Uzuri quietly slipped in to Rafiki’s presence. There was no need to ask her what she wanted. Rafiki smiled and put his hands on her shoulder blade, rubbing in tight circles, then gradually spreading out like ripples in a pond to loosen up the joints and warm up the muscles. She grunted with pleasure as he worked his way down to her elbow, relieving her discomfort.
“How is the Garu Root helping?”
“It helps,” she said with a certain reserve.
“But not as much as it used to?”
“Not quite.”
“I see.” Rafiki shook his head.
Uzuri looked at him worriedly. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, you’d just get upset with me.”
“No I wouldn’t.”
Rafiki got some Garu root and began to grate it with a flint pebble. “It’s nothing really. Sometimes I think out loud, and you’re reading too much into it.”
“If you don’t tell me, I PROMISE you I will be upset.”
Rafiki sighed. “It’s not your health, old girl. I was just thinking of something that happened to me when Simba came back. Minshasa came to me that night while I was grieving for Taka.”
“So you were there after all.”
“Yes. You don’t stop loving someone just because they hurt you.” He switched to the other side and began rubbing at the shoulder blade. “Does that feel good?”
“Well? What did she say? Am I going to have to pull it out of you a word at a time?”
Rafiki smiled. “You’re always in a hurry!”
“Rafiki!”
“All right, all right.” He scratched his head uncomfortably. “We were talking, and she asked me what I wanted as a reward for my service. And I guess I looked down at his body and thought about all the people I loved that I’ve had to watch die one by one. Maybe that was what was going through my mind.”
“And?”
“And I said that maybe I’d like a friend that would always be there for me, someone that I wouldn’t have to worry about losing. Someone that would be my friend in this world and the next.” A shy smile of mixed pride and embarrassment crept over his face. “She said, ‘That would be Uzuri.’”
Uzuri smiled. “Was that it?”
“Almost. She told me that her gift to me is that we would both die on the same day.”
Uzuri looked penetratingly into his eyes. “She offered you a gift, and you chose that?”
“I told you you’d be upset.”
“I’m not upset. I’m just--well--surprised at you. There were so many things you could have asked for.”
“That’s what I wanted then, and that’s what I want now. But you know something, old girl? I have so many things I have to do. I must train Makaka before I go to my fathers. You have to take care of yourself. I keep patching you up and sending you out for more wear and tear.” He shook his head again. “I’m glad you’re back where you belong, but why did you come back as Hunt Mistress? Misha is very good for one so young. Wouldn’t you like to live to see her do well at it? Why don’t you do that tonight?”
“But the hunt mistress is what I am! If I wasn’t that, what would I be?”
“You are so many things, all of them very special to me. Go ahead and hunt if you must, but you take such risks. I mean, every time you lunge at a wildebeest, I cringe.” He put his hands out and caressed her lovingly under the chin, running his fingertips gently across her cheeks. “I like that face the way it is,” he said reverently. “Already you have a scar across the bridge of your nose and that nick under your cheek, and that bald spot behind your ear from the gazelle.”
“Thanks for noticing,” Uzuri said a little indignantly.
“Oh gods, listen to me!” He began to gesture wildly. “Every time you go out there, I’m scared out of my wits! I can’t stand it when you get hurt. Every time you get hurt, a piece of my heart dies.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
“Hey you, listen to me! Avina was every bit as good as you, but gods, the horror of her face, the horror! I’ll never forget that face as long as I live! I can see that happening to you. I have nightmares about it!” He put his arms around her neck and waited a moment for his heart to stop pounding. Then he took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and began to speak to her fatherly. “I know we all have to die sometime, but I don’t want you to be frightened and in pain when you die. I don’t want you gasping out your life with your ribs stove in like Beesa’s.” He kissed her on the cheek and gave her a pat. “When the time comes, I’d want you to lay your head in my lap and drift away quietly. I would give you something for your pain. Then I would wait for Minshasa to come for us. I want it said that they found us together.” Rafiki turned away quickly, wiping his eyes. “I’ll get your Garu root now.”
“Rafiki?”
The mandrill did not turn around. He began soaking the Garu root in water. “I’ll just be a moment.”
“Rafiki, if you think it’s best for Makaka that I step down, I’ll do it. You are the person to train him, and I can’t be selfish and spoil his chances. And Misha would make a fine hunt mistress. I’m sure I could talk her into it.”
Rafiki took in a deep breath and let it out. “Please, Uzuri?”
“I’ll do it. For Makaka.”
“Oh thank God!” Rafiki bent over and began to cry uncontrollably. “Thank God! Thank God!”
Uzuri quietly stalked over and nuzzled him.