CHAPTER:  SOMEONE TO LEAN ON

	The day's event had taken their toll on the two lions, and when 
the sun had slipped below the horizon, they quietly searched for a 
clearing which to bed for the night.  Upon finding one, Elanna lied 
down in the short grass and Kubali did the same, a few passes away.  
Kubali, long accustomed to the solitude, fell asleep rather quickly.  
Elanna wasn't so lucky.  As he mind filled with visions of her Taka, 
she softly wept. 
	Kubali's ears were pricked on this weeping.  Looking over at 
her for a few moments, he rose up and moved towards her.  Hearing no 
protest on her part, he lied down next to her, still keeping a small 
gap between their bodies.  Almost absentmindedly, Elanna turned and 
draped a paw over him, which brought forth a soft purr from him.  
Felling his warmth, they finally drifted off to a quiet sleep 
together.
	Morning came quickly for the pair.  Elanna woke first, and 
while she was thinking of her Taka and how nice it was to see him 
wake in the morning, her paw wandered on him.  She softly stroked his 
mane, as she once did for the fallen king.  
	Suddenly, she realized she wasn't at Pride Rock anymore.  She 
turned her head to see her paw across Kubali's mane.
	"I'm sorry!"
	"Don't be.  My nurse used to do that."  He sighed.  "I bet he 
was special, this mate of yours."
	"He's dead."
	"Oh...."  He touched her face again.  "That's why you were 
crying 
last night.  I haven't known you that long, but I already hate it 
when you cry."
	Elanna pawed his shoulder gently.  "Look, 
Kube...Kublia...uh..."
	"Kubali."
	"Yeah.  You've been very sweet to me, but I don't want you to 
get any unrealistic expectations.  I need a friend now, and I think 
you could be that friend.  But I don't know if I could ever fall in 
love again."
	Kubali smiled gently and touched her nose with his.  "I need a 
friend too.  Someone I can lean on when the trail is long and weary.  
I wouldn't take a chance of ruining this."
	Elanna smiled, relieved, and returned his nuzzle.
	Over the next three days Elanna and Kubali worked hard to prove 
their friendship would never blossom into romance.  It was a tense 
time for both of them, a time of guarded words and cautiously 
touching only when necessary.  They would allow themselves a good 
morning nuzzle and, when they made a small kill, a congratulatory pat 
on the shoulder.  Still, it was done timidly and with great 
restraint.
	Then on the fourth day a remarkable thing happened.  They 
stopped being afraid and decided to enjoy their friendship.
	Elanna was sunning herself on a small kopje that morning when 
Kubali came and laid beside her.  "Lannie, we have to talk."
	"My husband called me Lannie," she replied.  "It makes me feel 
uncomfortable to hear it from anyone else."
	"Fine.  Lots of things make me feel uncomfortable.  I think 
we're both pretty miserable."
	"Are you saying we should part?"
	"No.  I'm saying we should stop being miserable."  Kubali said, 
"I've been holding back from you.  Surely you wonder about my past."
	"I try not to."
	"See there--that's what I mean.  This secrecy is tearing us 
apart.  I mean, if we're really friends, let's be honest with each 
other."
	"Are you saying I've lied to you?"
	"No.  You have to say something first."  Kubali looked around 
with building frustration.  "Look, I have a sordid past.  If I can 
tell you what I did to wind up here, you can tell me, can't you?"
	Elanna looked about, surprised.  "Just how sordid?"
	"Then we have a deal?"
	"It depends," Elanna said, rolling over to look at him in the 
eyes.
	Kubali sighed nervously.  "Where shall I begin?  Well, I think 
it started when I was a little cub.  My mother died the day I was 
born, and I was raised by nurses.  My dad is a king, you know.  I was 
the heir apparent, and I guess I had free rein to do what I pleased."  
He laughed nervously.  "Oh yes, it pleased me to do a lot of selfish 
things--a whole lot!  The lionesses got fed up with me and one day 
they said my polite little brother would make a better king--or 
else."
	"Or else?"
	"Or else they would leave.  Dad banished me."  Tears came to 
his eyes.  "I'll never forget the look on his face when he said good 
bye.  It will haunt me for the rest of my life."
	"Poor Kubali!"
	"I deserved it, though.  I really messed up my own life, and I 
have no one else to blame.  Now I have to make a new life for myself, 
and I'll be different.  I begged Aiheu for a friend.  Someone--
anyone--that would end my awful loneliness.  I swore I'd be better.  
I meant it too.  Then I saw this feisty lioness facing off a whole 
group of hyenas.  I knew that you were the answer to my prayers."
	Elanna kissed away his tears, a rather intimate gesture of 
friendship.  "Your honesty puts me to shame.  Really, I should have 
told you more about myself.  You've been so kind to me."
	"Am I kind?  I wondered if I was doing well."
	"Better than well, my friend."  She nuzzled him.  "My husband 
was a king.  His name was Taka.  He was never popular, but I loved 
him.  I loved him the way snow loves the mountain peaks, and you know 
the snow would never leave the mountain peaks lest it should melt and 
die."
	"What did he do to be so unpopular?"
	"Well he...."  She sighed.  "He was not completely sane.  He 
did a lot of strange things.  Very strange.  But it was not his 
fault.  I did not know that he had killed his brother to take the 
throne.  Not till after the hyenas ripped him alive."
	"Whoa, you poor dear!"
	"I loved him, but I wouldn't have stayed with him.  Not if I'd 
known.  Still the knowledge has not killed my love.  Somehow I cannot 
turn years of love into hate.  Now you know why I have not fallen in 
love with you.  When he died, my dreams of love also died.  He was 
killed and I live in exile, a wanderer with no place to lay my head."
	"Wrong.  Lay your head on my mane, dear.  It doesn't matter if 
you love me or not.  I have enough love for both of us."
	She laid her head on the soft fur of his mane and sighed 
peacefully.  "I'm glad we had this talk.  And I didn't mean what I 
said before--call me Lannie.  You've earned the right."
	"It's not a right, it's a privilege.  A privilege to be earned 
daily.  Your suffering is over, Lannie.  Over and done."  He stroked 
her gently with his paw.


CHAPTER:  HAVE IT YOUR WAY

	If calling Elanna `Lannie' was a privilege to be earned daily, 
Kubali did his best.  The truth had freed them to enjoy each other's 
acceptance.  Elanna became to Kubali more than just a mystery, 
however alluring.  She became a person with strengths and weaknesses, 
and compassion like a river bearing away his sorrows to lands unseen.  
In return, Kubali treated Elanna with a gentle humility he didn't 
know he had.  He devoted himself to making her feel important and 
cared for.
	With each passing day, Kubali and Elanna drew closer to the 
inevitable moment when one or the other would use the word "love" to 
describe their feelings.
	With all the truth and experience, however, small quirks showed 
up in their behavior.  Elanna found Kubali's snoring intolerable when 
he lay on his back.  Often in the night she would shove him over with 
a paw, hoping to find peace.  And Kubali noticed to his irritation 
that she always deferred decisions to him.  It was nothing much 
really, just a `You decide' or a `We can do what you want' every so 
often, but it bothered him.  And for him, this was one problem that a 
simple shove of the paws would not rectify.  He decided to let it 
past and wait.  She get use to the freedoms, he thought to himself.
	One day, they went on a hunt together.  Quietly, before they 
were close to any prey, he jokingly nuzzled her and said, "So...what 
do you feel like today, my fair lioness?  The savanna is filled with 
choice prey."
	She smiled up to him, "Oh...I don't know...you pick."
	He could feel his insides tighten on her words.  "Come on 
Lannie, I always chose...I think it's your turn to chose."
	She just shook her head, "I'm no good at making decisions...you 
can. It's all right."
	Kubali could sense where this was going so he swallowed his 
pride and nodded, "All right...how does gazelle sound today?"
	She smiled and rubbed against him softly.  "It sounds 
wonderful."  She didn't notice, or care to notice, the tightness in 
his body she caused.
	Together they walked until they were able to find their target.  
Quietly, Kubali slipped away from Elanna and stalked about to a point 
where he was sure the gazelles can smell him.  He jumped out and 
roared, causing the gazelles to flee towards Elanna.  She burst out 
of the brush, her swift and fatal onslaught bearing a struggling 
beast to the ground.  Some of the others in panic turned and headed 
back.
	Kubali did not react swiftly enough.  One of the gazelles 
caught him on the side with a hoof, nicking him and bringing a few 
drops of blood.
	Elanna quickly and compassionately snuffed the life from her 
horrified captive, then spoke a quick blessing.  Kubali went to her 
after the dust had settled and rubbed against her gently.  "Good job, 
Lannie!"
	As his body pressed against hers, she noticed the blood on him. 
"Oh my gods...you're bleeding, Kubali!"
	Kubali turned to look at the wound and chuckled.  "Don't scare 
me like that!  It's really noth..."
	"Oh you poor dear..." She got up from the fallen beast and 
began to lick at the blood on his coat.  "My sweet little Nisei, let 
me make it all better."
	"Lannie...not that I mind your affections...but I'll be all 
right."
	She began to stroke his side gently.  "My brave little lion.  
There, there!  It's all right.  I'm here."
	Kubali stepped away from her, "Didn't you hear me, Lannie?  I'm 
all right.  It's really nothing.  I didn't even notice it until you 
mentioned it."
	Elanna looked up to him.  "But Kubali...aren't you in pain?" 
	He just shook his head.  Elanna looked down at his paws, 
"Oh..."
	Kubali came and nuzzled her.  "You don't have to treat me like 
a cub, Lannie...and you don't have to think of me as your master."  
He kissed her gently.  "Lannie, I don't want someone to command 
around. That's what got me in trouble in the first place."
	She nodded.  "OK.  I'll try if you want me to."
	He shook his head.  "You still don't get it.  Try because YOU 
want you to."  He looked around and said, "We better eat this before 
it falls to the hyenas." Ripping at the flesh, he opened the beast.  
"Hunter's choice?"
	Elanna just looked at him, about to ask what he wanted.  Then 
quickly she dove her head into the carcass and pulled out the heart.  
She moved over to him and dropped it at his feet.
	Frustrated, Kubali sighed.  "Lannie, listen to me."
	"We'll share it.  You and I together."
	He smiled and licked the blood from her check, giving her a 
kiss at the same time.  "That's my girl."


CHAPTER:  STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

	The cold gray eyes stared silently out at the small clearing, 
taking in all that they saw and revealing nothing, like their owner.  
He crouched in the overgrown scrub, the soft fronds swaying in the 
quiet breeze, batting at his face in a maddeningly repetitive 
pattern, but he lay still, like a stone.  Finally, he grunted in 
satisfaction and rose, shaking out his mane, and emerged from the 
grass, padding silently over to where the other two lions had lain 
the previous evening.  His small companion followed, the hyena 
glancing about nervously at the waving grass.
	Gamu bent his face to the ground and paced about slowly, nosing 
at the bent blades of grass where the two lions had slept the night.  
His head jerked aside of its own volition, drawn by a particular 
scent, and he breathed deeply.  Nodding, he lifted his face to look 
at the hyena in satisfaction.  "Soon, now."
	"Soon?" the hyena asked.  "I wish you'd hurry up."
	The lion smiled complacently and strolled over towards him.  
"Patience, Griz'nik."  Whipping a paw up abruptly, he extended a 
single claw and lifted the hyena's chin with it sharply, dimpling the 
flesh in.  "Your days with of pushing lions around are over.  You 
will remember who is your boss, and it's not Shenzi."  He lifted his 
paw higher, watching the hyena flinch with detached amusement.  
"Understand?"
	Griz'nik coughed and nodded carefully.  "Yes sir."
	Gamu released the pressure and dropped his paw.  "That's 
better.  Now be a good little hyena and tell me who that lovely 
creature is with Kubali."
	Griz'nik rubbed his chin gingerly, staring at Gamu with 
undisguised hate.  "That's Elanna.  She used to be my queen."
	"Your Queen?"  Gamu laughed.  "I was unaware you were making a 
career of obeying lions, Griz."
	Griz'nik spat.  "Remember that when I gnaw on your bones."
	Gamu waved a paw absently.  "Yes, yes.  She was a queen, you 
say?"  His eyes gleamed as he looked at the hyena.  "Royalty, eh?  
Then tell me what she's doing out here eating on leftover carcasses 
with that flea bag."
	Griz'nik scratched an ear self-consciously.  "Well, back when 
Amarakh was our Roh'mach, there was this hyena named Gur'mekh--"
	Gamu swung heavily with a paw, barely missing the hyena who 
dodged away with a yip of terror.  "The condensed version, please, 
and spare me your savage chatter.  I don't have all day."
	Griz'nik stood warily just outside the reach of his paw.  "We 
helped kill the old king in my old home.  His brother took his place 
and allied with us in return for our help.  She married him."
	"You little devil!"  Gamu grinned humorlessly.  "It seems you 
do have a few redeeming vices."
	"Thanks--I guess."
	"That still doesn't tell me why she's here."
	Griz'nik flattened his ears.  "Uhh...the old king's son came 
back and kind of took over the place."
	Gamu threw his maned face back and bellowed laughter into the 
sky.  "Oh my...you ARE priceless.  I wondered why you came crawling 
to me."
	"Well, we did for her husband before she left, O Great Hairy 
One.  But you'd better watch yourself."
	Gamu snapped his head down and bored twin holes into the 
suddenly silent hyena with his eyes.  "Ahh...so hubby isn't going to 
come looking for his long lost mistress, eh?"
	"Not in this world."
	"I see..."  Gamu rose and paced slowly past the clearing, his 
companion following at a respectable distance.  "Excellent.  I shall 
have to move against this young upstart before he endears her to him.  
He manages to exude a certain charm--despite his good qualities."  He 
paused and surveyed the area slowly.  "I could rush him from the 
reeds, but they do make so much noise..."  He eyed Griz'nik 
uncomfortably.  "How fast can you run?"
	"Oh no you don't!  Don't drag me into this!"
	"It's either I drag you into this or drag your carcass away.  
Now stop whimpering and answer me."
	"Not very fast," Griz'nik said nervously.  "Hey, why don't you 
just get him when she goes to drink or something.  I make a lousy 
decoy."
	"As well as a fabulous idiot.  If I kill him in front of her, 
do you think she'll want my attentions?"  Gamu snorted derisively.  
"Besides...I don't want to kill Kubali outright like that."  A slow 
grin spread across his muzzle, humorless and cold.  "I can think of 
other things I want to do to him first."
	Griz'nik tittered.  "Then I get him, right?"
	"You can have what's left, certainly."  Gamu sidled 
uncomfortably close to the hyena and patted him.  "After all...what 
are friends for?"
	Griz'nik chuckled.  "Dessert!"
	"Precisely."  Gamu leered at him, making him shy away in fear.  
"Now tell me more about this Elanna."

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