She didn’t know what to make of Kubali. Their first meeting still fresh in her mind, remembering how alone she felt until she meet him. How he didn’t try to control her life...how she could actually sleep through the day without it being interrupted by a scream. She could even express her thoughts to him, something she never dared to do to Taka. He was more like her memories of Mufasa and Ahadi. She sighed softly, trying to chart her future course.

Her eyes traveled back up to the sky. “I loved you so much, my dear, that I never realized how much you controlled and used me. Whatever you did to me, I still loved you and I always will.” She sighed softly, “But what is this I feel for this other lion? Is it love like I felt with you, or is this just my season? I talk about you so much to him, I guess that is unfair to him. You mean so much to me, even when you aren’t here, how can I just forget you?”

She heard a voice. It might have been beside her or just in the back of her mind. But its message arrested her. “Don’t forget me, but don’t forget him either. If he knew the truth, all would be well between you. Tell him the truth, Lannie.”

A lioness has little trouble following even an old trail when they are following someone else. But they are so accustomed to their own scent that it is hard for them to backtrack. She desperately tried to trace her steps back to Kubali. “Help me, Taka! Guide me, Aiheu! Gods, give me success!”

Suddenly, she saw a form move through the grass. Seeing the mane poke through the grass, she held her breath, hoping that it is the one that she is hoping for. As her line of vision cleared and his face came into view, she gasped and ran after him. Together in the middle of the savanna, they came together. At first, both are silent, just looking over each other slowly. Suddenly, they both began to speak. With a slight laugh, they tried again, this time with Kubali starting.

“I’m sorry for what I said. I believe in your love, and I’d trust you with my Ma’at and my very Ka. Gods, Lannie, I don’t know why you should love me, but I am grateful and I don’t question my good fortune. Can you forgive me?”

Elanna nuzzled him gently. “I’m sorry I was so angry. Let’s promise it will never happen again. The only good part of this whole argument is making up afterwards. Kubali, I love you.” With that, she gave his cheek a soft lick, walked a short distance and crouched. “Make love to me, my lion!”

He looked in the sky and smiled. “Thank you, God! You haven’t abandoned me!” He turned his attention to the golden body of his lover. With a soft purr, he approached her. “Beloved, I come!”

CHAPTER: GAMU’S FRIENDSHIP

Kubali went running to Gamu. “You know, you were right! Lannie and I got this out into the open, and she and I are closer than ever!”

“You did??”

“Yes! You’re a dear friend, and I’m sorry I ever doubted you. And someday when I have a kingdom of my own, you’ll be my Prince Consort--the brother I never had--and everyone that sees you will owe you respect.”

“Oh--great. Thanks. That will be nice--when you get one. There is this land to the south I think we could grab.”

“Soon enough,” Kubali said, giving his shoulder a little pat. “I have to get back. Lannie will wonder where I am.”

Gamu nodded absently. “Oh yes...go to her, by all means.” He stared off in the other direction as Kubali rose to pad away from him. “We can’t keep our lovely savanna flower waiting, can we?”

Kubali paused and eyed the other lion oddly. “Gamu?”

“Eh?”

“Are you all right?”

Gamu flashed a grin at him. “I’m fine...just full of thoughts. Go on, Kubali.”

Gamu realized that he had lost the battle, but was determined not to lose the war. Knowing that Kubali and Elanna would be otherwise occupied for the rest of the day, he slinked away to find his companion. The hyena was eagerly awaiting him.

“Any food?”

“No, not now. Lover Boy is in search of slower prey.”

“Oh.” Griz’nik’s ears drooped. “I guess your brilliant plan didn’t work.”

Gamu glared at him furiously. “No,” he spat out. “It didn’t.”

“I think you should cut out the fun and games and knock off the lion. This isn’t a pakh’jimbi match--there’s too much at stake.”

Gamu looked down his nose at the hyena and paused for a moment. “Dare I ask? What is pakh’jimbi?”

“It’s a pup’s game. You need at least three players on both sides. The head of each side is called a kor’hum, and it’s his or her job to coordinate the other players called gam’gis. Now when the referee, which we call a bar’gem, gives the signal with three sharp cries, the two sides assume a formation called a tar’tar on either side of the center line or mehlo. The object of the game is to rack up the most points by getting more of your gam’gis through the four obstacles or mosh’muikheti....”

“I get the point!”

“The point is you’ll never ditch the lion at this rate, and I’ll be stuck in this hellhole with no hope! You’re a big disappointment, Gamu. You have no hope of ever being but a THINKER--you should be a DOER.”

Gamu snarled at the hyena, setting him aback. “Be glad I’m a thinker right now. You wouldn’t like what I’d do!”

“All right! OK! Don’t get upset--you know you’re bigger than I am, and I know it too. You don’t have to prove anything.”

Gamu calmed down at the hyena’s show of submission. He made a very clear show of sharpening his claws on a tree trunk. Then he yawned, showing off his ivory daggers of death. Out of the corner of his eye, masked by a quiet expression, the lion watched with glee as his companion stared at the arsenal. And satisfied, Gamu finally settled down and closed his eyes for a nap.

Griz’nik watched him very closely. “Gamu almost looks decent when he’s asleep,” he thought. He waited several minutes, looking deceptively like a guardian angel. The great chest rose and fell softly. Once, before Griz’nik realized the true depth of Gamu’s disdain for him, he had longed for the soft warmth of another body next to him as he slept. He would have tolerated the odor of a lion which he found foreign and irksome. “We might have been friends,” Griz’nik silently mouthed. “As my mother used to say, if you hunt trouble, someday you’ll catch it.”

The hyena looked at the thin-skinned spot in the upper throat right under Gamu’s jaw. Griz’nik knew if he suddenly bit down--hard--and then ran away quick, Gamu would bleed to death before he could catch him. Griz’nik squirmed close, his belly to the ground, his eyes fixed on Gamu's throat. From time to time he glanced up, and the great eyes were closed. Now was the moment of his destiny, the moment he took charge of his own life once again. The eyes were still closed. Gamu’s breath was even and slow. He crept closer, every movement designed for stealth and accuracy. One last time he looked up--the eyes were slitted...watching him. He froze.

Gamu said, "Come here," and patted with his paw on the ground. “Lay down, old friend.”

The hyena crawled next to him, exposing his neck in submission. The lion, with a razor-sharp claw stuck out, said, "You know something......" He drew the claw lightly over Griz's throat and abdomen. “Claws are a wonderful thing. A mother tends her little cub. It glides through his fur and gets out the mats very gently, very tenderly. Then that evening she puts her little cub in a safe place. ‘Now don't you move--Mommy is going to get you dinner....’ Then she goes out on the hunt, and Mommy becomes a huntress.”

The claw tightened on his skin. “She stalks the gazelle like a ghost...then, suddenly, springs! Those claws become very different!”

Gamu swiped quickly down Griz’nik’s soft underside. The hyena looked down in panic, expecting to see blood and entrails. Whimpering and shrieking, he examined his abdomen. There was nothing--Gamu’s claws had been tucked in.