It was well into the second year of Taka’s reign as king before things became noticably wrong. Rafiki had seen countless dry seasons come and go, but this year it had begun several weeks early, and with much greater ferocity. Coruscating winds swept across the open plains, sifting dust into every nook and cranny. It got into everything. The lionesses found it neccessary to clear a place in their caves to lie down in. It drifted into the dwindling water holes, making a clean drink impossible. It even got into the body in one way or another; Rafiki could feel it grinding between his molars as he chewed his dinner, and his patients kept him busy constantly cleaning the dirt from open wounds and sores which refused to heal under the onslaught, but simply became infected.
One evening, he sat down after treating a cut on Khemoki’s rump. The Zebra’ha Incosi had suffered a small wound, but to hear him talk, it was as if his leg had been torn asunder from his body. The piteous moaning and complaining had set Rafiki’s nerves on edge, and after the zebra left he brewed a cup of tea to calm himself.
The balmy scent of the tea combined with the slightly medicinal side effects had the desired result, making him drowsy and feeling slightly disconnected. He leaned back, closing his eyes, and began uttering his prayers in a low voice. His mind’s eye opened, and he found himself sitting upon a rock in the middle of a grassy plain.
He heard a rustling behind him and looked about curiously. A small vixen wended her way through the grass, her questing snout twitching delicately. She looked up and brightened. “Oh, there you are!”
“I don't believe I’ve had the pleasure...”
Her large ears flickered in amusement. “Oh, I don't have a name. Don’t need one. I’m just the messenger.”
“Oh? What’s your message?”
“Mishasa will be along soon. She’s quite busy.”
“Oh.” Rafiki looked nonplussed. He’d never heard of a Nisei having a full schedule. “I guess I’ll wait.”
“Good idea!” The vixen sat and began to groom her lush tail. Rafiki eased to the ground and leaned his back against the rock, looking at the bautiful sky above. He began to while away the time by finding animal shapes in the clouds overhead, amusing himself by trying to count how many of which animal he saw in the clouds. First one to 20 wins.
He had upped it to 50, with the lions well in the lead, when he finally gave up, looking around agitatedly. “Where IS she?! Even a Nisei shouldn’t take this long to do anything.”
The vixen lifted her head from herpaws where she had been napping. “What’s wrong?”
“She thinks she’s got me flummoxed. But no, I know what she’s up to, you see.” He wagged a finger at her. “She’s playing mind games with me, that she-devil of a lioness.”
"So you think you have her all figured out, eh?"
“Enough to know I wish I was large enough to give her a good spanking."
The vixen grinned suddenly, her teeth flashing in the sun. "You should have done it when you had the chance." Laughing, she darted behind a nearby rock.
Rafiki sat up. "Hey you, come back!"
“Okay.” The brilliant white head of a lioness arose from behind the rock. "Spank me, daddy!" she said, grinning, and launched herself at him. Rafiki backpedaled madly as she flew through the air, knocking him to the ground and driving the air from him in a rush.
Wheezing, he drew in a breath of air, and was nearly smothered as she drew her tongue across his face in a long, wet, drooling lick. "I love it when you talk mean to me."
“All right! I surrender!”
She rolled away from him and sprawled comfortingly in the grass, motioning for him to sit beside her. Her face sobered as he lay his head against her shoulder. “You seek answers.”
“Yes.” He looked at her searchingly. “We are afflicted with a terrible drought. I have suffered through hard years before, but this is unnatural. I fear the Makei are responsible.”
“You are correct.” She looked off in the distance at the shimmering horizon. “Some of the worst Makei feed off pain. One of these has entered the Pride Lands, drawn by the pain and suffering Taka bears, as well as that which he has wrought.”
Rafiki shuddered. “What can we do to stop this? Our land is dying in front of our eyes.”
“The Makei that holds this land in his grip will not permit the Nisei One-who-brings-rain to enter. The pain of this land has given him enormous power, and he holds the other Makei in bondage, to keep his grip upon you.” She paused, looking into his eyes. “There is a way to defeat him, however. But you may find it harder than you think.”
“Tell me! Before Aiheu I swear I will try, no matter what the cost to myself.”
“Very well. This Makei is fixated upon Taka’s Ka. It is the center of the suffering here, and it is the anchor with which he remains. Your only hopes are three-fold. Either you heal Taka’s pain, drive him off, or kill him.”
The mandrill moaned and covered his eyes. “I would rather hurl myself from the top of my tree than kill him. Please don't ask me to do that.”
Minshasa bent and gently kissed his forehead with her tongue. “Of course I won’t. Were your face young and untouched by the evil released by this curse, I could still see the love your heart bears for him.”
“But what am I to do? I am yet Aiheu’s servant, but I am only an old ape.”
“You are not without hope, my son. Someday, while there is still time, I will send a light into the darkness. You will receive a sign of great joy. Wait for the son of the king.”
“Bless you, my Lady.” He fell before her. “I touch your face.”
“I feel it.”
When he arose, Minshasa was gone.
The day Taka emerged from the cave on Pride Rock and announced that Elanna was pregnant, Rafiki was absolutely ecstatic. “It’s the sign!” His hopes were dashed, however, that terrible night that Krull summoned him to come with him to Pride Rock, informing him of Elanna’s impending miscarriage. Rafiki worked feverishly over the lioness, but his medicines were depleted entirely, and no amount of reassurance from Uzuri and Taka could dispel the fact that the birth could not be stopped.
In a moment of desperation, Rafiki stepped outside the cave for a second. "Oh gods, where is Asumini? Where is she when the whole world cries out to her?" Light flicked at the edges of his vision, and he glanced at it hopefully, only to see the light from the moon glinting off of the surface of the water hole. Dejected, he turned and went inside.
As he passed Zazu, folorn in his ribbed prison, he looked thoughtfully at the hornbill for a moment, then stopped, eyes wide. “Taka!”
The lion padded over quickly. “What?”
“I need two plants to make a medicine that can save your mate. They grow far from here, though.” He began to describe the herbs, and Zazu began to hop about excitedly.
"I know those plants," Zazu said from his confinement. "Please let me go."
"But you won't come back," Taka snarled.
"I would come back for her."
Their discussion was sundered by a wavering cry of pain, followed by a lower and more agonizing wail. Isha emerged from the cave, eyes streaming as she bore the dead child of Taka and Elanna in her mouth. She laid the child before Taka, who stood, trembling. “You son, Bayete. Mano has called him away.”
The lionesses bowed their heads. “He waits for you,” they intoned softly. “He waits by the side of Minshasa.”
Taka nosed the still form, tears blurring his vision as inhaled the scent of his son, locking it away in his mind forever. “Aiheu abamami,” he finished, his voice breaking.
Isha picked up the cub and caried it over to Rafiki. He took it from her gently, stroking the lifeless child as tears ran down his face. “You were our only hope,” he thought. “Oh gods, we are all abandoned to die here.”