"So do I, " Taka said. "I should let you have your way more often."

Sarabi's eyes narrowed to slits. "I don't want to have my way more often. I mean we should agree to disagree. Don't patronize me."

"I didn't mean it that way."

"Then how did you mean it? I'm not stupid you know."

"I know." Taka licked his paw and tried to groom what there was of his mane. It was a nervous habit. "Sa.s.sie, let's never fight again. I was thinking about the prophesy. I've been thinking about it a lot lately."

"I don't believe in it, " Sarabi said firmly. "I thought we had that settled."

"Still, you can't blame me for worrying. I mean we never used to fight before that stupid thing with the badger." He licked his paw again and began to nervously rub at the other side of his neck.

"Please don't do that, " Sarabi said.

"Don't do what? Oh...." Taka put down his paw. "Do you think you'll always love me? I mean, Makedde said sometimes we make our own destinies. If we work hard, we can change them."

Sarabi nuzzled him. "There are times your own mother couldn't love you, " she said. "This is not one of them. Forget the prophesy--I liked you better the way you were, when you trusted me."

"I trust you now, " Taka said, beginning to groom his mane again. "I don't think you'd ever WANT to hate me. But things can happen--bad things."

"Like what?"

"I don't know what kind of things, but you know. I mean, maybe I'll do something really stupid and you wouldn't love me anymore."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm coming of age, the time when a lion goes out into The Big World to make his fortune. Other than food and water, I have one need. Love, Sa.s.sie. Right now, Mom and Dad still love me. Maybe not as much as m.u.f.fy, but they do. And you love me, don't you?"

"Yes! How many times do I have to tell you??"

"Once, " Taka said quietly. He put his left paw on her shoulder. He could feel her tremble. "It's time we stated our intentions. I want you."

"We are not of age, " Sarabi said. "Not in their eyes at least. It is corban. They would never agree to this."

"Then don't ask them to, " Taka said. "If you will always love me, pledge to me. I won't ask more until you come to me of your own free will. But we'll go away together. We'll leave tonight at high moon."

"I'm honored, really, " Sarabi said. "But how are you so sure you will want me as your lioness? I mean we're friends, but do you really know what you want?"

He put his left paw on her shoulder once more and let it fondle her strong, shapely form. "Our love could move Heaven and Earth, " he whispered seductively. "It would spread like ripples in a pond, growing, spreading, deepening. You know I want you. When you look at me, when you touch me, I want you. Sarabi, look at me. You know I want you."

She felt his eyes meet hers. It was what lionesses call *The Look'. "I believe you." She tore herself away from The Look and glanced down at the ground. "You will be Prince Consort. It is foolish to go away when you are wanted here. It is safe here--out there in The Big World it is so uncertain. We have to think about our children."

"There is only one certainty I want, " Taka said with barely suppressed pa.s.sion. "Before the G.o.ds, before the stars, before the a.s.sembled host I swear to give you my protection, my love, and my comfort forever." He looked at her pleadingly, like a small cub who's afraid of the dark. "Come on, Sarabi. Say it."

She started to hold her paw out to touch his. It trembled. She put it down. In the intensity of the moment she could not speak.

A painful moment pa.s.sed. Taka's face changed visibly--it was like watching him die. "I understand, " he said. "You are only a small lioness in a big world. How could you hope to fight destiny?" His ears laid back dejectedly and his tail hung limply. "It would be better for all of us if I left. I want to be remembered with some kindnessa"maybe a little regret for what might have been. And it might have been fine, Sa.s.sie."

Sarabi felt her eyes mist up. He trotted off into the bush without another word.

Deep in the heart is a land of shadows,

Its a place of sighs and tears

That's where the lost dreams and hopes forsaken

Tend to end up through the years.

Oh, but they don't go down easy, no, they do not meekly go,

To that graveyard for high expectations where the

broken dreams lie low!

They cry for attention and they seek intervention

till they shake your very soul.

You may try to bury what your heart can't carry,

but it won't stay in the hole.

Heavy the heart of the disappointed,

Long the empty path of night;

That is the fate of the broken-hearted,

When the darkness steals the light.

Oh, but they don't go down easy, no, they do not meekly go,

To that graveyard for high expectations where the

broken dreams lie low!

They cry for attention and they seek intervention

till they shake your very soul.

You may try to bury what your heart can't carry,

but it won't stay in the hole!

Sarabi watched him draw further and further away until he was a small speck of tawny among the brush. Panic seized her, and she found her tongue. "Taka! Wait! I'll do it! " Apparently he did not hear any voices but those in his head. "Taka! "

Though his essence still hung in the air, he was gone. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. "May the G.o.ds be with you."

SCENE: FRIENDS IN UNLIKELY PLACES.

Taka was leaving the Pride Lands without even the traditional blessing. He had never learned to hunt, secure that he would always have a home. Now he left for the river valley. He took a small comfort knowing where he was going he would need no hunting skills, and no place to rest his head. Perhaps with the kings of old among the stars he could look down and see his beloved across the vault of heaven. Would she marry? Would she have beautiful cubs whose smiles warm the very heart of Aiheu? Would she remember his love through the years?

Finally he stood on the brink of the river valley. On the threshold of death, his life blood coursed through his veins and his heart beat like a hammer. Not far from where he stood was a sheer drop-off, the kind of place where a lion could fall and fall without suffering on the craggy slopes, and then just stop. Just stop--what a thought. Would it hurt? Would it have time to hurt? Would it make a difference how he landed? He would know very soon.

"Lord Aiheu, creator of the universe, I stand far from the rest, alone for I am dying. Forgive the many hurts I have caused. The night is coming when the breath you gave me will return to the heavens." He dropped his formal prayers, and cried, "G.o.ds, help me! I'm afraid. Let it be quick. Aiheu abamami! " His legs tensed for the final spring into oblivion.

Just when he was about to plunge to his death, he heard the death cry of a gazelle, and turned. He could see a lone hyena panting, pulling the hide off a fresh kill. Through his deep grief, he felt hunger. Even if he chose to die, he must not die hungry. "Aiheu provides."

Glad to experience one last pleasure before he died, he ran to the kill, baring his teeth. The hyena, a female, backed back. He glared at her, the first hyena he'd ever seen close up. Something about her took him by surprise. Down one side of her face were horrible scars, and the eye was missing. He stared at the horrible wound, stunned by the thought that in this way she was just like him, only she was blind on one side. And somehow he noticed how she was staring at his eye. For several quiet moments, they stood there and looked at each other.

"I have young, my lord, " she said at last. "Have pity on poor Fabana. When you are gone, we must go on living."

"Indeed, " he said. "There is enough for all. I am...." he hesitated to say it aloud. "I would rather not die hungry."

"What happened to yours? Your old man do that?"

"What?"

"Your eye. You lions think we are crude, " she said. "Not good enough for the Pride Lands. But we don't drive off our sons into the cruelty of the unknown. We love them. Tell me, stranger, have you ever heard of a hyena jumping to his death?"

"No, I don't think I have." He quickly changed the topic. "You say you're a mother. Where are your cubs? They must eat too. I won't hurt them. I'm only a danger to myself these days."

"I can tell." She called softly behind her. "Shenzi. Banzai. Edward. It's all right. Come on out."

Three pups came out of the brush and stared at the lion. Taka had never seen young hyenas before. The small female looked as their mother must have once.

"My name is Taka, " he said quietly. "Don't be afraid." He lay his large bulk down like a huge sphinx. When he looked less threatening, the pups came over and cautiously sniffed of him. "So this one is Edward. What does it mean?"

"It is the name of a man. He saved me when I was a pup. My parents were killed in a brush fire. Feel along my neck."

Taka carefully ran his large paw along her throat. He felt a gap where there was no fur.

"The collar, " she said. "I was tied to a tree with a rope. That's something like a vine, but stronger."

"Then he was cruel to you?"

"No, but his dog was. One day name calling was not enough, and the whelp did this to me." She turned her scar to face Taka. "I killed him. That's why the man drove me away. But I do not forget that he saved my life, so I named my first born Edward."

"You have saved my life. I'm not sure I could work up the nerve a second time." He looked at her pleadingly. "Please do not drive me away."

"Your troubles aren't not so bad, " she said. "Many lions come through this just fine. Someday you will find security and love."

"But I already had, or I thought I did. You don't know how I have suffered."

"When you have eaten, tell me."

Taka attacked the carca.s.s with desperation, but after the first few bites took the edge off his hunger, his wisdom took over. He stopped while there were still some choice portions and insisted that Fabana finish it.