Nakshi brought a buffalo down, resulting in a new one being released in front of Juni. Juni ran up behind it, but before she got there the buffalo let out a warning shriek, signaling the zebra and antelope further on down the straight to run for their lives.
Bahati and Sarafina both went running after the zebra.
Charging it down into the first turn, Sarafina kept wincing in pain as each time her paws slammed down onto the ground another shock would be sent through her body and up to the head, which just continued to make her headache worse. She knew this was a golden opportunity though. This zebra was fast, and Sarafina knew that Bahati wasn't. She tried to take her focus away from the pain, and rather on just the ten points that this zebra was worth. Bahati was in good health though, and as a result the two lions entered the first turn neck-and-neck, neither of them closer to the zebra than the other.
From the hillside on the front stretch, the Pridelanders couldn't help but cheer Sarafina on.
The Majibuluu pride also let out a cheer as Juni brought a buffalo down to the ground on the front stretch.
Sarafina, meanwhile, was still trying as hard as she possibly could to not focus on the pain.
Endurance, Sarafina, endurance. You've got it. Sing a fast-paced song.
Just run, Bahati, just run. Faster you run, greater chance you get the zebra and faster you get back on the front stretch.
They were still neck-and-neck as they ran out onto the backstretch, which was a much needed confidence booster for Sarafina. She had had the outside line in the last turn, and thus if Bahati could have matched the speed of her then, he would have been pulling away. But they were still neck-and-neck, which meant she was slightly faster than him, so finally she put on a burst of speed and began to edge out Bahati. Bahati picked up his pace too, and tried to keep up with Sarafina. It wasn't working, but Bahati was determined to keep on running. If Sarafina stumbled, then the zebra would be his. The zebra, however, had the greatest endurance of all, and slowly but surely he was pulling away from Sarafina. Both lions, however, continued to keep on running.
"Get ready to let another antelope out," commanded Kanafa to one of the infield workers, "Juni's about to get one, here."
Bwana Zungumza looked back over at the front stretch. "Uku's in position to ambush it."
"She could have got the buffalo and she didn't. I think she's hurt. I hate to say it."
"Well we'll know after this one. This is a weak antelope you're about to release. If Uku doesn't ambush it, then maybe she is badly injured…more so than we thought."
Sarafina and Bahati's race wasn't getting any better. Sarafina had a good lead now on Bahati…but the zebra had a much better lead over both of them. They came running down the final part of the backstretch, both fairly worn out, but knowing that more prey would be waiting for them on the front stretch.
Meanwhile, Juni got the antelope, and a new one was released.
"Why's Uku not going for the new antelope?" Simba asked, as he watched the newly released creature calmly walk on by the standing lioness.
Nala shrugged. "I don't know," was her answer.
Nakshi brought down the antelope. A new one was released right in front of the running zebra, which was still trying to, and succeeding in, outpacing the lions that were after it. As the antelope walked out onto the track, the zebra slowed down to avoid running into it, and also out of a false sense of security. Sarafina wasted no time. In a second, she was on the zebra's back and soon had it brought down to the ground. A huge round of applause erupted from the audience, and Sarafina may have mistakenly thought for a second that it was for her…but then she looked up and saw that at the same time, Uku had indeed decided to ambush the new antelope and she had brought it down next to Sarafina.
"Shoulder fixed?" asked Sarafina happily.
Uku shook her head 'no.' "I'm done, Sarafina. I don't have it in me anymore."
"Oh, now, come on. We've still got a ton of time left. Just get some rest and you'll be fine. I mean, look what you just did!"
"Used a basic hunting strategy in order to bring down a piece of prey that a young lioness could easily catch on her first hunt?"
"Well no…well…yeah…but…"
"Come walk with me, Sarafina," said Uku gently, carefully getting herself back up onto her feet.
Bahati ran on by them and brought the newly released zebra down. The new antelope was sent off into a run. Sarafina watched it all, wondering whether this conversation with Uku was really worth the points she would be missing out on.
"That's a shame, isn't it?" Uku asked her.
"What's that?" asked Sarafina.
"Bahati – ten extra points – puts you back down to third."
Sarafina's mind froze. "I was in second?" she asked in disbelief.
"Tied with Wamariri, you've completed more of this lap than her though. Just Guvu and Bahati left for you, now."
Sarafina laughed. "How do you know all this?" she asked as the two lionesses began to walk on.
"I'm a Siku Choka fan, Sarafina. I've came to watch every event since I stopped competing in them. You get good at keeping track of points after a while."
"Even when you're competing yourself, though?"
"Well I don't know everyone's score."
"Why would you want to keep track of mine?"
"Cos I think you can win it."
Sarafina felt her heart skip a beat. That was a big statement for a four-time champion to make. She normally would have laughed it off if she hadn't earlier acknowledged the fact that the reason she was here was to win, and so instead she just asked: "Why's that?"
"You remind me of Shairi when she first started," was Uku's reply. "True, she never won, and unfortunately she's dead now, but…" suddenly, Uku was sent into a fit of coughs.
"Uku, are you okay?" asked Sarafina concerned, patting her on the back to try and help her out.
Uku nodded and eventually her coughs receded. "Yeah…" she replied. "It's this age thing, you know? Here's it plain and simple, Sarafina. Shairi wouldn't have won today, she won't run on a broken leg. But she had guts. She never thought about what she was going to kill or how to kill it, she just went out there to score points. I see the same potential in you…and I can see you running on a broken leg as well. Nakshi and Wamariri would too…you've got to look out for them. Obviously Guvu's a threat too…"
"And Tumaini?"
"She'll run on four broken legs. I've never seen that done before…I really don't know how that'll work out."
Sarafina chuckled.
"All the others could potentially be threats, but it's hard to tell right now. Then there's…"
"Hang on, hang on. Why are you telling me all this?"
"You're the one who started this conversation."
"Yeah…but haven't other lions talked to you today?"
Uku shook her head 'no.'
"They haven't?"
"Nope."
"Wh…but…you're Uku!" Sarafina exclaimed, lost for words.
Uku smiled. "I'm glad someone knows that. I don't mind, either way. I'm a Siku Choka fan, Sarafina. I just love being here, whether I have someone to talk to or not."
Sarafina shook her head. "There are fifteen lions here today who have no idea what they're passing up."
"I disagree, Sarafina," was Uku's reply. She made a right turn and began to walk to the outside of the track. "There were sixteen lions here today who were exceptionally intelligent. They worked out that hunting was what they loved, and that life is nothing if you don't live it to the fullest. Okay, help someone when you can, make a difference for a child, that's all great. But why does everyone do that? So that those lions they helped can be free, so that those lions can choose what they want to do, and these lions chose to live their lives to the fullest. Whether you talk to me or not means nothing. What matters is that you competed in the Siku Choka…" she continued as she lied down, "…and you had the time of your life doing it. If winning is necessary for you to enjoy your time here, then go win. I'm sure you can, Sarafina." Uku lied her head down and closed her eyes. "There is no greater feeling than winning the Siku Choka. You'll have your family beside you, a feast in front of you, but you won't be able to see any of it through your tears blurring your vision. Take it from me, I've done it from four times, I've never forgotten it. But none of that would be possible without this. Enjoy it while it lasts, Sarafina. In a few months all the grass will have grown back and herds of herbivores will be grazing peacefully over this funny shaped hill in positions that would have got them killed today. There is nothing that makes me happier than knowing I'm in the Siku Choka, whether I'm winning by fifty points or down by a hundred and with a fractured shoulder and a bad cough." To confirm her statement, she gave out a nasty cough again. Sarafina just watched her, and hung on to every word. "I'm going to rest, like you said Sarafina. Forget you spoke to Uku. You're a Siku Choka competitor. Go score some points, and don't bother taking time to take it in. It'll happen for you."
"This is good," stated Nala.
"What's that?" asked Simba.
"Juni and Mom are the first two in ambush. Nakshi just brought down a buffalo so they have him and a zebra heading their way." Nala looked over towards the turn far over on their right side. "And I think they'll have an antelope soon, too."
Bahati came sprinting through the turn, trying to bring the antelope down before he was alongside Nakshi, who was waiting in the middle of the turn in ambush. It was all or nothing now, and so he took a jump at the creature, but it wasn't enough. Bahati stumbled, but was able to keep himself on his paws, while Nakshi stretched her front legs forwards and grabbed a hold of the antelope, and then was taken down to the ground with it. The Kimaland pride cheered on the front stretch, as Nakshi collected ten more points.
"Good job," congratulated Bahati, as he stood over Nakshi and the antelope.
"Thanks," replied the lioness, "mind helping me up?" she asked, holding a paw out. Bahati took it and pulled her up to her feet. "I saw you go for him."
"I was trying to beat you."
Nakshi smirked. "They all do," she joked, "and it never happens."
"Ah, I see. You're the queen of the Siku Choka – won every one of them, have you?"
"Well…I won one…" confessed Nakshi.
Bahati raised his eyebrow. "Really? How does it feel?"
"Magnificent," replied Nakshi dreamily. "Brought me back here, didn't it?"
Bahati shrugged as if to say 'I guess so.' He began to walk off, Nakshi followed, but checked over her shoulder first.
"Oops."
"What?" asked Bahati.
"Lioness missed the zebra. She's chasing after it. But we could ambu…ah…nope, she got it."
"Hey, I think I know that lioness."
"She's the nyimbas."
"She's really nice."
"A lot of competitors are."
"It's really hard to tell yourself to not get to know them."
Nakshi rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it."
"The hard part to that is that my brother is in it. I have no choice on that. I'd hate anything to happen to him. One of the reasons I signed up for this event this year was to help him out."
"You shouldn't do that," snapped Nakshi back, in a much more aggressive tone than what she had been speaking in.
Bahati frowned. "Why not?"
"Well what if anything happened to you? He'd feel so guilty. Trust me, I know."
"How do you know?"
Nakshi bit her lip. "Do I really have to answer that?"
"Oh…well…I guess if you don't want to…"
"No…no…it's fine." She sighed. "The first year I signed up for this event without telling anyone. The night before I let them know. Mom and Dad disapproved, they still do, but…" she stopped, not wanting to even bring him up.
"You don't have to go on…"
"…but Maneno didn't," she said hastily, getting that part out of the way. "I won that year, and Mom and Dad congratulated me, but Maneno was the only one who knew how much it really meant to me. He was so nice. Mom and Dad hadn't changed by the time next year rolled around, and so Maneno said he wanted to give it a try, and he'd come with me. I know though…I just know that he only did it to support me. Cos guess what? Last year, I didn't sign up for it, and he didn't either! And this year, I did, and he did, and he's dead and it's…"
"…not your fault," stated Bahati firmly, trying to calm Nakshi down, since her speech had been getting faster and higher-pitched with every word. "Sure, I came to help my brother too, but you think I'm not here to win it? You think that Maneno wasn't? I have one hundred and forty-four points. You don't get that by watching your brother."
"I have one hundred and forty-three."
"And think…if you put your friend behind you, just for now, you could be in front of me."
Nakshi stopped walking. Bahati did too. Nakshi was looking down at the ground.
"This is…"
"…where he died, I know. I was running in that pack," ended Bahati. "It's not your fault. Maneno's sitting up in heaven now, and I'm sure the last thing on his mind right now is blaming you, I'm sure he'd much rather see you win."
Well, Bahati couldn't do much more than that. He needed to score points to try and win the Siku Choka himself. This fact had been making him anxious for every second that he'd been talking with this lioness. He began to walk away from her, and he planned on running when he was far away enough from her so as to not distract her. If she couldn't move on, then that was good news for him. He was only beating this lioness by one point, and thus she could otherwise be a threat for the win if she really did get a move on.
He had not made it too far, however, when suddenly he heard a set of running footsteps coming up from behind him. He turned around to see who it was.
"Going for one forty four!" shouted the lioness, merrily, as she sprinted past him.
Bahati blinked. "That was a quick recovery." Knowing that the game was back on, he began to sprint away too.
Simba's felt something in his chest fall. "Oh no," he said.
Nala looked at him. "What?" she asked.
"Bwana Zungumza wants us to come down."
Nala frowned. She could see the lion in the infield too. He was waving a paw at them in an attempt to get their attention. "But…nobody's died. Why else would he…?"
"Nala…" addressed Simba, interrupting his mate, "…look."
Simba gestured towards the right. Nala turned her head and looked down towards the track. Her jaw dropped. What must have been about half of the all the spectators from the hill on the front stretch were making their way down to the side of the track.
"What's going on?" Nala asked.
Simba shrugged. "There's only one way to find out."
The two lions joined the flood of others down to the side of the front stretch.
Sarafina watched as the buffalo made its way ever closer to her. The buffalo knew she was there, but he didn't know the rules: that Sarafina could only run forwards on the track, and thus, just like the rest of the prey had been, once he had gotten close enough to this lioness without having her showing any intention of going after him, he began to calmly make his way on by. That was Sarafina's cue to go.
The buffalo stopped in his tracks as he heard a sound coming from his right side. He turned his head sideways and saw the lioness now coming after him. He let out a cry and then began to move, but Sarafina was already up on his back with her teeth in his neck before he had even moved a step.
Darn…missed!
Sarafina realized that, since her energy had been lacking, she hadn't been able to get as far up on the buffalo's neck as what she had been able to do before, and thus the creature could now continue to stand, move, and, worst of all, buck.
Sarafina removed her jaw from its neck and dug her claws harder into the buffalo's sides. This is what made a Siku Choka competitor: those that didn't jump off when they realized they were in danger, those that would fight until the creature was down or until it was just not worth it. As the buffalo began to run, which Sarafina silently thanked the gods it did since it meant it wasn't bucking, the lioness reached her front legs farther up the buffalo's sides and began to pull herself forwards, so she could farther up the creature's neck on her next bite. The buffalo realized what she was getting at now, and so he stopped. Sarafina's eyes grew as she knew what he was about to do. She only had one chance. She opened her jaws and thrust her head forwards, grabbing a bite of the buffalo just before it decided to buck her off. Sarafina flew over the top of its head, her teeth departing from the buffalo's neck, and then tried the best she could to brace for the landing. It hit her hard when it came, but that wasn't the worst of her problems. Sarafina opened her eyes as soon as the impact was over, just to see what had happened to the buffalo. She gasped. She'd killed it! One problem…it was still standing. The buffalo's front legs finally gave way and Sarafina was able to get up to her feet and scurry away, just milliseconds before the creature crashed down onto the ground where she had been lying.
"Ten points to me," Sarafina said to herself pleased. "Phew, bet that gave the guys a scare," she added, looking back up into the hills where the Pridelanders were sitting. Or…had been sitting. "What on Earth?"
"Wondering where all the spectators went, Ma'am?" asked one of the track workers, a wild dog, walking by her in the infield.
"Yeah…" replied Sarafina, "…could you tell me?"
Simba and Nala had front row seats to look at the newly deceased lioness.
"She looks as if she could just be asleep," said Simba quietly.
"Mm," replied Nala…which was the most she had spoken the entire time that they had been down there. She was truly at a loss for words. Most of the lions around them were, as they all stood quietly around the dead, sixteen year old lioness.
"Excuse me," whispered a lioness from behind Simba. The lion took a step to the side to let her by, turning his head backwards at the same time to make sure that he was actually out of her way.
"Sorry," he replied.
"S'okay. You're King Simba, aren't you?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Oh…feel free to stay there then. I'm just her daughter. I'll stand behind."
Simba and Nala exchanged glances. Did she find this insignificant?
"Ma'am, if you want to stand in front of us, you have every right to," said Nala, joining in the conversation.
"Nonsense," replied the lioness. She chuckled. "I guess you're surprised I'm taking this light-heartedly, aren't you?"
"Well…"
"Yes," replied Simba.
The dead lioness's daughter chuckled again. "Mom was just as much a part of all you guys as she was of me. I know that sounds ridiculous, I know that sounds heartless, but it really isn't. I knew Mom, I loved her, and it really is sad to see her go…" she added, looking at her mother's lifeless body, "…but she only lived for one thing…"
The lioness stopped there. Simba and Nala exchanged glances again. They both shrugged.
"Hunting?" asked Simba.
The lioness laughed. "I knew you would say that. No…now that would be heartless…of me…of her…no, she lived for this. The Siku Choka. If she lived for hunting…well…I'm not hunting, I'm her daughter. But living for the Siku Choka…boy, you get all your friends and family and fans involved in supporting you through that. She loved it. Cos she loved me, and she loved hunting, and she just loved having a good time, and that's why I'm not upset, because she was old and I guess she was just having so much fun…she just wore herself out."
"Has anyone ever died in their sleep at the Siku Choka before?" whispered Simba to Nala.
Nala shook her head 'no.' "I guess it is the best way to go," she confessed.
Uku's daughter smiled as she looked back down at her mother again. "I know I've made her happy by coming here…but also she's just happy cos…she was here."
(A/N: Review please! I apologize to any Uku fans for her death, but at least it wasn't violent. Sorry if the death scene seemed a bit rushed or anything, I really don't think that those kinds of scenes are my speciality.)