Until the final dark days of Taka’s reign, most of facets of pride life continued to operate, but in a more subdued and somber manner. Cubs were born, Beesa died and was duly mourned, a lioness came of age and earned her annointment of blood and a lion was given his mantlement.
Toward the end, however, there was not so much life as existence. Thoughts turned toward Aiheu and the life beyond the world of Ma’at. Before the futile mockery of a hunt that almost never succeeded, Yolanda would lead her pride sisters in prayer and nuzzle each of them `tearfully, not knowing if they would all return safely. One of them, a young female, broke ranks during the hunt and ran madly for the border screaming “Aiheu abamami!” She was never seen or heard from again.
Since that fateful escape, patrols of hyenas enforced a no-hunting zone near the borders, making it more difficult to abandon the crumbling kingdom when the borders and a new life were calling alluringly.
And yet Nala did. “If I don’t come back by next moon, don’t try leaving one by one. Settle on one night and leave as a group. Fight like fire and fly like the wind. Let Taka and his hyenas rot together, but for God’s sake go!”
She was determined to get help. Indeed, by the grace of Aiheu she received it.
Simba’s return infused the pride with new life and hope. The hyenas were gone--at least the ones that supported Shenzi--and fairness returned to the conduct of life. Without Taka’s violent mood swings, Simba was a very accessible King, and day by day the pride sisters saw in him the marks of his father. To say there was none of Ahadi in Taka would be unfair, but only Elanna’s tenderness could look inside and see it within him.
But there was no change overnight in the bleak landscape. Animals that avoided the boundaries of the pride lands in their migrations now felt confident to walk across Simba’s land rather than detour through Ugas’ and Mabatu’s kingdom.
Getting them to stay was another matter. One-who-brings-rain visited the land when the evil had been driven from it. The fertilizing drops quenched the dying thirst of the land and wakened seeds long buried in the desolate soil. Those sparks of new life realized the fulfillment of Aiheu’s promise, and they ached for long overdue freedom, straining at their bonds and breaking free to push up new leaves for sunshine and fresh air.
Within a few days, the brittle gray savanna began to show a green haze that tinted the bases of last year’s burned grass. And within a moon, the appointed time for the escape, lush grass was thriving on the nutrients in the ash strengthened soil. Antelope and zebra came to graze on the verdant treasure. Giraffes plucked new green shoots from the wakening acacias and rabbits began to clear out old burrows of their ash and mud. And to the careful ear, the sound of singing birds broke the long silence with messages of hope and joy.
The golden tide of rebirth was climaxed by Simba’s roar from the promontory. “Listen all of you! Nala is with child!”