At the appointed time that evening, Kako made her way to a secluded spot behind an outcropping of rock and sat down, waiting. Presently the pad of footfalls impressed itself on her hearing and she saw King Mabatu’s bulk part the grass and stop across from her. A moment of awkward silence passed. “Hello, Kako.”
“Mabatu.” She nodded and sat. “How have you been?”
“As well as can be expected.” He sighed and sat across from her. “And you?”
“Quite well.”
Mabatu sighed. “Tell me you didn't ask Baba to 'put in the good word' for you! What COULD you have been thinking!”
“But I never! I thought that YOU told HIM to...." She had to smile. "Why that little scheming furball!”
Mabatu chuckled. “His heart was in the right place." His smile vanished as quickly. "This must be hard on him. Oh, if I could only tell him the truth!”
"If," Kako said with a sigh. “You know we swore an oath. You must never tell him, and neither must I.”
“Yeah. So Kako, how’s the hunting coming along?”
“Very good; I’ve had to do a lot of relearning, but the patterns haven’t changed that much around here.”
“There’s much around here that hasn’t changed.”
“Mabatu, please...don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”
He sighed. “Kako, I know my limits old girl, but do you think the gods would mind if we got a LITTLE closer?” Mabatu lay down in the soft grass and beckoned with a paw. “Please? I don’t have anything catching.”
Trembling, Kako inched her way over to him and eased down next to him, daring to lay her head on the luxuriant softness of his mane. She inhaled his musky scent and trembled. “My darling Mabatu...”
He gingerly placed a foreleg around her and patted her softly on the shoulder. “Kako, it feels like old times. I never thought I’d see you again, and here you are close to me. I still love you. We have to pretend for the lad, but I never want you to be deceived, not for a moment.”
“You know how I feel, darling.”
He gave her another pat. “Still, I like to hear you say it. I don’t get many chances these days.”
She put her paw over his. “I live for you.” Her inner reserve broke and she burst into tears, embracing his comforting bulk. “Oh gods! What is there left to live for!”
“Shhh, my Nisei. There is plenty to live for. What did you do before you met me?”
“I wandered the barren plains with nothing but my name and a few aging kills to scavenge. I spent those days sure that there must be something better. I spent those days looking for you.”
“And now you’ve found me--again.” He managed a half-hearted smile. “We have our memories, and we have our children. No tears, old girl. I mean it! Our love lives on through them.”
She lifted a paw and caressed his cheek tenderly, tracing the wistful expression on his face. Gently she stroked the flowing curves of his cheek down to the broad mantle of auburn mane that covered his throat and chest, feeling the rumble of his purr. Absently she followed the flow of his mane, her paw making lazy circles as it moved across his chest and onto his upper belly.
Mabatu shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t think you should do that. Don’t start something that can only end one way.” He sighed. “If it was only my life to pay, nothing could stop me from making love to you! I would feel your lithe and tender body against mine one last time and die without regrets.” He shuddered again in the throes of passionate arousal. “Couldn’t we see this Rafiki Isha talks about? He has the ear of the gods, doesn’t he?”
“And what would that accomplish?”
“Maybe there is a way. If we gave up the kingdom and ran away together, the gods would have no reason to torment Baba.”
“You mean we’d become rogues?”
“Yes, if that’s the price of our love.” He reached out with a trembling paw and ran it down her chest and belly. “You are my kingdom, my treasure, my every need. I want you. I’ve waited for so long to crouch over your beautiful body and feel you shudder next to me! The border is right over there! Just beyond those trees! We could make love tonight!”
“And throw away everything we’ve worked for?? Territory? Safety?”
“Long, lonely nights! Empty days!”
“Our family?”
“Our separation!”
“Just like that??”
“Just like that, and never look back! Yes!” He rested his forearms on her chest, his throbbing heart pressed against hers. His lips brushed against her own as he spoke in a passionate whisper. “I’m on fire! I want you! I want both your body and your Ka. I want to fill myself with you. I can feel you tremble. You want me too--admit it!”
“Yes, I admit it!” she cried, more like a cry of remorse than passion. She wrapped her paws about him and rocked him gently back and forth. “Do you think the gods would accept it? Would they be content to let us steal a little happiness? Do you really think they would?”
“Don’t you?”
“Well I...if only we could....” She burst into tears and shoved him away with her paws. “We can’t! We can’t take the chance!”
“He sighed and kissed her again, this time gently. “Is that what you really want?”
She sobbed, “Does it matter what I really want? What I can’t have, I must learn to live without!” She touched him with her tongue. “Baba’s a lion with a wife and cubs that love him! I’d never gamble with his future, and neither would you. Not when you have control of your passions. Not when you’ve thought about what he means to us--both of us.”
He slid off her chest and rolled on his back, taking in a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh. “Yes, I love him too. I owe him my kingdom and my life. I have let my feelings run away with my common sense, old girl.”
“Then you understand.”
“I understand.” He looked at her intently. “Perhaps for the last time in this world, let me say that I love you with my life, my heart, my very soul. Never forget that, my blessed Nisei!”
“Lover, in my dreams tonight I will feel your breath on my cheek!” She wiped her eyes and sniffed. “I will tell our son that we were bound too tightly to our past to build a new love. That’s not really a lie when you come to think about it.”
“You can’t build a new love till you lose the old one.” He reached over and very gently kissed the tip of her muzzle. “God bless you, Kako.”
She struggled to her feet, looking back with a silver tear catching the moonlight on her cheek. “God bless you too.” And then she turned and stalked away into the shadows.
When she was gone, he rolled on his back and looked at the stars with a sigh. “Aiheu, I wish I were dead!”