Elanna brightened. “Hey! We can play ‘King’s Command!’”

Sarabi perked up. “Yeah! You don't have to get dirty to play that.”

Taka looked at Yolanda. “Can I?”

“Sure, I think so.” She nuzzled him gently. “Go ahead.”

“Yeah!” The cubs gamboled off to the shade of some nearby bushes. They lined up in a rough group.

“Who’s gonna be the king?” Elanna asked.

“Let Taka do it!” Sarabi said.

“I’ve never done it before,” he said, looking down. “I’m not sure I know how.”

“That’s ‘cause Muffy always gets to do it,” Elanna said. “But he had to go to see Rafiki this morning. His stomach was hurting cause he ate too much last night.”

Sarabi giggled.

“That’s NOT funny, Sassie!” Elanna elbowed her sister roughly. “Cut it out!”

“Okay, okay. But it’s not the first time. One of these days he’s going to explode!”

“I’ll do it!” Tameka said.

“You’re a girl,” Sarabi snorted. “You can’t be king. I still say Taka ought to do it!” She smiled at him beguilingly. “For me?”

“Okay. Uhh, lessee...” He squinched his face in thought, then grinned. “King commands you to raise your right forepaw.”

The girls complied. “That was easy,” Elanna said.

A gleam appeared in Taka’s eyes. “King commands you to put your paw down.” They did that too. He grinned, and continued. “King commands you to wave your tails.”

They did, Sarabi giving hers a little flick at the tip each time she waved it.

“Stop waving your tails.”

Sarabi and Elanna kept waving, but Tameka dropped hers.

“Gotcha!”

“Aww, come on!”

“The king didn’t command,” Taka smirked. “You’re out, Tameka.”

“Phooey!” She growled, scuffing sand angrily with a forepaw. “I don't care! Mufasa’s going to be the real king, anyway; he wouldn’t trick me like that!”

“Come ON, Tameka,” Elanna said sharply. “Just wait till we’re done, then you can try again.”

“I don't want to play anymore!” Tameka glared at Taka furiously. “I don't want to play with YOU anyway, you little one-eyed freak!”

There was stunned silence as Taka’s chin began to tremble. “I am NOT a one-eyed freak!” he stammered. “You take that back!”

“Freak, freak, Taka’s a freak! He thinks he owns the world, but he’s just a snotty-nosed one-eyed cry baby!”

“STOP IT!” Taka shouted, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks. “Just ‘cause I got cut doesn’t make me a freak! At least I’m not a stuck-up prissy butt like you!” He sprang up and ran, a wailing cry trailing out behind him as he fled across the rocks and vanished behind an outcropping.

Tameka fell silent, looking down in shame. Elanna looked stricken, but the anger left clear tracks on Sarabi’s face. She got up and slowly walked over to Tameka. “You’re the little snotty-nosed freak! You’re just lucky I’m a lady, or I’d rearrange your face!”

“I didn’t mean to make him cry. I just got mad. You understand, don’t you? I mean, he can be so--”

Yolanda meandered over. “What is going on, here?!”

Sarabi growled, startling Yolanda. “Tameka made fun of Taka’s eye ‘cause she got out! She called him a snotty-nosed one-eyed cry baby and a freak!”

Now it was Tameka’s turn to sniffle as the lioness glared at her. “But I didn’t mean it! I was just mad!”

“You go inside, young lady.” Yolanda said softly but firmly. “I’ll talk with you later.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Yolanda stroked Sarabi with a paw. “Calm down, honey tree. Tell me where he went.”

“That way, toward the cistern.”

Yolanda padded quietly around the side of Pride Rock. Pride life was communal, but lion cubs, like other children, need some places to be alone from time to time. The cistern was an ideal location.

Even before Yolanda could see him, she knew where he was. She could hear Taka’s gentle sobs, and her heart sank. He was sprawled on the edge of the spring, paws over his face. “Honey tree,” she purred, drawing near and nuzzling him.

“Go away!” He sniffled loudly. “Leave me alone!”

“Come on, honey tree. It’s Yolanda.” She licked him with her warm, moist tongue. “Shh, it’s all right.”

“It will never be all right.”

“It will take some time, my child. But never say never. Tameka is very sorry she hurt your feelings. She really wants to make up, and she will apologize.”

“You should have seen her,” Taka said, shaking. “She hates me!”

“Nobody hates you. Tameka has a temper, but she also has a big heart.”

“There you go again.”

“Yes. Taking up for those in the WRONG. And honey tree, she was in the wrong. Having that scar doesn’t make me a freak.”

“Oh yeah? I saw how you looked at me the other night. You think I’m ugly. You think I’m a freak, just like everybody else!”

“Oh, hon!” Yolanda’s eyes stung. “I didn’t think you were ugly! I think you’re beautiful!” She began to groom him. “When you love someone, really LOVE them, you get all knotted up inside every time they get hurt. If I came back from the hunt limping--let’s say I had a broken leg--how would you feel? Would you think I was ugly? A freak? Would you hate me?”

“Oh no! Never!”

“Or would you maybe take in a deep breath and say something like, ‘Oh my gods, what happened to your leg?’”

Taka looked at her in stunned silence. He swallowed hard and tears--compassionate tears--welled up in his eyes. “Do you really love me, Aunt Yolanda?”

The lioness took him by the scruff of the neck and padded over to a corner. She laid down, setting Taka beside her and grooming him. “There are lots of people that will say they love you lots of times. Then there are people who get off their haunches and show you.” She filled his fur with the scent of lioness love. “How does the eye feel, honey tree?”

“It still hurts, but it’s getting better.”

“Good. Now come on, Your Majesty. After your bath, let’s see if I’m still as good at ‘King Commands’ as I used to be.” She grinned mischievously. “I betcha you can’t get ME out.”

Taka grinned back. “Betcha I can!”

She laughed warmly. “You’re on!”

The hyena pup Fabana was napping with her family, when suddenly she felt a paw nudge her shoulder.

“Fay,” someone whispered. “Fay, are you awake?”

She grunted and shifted. One eye came open. “Who wants to know?”

“It’s me, Jalkort.”

She whispered, “Oh. Hi, Jal.”

“Let’s go play.”

“I can’t right now. Muti says I have to take my nap.”

“No one’s going to mind--if we don’t get caught.”

Jalkort was her best friend. She didn’t have to think long before she made her decision, rising up carefully and sneaking away from her family.

If her parents had caught her, she would have been in a lot of trouble. Humans had been sighted nearby, and everyone was in a state of heightened alert. Fay had been warned many times not to go off without permission.

“We don’t have long, Jal. They won’t sleep all day, you know.”

“Oh, we’ll be back in plenty of time. Now you’re it!” Jal tapped her and ran.

“Not fair! I didn’t say ‘start’ yet!”

“OK.” Jalkort came trotting back and stood next to her. “Say it now.”

“No you don’t! Stand over there first.”

“Over here?”

“Further back.”

“Now?”

“Further back!”

“Geez, I’m not a wildebeest! What do you want me to do, migrate?”

It was the dry season. In the human camp, an unattended campfire shot out a coal that crossed the ring of rocks and fell in the grass. A small trail of smoke went up, then with an almost shy beginning, the first flame sprang up, greedily consuming the first tuft of grass, then looking around for more.

The rabid flames quickly infected the grass with a fatal fever, overwhelming the golden shafts and turning them into blackened ash. A light wind fanned the flames which spread rapidly over the savanna.