if it was for the last time.’” The words stung Rafiki, and he put his arms around her neck, kissing her around the face.
“My poor girl! My poor little girl! It will get better with time. You will never be the same, but you will learn to live with the loss, as I have.”
Uzuri looked around and touched Rafiki’s face with her warm tongue. “I was right. You do understand.”
At that painful moment, another lioness showed up--Barata. Rafiki sighed.
“What is she doing here?” Uzuri asked curtly.
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