“Are you all right?” Rafiki asked?
“I’m being slowly twisted in half. Otherwise, I’m fine.”
Uzuri nuzzled Akase. “How are the contractions coming?”
“Strong. Fast.” Akase stared at no one in particular and panted. “Oh gods,” she said. “Here they come!” Her water broke, and Akase gnashed her teeth. Her breath came deep and fast.
“I see a nose,” Uzuri said excitedly. She watched closely to see who was first born. “Here he comes!”
Rafiki watched in horror. Despite all he heard about birth being a beautiful thing and a miracle, he saw that it was also very gory in some respects. He quickly grabbed another sprig of Tiko Root and bit down.
“He’s a male! Oh, look at him!” Akase cleaned off the tissues and fluids with the excitement of a child opening a birthday present. “He’s so beautiful!” Actually, he looked to Rafiki like a drowned rat.
Another nose came out, shortly followed by the rest of a cub. “Another male! Twin sons!”
Akase smiled. “Twin sons!” Various other things came out, leaving quite a mess on the cave floor.
“He’s not breathing!” Uzuri prodded and licked the second cub. “Oh no, he’s dead!”
“The will of Aiheu,” Akase said quietly. “At least I have a son. That’s more than I ever thought I’d have.”
Rafiki was seized by a thought. Later he would say it could have been a vision. Queasiness was forgotten. He quickly grabbed the wet, dead cub from Uzuri and put him on the floor. With his hands together, he pumped the small chest a couple of times, then putting his mouth over the cub’s tiny muzzle, blew into it until the chest rose. He let the air run out, then repeated it.
“What are you doing??” Uzuri stared. “He’s dead. Let him rest in peace!”
“Bear with me.” Rafiki blew several more breaths into the cub, and then when he was about to give up, the cub grimaced, coughed, and took in a deep gasp.
“Oh my gods!” Uzuri shouted. “He raised the dead!”
“What happened?” Akase asked. “Did I hear what I thought I heard?”
“He’s alive!”
Swimming in a sea of elation, Rafiki held the little cub close to his heart. “Thank you, Aiheu! Thank you!” He kissed him and whirled about, holding his wet body to his face. “Oh, you precious little thing! God bless you! Live forever!”
“He must nurse,” Akase reminded him. “If you’re finished, my friend....”
“Oh yes.” He put the undersized cub next to his brother and watched the two of them draw life from their mother. He bent down and kissed Akase, then he went to Uzuri, hugged her and kissed her cheek.
“We have a custom,” Akase said softly. “You have saved his life twice now. You are his uncle now, and he is your nephew.”
“I like that custom.”
He looked down at the cub. “What is his name?”
“I call him Taka. And his brother is Mufasa. I had thought of those names for a long time.”
“Taka,” he said. “My little Taka.”
Then in the middle of his haze of joy, he remembered hugging and kissing Uzuri. He looked back over at her. A blush of embarrassment made the colors of his face all the brighter. She stared back at him, rubbing her cheek with a paw.
Quietly, he gathered up his staff, his empty water gourd, bowed to the queen and headed out.
He dared not look around, but could hear behind him the padding of lioness feet. As he headed at long last toward his baobab, he tried to be casual about it. Still the feet followed him. He cringed inside.
“Oh Rafiki?”
He stopped still but didn’t look around. “Yes, Uzuri?”
She came up beside him and sat down directly in his path. “Am I mistaken, or did you kiss me in the cave?”
“I think it was on the cheek, actually.” He made a feeble attempt at laughter. “I was just so happy for little Taka. You know, the cub I saved?”
“So that was it? You were so happy for little Taka?” Betraying no emotions, she drew closer. “Did you enjoy it?”
“I’m not sure. Should I have?”
She cracked a grin. “Why don’t you try again, and this time pay attention.”
He smiled an embarrassed grin and came forward. “Like this?” He put his arms around her neck, rubbing his hands along her side and nestling his cheek to her shoulder. “Uzuri, I enjoyed every moment of our time together. You are a very special lady, and very dear to my heart.”
She touched him with her tongue. “You must teach me how to breathe into a cub. Where did you ever learn that?”
“You know, I didn’t learn that,” he said, still holding tightly to Uzuri. “It just came to me.”
“That’s amazing.” She touched him with her tongue again. “You may let go now.”
“Oh.” He gave her another pat and let his arms slip down. “I got a little carried away.”
“That’s all right. But wash off before you hug me again.”
“Oh.” Blood and humors had matted his hair and made him smell like a newborn cub. “Ycch! Good heavens!” He left straightway for the creek.
CHAPTER 33: THE PREDICTION
"And so it was when Koko the Gorilla, who had thrown mud into the holy lake, became sorely afraid. For from the fouled milk of Mara arose the Makei. Their faces were terrible to see. Just enough mud had been cast into the lake that they could take the shapes of Ma’at, but not the substance. And while they longed for pleasure, they were unable to experience it. Grief and anger, however, were theirs and they plumbed them to the depths for only when they were sad or angry did they feel alive.
“They cried out to Aiheu. ‘Lord! Why have you given us only pain? Where is our beauty, our happiness?”
And Aiheu wept, for their suffering was dire. And he said, “Though the cause does not lie in your own actions, you are polluted. Do not be filled with resentment, but rather be mindful of the hope I offer you. Cleansing comes from within, in a clean heart and truthful witness. You will be sorely tempted by the mud, but you are also full of my milk, and it will overcome all else if you let it. Remember in your darkness that my light is with you, shining on the true path."
When Ahadi’s sons were old enough, they would come to Makedde who loved children of all kinds. He would tell them stories from the simian past and the leonine past. Rafiki loved to hear these as well, and he would get snacks for the cubs when they came. Making these treats was no small task, for they were small strips of meat cured and dried with spices. It was a sign of Rafiki’s devotion to the children that he would scavenge the meat, for while mandrills were corban to the lions, the hyenas did not honor the Peace of Asumini and would gladly snack on mandrill! However Rafiki soon forgot the danger when he saw the smiles on the cubs’ faces when he held out the jerky from behind his back. “Are there any good little cubs here?” The resultant tumult was deafening, but both Rafiki and Makedde loved every minute of it.
Makedde would not have approved the extra tidbits that Rafiki handed out when his back was turned. At times he wondered why the children always flocked to his younger brother whenever they came calling. But of all the cubs, only Taka would get an occasional piece of rare Tiko root. Rafiki would hold up the root and say, “Who do you love?”
“You, Uncle Fiki!”
“How much do you love me?”
“More than life!”
Laughing, Rafiki would drop the Tiko root and Taka would snap it up. He never let it hit the ground once. But after the prize was eaten, Taka would wait to nuzzle Rafiki and say, “I really do, honest.” He knew to close his eyes quickly, for sure as the world Rafiki would kiss him on the face and whisper, “My precious little boy!” These were the moments of unbridled joy by which Taka would later measure the depths of his pain.