Transition Plan Chapter 106 - Searching for Jeanne 24
…Time and location: unknown…
Jack and his adopted leopard family were another week along in their journey deep in central and eastern Africa, making reasonably good time. There were few vines here and there, and he would have been on foot anyway. The cubs kept up with their accelerated pace, but once and awhile they wandered as they explored this unfamiliar world with their mother and Jack, but not enough to slow them terribly.
Resting against a tree near a stream embankment with one leg stretched out and another bent, and one hand behind his head and the other on Tikara. Jack watched them play at attacking each other and defending. They were doing several things wrong and he wanted to help.
Tikara was sitting right next to Jack, enjoying his scratching of her ears and was purring. She explained, "My mate and I were just about start to teach them hunting skills. It must begin soon or my cubs will not survive in the jungle."
He grinned, "Then it's time for Lesson #1."
"What do you know of leopard hunting? You're an ape," she asked incredulously.
"You forget I am human first. An omnivore. I hunt with the caracals. Is it any different?"
"We climb trees and swim, they do not," she complained.
To Tikara and other leopards, caracals were the second class citizens in the feline world. She would not dare criticize Korak though. She cared for him too much to criticize his tastes in choosing friends.
Jack suggested, "Humans climb too. I hunt birds and rodents and other treeborne beasts. Perhaps my tree hunting skills will teach you something your fellow leopards do not know which will be to your advantage and your family will survive better, Tikara."
She was grateful. Jack was so creative and inventive. He was trying his best to train her children in the absence of a real mate. Tikara was still not really strong enough to teach them to hunt yet. Even nursing took a lot out of her. Jack brought her a lot of fresh kills to keep her strength and milk production up.
All along the way, over the next few weeks he taught the cubs stalking, tracking, creeping, and running and biting. And to Tikara's amazement, he demonstrated every one of those skills running on all fours like them. The only thing he was missing was a tail, although he had one part of his hindquarters as long as a tail, she thought with amusement.
Jack had a rabbit in his mouth after showing the cubs how to do a rundown, and shook it senseless until its neck snapped, to the delight of the cubs. He had the urge to play with his food.
"Wow, cool! Let me do that!" Mykelti roared.
Tikara was very surprised and asked, "Where did you learn that? Are you part cat?"
"Like I said. The caracals who are my protectors back home taught me. My human mother spared one of them in a big misunderstanding many years ago."
"Goodness. Like other leopards I have never respected the carcals. That they can teach a naked ape feline hunting techniques makes me truly respect them."
Tikara was very impressed at Jack's hunting skills and how he taught the cubs. He could do any movement or motion just like a jungle cat. She didn't think it possible and wanted to meet the caracal female who had taught him how to hunt like any great cat. She really respected the caracal from afar. He also told her that he learned from bobcats and lynx in the far away northern lands beyond the great desert and huge northern sea, and from other jungle cats. Jack's ability to create the greater good from putting together many ideas from every animal he met and befriended was fascinating to Tikara. But she knew humans could do that sort of thing.
They never went hungry, but Jack made them try a wide variety of foods, some for survival purposes in times of lack of any food. They were surprised at the taste of some of the meatier insects he taught them to dig for. They rejected fishing at first.
"I hate fish. It's 'not leopardlike', my real dad said," Mykelti complained and turned his nose up at a trout Jack had just caught in his mouth, which was a lot harder to do than he remembered. He wished he could teach them to gill-catch fish like a human.
"Don't criticize until you try it, Mykelti," Jack slurred through the fresh fish flapping for its life in his mouth. He bit it harder, and it stilled.
The growing cub took a bite of the trout, chewed, and then his eyes lit up, "Umm. Wow! Catch me another fish, Father Korak."
"I will teach you to fish, little one. And how to swim at the same time. All leopards swim. And then you can catch all the fish you want wherever you can find them. And how to sense and avoid the crocs too."
Tikara watched contently the teaching and bonding between Korak and her cubs increased as they grew, especially her boy. She greatly admired the human, even if he was teaching them to fish, but she conceded that even she liked the trout. When she was finally brave enough to try it, she liked fishing too. Mackerel and bass were especially delicious to her.
They all slept as a family unit nestled together in the night, often all draped over tree limbs and always draped over each other lazily. Theirs was certainly was a hybrid family that turned heads in the animal kingdom wherever they went. Jack explained that sleeping all curled up together is what gorillas did all the time, and conceded leopard fur was a lot softer and less scratchy than his Mangani gorilla family members.
The cubs grew up fast in the jungle. Soon they were regularly knocking Jack over and wrestled with him when they rushed to hug him. They were most careful not to deploy their claws when playing with 'Father Korak'. Human skin was not nearly as tough as leopard hide.
They all fished and hunted together. Tikara got stronger and stronger and joined in the teaching of her cubs, filling in the gaps Jack just couldn't do. Jack had been so thorough and knowledgeable, however, that all she did was refine their techniques that were more suited to the long and sleek leopards than the rather stocky caracals and Jack's human variations of their feline hunting techniques.
"Father Korak, I love you and you are a great teacher, but you're handicapped compared to us," said the youngest and smallest of the two girl cubs.
Tikara scolded her, "Kambiri! Where are your manners, girl?"
Korak ignored Tikara and asked, "Oh? How so, daughter Kambiri?"
"Well, you only have two legs and no claws except your metal claw. You do not have sharp teeth and a tail, and cannot run like us even though you try."
"Well, I will just have to make do, my dear, and perhaps you can help protect me, Kambiri?" he grinned.
They all had a chuckle over that, and Jack hugged the smallest of the three juveniles, eliciting an instant purr. She felt very important in being asked to help protect her surrogate father.
There were a few other differences with this rag-tag family. In their shared kills, Korak usually cooked his part of the kill. He never managed to get them brave enough to try cooked foods, and he was not really keen with eating raw meat.
Scavengers always gathered after each kill. Jack showed how to scare them off without killing them and incurring the wrath of the packs of scavengers to overwhelm them. The litter-mates learned how cowardly hyenas, wild dogs, and carrion birds really were.
He advised them, "Just show them who's boss. You're the top of the food chain - not them. Only lions are above you," he explained and he taught them a healthy respect for them.
"And bad humans like the ones who stole your mate," Mykelti added.
The cubs were big enough now, about Labrador-sized, that they no longer presented a target for other predators and the scavengers.
The little boy leopard's respect for his surrogate dad was strong, "You are a very good leopard for a human, Father Korak, I wish our dad had known you. You'd be friends."
"I wish that were true too, Mykelti. I would have been honored to know him. We would hunt and share prey together."
That was the greatest compliment any leopard could give another, and it made Tikara very pleased and sad with pang of loneliness for her adored deceased mate.
Immediately, the cubs nuzzled their human father/mentor, as did Tikara, and they slept together in the trees for the night. He petted them and he was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic purring so loud that it flushed a bunch of big nocturnal moths. Jack snagged several quickly right out of the air and they all had a midnight snack to share.
Mykelti noted, not really sure whether he liked moths or not, "They're so dry, Father Korak, and I don't really like the powdery little scales."
"But when you haven't had a thing in days, you know you can catch something to fill the empty spot."
They all learned something in that. If Tikara could have kissed Jack, she would have, but she sure gave him a long, thorough, vigorous tongue licking before they slept, a sure sign of affection. Jack was completely soaked, but he loved it, and he knew his entire body smelled like her mate now. He returned the affection by scratching her ears and under her chin and belly, something she truly enjoyed.
Tikara teased, "Well at least we know naked apes are good for something. My mate never scratched me like that."
Jack just smiled but she was not done praising him.
"I wish you were a male leopard, Korak. You would be my choice for a mate and I would make cubs with you. Your future mate Jeanne is indeed a lucky female. I hope you make a lot of cubs together."
Jack was not embarrassed or felt awkward. This was an expression of very sincere respect for Jack and Jeanne. They had shared many stories of each other's respective lives and how they met their mates.
"I am honored, dear Tikara."
He hugged her and she purred louder.
The cubs saw the affection between their mother and their surrogate human father, and admired him even more. He had made their mother amazingly happy by caring for her and the cubs and had nursed her back to health. They knew they would have been killed by Sabat or would have died in the jungle when they were tiny. They owed Jack their lives.
They reached the end of the Leopard Territory. The cubs were half way to adult size. Tikara was fully recovered. She could have taken her cubs and left Jack, but she didn't.
Jack offered her a way out, "Tikara. You are healthy again and the cubs can support themselves with your help. This might be good time to go and have a normal life."
"Must you leave us, Korak?"
"I am sorry, but I have to find my mate. I am giving you your choice, dear Tikara. I wish to have no harm befall any of you. I know it gets harder from here."
Tikara explained, "I know that too. The legends speak of unknown dangers ahead. Shadows that walk on two legs as often as four. I do not want you to face those dangers alone, or the cold and storms of high mountains and dangers of the unswimmable huge lake that lies beyond. I will walk hand in paw with you all the way to where you need to go to get to the flatlands and to Dar es Salaam, the big city full of outlanders, to find your true love and mate. I know the way over the mountains. My mate and I ranged far. We met and mated in the far mountains. I could take you there and protect you from harm, Korak. This is no life debt. It is only being family and 'doing the right thing'."
Jack asked, "Are you sure you can trek with me? The vines have returned to the jungle. Much of the time I spend above in the vines. I travel fast like the monkeys do."
"So can we. I can run like the wind now for longer than you can swing. The litter-mates can keep up too."
That was probably true.
And so they did. It was an unlikely jungle family roaming beyond the limits of Leopard Territory - a naked ape and four leopards - but word spread very fast, due to the scavengers from weeks ago, of the battle of the strange angry female leopard and the victory by the misnamed human of the jungle called Korak the Killer, who unlike other humans, knew when to kill and when to heal and protect. And above all, Korak was a true friend of animals, even as the top predator. Among animals of all kinds, even those who had never seen a human, or one who was truly 'of the jungle', respect for the naked ape Korak grew everywhere as they proceeded east.
The jungle gave way to highland forests and mountain foothills as they climbed out of the steamy lowlands.
Jack had the humble realization that though his father was the Lord of the Jungle far to the west, the vast territory he had traversed, more than fifty times larger than the land of the Mangani, the multitude of new species of animals he had befriended, more than two thirds never encountered by his father, considered him their Lord of their Jungle. But he would never seek its rule.
…
High in the mountain forests, Jack was grateful to be wrapped in warm shaggy fur and skins from some oxen they had to kill for meat to store up energy for when food was scarcer, and in fact fashioned more coverings for his leopard family to stay warm. Mykelti, who was always complaining, was not happy that the oxen were too stringy and tasteless, and had a lot of fat. They were, but they provided a lot of protein for them and the fat would give them stored energy.
Jack taught his feline family to not fear fire for warmth while they all gnawed on a few snow hares they shared. He'd felt that dreadful feeling of being observed again. But it was more unnerving this time. He had the unshakable feeling that the eyes watching them were like his.
…
As they progressed into the highlands, the wilds became bereft of animals. It was deathly silent. Not even insects and birds and rodents that survived the cold and heights made noise.
"This is not right, Korak," warned the leopardess.
"I know, Tikara."
Her children huddled close around Jack's and Tikara's flanks.
"Mom? Dad? What's going on here?" asked the older female cub Makena, who was ordinarily very happy, "I don't like this one little bit."
The formality of Father Korak had been replaced with 'Dad' because that's how much they loved and felt about Jack and his place in their family.
"Be ready to fight, children. To protect the family. But if I tell you to scatter, you must do it instantly. Some dangers I must face alone," Jack warned.
The three loved it when he called them 'children', as did Tikara. She was not happy that Jack insisted that he had to face some threats with no help. But she respected him for that.
"Of course Dad," answered Mykelti, "unless you want me to gut them for you," trying a little humor to make them all feel a little better about this fearful situation. His line from being a tiny cub had become the standing family joke.
"If I do need a gutting, I know exactly who to ask, Mykelti," Jack said with a bit of a smile to soothe their fears.
The young male leopard was very proud and happy and actually stuck his tongue out at his sisters like a human. Something he had in fact learned from his human surrogate father.
"Dad likes me best 'cuz I'm a boy like him," he boasted.
They just rolled their eyes at their brother and responded.
"Boys…! Girls do all the work. The only thing boys are good for is making cubs with that thing of theirs," Makena complained to her brother with exasperation, and Kambiri agreed. Tikara would have laughed if she could have.
Kambiri said respectfully, "But I wish Dad could make more brother and sister cubs for us with his with Mom, though."
Tikara and Jack both looked at each other in awkward amusement. Jack blushed from head to toe, especially through his extremely thick beard, and Tikara would have if she could have. But it was a sweet, innocent loving thought by the girls.
Only a few miles later, Jack became even more cautious in their progress. He pulled his knife and walked in a defensive crouch like Colonel Jacot taught him. He wanted to save the crossbow for the encounter with Karl-Heinz and Gunter.
He heard movement in the conifers, and suddenly before him stood the biggest, grayest giant ape he had ever seen. The huge ape was not just a Silverback. It was slate gray from head to toe, but as old as it must be, it was incredibly powerful. He looked like a Yeti. The beast beat its chest and roared, baring its long incisors as a threat. The roar was was so loud it echoed through the silent jungle. The leopards were really frightened.
"Scatter! Go to safety," Jack commanded.
No one argued except the boy who lingered.
"But… Daddy…" the little boy leopard fretted. He had seen his real father die before his eyes from a mortal enemy. He was frightened his human father would suffer the same fate.
Jack was emphatic, "Go now. I will call if I need you."
Even at nearly full size, Tikara left her cover and quickly grabbed her son by the scruff of the neck and dragged him off out of sight of the huge old gorilla.
Through gritted teeth she scolded him, "Listen to your father, boy, and live to fight another time."
The gigantic gray ape stood in intimidatingly over Jack, and let loose another dominating roar. Jack sheathed his knife and dropped to his all fours knuckle-walking position in subservience. It surprised the angry ape, and he backed off a little. He did not charge the humbled naked ape.
"So human! We are alone now. I don't expect you to understand any my words. But that makes your demise by my hand easier. You make a mockery of our species by dressing and acting as a naked ape."
From Jack's heads down position before the ape, he stated, "But you are very mistaken, honorable Silverback. I understood every word you said. Frankly, I'm a lot more comfortable naked, thank you. I bet there are days you wish you didn't have a body covered in fur, great Silverback."
This human was obstinate. And fearless. He sniffed the air around Jack. There was only confidence and obedience in the air, not fear. It was like the human expected there to be apes here in the highlands.
"You are brave to dismiss your leopard protectors. How do you know I won't kill you? How dare you invade my jungle. Humans are only trouble. And leave only death. And leopards are worse. You keep poor company, human."
"I am only passing through your land where the sun rises over the great unending waters. I have no quarrel with you. My fight is beyond your land."
"I don't believe you. You have weapons. You just hunted oxen. Are you hunting for bigger game than oxen and hares?"
"Three others actually. I plan to…" Jack tried to explain the kidnappers and Jeanne but was misunderstood.
The gorilla interrupted Jack and roared again, "See? You are here to hunt us. Seize him!"
Without warning, five more apes, all females, but big ones, grabbed Jack by his arms and legs. He struggled. His father was right. He didn't have a fraction of the strength his father would have to break free. These apes could literally dismember him.
The monstrous Silverback gloated, "I hope you enjoyed your last meal. You will not live to tell other humans of our existence or brag about your conquest and fellowship with leopards."
Tikara tried to figure some way to attack the apes without prompting them to rip Jack apart. Four leopards against six huge apes was not a fair fight.
Jack was desperate and shouted, "If you kill me now you will be killing kin."
The gorilla scoffed, "Do you take me for a fool? I have no human kin. It is not possible."
Jack took a gamble and called the ape by name, "Yes it is, great ape Akut. I am the oldest grandson of Kala of the Mangani. Your sister! I am Mangani."
That shook the Silverback to his core as well as the females, and he settled from his intimidating bipedal alpha stance into a traditional all fours.
"You called my name? And Kala? Her grandson? Release the human, but I warn you, do not try to escape."
He was ringed by the angry female apes and Akut.
The leopards, hidden in the trees, sighed with at least temporary relief. Humans were very smart. Jack in particular. He used information judiciously to cause things to happen to help himself.
Jack, being released, immediately assumed a black back ape's stance of subservience to his Silverback again, and raised the back of one curled hand in submission to the Silverback's authority over him. The giant ape was impressed by Jack's respect toward him. No human knew this. How did this one?
The ape sniffed every part of Jack, especially his impressive hindquarters, and stood towering over him, "Look at me."
Jack hesitated, shaking his head silently.
Akut demanded with a roar, "I give you permission. Look at me, naked ape."
Their eyes met, "I am here to serve you, Akut."
Those were exactly the right words, and the great ape was impressed, "Yes I am Akut. You obviously know the ways of our kind, but humans can mimic apes they have captured in zoos and other dreadful cages and chains."
Jack noted, "Have you ever known a human to know the tongue of the Mangani? No captive ape in any zoo would ever dare teach that. Humans would dissect their brains."
"Uhh. No. That is true. But how do you know my sister Kala? How can a human boy be a grandson to Kala, an ape?"
Jack explained, "Your sister, long ago had a child that was killed by a leopard. Sabor."
Akut tilted an eye, "Father to Sabat, the pariah of the Leopard Territory? Unfortunately a common occurrence. It is the way of the jungle."
"Yes. One and the same. I vanquished Sabat months ago."
"Impressive, human."
Tikara listened intently to this story. She was a little groggy the first time Jack had try to talk sense into Sabat.
"In her sorrow Kala found and rescued a human child whose parents, exiled in the jungle by bad humans, were killed by the same leopard. Reluctantly Kerchak, her mate, let her raise the child as her own as she could never conceive again. He grew to great stature in the Mangani to become its Silverback when Kerchak passed, and saved the family from bad humans."
"A good human saving the Mangani from bad humans? Preposterous! All humans are bad. I do not believe you."
"One cannot make up a story like that. Several good humans joined with my father. They saved the Mangani."
"I suppose not. I sense you are telling the truth, but then He snorted. Kerchak. He never was all that smart. And how does that explain your existence, boy? Humans and apes cannot produce offspring."
"Tarzan took a human female as a mate. One who adopted the Mangani ways. One of the good humans who saved the Mangani. And they had me. And now three others who also live as Mangani."
He contemplated, "So… I see. Impressive. What is your name, boy?"
"I am called Korak in the Mangani tongue."
Akut felt Jack's oxen leather. It had been skinned by an expert hunter. Obviously Korak. 'Killer', hmm? Yes I believe your name fits you, human Mangani."
"Thank you honored Akut."
"I am impressed that Kala told you about me. When we left, she vowed she would make sure no one remembered me. I suppose your grandmother Kala also told you the sordid tale of my battle for leadership with her detestable mate Kerchak."
"She did, but I never knew grandfather Kerchak. He died before I was born. He was a great teacher to my father. Tarzan, who is Silverback now after his adopted father was killed by an outlander's gun and saved the family with his human friends and mate."
"Amazing. A human Silverback? I have been away a long time. And so Kerchak must have been to Tarzan, Korak the Killer."
"He was," noted Jack.
Akut smiled, "So why do you travel so far? Especially alone. You are not yet fully grown. Human parents normally travel with their offspring."
"I am adult now and I am fully capable of traveling on my own. I seek my mate who was taken from me years ago by bad humans."
"Most Mangani chose another if the one they want is lost to them."
"She was… is… very special to me. She is irreplaceable to me."
"I would say so, to come find her by traveling all the way across Africa. Where are you going?"
"Over the mountains and great lakes below. To the coast to the great water and Dar es Salaam, as the humans call it."
"A cesspool of human feces. I am well aware of it. Some pieces of the feces come here to try to hunt or capture us for zoos and have to be dealt with."
Jack clearly understood the threat, and that he had killed humans with impunity before.
"Indeed. Which is why I have to rescue her. Before she is corrupted by it."
"And if she is infected as the other humans are with their own 'civilized' disease?"
"Then I promised my parents I would return and find another more… suitable… mate," he choked on his own words.
"Your affection for your missing mate is strong, young Korak. It drives you. Some of that is good. But be careful it does not cloud your mind and drive you to destruction yourself by seeing what you want in her and not what she has become."
Korak never ceased to be amazed by the wisdom and depth of the Mangani gorillas, whom civilized humans dismissed as mere dumb animals.
"Thank your for your advice, Great Uncle Akut. My father advised me in a similar wise manner."
The great ape chuckled,"Great Uncle? Well 'grandnephew' Korak, this is certainly an interesting situation."
Jack yawned involuntarily, "I'm sorry Great Uncle. It is late."
"It is getting late, Korak. I invite you to our nest for the night. The leopards may be close to you as family, but they must sleep outside our circle. If you vouch for them, they are welcome to sleep nearby. Then I can escort you through the mountain passes to the lake and the city. There are many more dangers to face, including getting lost in the mountains. And the killing cold. I see you have protected yourself against the chill by your artificial fur."
"I am grateful for your help, Uncle."
He actually liked being called that. As supreme leader of this Mangani troop, all the females were his mates and all the offspring were his children. There were no aunts and uncles. That was the essence of the strong arguments with the western troop of Mangani. Multiple individual families wanted to live together, not under one supreme alpha. That was wrong to them.
Akut and his female mates were all impressed with Korak's ape skills and his Mangani mannerisms and command of the language. Back at the family nesting area, Korak prepared his own individual nest.
Akut noted, "Well Korak, that style of nest clearly is the way Kala teaches the western Mangani. You are truly her grandchild."
They shared a meal of grubs and other insects and fruit.
He held one up writhing to get away and noted, "Wow Akut, this kind is great! We don't have them in our part of the jungle. They're like peanut butter."
"You actually do," and he told Jack how to find and burrow for them.
"Thank you Uncle."
"When you get back with your mate to your parents, you can tell them 'Akut showed you'. How is Kala, by the way?"
"She is well, but seems a little weak. She has taken another mate. My human Mother's father. They are cute together. She is very happy. They are our most elderly pair in the troop."
"A human mate for my sister? I leave and the whole family falls apart. I would think humans would oppose that."
Jack emphasized, "Humans would, but my grandparents' relationship is one of purely respect and devotion to each other, and love alone knows no bounds by species. Only a handful of completely trusted humans know that we live with the Mangani. And they are sworn to never tell."
"I am pleased with that, Grandnephew. There is hope for the human race after all. You wear 'Mangani' well."
"Grandmother Kala and my father are excellent teachers."
"Tell me of your mate which you seek, young Korak."
"She was abducted by two human men and a female. She has a dark complexion and short black hair. They took her forcibly from me and her parents when she was a juvenile. They must be punished for that crime. They have kept her for eight rainy seasons."
"Eight? That is a lifetime for a juvenile."
Jack was acutely aware of that fact.
Akut reflected, "I am sure you will figure out the proper punishment when you encounter them and take her back. Perhaps you will take more than one female mate as I do?"
Jack was emphatic, "No I won't ever do that. Believe me Uncle Akut, one female human is far more challenging than having a dozen Mangani mates. One is enough mate for any human male. If you knew my human mother and her other human friends you would understand. My father Tarzan is often bewildered by my mother, as am I, even though we love her dearly. And besides, the teachings of the spirit who created humans tells us to love only one mate. So we do."
"I am glad the spirit of the Mangani gives no guidance about how many mates to take. I like my way better."
They laughed, and slept. Jack slept soundly for the first time in months. Unbelievably, sleeping with family. His adopted leopard family slept peacefully not far away.
The next morning they headed east together as Akut promised. Although the distance was long, no further life-threatening occurrences befell them. It was certainly the most unlikely entourage of all time. Jack, the leopard family of four, and Akut and four of his primary females. There were a lot of stories that were shared, and Akut and Jack got acquainted and respected each other. Tikara and her family and Akut and his females traveled together with Jack.
…
Having been escorted to the edge of civilization around the giant Lake Victoria and across Tanganyika into the lowlands of the city by Akut, "I can go no further. The humans will discover us. This is your world and your fight for now. Come back exactly this way and we will protect you if you are chased by bad humans."
"Same for us, dear Jack," Tikara noted.
Akut explained, "We will stay in the jungle awaiting your call, and we will all travel back together."
Jack was very grateful, "I am ever in all of your debt for getting this far safely. Your friendship and love has sustained me in my search for my cherished one."
Makena asked sadly, "Dad, will you come back?"
"Yes, dear. With my human mate. She will want to meet all of you."
"But Dad? Isn't Mom your mate?" Kambiri puzzled.
Jack explained kindly to the cubs, "Your mother is my best friend in this jungle. We think of each other as trusted mates and I will always love you as family. But I do have a human mate and a human and ape family I am part of too and must go home to as soon as I can. I have to save my human mate from very bad humans now. I'll bring her back. After we get reacquainted I will introduce her to you."
Tikara already knew that it would take a lot of time for his captured mate to readjust to life in the jungle and to each other. It was like zoo animals returning to the wild. It was hard and there were a lot of rough spots along the way. Akut was right. Eight rainy seasons apart was a time of tremendous change.
"Awww Dad. You're best," praised Mykelti.
"You're like a real leopard father, you know," said Makena.
They all embraced.
Tikara had the last farewell, "Korak. Like the children said, you have been like a real mate to me when I needed it most to raise them. Thank you for everything."
"But Tikara I am not leaving you forever. I'll be back soon."
Tikara expressed her deepest thoughts for Jack, "I know, Korak. But what if you can't? Or we can't? Even with our best laid plans. We must take the time we have to appreciate those we love while we can, before they leave or are taken from us, despite our best efforts to hang on to them."
It brought the boy to tears with her gentle wisdom that applied to both his love for Jeanne and Eleanor. As much as he respected and liked Naima as his great protector and a trusted friend to his mother, he truly loved Tikara and her first litter as family.
Jack knew the only way home was to go back across central Africa with his new leopard and ape family after he freed Jeanne. The plan to go by freighter was abandoned. Jack and Jeanne would need time to adjust to each other anyway, and there was no better way to… dare he say it… honeymoon in the jungle.
…
Authors Notes: We introduce another animal character in this chapter. Akut, the giant ape, Silverback of the Eastern Mangani. He's canon, folks. Burroughs Tarzan fans know well that no retelling of the Jack and Jeanne story can be complete without including Akut. Here again we use the backdrop of family to retell the interaction of Jack and Akut. In canon, Akut accepted Jack when he was kidnapped as a child from Tarzan and Jane and raised the boy as his own even while Jeanne was kidnapped in a separate story line. In canon, Akut and Kala are not related, but my commitment to the 'two families' theme compelled me to make that connection between the east and west Mangani. In this story Jack comes fully raised by his human parents and learns to interact with the estranged Mangani Silverback who left the western troop to start his own family in the central/eastern highlands, precisely where - in real life - there are gorilla troops. So I mix fact and fiction and past canon again for you. I hope you like it!