Uzuri nodded. "Mm-hmm. Here." She arched her neck and leaned in, tearing the item away with her teeth. "Try a piece." She watched, intrested, as the cub bit off a tiny section. "Don't worry, 'ol Uzuri won't steer you wrong."
Misha chewed thoughfully. "Hey, that is pretty good."
Uzuri chuckled. "Don't eat too much of that until you get a little bigger; it'll make you sick if you do."
Misha glanced down the length of the animal, towards the hindquarters where Tanabi sat, still gunning away at the haunch. Suddenly, her face twisted up in confusion. "Auntie Uzuri, how about that? Is it any good?"
Uzuri looked over to where the cub was staring and grimaced. "Uh, hon, that's...kind of difficult. You'd have to be a little older before I could explain."
"Huh? But I'm already four moons old-"
"-and that's not enough." Uzuri looked at her sternly. "Now hush up and eat before the meat stiffens."
SCENE: JOKE’S ON YOU
Misha stared, enchanted, as the little cubs squirmed sightlessly at their mother's belly. "They're so tiny, " she whispered.
Malaika smiled gently at her. Her labor had been fruitful; three healthy cubs lay suckling at her belly, their eyes shut tightly against the world. "You were smaller than that, as I recall."
"Really?"
Tanabi sat at the entrance to Malaika's cave, squirming agitatedly. "C'mon, Misha, let's go! Togo and Kombi are waiting for us."
"Shhh! " Misha glared at him. "You're gonna scare the babies! "
Tanabi looked skyward and rolled his eyes in frustration. "Aww, man...c'mon, Misha. Please?"
She shook her head. "Nope. I want to stay here and help Malaika." She looked at the lioness adoringly. "She's going to show me how to take care of the cubs."
Her playmate shook his head disgustedly. "Sissy stuff. Fine then! Stay here and watch your old babies! I'm gonna go have fun." He spun and stalked off, his lower lip stuck out in an enormous pout.
Malaika stared after him, a frown on her face. "Honey tree, you don't have to stay here. Go play with your friends; I'm fine."
Misha shook her head. "Uh-uh. I really want to help, Malaika. Please let me stay." She glanced over her shoulder at Tanabi's retreating form. "All he wants to do is go play with Togo and Kombi, anyway."
Tanabi swatted angrily at an offending pebble in his path. He had been looking forward to this afternoon; he had planned to show Misha the neat joke Togo and Kombi had come up with to play on Uzuri. And now...he sighed, depressed. It had seemed funny at first, but now the whole joke seemed pointless.
"Phooey, " he said, disgusted. "Uzuri's no fun to tease, anyway." He started to turn, intending to head back to the main cave and take a nap, when something landed on him, bearing him to the ground with a startled "OOF! " Gasping, he rose to see Togo looking down at him with a mixture of amusement and disdain on his face. "Tsk tsk, " he clucked sadly. "Fell for it again, kid."
Kombi trotted out from behind a rock, yucking it up for all he was worth. "Sucker! How many times are you gonna get flattened before you figure it out?"
"Shaddap! " Tanabi snapped, startling them both. "Why do you always keep pouncing on me like that? You know how much I hate it! "
"Sheesh, calm down, willya?" Kombi peered at him, intrested. "What's got your fur on end today?"
"Misha." Tanabi cut his eyes away, suddenly embarrassed. "She won't come and see the joke we were gonna do."
Togo's eyes widened. "You mean the one we were gonna pull on Mom?! " He shook his head vehemently. "Naw, man, we can't pass this one up. It's the best one we've come up with yet! " He looked at Kombi worriedly. "C'mon, Tanabi, we gotta do this one! "
Tanabi looked at the ground. "Nah. I really don't feel like it. You guys go ahead without me."
Kombi shook his head. "We can't, remember? You have to distract Mom for us; that's why we showed it to you. You've gotta come."
“Why don’t you take Habu instead? He’s a lot quieter than I am, anyway.”
“That dweeb?” Togo snorted derisively. “He’s no fun. Come on, T. Let’s go.”
“He’s not a dweeb, buzzard brains, ” Tanabi said sharply. “He’s just not into jokes, that’s all.” The prince got up, shaking himself vigorously, and turned to leave. "Sorry."
"Wait a minute, here." Kombi squinched up his face in thought, an expression rarely seen from him. "If Misha DID come, would you go with us?"
Tanabi looked at him suspiciously. "Well, yeah, I guess so. But she's helping Malaika babysit her cubs. I already tried talking to her; she won't leave."
Kombi grinned at him. "No problem! We've just got to get Malaika to make Misha leave her alone; then she can go with us! "
Tanabi rolled his eyes and snorted. "Oh, brilliant. And just how, pray tell, are we going to get her to do that?"
"Simple. Ask her."
The young prince rolled onto his back, laughing. "Oh, now that's rich. You're going to go up to Malaika and say, 'Gee, we really want Misha to come and play with us; would you tell her to buzz off?'"
Kombi's smile spread into a predatory shark's grin. "Nope. You are."
"Okay, let me get this straight. You want me to tell the girl I don't want her to help me? Ridiculous." Malaika shook her head. "She's invaluable to me. Besides, I couldn't do that to her; it would break her heart."
"Aww, please?" Tanabi dredged up his most pitiful expression and turned it on full force. "It's no fun playing tag without Misha, Auntie Malaika."
Malaika raised an eyebrow. "You and Misha are going to go play 'tag' with those two? Right."
"Honest, we are! No fooling." Tanabi was secure in this fib; the prank on Uzuri DID involve them distracting her with a fake game of tag, so technically he wasn't lying. Well, sort of, anyway.
Malaika turned the matter over in her head for a minute or two, then appeared to come to a decision. "Oh, all right. I'll get her to go with you."
"Yeah! " Tanabi bussed her cheek. "Thanks, Malaika! " He scampered off, eager to inform his friends of the good news. The lioness stared after him, a faint smile on her face. "Misha, dear, did you catch that?"
"Uh-huh." The cub popped up from behind the lioness's bulk. "I don't wanna play with Togo and Kombi; they're always being mean to someone! Tanabi’s always so nice to Habu and me; I don’t know why he wants to hang out with those two.”
The lioness looked at her thoughtfully. "You know, hon, I've got an idea that might just solve all our problems."
"Really?" Misha looked slightly perplexed. "What?"
Malaika laughed. "We're going to give them a taste of their own medicine, Misha." She bent to the cub’s ear, whispering.
Several minutes later, Tanabi looked at his friend in utter shock. "She said WHAT?! "
Misha sobbed uncontrollably. "M-Malaika s-said I wasn't paying enough at-t-t-tention to the babies, that I kept ru-running off and playing with you guys instead of watching them." She collapsed on the ground and held her head in her paws. "S-She told me I'm not allowed to see them anymore..." her voice trailed up and away into a wail.
Togo looked at Kombi and grimaced. "Oops."
Tanabi patted Misha on the cheek worriedly. "Uhh, calm down, Misha. I'm sure she'll let you see them again; she's just sore, that's all."
"But I didn't DO anything! " Misha cried angrily. "I DID watch them, real careful. I did everything she said to do, Tanabi; what did I do wrong?" She buried her face in his chest, her tears soaking the fur.