Rafiki ran his paw through her fur gently. “Lannie is with Taka now. That’s where she would want to be, Honey Tree. At least you got your son back. Go to him, Sassie. He will bring you comfort.”

Sarabi kissed Rafiki, then turned and slowly trudged up the side of Pride Rock. “Yes, I have Simba. Thank the gods! I should be grateful.”

CHAPTER: THE NISEI

As her Pride mates mourned for her, Elanna was walking alone across the savanna contemplating her own death. She looked ahead of her and saw nothing. Her whole life seemed to lay behind her, a tragic story destined to have a tragic ending. With his faults, Taka was still loved her with his whole heart. Now no one loved her, and the one time she needed a shoulder to cry on most of all, she was isolated, a tiny yellow speck on a vast golden plain.

Sadly, she looked back from where she came, the sight of Pride Rock now long gone from the horizon. For the first time in her life, she could not see any part of it. Pride Rock, whose golden shaft greeted the morning. She had been born there, and she had thought to die there. Her mother lived again in its grasses, and looked down upon it from the stars. Her husband had taken her in its protective embrace. A horror enveloped her that she had not really escaped death, but exchanged a quick one for a lingering, painful ordeal.

She took stock of her life, forming an inventory of all the good and bad times that made up her days. She remembered the sweet richness of her mother’s milk, and the comfort of Sarabi’s body next to her as she closed her eyes and nursed. She remembered cubhood games of tag that lasted for hours, and wrestling with young Mufasa in the cool of the cave. She remembered her first kill, and how proud she felt when the red pawprint in blood was placed on her cheek. She remembered using the warm muskiness of Taka’s soft mane as a pillow, and the breathless pleasures of his lovemaking. She remembered the feel of a small life inside her. Once, in death, she looked on the face of her son Fabana. “Oh gods, if only those little eyes had opened one time and seen the love I bore him! If only once I could have held him to my belly and given him milk!” Tears welled in her eyes. Voices were calling to her from the realm of Aiheu--Mom and Dad, lover and child. And the voices were getting louder, beginning to drown out even the piping of the weaver birds and the chirping of the crickets.

The thought of returning and facing justice played in her mind. Her reasoning was simple and compelling. If Taka had indeed killed Mufasa and Simba in his madness, she could die to pay the blood debt and set him free. His death would atone for Mufasa’s, hers for Simba’s.

She had not rested since the hyenas had told her of her former pride’s plan for her. Finally, her body gave out and she collapsed on the ground exhausted. Soon sleep had claimed her.

Her sleep was fraught with dreams. In her visions she relived her days with Taka. Mercifully it was not what life had become for them in the past few months, but what is was like in the beginning. She smiled softly in her sleep as she felt his body against her.

“Lannie, there is a full moon outside. Let’s sit on the end of the promontory.”

She followed him up the stone spire and laid her head against his soft, dark mane. “What will we name our son?” she asked.

“There is one name for him. Three great loves have I known. My mother loved me. You loved me. And Fabana loved me.”

“I think Fabana would be a lovely name. But what if I have girls? Three little girls. Ever think about that?”

“Three little Lannies!” He smiled and nuzzled her. “Then I’d have to keep trying, wouldn’t I?” He turned his gaze back to the full moon. “Dad used to say if you wished on the full moon and you just believed hard enough, it would come true.”

“I’d never heard that.”

“Neither had he, I warrant. Dad was always like that. Wishing and believing. Oh gods, I wish he was here right now, and my mother too. Once life was so simple. So simple and so good.”

“It can be simple and good again, my love. And you can believe that.”

Taka looked back at her face, washed silver with moonlight. “Gods, I love you!”

Then the vision changed. It was no longer like a dream. A bright light flooded the spot where she stirred. “What the....”

As her eyes adjusted to the light, Taka appeared before her in a cloud of glory fire. “Taka? Is that you?”

“Listen, love! I don’t have much time!”

“Honey Tree, are you coming to take me with you?”

“No. I’m here so you will NOT die.”

She ran and nuzzled him. “Oh my husband, but I want to join you!”

Taka just shook his head. “Do not try to atone for my sin. I will pay my debt to the last drop of blood. I will start with you. You will have a comforter in your time of grief.” He kissed her cheek softly. “When your time comes, we will sit together forever and never be apart again. Till then, be my brave little girl.”

“Taka, Honey Tree, I must know the truth. Did you kill your brother?”

The lion looked at her sadly. “Remember the good times, Lannie. Remember the blissful moments. Those were the truth.” With that, he faded quickly. She had her answer.

CHAPTER: IN MEMORIUM

The search party quietly headed back without their Pride sister. Even the cubs were hushed as the lionesses slowly made their way through the grasses with their heads and tails hung low. Simba, who had stayed at Pride Rock to guard against the last of the hyena stragglers, saw the group approach. One look at their posture affirmed in his mind that Elanna was lost to them. Silently, he made his way to the queen mother. “I’m sorry mom...” he said softly to her as he rubbed against her gently.

Sarabi looked up at her new king, her eyes still wet with tears, “At least I have you, son.”

It had been a long time since Rafiki had been able to walk out alone without the confines of his hyena jailers. Even through the somber mood of the night, he was determined to make the most of his new freedom. He went to each of the pride members and blessed and stroke each of them in turn. He even had a special blessing for Timon and Pumbaa. Slowly, he began to fill in the gaps in the last two years of his life. He quickly ran out of his jerky as he gave all the cubs a treat...and even the lionesses he remembered as nothing but a cub.

As he went through the pride, he treated their wounds. True to his words, there were enough herbs for the lions of the pride, even if he would have nothing for his aching joints that night. It had been indeed fortunate that no one was seriously hurt, the worse injuries being some cuts and bruises. The hyenas that followed Shenzi were quick to leave after they passed their sentence on the former king and upon seeing their cousins fighting with the lions. Still, in the distance, their sounds could be heard, mocking the newly freed pride.

As the evening passed into night and the lions were able to rest their sore bodies, it was time to remember the lost member of the pride. Sarabi, being her sister, called the group together for a memorial to their fallen pridemate.

Rafiki stepped into the circle of lionesses. Everyone knew how he felt about Taka, and for this reason he was the only one left alive that could speak the opening words freely.

“Great Aiheu, we commend to your care Elanna, and pray that she will be reunited with her husband. And may Taka....” The mandrill leaned heavily on his staff as tears streamed down his face. “Grant them peace. Forgive him as I have forgiven him. He loved me once. He really did love me.”

As Rafiki stepped away, Isha came forward. “She was gentle and kind. And how she suffered! I wish I’d known her better.”