Taka wandered into the cave where Elanna sat by the badger. “Well, how did it go?” she asked.

“Lannie,” he half whispered, “I think I just saw a ghost.” He nuzzled her desperately, drying his tears against her sympathetic shoulder. Then he settled next to her, trying to recapture his good mood as she ate.

Kako was greatly helped by the love and support of her new pride sisters, and she looked for a way to show her gratitude. She offered to join them on the evening hunt though she had not studied the land.

As the Pride Sisters gathered up, talk centered on the new arrival. The few details they could pry out of Kako’s dark past were tantalizing. She had borne cubs before and had survived an attempt on her life when she was three moons old. She said that she had once seen the white lioness herself, Minshasa the blessed. But the reason for her exile was sealed away behind her soft, enigmatic hazel eyes.

Kako had many questions herself. She did not understand why Taka put up with hyenas or why he did not require them to hunt for themselves. “You would think he owed them a big favor.”

Sarabi remembered how Taka had loved her once, and she raised a half-hearted defense for the sake of what he once meant to her.

“There is a curse on him. I used to deny it. I thought it was foolishness, but I have seen it grow and spread destruction over everything he touches. He despises life, but he fears death, and so he goes on through a never-ending nightmare.”

“I could see it in his eyes,” Kako said.

“We were going to be married, but he wanted to leave the Pride Lands with him. I told him that I couldn’t, so he asked me to choose between my home and his love.”

“And you chose to stay?”

Sarabi looked down. “Yes.” She sighed. “Kako, you must understand, I loved Taka like a brother, but not like a husband. I loved Mufasa, and if you’ve ever been in love, you know how hard it is to fight your own heart.”

Kako’s eyes filled with tears and her chin trembled. “It’s almost impossible, but it can be done. It really can.”

Sarabi blinked. A tear ran down her cheek. “Kako, honey tree, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up painful things!”

“Don’t be sorry,” Kako said. She nuzzled Sarabi. “Where did the hyenas come into this?”

“Taka went away to find peace at the bottom of the gorge. Fabana stopped him. She adopted him, and when his mother Akase died, she was his only family. I must admit that her love for him is almost leonine in its strength and I feel she is a good person--for a hyena.”

“OK. I might have invited Fabana to stay, but her whole clan too? Does he always act without weighing the consequences??”

Sarabi sighed deeply. “I didn’t say it made sense. I only said he has known a lot of pain in his life, and somehow they make him feel better. It’s strange, but he’s always been a little strange.”

“A lot strange if you ask me,” Isha said.

“I didn’t,” Sarabi said with mild irritation.

Kako quickly nuzzled Sarabi. “Well you girls make ME feel better. I didn’t mean to cause any problems.”

“You didn’t,” Isha said, nuzzling Kako and then kissing Sarabi. “We have our little scrapes, but we’re a sisterhood.”

Kako set about to prove herself on the hunt. She was very focused, as intense on the hunt as she was facing Taka. The hunt was a dance between predator and prey, and Kako was a graceful ballerina, a thing of beauty and deadliness. Uzuri gave her wide latitude in choosing her own approach, sure she had another Avina in her care. It proved to be correct, and while the others pursued a group strategy, Kako silently crept up on a bontebok. Her rush was sudden, terrible, and victorious. Isha gasped with amazement at her effortless grace even in the kill, and came to her as she stood over her trophy. Isha nuzzled her warmly and said, “Well done, my sister!”

“May we be sisters?”

“Of course. I take some pride in my own hunting skills. It will be a bond between us.”

Kako nuzzled her back. “Even so. And we are passionate about our beliefs. That is another bond between us.”

Isha led her away a short distance. “Kako, I wouldn’t dream of asking you in front of the others. But if we are going to be sisters, confide in me.”

Kako looked away and sighed. “If we are going to be sisters, insist that I say nothing. Turn from me even if I come willingly to pour out my heart. You must give me the strength to bear this awful secret for the love of one I left behind and one I bear inside me. Help me, Isha--a lot depends on it. Help me!”

“Forgive me,” Isha said quietly. In lion fashion, she put her paw over Kako’s mouth and then kissed her. “I have sealed the secret away. But from this point on, let no new secrets divide us, Sis.”

“I’d like that,” Kako said, breathing out a sigh and smiling for the first time.

Kako was always present on the hunt, even the days she was sick with a fever and barely able to stay awake. Her pregnancy was only an inconvenience to her, one she dealt with firmly.

One night they were hunting wildebeests. Kako’s gait was unsteady, and often gritted her teeth in pain. Uzuri was loathe to order her home, so impressed was she by her courageous dignity, but she winced when Kako held her cries to a stifled moan to keep from alerting the prey.

Uzuri stalked closer and closer to the herd, excited by the prospect of getting a decent kill for the first time in a long while.

Fanning out to the full width of the crescent, the huntresses awaited Uzuri’s signal. Kako was on the left tip, a position requiring some skill, but she had proved her worthiness time and time again. Kako was tense and preoccupied, fighting her discomfort with a will only a lioness could muster.

Uzuri’s ears twitched. She sprang from cover and soared toward the herd like a golden hawk. Sarabi closed in quickly from the right to drive the herd as it blossomed into full retreat. Kako lumbered along on the left, trying to block out her pain and give her best effort.

Uzuri closed on a wildebeest, locked in a battle of two wills to survive. Three other lionesses swarmed over the unfortunate beast and soon it was gasping for its final breath with Uzuri’s strong jaws closed on its throat. The pride would survive another week.

On the left flank, Kako let out a shriek of agony. It galvanized the other lionesses who thought she had been gored. Isha and Sarafina came running to her aid.

Kako was trying to stagger out of the way of an oncoming wall of animals. Isha and Fini rushed to her side. They snarled and clawed, parting the wildebeests the way a large rock in a stream divides the water until she was out of danger. Isha trembled like a leaf. “Whoa, girl, that was a close one!”

Sarafina said, and without irreverence, “I know how Mufasa must have felt. They look different when they’re running AT you. They’re BIG.”

“I know.”

“Oh gods!!” Kako shrieked, her slow, unsteady gait betraying her extreme agony. Isha and Sarafina looked around at their pride sister grimacing in agony. Her water broke, quickly soaking the fur on her leg with blood and humors. She stumbled a couple of steps toward her friends and she moaned. “Help me! Somebody help me!”

“Lay down! Lay down!” Isha ran to her as she collapsed on her side. “Kako! Honey Tree! It’s going to be all right!”

“Isha, you’re so good to me. I love you, Isha.”

“I love you too. Don’t you die on me, girl! Now listen to me--I know you’re in pain, but bear down. Push as hard as you can, and it will be over sooner.”

“I don’t think I can.” Kako gritted her teeth as a moan of agony escaped her. “Aiheu! God help me! Help me!”