It is difficult, if not impossible, to hide a fight from parents with a hunter’s instincts and an excellent sense of smell. Taka saw the pain in his mother’s eyes as he described the incident in the badger hole to her, and felt mixed sadness and gladness. It was a strange kind of gladness that warms the heart when tears and sympathy spring from love. She pulled him to her side and began to nuzzle him and kiss him.

His father Ahadi left early without much to say. Secretly, Taka had hoped he’d feel a little guilty for making Muffy his heir, and reconsider whom is the bravest of the two. Instead, all Ahadi did was say, “I’ll be back.”

Akase kept the wound clean with her tongue, but even so it began to be stiff and throb with each beat of his heart. Taka began to moan as the pain made each movement painful. He wanted to rest, but he could not sleep but the most fitful of naps.

“How long is this going to hurt?”

“I don’t know, son.” Akase began to lick the wound again tenderly. “I’ll see if Makedde has something for the pain.”

“I can’t stand it anymore, ” Taka said. “Please see what he has. My whole face is burning. I have a headache.”

“I don’t know where Zazu went. I’ll have to send your father as soon as he comes back.”

“Where has he gone?”

“I don’t know, but I have my suspicions.”

“I hope he comes back soon. Real soon.”

“So do I.” He closed his eyes and tried to sleep again.

Sarabi came by. “How is he?”

“Resting.”

“Is he hurting?”

“Yes, the poor dear. As soon as Ahadi comes back, I’ll send him for Makedde.”

“I’ll go, ” Sarabi insisted. She did not word it as a question, and without waiting for a reply, she headed for the distant baobab tree.

Taka’s fragile sleep was fraught with dreams. His legs jerked, and his mouth and ears twitched. “It’s so dark in here, ” he muttered. “Let me go. Let me go! ” Akase didn’t know whether or not to wake him. But the decision was soon made by another.

“Son, wake up! ”

Taka rolled over and opened his eyes. He saw the large hazel eyes of his father looking down on him. He was dusty. A trace of blood was on his lips, and his nose had been scratched and was bleeding. Taka started.

Looking down beside him, he saw the white badger stained crimson with blood.

“He won’t hurt you again.”

“Dad, you’re bleeding.”

“Am I?” He half-smiled. “I think he got a little desperate when I found his secret exit. Is it my nose?”

“Yes.” Tears began to roll down Taka’s cheeks. “I love you.”

“I love you too. You do believe me, don’t you?”

Taka ran and buried himself in Ahadi’s mane, kissing his wounded nose and nuzzling him. “Promise we’ll always be friends. Promise?”

“Better yet, I’ll swear it.” He smiled broadly. “You feeling better, champ?”

“You bet! ”

“Now do you want that story?”

“Sure! ”

Just then, Yolanda walked up. She glanced at Taka’s face, and before she could catch herself, said, “Oh my God! What happened to him??”

Taka quickly hid his face in horror.

Avina was always a free-spirited lioness. She enjoyed hunting with her Pride sisters as much as any other lioness, but she also liked to try her skill at stalking prey alone like a leopard. She was uncommonly good at it, as good in single hunting as Uzuri was at leading a group hunt. So even though she married the King’s brother and should be setting a good example for the others, she continued to make solitary forays into the savanna.

To keep from disrupting the night’s hunt, she would stalk by day. Spoiling the evening stalk for the other lionesses would be unforgivable. But hunting by day only increased the challenge, and she relished each kill she could win for the Pride as she showed it off proudly. “I did it by myself, and in broad daylight, ” she would boast. The others did not mind as much as might be expected. They enjoyed a good meal as much as she, and Avina always sang out cheerfully, “Dinnertime! ” It was her open invitation to whomever wanted to dine on the results of her labors.

With Sarabi and Elanna in the care of their Aunt Akase, Avina went blythly into the tall grass, blending her golden body into the gilt colors of the savanna. Sarabi would be fine playing with Taka, and Muffy would content himself with a few words from Elanna. And few words there would be, for while many thought Muffy would end up marrying Elanna, there was no magic the way there was between Taka and Sarabi.

Avina ghosted through the fields on quiet paws, seeing all and being seen by none. Her pride in her own skills was evident, and well she had reason to be proud.

A herd of Hartbeests did not even hear her approach, though they were rather uneasy, stopping from time to time in order to listen. Hartbeests had a feeling about such things that makes them very hard to stalk.

Ears down, tail down, and legs moving in perfect oneness with the rhythm of the earth mother, Avina kept her eyes on the herd and gradually, methodically closed the gap, stopping from time to time as a head looks up from grazing to glance about.

Chuckling inside, Avina knew that she would have a sure kill. There was a buck on the outside of the herd that she had picked out. He was old, and chances are he would be slower than the rest. She kept on concentrating, contemplating, and closing the gap until a rush was forced upon her.

A Hartbeest looked up and saw her. Without waiting for a reaction, Avina sprang out of hiding, sprinting with all the speed Aiheu gave her toward the old buck.

Indeed, he was slower than the others. The herd opened like a large blossom, but she ignored everything but her target. It was a very private matter staged in the middle of a large herd. Her strength flowed, her courage rose, and the buck was coming closer, closer, ever closer.

The hartbeest changed direction, but so did she. Avina cornered tightly and cleanly, and even managed to gain a little on her target. “You are mine! ”

With all her might, Avina sprang as she had sprung many times before. Up and forward she came, rising to loop her strong arm around his neck and pull him over.

But she missed. “Damn! ”

A strong hoof slammed her cheek. In an instant, her great strength left her. Tumbling out of control, she rolled to a stop. There, stunned and breathless, she writhed in agony, clutching at her face, and letting quickly go when it burned like fire. She tried to cry out, but her jaw hung open crookedly and all that came out was a dull, wordless shriek. Anger and disappointment quickly gave way to terror at her predicament. She desperately needed a friend. Someone, anyone. There was no one. As she lay on the ground, she wondered if she might die there alone.

“No, ” she insisted, summoning all her strength to pull her wounded body from the bonds of gravity and stand once more.

When she could struggle to her feet, she felt something drip from her chin. Blood and saliva were dripping profusely from her battered face, out of the corner of her mouth. She started to panic.

Gasping, she fought to think clearly through the muddled haze. “I have to get to Makedde, ” she thought. Unsure where she was, she lost valuable time trying to focus on the distant horizon and find the baobab tree. “Aiheu abamami—Lord, give me strength.”

She began her long march in the hot sun. Her useless jaw seared her with each step, and she fought to keep her eyes focused.

She tried once to feel with a paw to see what had happened. The tip of a shattered jaw had stuck through the skin. It was like a sharp dagger, covered with her lifeblood. “Oh Gods, ” she thought. “My face! My face--is gone! It’s gone! ” She wondered what she looked like, and what she would do if the pain did not lessen.