His face fell. "Hey, I tried to go easy on him, but when he bit me, I saw red."

"I know, and I'm not upset with you."

She sighed. "It's that prophesy again."

"You two had another fight?"

"No. Well, yes, but that's beside the point." She sighed again. "Don't be upset, m.u.f.fy, but you know that business about the one that touched him first bringing about his doom?"

"Yes. But...." Mufasa's eyes broadened. "Oh G.o.ds, don't tell me he thinks I'm going to whack him??"

She looked at him closely. "You wouldn't, would you? Promise?"

"For G.o.ds' sake! " He blinked at her, surprised. "Of course I promise! He's my brother! " He shook his head. "What AM I going to do with him, Sa.s.sie?"

"Tell him. He needs to hear it from you more than anyone else."

Nodding, he started away.

Poor Mufasa wanted to ask his parents for help, but the whole thing embarrased him too badly. He resigned himself to handling Taka "the usual way, " which meant humoring his moods, no matter how ridiculous they are, and being careful to remind him that he's loved.

He finally got his chance later that day.

Taka was resting on the end of the promontory. It was his favorite place to sulk when he felt like the whole world was out to get him. The scale of the view helped put his problems into perspective in the great pagent of life.

"Taka?"

"What?" Taka didn't bother to turn around.

"I just saw Sa.s.sie."

Taka turned around that time. "What did she say??"

"Not much." m.u.f.fy tried to keep his tail from twitching. Apparently he was successful. "She was upset. She looked a little depressed, so I asked her what was up."

"Oh G.o.ds, here it comes." Taka drooped.

"She was watching us fight, and she thought about the prophesy. You know, the part about the first one that touched you would begat your doom."

"Oh?" Taka gave him his undivided attention. "And what did you tell her?"

Mufasa smiled, but a tear rolled down his cheek. "I told her you're my brother. I'm sorry I hit you so hard. You bit me, and I went crazy. You know we both love you, Sa.s.sie and I. She worries about you. In fact, she's always telling me how she's going to marry you when you get older." Mufasa swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. "You don't know how lucky you are, Taka. I got the kingdom, but you got Sa.s.sie."

Taka smiled at him, a real smile, now. "Yeah, I guess I am. She's really beautiful, isn't she?"

Unable to reply, Mufasa merely nodded.

Taka looked at him closely. "Why m.u.f.fy, you're jealousa."

"Come off it."

"No, you really are." Taka smiled an amused smile. "G.o.ds! You're jealous of me! And all this timea." He rose briskly, stretched his legs, and came running over to m.u.f.fy. He nuzzled him and put his forearm around Mufasa's shoulder. "You must think I'm crazy."

"No. Well, not much."

"Sometimes I feel crazy. Dad always has it all together. He always knows the score." A tear ran down Taka's face. "Help me fight this thing, m.u.f.fy. If the three of us work hard, we can beat the prophesy. We can. You're good inside; so is Sa.s.sie. We've got to be good to beat it."

m.u.f.fy swallowed hard, then said, "Don't worry. We'll be really good."

SCENE: LIONESS FEVER.

".... And it was that Aiheu the Beautiful, having made the World of Ma'at (soil) gave it to his spirit children for a dwelling place. And they praised him, for the land was very comely. But in the first days, which were called the Days of Ka (spirit), some were not as happy as Aiheu had wished.

"What has this land to do with us?" they asked. "The sun does not warm us. The waters do not cleanse us. The wind does not cool us. How can this be our home when the gra.s.s does not stir beneath our feet?"

"So Aiheu took ma'at (soil) and mixed it with maja (water) that it may be shaped. And for those ka that desired to know pleasure, he clave them to bodies which he formed from the mud, breathing into their nostrils the breath of life, that so long as they should draw breath, they should be part of the World of Ma'at, and that the sun would warm them, the water would cleanse them, and the wind would cool them. These and many other pleasures he gave them for a birthright, but he also gave them a warning. For pain is the brother of pleasure, and those who are of ma'at must accept pain with the pleasure."

---- THE LEONINE STORY OF BEGINNINGS, Variation D-4-A Rafiki awoke with stiffness in his lower back. At his age, he was frequently sore in the mornings and had to take an herbal preparation to get himself back in the thick of things. Because the medicine had to be fresh and moist to work, he had to make up individual doses as needed. That meant working while tired and sore. Still, Rafiki did not complain. For one thing he lived alone, with no one to complain to, and for another, he was a shaman and accepted what life brought him as gracefully as he could.

Soaking in a water-filled gourd, some bonewort would loosen the tightness in his spine. He carefully removed just enough to do the job. It was followed by Senophalix bark and roots from Psamnophis gelleri for pain. But the final ingredient was a powder made from Alba, a red flower. It did not grow nearby, and he had to trade to get it. The small cache of this drug was nearly exhausted, and he put in a little less than was his custom. He had requested some from the apes that lived in the forest near his baobab.

The other mandrills thought Rafiki a bit strange. They didn't understand his need for the flower, but they happily raised the fee to what they thought he could afford. For that reason, precious time that could be spent serving others was spent collecting large bundles of herbs and other notions for payment.

Mixing the ingredients into a paste with his bowl and antelope bone, he downed the bitter mixture with a frown, and quickly took some water and honey to purge his mouth. Perhaps the medicine did not work immediately. Yet he felt better at once, knowing that help was on the way.

While he waited for relief, he settled down for his morning prayers, which always began with thanksgiving, then ran through the name of every lion on the Pride Lands whether they were ill or well, and ended with a modest request to "Remember old Rafiki who trusts in you."

Breakfast was a simple affair. Mango was his favorite, followed shortly by ripe Kannabia australoafrica.n.u.s, which he called by an equally unp.r.o.nounceable Mandrill name. Honey was not easy to come by, since he'd grown old enough to make climbing a problem. Besides, even at the best of times, there was an element of luck involved. So he put only a few drops of honey on the fruit to season it, and ate his breakfast. Perhaps in the next life, there would be honey enough for his sweet tooth, which only grew stronger with age. He felt he would know sooner rather than later, a fact brought home by the silver hair that reflected in his scrying bowl.

Only after breakfast was over and he'd rubbed his teeth with the chewed end of an acacia twig did he start out on the day's business. Alba was waiting for him--the apes said it would be waiting for him in three days, and the time was up. They were robbers, but they were never late. One, two, three hard-won bundles of roots and leaves were sprinkled with water, wrapped in Rattasia leaves, and secured with long acacia thorn pins. The barter was gathered up with the care it deserved to ransom the modest stash of tiny red blossoms that waited for him in the forest.

He was about to leave when Mufasa came in. m.u.f.fy was a year and a half old, and the beginning of some ruff around his ears and neck showed that he was coming along on schedule.

"I had almost forgotten our appointment." Rafiki put his bundles of herbs aside. "Trouble sleeping, I believe? Loss of appet.i.te?"

"Yeah."

"Difficulty concentrating."

"And don't forget depression. I've been down before, but now I'm really down for the count."

"I see." Rafiki put his ear to m.u.f.fy's chest. "Breathe in. Good. Now let it out slowly." He tapped m.u.f.fy's chest a couple of times with his knuckles. "Once more." The breathing seemed to agree with him. He felt the radial pulse alongside his neck and winked. "Soon enough, I'll have to use the arm. This old mane will be in the way." Mufasa smiled proudly. "So tell me, how is Taka?"

"Fine."

"The cough all gone, I take it?"

"Yes, Rafiki. I made sure he took all his medicine. None of that hiding the herbs under his tongue and spitting them out when I'm not looking."

"How did you manage that?"

"I rubbed his throat till he had to swallow."

Rafiki laughed. "He's just a big cub. And Sarabi?"

"Oh, she's fine."

Rafiki looked surprised. "Whoa there! Your pulse is jumping like a Springbok! " The mandrill looked m.u.f.fy in the eyes. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you had the fever."

"The fever?"

"Lioness fever." Rafiki rubbed his chin whiskers. "And you got it from Sarabi, I can tell. Does Taka know?"

"No, uh--I mean...."

Rafiki shook his finger at Mufasa. "Don't hide from me behind those little lamb eyes. I know what I see." He looked in m.u.f.fy's eyes and sighed deeply. "You got it bad, son."

Mufasa glanced away. "There must be a cure for it. I won't betray my own brother. You must have something for falling out of love."

"I don't even have anything for falling IN love. But tell me, does Sarabi love YOU?"

"Well she's my friend. Of course she loves me."

"You know what I mean. I mean lion fever. Has she ever given you those little hints? You know, the feeling that you're being stalked, and any minute she may decide to charge?"

"No. Ia"well shea"no. No. She's so struck on my brother. Oh Rafiki, sometimes I get the feeling I wish I were an only child. I love Taka, really I do, but Sa.s.sie is on my mind all the time. I can't be weak, not with my brother's girl. Are you sure there's nothing I can do?"

"Maybe a nice swim in the cold spring." He popped m.u.f.fy on the flank. "There's nothing wrong with you that your own conscience and a little time can't fix. But keep your eyes open. You must also be fair to Sarabi. What she wants is important too. And I think you are selling yourself short that way." He smiled toothily and added in a whisper, "If you can't give both of them what they want, choose the girl. What she don't got, you don't need! "

SCENE: A SIGN OF POWER.

Six moons had pa.s.sed since m.u.f.fy's chat with Rafiki. He and Taka had grown in strength and size. This miracle was made all the more evident by its speed. There was no difference from day to day, but a clear, sharp memory of pa.s.sing under a low branch was no insurance against a b.u.mp on the head. The brothers, the sons of the King, were attracting the attention of the others with their strong, comely appearance.

Mufasa's pride was all out of proportion to the straggly pioneering hairs that made his head and throat look somewhat s.h.a.ggier than the rest of his body. But that was matched by the pride of his parents Ahadi and Akase. Ahadi insisted that he was equally proud of Taka, and Taka wanted desperately to believe it.

Taka had a dark mane, something most lionesses consider very attractive. Often his mother Akase told him that happiness was more important than power, and if he had to choose one, go with happiness. Taka saw the sense in this. He was often unhappy, but he believed in his mother and in her love. And to a degree, he believed Sarabi loved him though they were more p.r.o.ne to more arguments than talks in recent days.

The Mantlement Ceremony is all that Ahadi and Akase seemed to talk about--all everyone seemed to talk about. That first trace of mane is for many male cubs a sign that they are about to venture out into The Big World, and brings as many fears as it does hopes. It is the wakening of their interest in lionesses as more than playmates. For Mufasa, it was a step closer to the kingship--the Prince was growing up. No one expected the brother of Mufasa to go out into The Big World, and he, like Mufasa, would be honored by all subjects in the Pride Lands as Prince Consort.

And yet there was no doubt that everyone of every species would be staring at the future King. Taka's Mantlement was the last big step that the public would take interest in, and he had to endure it in the huge shadow of his brother.

Immersed in this thought, Taka sat alone on the point of Pride Rock and looked down on the wide savanna below, now occupied by a few wildebeests, but soon alive with bowing and sc.r.a.ping subjects looking on their King-to-be. And that what's-his-name brother of his--the one with the scar. Only recently had the other lions begun to talk to him without staring at the eye. He'd long pa.s.sed the stage where those who were dying to know more about it could ask, "How are you feeling?" or "Can I help?" Now it was as healed as it would ever be, and they had gotten used to it. But along with the familiarity came the rumors--mostly true--about how he was marked, and the nickname Scar. Oddly enough, no one blamed Mufasa in the least for what had happened to Taka's eye. Instead they wondered who would be stupid enough to go into a badger's hole in the first place. Everyone knew how badgers act--that is, everyone with common sense.

"Hey, Taka! " said Mufasa, sitting alongside. "Thinking about the big day tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Well, you don't look too happy about it."

"I'm just fine, " Taka said firmly. "I can't help the way I look."

"Yeah, right." Mufasa hopped up lithely and sat on the other side of Taka to look him in the eyes. "What's your problem? I mean, it's your big day too. Everyone who's anyone will be there to look at your new mane. Besides, the babes dig it! I mean, without a mane you're just another kitten."

"You must think I'm really stupid, " Taka said. "Who's going to care about me? Half of them don't even know who I am. I'm just that kid with the funny-looking eye."

"You help protect the Pride Lands, " Mufasa said. "That's important. And hey, if something happened to me, you'd have to be King." He made a sweeping gesture with his paw over the empty savanna. "They all know that. And they know they better treat you with respect, or they'll have to answer to me."

Taka stared at Mufasa right in the eyes, something that made his brother feel uncomfortable. Mufasa could almost feel Taka looking right through him, examining his bones and sinews. He was looking for something he could remember from long ago, from days when friendship could be taken for granted in the innocence of early cubhood. "Would you miss me if I died?"

"Of course I would, " Mufasa said, a little irritated. "What kind of stupid question is that?"

"Don't call me stupid! I hate it when people call me that! "

"I didn't call you stupid, " Mufasa said, backing back. "What is your problem, anyway? Go ahead and sulk--that's all you ever do now. But you watch yourself tomorrow. You're the son of the King, and you act like it. I don't want you spoiling my Mantlement, understand?"

"I understand clearly. I won't spoil YOUR Mantlement, brother."

On that word, Taka left the point of the rock and headed down quietly.

Sarabi was lying half-asleep in the shade of an acacia tree when Taka walked by. Her keen senses were stirred by the light tread in the gra.s.s. She looked up quickly, then relaxed her ears. "Oh, it's only you, Taka."

"Only me?"

She frowned. "Not another one of those moods again. Get a little fuzz on your neck and you lions take yourself soooo seriously." She took a half-hearted swat at him. "Tell me, Taka, will you be like that when I get you alone? Smile if you think wicked thoughts."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Smile if you think I'm s.e.xy."

He looked away. "Cut it out, will you?"

In a sultry half-purr, she added, "Smile if you think you'll live through the honeymoon."

He broke into an embarra.s.sed grin which he tried to hide behind a paw.

"Optimistic little devil, aren't you?" She nuzzled him affectionately. "I like that much better. I hate it when we fight."