by
Camrath Kizuka

“Your mother and I have something we need to discuss with you.”

It’s shocking, really, now I come to look back on it all. How so much can be started by such a short sentence. How the past few years have all been shaped by that one line, spoken by my father, as we lay together, sated on a fresh kill.

Of course, like any adolescent, I at once pricked up my ears in fear- after all, could there have been some misdemeanour that I’d committed unknowingly? Perhaps word had got back to the pair of them about that time Njema caught me gazing at her, my eyes taking in every inch of her golden form. Or perhaps I’d kept the others awake at night once too often.

“Of course, dad..” I replied. Eager to seem willing. To avoid perhaps a cuffing, if indeed I had misbehaved. “What’s up?”

One horrible thought occurred to me- that they were going to sit me down and give me one of those spine crawling talks about ‘lionesses’ and ‘temptation’, and ‘saving myself for marriage’. Parents always seem to enjoy such tortures, especially when adolescent offspring are involved.

“Now, son.. I want you to listen carefully, alright?” His tone came. Deep as ever. “It’s about what’s going to happen when I die. In short, it’s about the succession. Now, I know you and your brother have been talking about this in private, so I feel it’s time that we got this straightened out once and for all.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Son.. I’m afraid that it is your brother who will be king on my death.”

Coldness first of all. A bitter fist clenching around my heart, which simultaneously felt crushed, and as if it was about to burst. An angry explosion began to rise to my lips, yet I did not allow it free. Instead, I merely blanched visibly.

I ran my mind back to all the times my father and I had spent together. It was true, I’d always felt he was closer to my twin brother than to myself, but I’d never thought that it went this far.

“Well? Do you have anything to say?” He asked. Yet, I could not even form a single word in reply.

Taking my silence to mean acceptance, he nodded softly. “Good. Now go, son. Go and rest in your cave. Think about this. I will talk to you later.”

My father was an odd lion, it’s true. A combination of good friend, and occasionally a parental tyrant. But on the whole, I’d always loved him, and knew he’d always loved me. Somehow, that made his words yet harder to bear. If only I’d have known what he really meant back then, on that cool, breezy day. The grasses sighed and sang in counterpoint to my mourning heart, as I returned to my den on the rock, there to curl up. To brood.

It was some hours later, when my brother strode past my den. I lifted my head, aiming to congratulate him on his appointment, no matter how empty it might have seemed to come from my lips. Yet, all I received in return was a look of green eyed malevolence. Taken aback, I remained silent, mystified as his form disappeared around a corner. The answer was soon in coming.

Father’s head, peering round the door. “Son, I said I would come to talk further with you.” He moved in without further invitation, and sat on his haunches. “Today, you have been dealt a cruel blow. Yet, you have not succumbed to anger. Nor to hatred. I could see in your eyes the pain you felt, yet, you contained it. You did not let it consume you.”

He paused for breath, and glanced around the corner. “I told you that my decision on the succession had been made. Indeed, it had- but that decision required a final test. You, my son, unlike your brother, have shown humility, control and nobility. You, Mufasa, you will be my heir.”

To think back on how I felt that day, as I lie here, gazing out for my son with dimming eyes, I come to reflect- if only Taka had been chosen after all- if only father had not carried out that final test, then Simba would still be alive.. and I, I would be alive to enjoy his growth. Reflect hard on your gifts, is my last thought as the world goes dark. For sometimes the greatest gift of all is cursed. Cursed with the destruction of all that you held dear. Father, I come to meet you now.