The Huntress at Sunset

11. The Ears of the Hippopotamus

"…I know about all that. Now tell me about something important."

"But you sent me and Falana there!"

"Yes, but not to find out about 'the rock' as you call it. I know all about that."

To the Northwest, the bed rock that underlay the ridge broke surface forming crags no more than two lengths high. They were the Silent Rocks; they didn't rise up out of the plain they were not a true kopje. They provided some shelter and were a good vantage point from which to survey the plain below. Shaha had decided, though precisely when even she had forgotten, that this was to be her home when she was in these lands. She was often lazed on the top, forelegs dangling over the edge, dozing the day away.

She, and her daughter too, avoided the enormous rock Nengwalamwe had claimed. There was nothing wrong with Silent Rocks; it was a good enough spot for lions to call home; but Nengwalamwe's rock was better in practically all senses, and far bigger. Nengwalamwe knew it and so felt frustrated and confused. Hadn't Shaha herself sent him to show Falana his home? Why just Falana? Surely, Shaha wanted to know about it too? Why didn't she already know about it, but then she had just said she did.

"What about the cave? You can't pretend you know about that."

"Yes Nengwalamwe. I know about that too. I was… well… I know it very well. I can even guess what it means to you. That's why I told Falana to go with you."

He grew even more confused. He could not see how Shaha could know about his desire to explore beyond the rocky barrier at the cave mouth. Come to that he could not see how Shaha, whose scent he had not detected anywhere on the rock, could know about a place to which she clearly had never been. The only lioness he'd seen who could have, if she could even in truth be called a lioness yet, was Yali. She seemed at home on the rock, as if playing there was as natural as being washed by her mother. Who was her mother? Hadn't she just denied being Falana's cub? She could not have been Shaha's; she was surely too old for cubs and anyway, she did not behave like a nursing mother.

"She said you'd asked her."

"She would say that, Nengwalamwe. Why is it that you always only see the ears of the hippopotamus?"

The surprise caused by Shaha's words flew upon him like an eagle snatching a rat. He was rocked by her question. He knew that it wasn't a question. It was a statement of a truth so plain that he would never have seen it for himself. To see it, or for it to be shown, was one thing. It was an entirely different matter for him to accept and believe it. "What do you mean? I can see what's happening. I know where I'm at."

"Why are you here Nengwalamwe?"

"I'm trying to tell you about my afternoon with your daughter." He knew that that was not what Shaha wanted to hear.

"Why do you stay here? Why don't you wander off into the night?"

"I'm a lion; I don't have to have a reason. Even if I did, I'm not going to tell you."

Shaha smiled to herself and raised a paw that trembled visibly.

"If you were my cub I'd cuff you from here to the waterhole for that."

"Go on then - I'd like to see you try!"

"Nengwalamwe!" she said sharply, her patience evidently thinning, "I'm not here to trade threats with you."

"As I said, I want to know what your intentions are?"

"What? You never asked me that. What intentions?"

"I see…" she said tilting her head and shaking it gently. "Your intentions towards Falana."

"Oh, her..." Nengwalamwe said as dismissively as he dared.

"Yes her, my daughter." Shaha paused, "Why else would a lion like you hang around here?" She stopped, and raising her eye ridges added, "There's nothing else here for you, is there?"

"There's plenty of prey, not that you seem to be able to catch it. But there's more to a lion's life than food, much more."

Shaha shoulders slipped off Nengwalamwe's insult. "What if there is, Nengwalamwe? Are you more than a lion? When I was a cub the lions I knew were kings, not just lions."

"You were a cub? No way Shaha, you were born old, you could never know what it's like to be young. This land's for the young. We own it so you had better just lie down and curl up all day and let me get on with the real action."

"Action? 'We' own it? Who are these 'we'? Now listen Nengwalamwe: I've been there. I've done things that you'd scarcely be able to imagine. I hunted with kings and seen the sun set on them all. I've run all day and all night for my cubs and I've seen more 'action' than you've dreamed about. I've done all that and more and I can still hunt you down. You're just like any other lion. You're nothing special. That's why Falana doesn't think anything of you, because you're just like all the rest."

"Hah! See, you don't know anything - there isn't any rest! Where are these lions? You frightened them all away didn't you? No wonder Falana hates me, with you around, I'm not surprised she's as she is. You're through, you won't have long to go, then you can put your paws up forever! I'm the one. I'm gonna be the lion on the Pridelands! I'm gonna be the king!"

Shaha stood impassively during Nengwalamwe's tirade. When he had finished, she spoke quietly and resolutely. "You may be the only lion on the Pridelands Nengwalamwe, but that does not make you a good lion, and it certainly won't make you king. Here you may never be the king; there's already a queen and she's a dog. Falana won't stay here forever. She wants cubs but she'll not have a cub as their father. You had better sort yourself out if you ever want to be that father."

"But my father is the king where I come from" he said defiantly.

"My father was the king here too, but things change. You had better change too, if you want to carry on living here. Here you are just a lion. Nothing more - you're just a lion."

"Ok, ok, I get it! So, what do I have to do to get Falana to like me? Do I have to impress her eh? You tell me what I have to do - go on!"

"Don't. Don't try to impress, you'll always fail and when you do you'll just look like the cub you still are."

"Oh sure! You'd like that wouldn't you? I know what you're up to! You get me to do nothing to attract your daughter and she ignores me. That way you two stay together just like the 'old days'. Yeah - you're just jealous because you ain't my type and you don't want anyone to take your precious little cubbie away from you! Wake up, Falana isn't a cub anymore, she's a lioness and she's begging for it - she just don't know it yet 'cause she's under your stiff and wrinkled paw. I'm not gonna be like you when I'm ancient, I'm gonna die before I get old!"

Nengwalamwe finally had had enough. He turned and moved off. He accelerated away and barely saw Falana approaching from the top of the closest rise. He turned and ran towards her, leaving Shaha staring after him. Fuming, he refused to look back and when he reached Falana he brushed roughly passed her and on out of sight over the rise. She looked on for a few moments as he ran off into the moonlight. Then she joined her mother in the hollow below.

"What happened out there this afternoon Falana?"

"Nothing," she said with a shrug, "We saw his rock. We came back. That's all. Oh yes, and we had a visitation from Elizabeth. Nothing else happened. You know what Nothing's like."

"Well something else happened Falana. I'm not so old as not to notice these things. Stop calling him Nothing - you do know he's attracted to you don't you?"

Falana looked incredulously at her mother. Not because she didn't believe her, but because she couldn't believe that her own mother could have entertained such a thought. Nengwalamwe was the last lion, if indeed he could in truth be called a lion at all, that Falana would let get close to her. The thought of his silken mane surging and enveloping her shoulders as his teeth points gripped her neck filled her with revulsion.

"No way mother! He's not the slightest bit interested in me - thankfully. How could you even think that?"

Shaha looked at her daughter and wondered. What had she done to her? What did she still have to do? How could more generations of great lion than anyone could remember end with Falana? Would they end with a cynical sneer, or would they grow anew from a contented growl and a gentle tongue drawn through soft, warm, welcoming fur?

"I may be old, but I am your mother and I know you Falana…" Shaha bore deep into Falana. "Oh yes, I know you."

Falana's eyes lit up with a fire kindled deep within from years of frustration. Moments later it broke free from its bonds and engulfed her. She turned on Shaha, lashing violently at her mother's head with unsheathed foreclaws. Lunging forward, her teeth touched and instantly penetrated her mother's neck. Shaha fell helpless, kicking out with her hindlegs desperately. Falana twisted over her mother, pinning her forelegs. Bringing her free forepaw crashing down on to Shaha's exposed shoulder, she bit harder. Shaha roared out in intense, biting pain until the pressure of Falana's jaws stole her breath. Shaha's hindlegs couldn't make contact with her attacker; they ached and grew heavier with every ineffectual thrust. Falana knew what she was doing; she was doing what her mother had taught her to do when taking down a kill: hold on tight and keep out of the way. She knew it was only a matter of time - time that was inexorably flowing out of Shaha in runnels of rich, fur-matting crimson.

The world grew confused for Shaha. She heard a laugh; a distant, self-amused laugh. She felt the pressure ease….

When she awoke, she wasn't alone. She felt a warm tongue on her neck. She opened her eyes. It was light, a little after dawn. Mind numbing pain shot through her haunch. Her neck throbbed and burned. She barely felt the dampness left by the tongue. She knew she was lucky to be alive, had she been a wildebeest she knew that she'd have succumbed to Falana. Something had saved her, though she could not tell what, all she knew was that by some miracle Falana was licking her wounds clean.

"I heard fighting. I had to make sure you weren't hurt. I came as soon as I could. Who was it? Yali's father or some of his lionesses? Whoever it was, they weren't messing about weren't they?"

"Nengwe?" she said weakly, trying to lift her head,"Nengwalamwe?"

"Yes, Shaha, it's me. Don't try to get up. You're not going anywhere while I'm around, do you hear?"

"Where's Falana?"

"I don't know, I've not seen her since yesterday."

Shaha failed in her struggle with gravity and let her head drop back on to the ground. Her forelegs draped limply over the ground to one side, her side rose and fell with difficult. Nengwalamwe looked at her almost lifeless form and wondered what could have brought her down. He still felt distant from her; her near-dead state was something he could not comprehend. He kept on wondering when she would get up and walk off, shaking her legs to improve circulation. He knew she was very old, and he supposed that that might have had something to do with her not recovering quickly. That she might so easily have died was not something that entered the young lion's mind.

"Shaha, you don't look so good. You'd better get some rest."

She looked at him weakly and without moving said weekly, "Nengwe, without you I might have died."

"No Shaha, no one's going to die while I'm around."

"We all have to go when it's our time. It's not my time yet. I know that - not yet. A mandrill told me that once, a very special mandrill."

"Yeah? I bet he did. What was he like?"

"Old… his time had come. He called me Shaha you know. He always used to make me laugh. When I was a cub, I used to laugh all the time. There's not much to laugh at here these days. It's all gone…."

Nengwalamwe wanted to hear what had gone, but as Shaha finished, her eyes closed and her breath deepened. Nengwalamwe watched her, and seeing her drift once more into sleep, he lay down beside her but did not sleep. Instead, he spent the whole of the burning day in the open beside Shaha; watching and waiting as above the ever thickening clouds rolled by.

~oOOo~

No animals ventured close until late in the afternoon. A leopardess loped over, probably attracted by the smell of blood. She took one look at Nengwalamwe and stopped dead. She looked disappointed as though she had expected easy pickings. She seemed to sense that the lion wasn't going to move from the injured lioness's side and after a few moments of twitching ears and tail, she sat back calmly and even found time to lick her forepaw. Nengwalamwe raised his fur, growled and bared his teeth at her, yet trying not to wake Shaha. The leopardess sat and washed for a while, casting hopeful glances at the lions. She lost interest in time and walked off, smiling and smirking cruelly.

~oOOo~

Nengwalamwe woke with a start. It was almost dark and he couldn't remember seeing the sunset. Shaha still lay beside him in the same position she had been in all day. She was still, her breathing regular and deep. Her wounds had stopped bleeding and peered back at Nengwalamwe angrily.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing," he said without thinking.

"Oh, lioness nothing huh?"

"Sort of, not that it's any of your business." Nengwalamwe could hardly believe he was having this conversation. He felt almost surreal sense of detachment about it.

"Don't be like that, I'm your friend, remember?"

"I'm sorry. Have you ever met Shaha?"

"Well, I guess I have now," said Yali, sniffing the sleeping lioness.

"She wanted to know why I'm here. Now I might never be able to tell her. She seems to think I… err… 'fancy' Falana, or something. Did your parents ever ask you what you wanted, but you didn't know?"

"No, not that I can remember. Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"You know..."

"*What? Yali, what are you talking about?"

"...you know - like Falana?"

"Well… sure I like her." He pictured her walking over the open plain. It was midday and her fur shone in the piercing sun. She slipped by effortlessly; her paws seeming to float over the ground. Her tail gracefully followed her, forming one smooth continuous sinuous curve with her back. Nengwalamwe could almost feel the warmth of her fur and smelt her scent that needed no bush to be an effective marker. She broke into a run, glancing over toward him, but she wasn't smiling, and she wasn't hunting. She was afraid but resolute. Nengwalamwe felt pleased about that, for at last Falana was shown to be as vulnerable as everyone else.

A movement brought him back to reality. Shaha was stretching out a little in her sleep; she seemed to be feeling more relaxed. Nengwalamwe felt a little more at ease.

"And you want cubs don't you. Like me?"

"Like you? I don't think I could cope with that, you're too much for me Yali. I'd never know where you were from one moment to the next." Then he thought further, spurred on by the feeling of Shaha's fur at his back. "Cubs? Well, you know… I never really thought about them."

"Isn't that what all lions and lionesses want - cubs of their own?"

"Hey, it isn't that simple - I suppose I'd be happy with Falana, and if cubs come along… well, they do I guess."

"You're like my dad, he never really wanted cubs."

"No, surely? What father wouldn't want you?"

"No, no, you've got it all wrong Silly! He said that he didn't want cubs before he met mother, then he did."

"I see. Well, I think I do."

"So, that's why you hang around here. You want Falana to be your pride, don't you?"

"Maybe… I guess you could be right. You know I'd never thought of that, but then it'll never work - she hates me. But what else can I do? I came here to save my life. Now I'm here there's no way out, except back the way I came. I'm trapped here - I can't leave."

"Yes, course you could. You can get away over the river. I know that because over the river is this big desert, then a rocky, hilly sort of place, then it's… well, I guess you don't want to know about all that if you're staying here. You are aren't you?"

"I don't know Yali, I really don't know. Unless Falana bucks her ideas up real soon and sees what a great lion I am, then I guess I might just have to cross that desert of yours. I really ought to give her another chance, if I can find her. I owe that much to Shaha."

"Oh , finding her's easy - peasy easy."

"Oh yes? And how is that?"

"She has this secret knoll she hangs out on, down there by those trees." The cub gestured with her nose. She stood rather awkwardly, as if she were injured. She had always bounced around Nengwalamwe, now she just stood there as if moving caused her pain.

"What trees? Are you all right Yali?"

She ignored him, gesturing again. "That one, see?"

"Ah, right, that one," he said hoping he had picked the right clump of trees out of the silvery gloom, "I'll just go on over sometime, but not right now."

"Why not?"

"Shaha's not well, someone attacked her. Would you know anything about that?" He didn't really expect an answer, but he felt it was worth a try just the same.

"Why don't you go to Falana right now? Shaha'll be all right with me. Don't you worry about her."

Nengwalamwe laughed uneasily. "I don't think so, little one. Falana will have to wait. She's been waiting for a long time already; a while longer won't hurt her. I'm needed here."

Yali stood before Nengwalamwe, neither spoke. The savannah all around seemed filled with sound: distant hyena calls, grunts of grazing wildebeest, gulps and croaks of frogs to the near continuous rasping and grating of thousands of unseeable insects. In time, she turned and walked off, limping from some obviously painful injury to her off foreleg. Nengwalamwe called after her. "Yali, if you did know anything about what happened to Shaha you'd tell me wouldn't you?"

She stopped and turned back, her eyes glinting emerald. "It wasn't my father, or my mother or anyone like that. It was someone else, and they're long gone. They'll never come back and you won't chase after them. Let them go. I know it'll never happen again."

Yali suddenly knew a lot more than any cub should know. Nengwalamwe wanted to know more, but Shaha began to stir. He looked down to her, taking his eyes off Yali. As he looked at the elderly lioness he smiled. He realised that if he looked back he'd probably find that Yali was gone. Shaha opened her eyes and looked up at him. He looked on, thinking of his mother. He reached down and licked at one of her wounds that had opened slightly. When after a few strokes it was clean, he lifted and turned his head; sure enough, Yali was once more gone back to wherever it was she had come.

"There's no point chasing after her," Shaha said as Nengwalamwe gazed into the moonlight and shadows, "Let her go…."

~oOOo~

If the days that followed were difficult for Nengwalamwe then they were almost impossible for Shaha. By morning, she had recovered enough to move, limping and lurching, to safety. She offered little and Nengwalamwe asked less. Later the next day he decided that neither of them was going to be able to keep going for long without food. That meant one thing: Nengwalamwe was going to have to hunt, and hunt well.

Once he'd made sure Shaha was comfortably asleep in the heart of Silent Rocks he ran off to find food. This time he knew he couldn't fail. He tried hard to remember everything his mother had patiently taught and re-taught him. He decided not to go after anything dramatic and to concentrate his efforts on something he knew he could take down. Warthog was his first choice, but try as he might he couldn't find any. He considered searching the thickets for a sleeping aardvark, and even thought twice when he saw a group of tree-bound vultures waiting out the day for the thermals that would let them get airborne. Then he remembered they played dead so well you could never tell if you'd made a kill or not. In the end, it was a baboon that proved his salvation. Mtundu caught up with him a while after midday and made what sounded to Nengwalamwe a surprisingly plausible proposal.

They spent much of the afternoon by the drying remains of a bend the river. The baboon's sharp eyes, the lion's endless patience and equally long claws made a good enough team. Much of the riverbed was no more than long dried mud. Mtundu stood on a boulder that would be submerged in the coming rain-swollen floods. Now, however, it stood proud of the water almost as high as the lion's shoulders.

The water flowed calmly past. It was far too shallow for crocodiles and the only irritation was the myriad biting flies that thought the lion offered too good a feast to be flown by. The first few fish Nengwalamwe caught he ate whole, barely troubling his teeth with breaking them up. He knew what he was looking for, and before too long he found it.

With the last, and biggest, fish dangling from his jaws, Nengwalamwe set off back to Silent Rocks with the baboon scurrying beside him, talking excitedly about nothing in particular. If Nengwalamwe hadn't had his mouth full, he'd have silenced him.

When they were in sight of the rocks, they made an unsettling discovery. In a hollow, one of many formed by the roots of long fallen trees, Nengwalamwe found the scattered but uneaten remains of a wild dog. He was walking ahead of Mtundu in the hope of escaping the worst of his chattering and saw them first. Earlier that day he had walked within a few lengths of the hollow but had not looked in. On the way back he was simply following the shortest path, one that led him to the dog carcass.

The dog's almost severed head lay bent back over the bloody remains of its forequarters. It was still recognisable as an individual, indeed Nengwalamwe was sure it was one of those that had chased him at the kopje. What seemed odd was that something had obviously attacked it with power, strength and repeated strikes. Not one bone, other than the skull remained unbroken. The body lay crushed and opened to gruesome effect, yet not one part was missing. It was uneaten - destroyed but not for food. Nengwalamwe knew of no savannah animal that did that. Not even the most callous of leopards.

Mtundu didn't have the stomach to face the terrible sight; he ran off as soon as he caught sight and smell of it, leaving Nengwalamwe to take the fish to Shaha alone. When he got to where he had left her sleeping, she was gone. At first, he thought she might have gone off to find somewhere quiet to die. When, moments later she returned, alive and evidently much the better for her long rest, Nengwalamwe felt relieved, as if a heavy burden of guilt had been lifted from him. She ate the fish as best she could. Her throat was very tender, and she could only manage to swallow every mouthful after a lot of chewing, and even then not without considerable pain. The fish's bones did not help. She still said nothing. The lion accepted that, as it would obviously be as painful as eating. While Shaha had to eat, she didn't have to speak, nor roar, growl, churr, and certainly not purr.

As Shaha grew steadily stronger, Nengwalamwe spent more and more time away from Silent Rocks. He tried hunting again, and managed to bring down a gazelle just after sunset: a very credible attempt for a relatively cumbersome and visible male. He dragged it for over an hour back to the rocks before even taking a bite. Shaha smiled at him and for the first time since the fight, ate with only slight discomfort. Afterwards she got up and walked around, stretching muscles unused to such exertion.

"Go find Falana Nengwalamwe. Go to her. Bring her home."

"Where is she anyway? Did whoever did this to you frighten her away?"

"You'll find her, I know you will. Go on, find her and tell her I need her back home, and that you do too."

Nengwalamwe didn't want to leave Shaha alone unless he had too but Shaha insisted, saying that she was nearly well again and would soon be hunting again for herself. So, Nengwalamwe set out in search of a lioness.

He didn't have to search for long. He remembered what Yali had said, and walked over to the trees which she had pointed out to him. He didn't expect to find Falana there, after all Yali was only a cub, and one with an active imagination at that.

He approached from the south just after dawn. Almost bare trees framed the knoll. There, sitting on the top was the unmistakable form of a lioness: Falana. She was gazing out towards the big rock as if she was waiting for something, or perhaps someone. The lion stopped and raised his head above the grasses. The lioness sensed the movement and dropped down on to the knoll. She looked around fearfully, her fur standing tense over her shoulders. At first she didn't look in the lion's direction; continuing to look to the rock. When she finally saw him her fear subsided and she slowly rose up on her forepaws. Nengwalamwe knew that Shaha's attacker had indeed frightened her too.

"Where have you been Falana?" he said as he approached upwind, "Shaha wants you to come home, she needs you."

"She does? How can she?"

"Yes, she does, and…" he paused, unsure of what best to say, "…so do I Falana." He dropped his head, adding quietly, "Please."

"If Shaha really, really needs me then I'll have to go to her, but as for you Nengwalamwe… dream on! There's no way you and I will ever get together. No way! Ever."

She looked away and went back to staring, waiting for something to come from the rock. Nengwalamwe knew that she was serious, that she really didn't think there was any hope that they could ever be friends, let alone mates. He growled at her, but she didn't even look round. He turned and walked away. A modest distance away he stopped to lick his pride, and his off-hind thigh.

Falana's strange preoccupation stirred him into thinking what might be happening to his rock. He thought again of the cave with its blocked entrance and imagined the rocks melting and flowing away under his paws to let him enter.

That afternoon was cooler than usual. The sky filled with a thick blanket of billowing grey clouds that rushed across the plains. He followed them, empty pawed, back to the ridge and Shaha. She was sleeping when he arrived, so, as he had done for much of the past few days he slept by her side. When she woke, she pressed him to try again to urge Falana to come home. He began to feel that he was slowly becoming no more than a hunter and messenger for Shaha. When he told her so, she smiled and repeated her request.

The next day came early, soon after midnight. Shaha lay sleeping in the darkness while Nengwalamwe tossed, turned, curled up, uncurled, got up, turned round, stretched and lay down again. He could not get comfortable enough to sleep, so he got up one last time and padded out of the cover of the Silent Rocks.

As he walked, he thought he heard sounds of another animal close by, possibly watching or even following him. It sounded slightly clumsy, more like the footfall of a primate than the pawfall of a feline. He couldn't understand why anyone would want to follow him. He slipped into a patch of undergrowth for a moment; he emerged and stumbled into Mtundu.

"Mtundu! What are you doing here at this time of night?" He asked in surprise, "Look, I think something might be following me. Just keep your mouth shut and come on. We're going to see Falana."

The baboon shrugged and tilted his head. He reached out, picked off something from Nengwalamwe's nose, and ate it.

"Do you think Mtundu," Nengwalamwe asked as he rose and set off, "that it could have something to do with those dogs?"

~oOOo~

"No Nengwalamwe. NO!"

That was that, Nengwalamwe could get Falana to say no more. Though she didn't say anything, she made it clear that she didn't want to say anything more in the presence of Mtundu.

Shaha patiently listened to Nengwalamwe's story, and even to Mtundu's version of events. He seemed quite at ease with Shaha; gone was the fidgeting nervousness with which he had met Falana. He clearly knew of Shaha, and possibly thought she was well past being a threat to a nimble baboon. When Shaha suggested, no, told Nengwalamwe that he would be going to Falana again the following day he almost told her to go herself. She was now moving around quite well and with little pain or discomfort. She still limped noticeably, but she was managing more than just a hobble. She would be able to spring in a few more days if she kept on recovering as she had so far.

Nengwalamwe's thoughts turned back to his rock. He felt he was neglecting important things. He had not been home for some five days, and a lot can happen in five days of a lion's life. When Mtundu had gone he told Shaha of his concerns. In reply, she told him that once Falana was home she would have no need of Nengwalamwe and that he would be free to go wherever he pleased. She told him that he was always free to do whatever he pleased, that he was not her prisoner and that he owed her nothing.

"I stay here because I want to Shaha, but I need to go home too - I need to be there. I had wanted to go there with someone, but I guess it's not going to happen."

Shaha reached up with her injured foreleg and placed her paw on his shoulder, she held it there for a moment before the aching forced her to let it slide down his warm fur. "I know how you need to go back. If I were younger, I'd go with you. Go to Falana again and make her see she's wanted and needed too."

Nengwalamwe knew that Shaha would be better off with her own daughter. If that daughter didn't want him then there seemed little point in hanging around any longer. The rains were coming, and with them the moment would come when the young lion would have to decide where his future lay. That time was coming closer with every cloud that gathered over the savannah.

~oOOo~

"Whatever the question is, the answer is 'No!' so don't even bother asking."

"But Falana!"

"I told you never to 'but' me cubbie. Now get out of here!"

"Shaha needs you."

"We'll see about that! Now go!"

Dejected, disillusioned and disappointed, Nengwalamwe turned from Falana and walked away. He roamed over the plain with no idea where he was going or why. Everything was confused in his mind: the dogs, Falana, Shaha and even Mtundu. There was no one he could rely on, no one he could really trust, no one he could pour out his heart to, no one. It all came from the place; it all flowed up from the ground, into the rock and into their souls. Maybe it would flow into his too if he stayed much longer. He decided he should go back to Shaha one more time, if nothing else than to say goodbye.

He walked slowly back to Silent Rocks along the top of the ridge. As he got close, but still out of sight, he stopped for a moment of private peace. As he licked his foreleg, he heard voices. Two voices, Shaha's and… Falana's: the two were together; the two were home.

"I'd have died without him. Nengwalamwe's a good lion Falana, he's got a lot of heart, and he's hunted for me without a word. Few lions would ever do that for you; my father wouldn't have, and nor would yours. Give him a chance, he deserves it, and you've got to admit his mane's… cuddly."

"But mother, he's so young!"

"Don't you 'but' me cubbie!"

Nengwalamwe slowly brought his head up from his leg and stood still, listening.

"I'm sorry mother. I am…"

"I know, and what's wrong with young? I know he'll be good with cubs. Which reminds me, what are we going to do about something to eat?"

His faith restored and his time with Shaha over, he turned and walked back down the ridge. His job was done. He had seen a little of what lay below the ears of the hippopotamus.

Once well away from Silent Rocks he turned into the late day sun and headed for home.