CHAPTER 3

The day’s chores had eaten deeply into the evening, and now what was left from the light of the sun, tubes in any directions through the trees’ leaf and grasses, into the river, reflecting bright warm lights and faint rainbow colors. The melodies of the arboreal initially clouding the air, were now retiring to their nests, but the cold harmattan wind seemed anew and prevalent.

Ada sat on the cold sand and watched in wonder as her friend immersed herself into the water again. Her head which was the only thing afloat, suspended the dark hair, like fine trends of delicate motile tentacles. Until fifteen to sixteen feet above the surface, the river was bottomless, but Chinwe always maintains her upthrust, like the professional she is. 

Female swimmers are rare in Alaocha; most people believe that unless one was gifted by the goddess of the seas and rivers— Idemili—they could not go to places in the river where the depth was cupped.

The splattering of the water followed Chinwe, as she raised her head and heaved. She smiled at her friend and smoothen her hair into a ponytail. Dripping waters accompanied her step as she walked out of the river and stood before Ada.

“You should try it sometime you know, I can teach you if you want,” She said.

Ada rolled her eyes and handed Chinwe her clothes. The spiral designs on Chinwe’s melanin, made from the Uri (local pencil), were identical to hers. It looked three days old, from the fainting character, but visible to distinguish them as the queen’s ladies.

“You of all people know that such skill doesn’t come so handy. Extraordinary abilities like that are implanted by the goddess herself. I’m not gifted with such.”

“Who said swimming was innate? Don’t tell me you believe those claptrap stories about Idemili—goddess of the seas and rivers—gifting people with swimming abilities?” Chinwe asked. She planted herself under the rays of the dropping sun, trying to get dry and warm.

“Watch your tongue, Chinwe!!!” Ada exclaimed, “Such words against the goddess could ruin your life forever.”

Chinwe laughed but said nothing. She started on with her clothes as if flippant, but Ada could read the fright on her face.

Stories have it that outlaws, who violated or committed sacrilege in the land, were flogged to death by this mysterious goddess of the seas and rivers. Even though the truth to these claims was farfetched as it passes orally, from one generation to the next, people held it with so much fear and awe. Paranoid it seems, but ignorance of the unknown wakes the fear within. 

Trying to ease the tension between them, Ada lifted her weight from the sand and picked up her pot—designed from the finest clay in the kingdom. She made to fill it with water, when the noise of the approaching footstep made her shoot curious eyes towards the path that snaked away from the river.

This river, Ogba River, as it was called by the people, was reserved for the Queen and her ladies. Nobody dares encroach, not even the King himself.

At first, the leap of faith in Ada’s stomach piqued her inner self as the name Ikedi, emblazoned in her thought. She just couldn’t kick off the fact that he had come back for her after his dramatic exit. She knew he loves her so much to abandon her just like that. He had come back, just when she desired him most. She just couldn’t help the hopes lifting in her stomach as she remembered that day when Ikedi had defiled the law and had come here to see her.

The approaching footfalls increased and Ada and her friend strained their neck while towering over the grass, with weight forcefully burying their phalanges into the sand. Their two pairs of curious eyes scanned the narrow path, trying to get a glimpse of the person on the path.

Ada hissed with disappointment, but her jaws dropped when she saw the small gold crown, perching on the head of a young man. His face was clouded with eyebrow, which in contrast to the clean shaved mustache was small. 

“It’s the prince!” Chinwe panicked with enthusiasm, “What is he doing here?”

Ada did not respond as another feeling started building in her stomach. Her hands shook when she picked up the clay pot and walked back into the water. She dragged the pot out of the water and watched from the corner of her eyes, as her friend started straightening her cloth and raking her wet hair to stay true. 

It was funny to see Chinwe, an epitome of beauty, bothering with her looks. Well, for the prince, any girl would kill to have his attention, even a servant who knows that their chances of being with him were off the hook.

“Greetings my Prince,” Ada and Chinwe said and bowed in unison.

“Excuse us,” the Prince announced in a soft tone.

Chinwe, knowing she was the one dispatched, hurriedly filled her pot, lifted it to rest on her head, and walked the way they had come.

Ada could read the envious gaze Chinwe shot her direction, but she chose to remain neutral to any sense of thought. She felt privileged to have the attention of the most admirable young man in Alaocha, but the fright and confusion racing her heartbeat, made her wish the earth would open up and swallow her.

The muscular arms of the Prince couldn’t hide under the leather armor, so they bulged in and out like a bud. He has grown taller now. His almond color skin; glowed with the dropping rays and white morning eyes—which looked like that of an eagle—she could see, were studying her carefully. 

“The rumors are true. The gods of the land have really endowed you with so much beauty,” the Prince said. 

He was staring at the ripple of the flowing river now and the calmness on his shoulders was almost inviting.

“I am but a common servant, born to serve. May you live long my Prince.” Ada said.

The Prince laughed.

“I appreciate the fact that you are trying to be humble and all that. But come on, we are alone here, it will be best if you drop those formalities.”

“Our childhood days are over. You are the heir to the throne. And besides, the grasses have ears.”

“Just the same stubborn girl I grew up and fell in love with. It’s good to see you after all these moons,” the hair on the Prince’s cheek folded as he smiled and turned to Ada.

“You’re faring okay no doubt”

“You can thank your father for that, his wings have sheltered me well.”

“Glad to hear,” the Prince said.

He sat down on the sand and signaled Ada to sit beside him. Ada did so without a second thought, out of respect than willingness. They both watched the flowing water for a time before the Prince killed the silence.

“What has changed?” he asked

“A lot,” Came Ada’s cordial reply.

She was picking pebbles from the sand and throwing them into the river as if that would take away all the pains of the past moons. Lots of events have taken place since the Prince left to that distant village called Dota, to complete his training. Now he has returned, not as the boy she had grown up with, but as a man. 

How time flies.

“There has never been a day I did not think about you, to behold the beauty of the one who has haunted my sleep.” The Prince heaved as if in pain 

“You walk in my head,” he continued “Your face always a picture in my vision, drowning my memory with those days we spent together. The tears we shared, the laughter we knew, and the joy we lived with. What has change, Ada?”

Ada felt pain in her stomach, the same pain she had carried with her for 96 moons without comfort. The scar of heartbreak was bleeding open, that suture, ripping loose as though it had never healed.

 “We are world apart and there is no future for us. You are the heir to the throne, a noble, a freeborn. I am a commoner. That’s what has changed.”

“Ada, ogini (what is it)?” The Prince sat up. The dark skin on his face held many lines now. He seems not to believe his ears. 

“What happened to that tough girl that stood up to any challenge? That girl whose courage calmed the tempest of the blue world? What happened to the love we shared? Always and forever, is that not what we promised each other?”

“Please stop it,” Ada sobbed. Her cheek was wet now and the sudden cold she felt, made her hug her knees. 

“When you left to the village of Dota to complete your training, I found favor in your father’s eyes and he lifted some slave-binding laws away from me. I am free to fall in love now. But you know what? I waited for you. Sunrise to sunset, days growing to market days, and market days growing to moons. I waited for you. The wind came with rumors that you were not going to return, that the village of Dota was an extension of the Kingdom and that you are the ruler.”

Ada paused and wiped her tears. If the prince was shocked by what she was saying, he hid it very well.

“I was happy for you,” Ada chuckled and continued, “But my happiness turned sore when I saw her. She is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. Olamma, I later learned was her name, a name befitting for the queen to be.”

The pain was clouding her now and it was excruciating. Why was she always a victim of agony? 

Why was love so wicked?

Why does love betray? 

“Your father…” Ada continued, wishing above all things that the pain would subside once she was done. She had carried this a long time to let it lie. Nobody knew about her relationship with the Prince, even her friend Chinwe. It had been a long time and she was young and naïve. If words ever get to the King, it could separate her head from her shoulders. In Alaocha, commoners don’t blend with nobles. It was a taboo.

“…Your father said that Olamma was your bride. I couldn’t believe until I saw the feather you place on her head. All these while we were together, you never told me you were betrothed. You never told me you consent to marry another”

“I regret my actions, and I have come to set things right,” The Prince said with a sudden haggard look.

“Set things right?” Ada bellowed and stood up with an outburst of anger.

“You left me broken and now you have come to glue me with an apology?”

“Yes,” the Prince stood, “I have come to show you that it was never my intension. My marriage with Olamma is centered on politics, not love-oriented. Please understand”

“I do understand.” Ada's voice cracked with sadness “What then do you want from me?”

“I still love you, Ada, I still desire you. I want you to be my mistress.”

Ada’s heart nearly stopped at his words, she couldn’t believe her ears.

“I’m sorry,” She said, taking all the discipline in her to comport herself “but I am in love with another.” She finished as the tears came pouring down. 

“What?” the Prince exclaimed.

Ada couldn’t reach the anger burning in his eyes. Not that she cared; his head could explode for all she cared.

“I wish to return to the palace now.” Ada lifted her pot and rested it on her head. She could feel his eyes on her body, but she continued walking on the sandy path, with tears fogging her vision.