Amara rubbed full length against her husband the way Uzuri used to do with Ugas. “Well, Honey Tree, aren’t you going to show the Queen Mother her new home? She can have my old spot now that I have a nice soft mane to snuggle on.”
“I know where my spot is,” Uzuri said gently. She lithely climbed to the top of Pride Kopje. She went to the spot where she would spend hours talking with Ugas about the stars. His scent had nearly vanished, but as she lay on her back and looked up at the skies, she could almost feel his warm, strong body lying next to her. “I’m home, beloved,” she murmured. Makaka settled next to her and put his arm around her neck, and the two of them slipped into their mid-sun nap.
CHAPTER: NO PLACE LIKE HOME
In the meanwhile, Rafiki tried to find a place of his own. It wasn’t like he expected to find another baobab just waiting for him to move in, but he needed a quiet and private place to go when he wanted to think. Sleeping on the ground with the pride was a romantic notion but not a viable option; he had to set up the paraphernalia of a shaman and paint protective icons. Also, some of his herbs could kill as well as heal. They had to be kept away from small paws.
He invited Makaka to come along with him, but he also had a number of uninvited guests as well. He was crowded with boisterous young cubs. Rafiki was fond of children, but they made so much noise and bustle that he could hardly hear himself think. Sh’aari also tagged along, trying to control the cubs that got seriously out of line, but doing little to curb the incessant noise and endless questions. And all the usual questions came pouring out.
“Why do you have those stripes on your face?”
“May I touch them?”
(“Yes, you may.”)
“Are those stripes on your bottom the same?”
“May I touch them?”
(“No, you may not touch them!”)
“Will you do a magic trick?”
“Do it again!”
“Is Makaka your son?”
“Are his Mommy and Daddy in heaven?”
“Does he have any brothers and sisters?”
“Will we see them some time?”
“Why do you walk with that stick?”
“Say something in monkey language!”
“What’s in the gourd?”
“Can I have one?”
“What’s that smell?”
“Can you really tell the future?”
“Can I watch?”
After the first hour or two of this, Rafiki began to wonder if cubs were more rough and tumble than they used to be, or if he was just getting older. “Probably both,” he thought, sighing.
Rafiki yelped as a furry bundle nipped playfully at his heels and darted away, giggling madly. “Ohe! Watch it! That hurts, you little scamp!”
“Saieti!” Sh’aari said sharply. “That was rude. Now apologize to Rafiki.”
The cub stopped and looked up at the mandrill with bright eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice. “I was just playing.”
“I know, Honey Tree.” Rafiki smiled and bent to pick the cub up, but she skittered away. “What’s wrong? I won’t hurt you.” He peered at Saieti as she huddled against the lioness’s side. “What’s that on your side?”
Sh’aari licked the trembling cub. “Ambia’s handiwork,” she said. “That’s just one of the marks he left on our pride.”
“My Gods!” Rafiki knelt and stroked the wide eyed youngster. “You needn’t fear him any longer, child. Togo and Kombi have set things right again, and this old monkey will certainly never hurt you.”
Saieti looked at him carefully, measuring him. It drove a thorn in his heart to see the look of guarded suspicion on one so young. “Even if I sit in your favorite spot?”
He nodded. “Perhaps we have the same favorite spot, eh? We’ll just have to share.” He reached into his gourd and got a piece of Tiko root. Saieti sniffed, inhaling the wonderful fragrance. Her tongue licked out and her eyes followed the treat as Rafiki moved it about.
“Who do you love?”
“You, Rafiki!”
“How much do you love me?”
“Bunches and bunches!”
The correct answer was, of course, “more than life.” There would never be another cub quite like Taka, but there would also never be another cub quite like Saieti. “Good enough!”
Rafiki dropped the Tiko root and Saieti snapped it up. She savored its goodness, then swallowed it. Then she looked up at him and grunted affectionately.
The mandrill picked up the cub, kissed her and hugged her tightly. “You poor baby! If anyone tries to hurt you again, I’ll kill ‘em!”
She cuddled under his chin and purred. Overcome, Rafiki began to sob, kissing her repeatedly and whispering loving names in his old tongue. “Why do they have to suffer?” he asked Sh’aari. “Why the helpless and the innocent?? She deserves so much more out of life, and if I could take those stripes from her and bear them myself, I would!”
Saieti wrapped her large cub paws around his neck and nestled her head against his shoulder, a faint purring tickling his neck.
Rafiki’s thoughts went back to a different time and place before old age had set in and when all things were fresh and new. He remembered picking up Ajenti and holding her, and asking his new wife, “Isn’t she beautiful, Asumini?”
Asumini had smiled. “Our child will also be beautiful, like its father.”
Dearest Asumini! It was on their wedding day, the beginning of a brief dream of happiness and fatherhood. He kissed Saieti again and closed his eyes, listening to her small heartbeat. Poor Asumini, poor Penda, gone! Spirits in the Kingdom of Aiheu separated from him by every breath he drew, every beat of his own heart.
He clung to the cub, sighed deeply, and remembered. Then he looked in her eyes and kissed her again. “I see the beauty of Aiheu in your smile and the way your eyes shine. I feel the warmth of Aiheu in your soft fur. Never turn from your Uncle Rafiki, my dear. I love you, Saieti.”
“I love you too.”
Sh’aari nuzzled him and smiled, giving him a long, slow lick up the cheek. “Oh, look what I did to your beard!” She quickly began grooming his right side back into some semblance of his left.
Rafiki’s eyes half closed and he felt very much at peace. The realization came streaming through that his happiness had always been there--it had only taken many different forms. “Thank you, Aiheu,” he prayed silently. “You always take care of me. Now if I only had a home of my own....”
At that moment Amara came in. “I hear you need a place to live,” she said. “You can have my old place. I’m staying with my husband now.”
He looked up and sighed gratefully. “That was fast.”
Amara led the crowd down to her small cave in the side of the kopje. It was not much to look at, but it had made her the envy of all the other lionesses.
“Here it is!” she said with obvious pride. “Your new home!”
Rafiki looked inside. It was damp and wet, though Marrie was clearly making a great sacrifice for him.
“You ought to know when it rains, water comes through this crack in the ceiling.”
“I can fill the crack,” he said, thinking aloud. “It will require some work from time to time, and maybe a little straw on the floor will make it a little dryer and warmer. Makaka has lung trouble, so I’ll let him take this side when he sleeps over.” Idly running his fingers through Makaka’s hair, he told Amara, “He’ll usually sleep with you girls if that’s all right. Uzuri is his mother, you know.”
“We’d be delighted!” Amara said, nuzzling Makaka until he had to giggle. “He’s so sweet!”
“We’d have to raise a bed here to keep out the water.”
“I’m sorry we don’t have anything better.”
Rafiki put his arms around Amara’s neck. “Oh gods, It’s the most wonderful present I’ve ever received! Thank you, dear Marrie!”