6. Rejected and disowned - Arawa

His wife had been buried as was their tradition by the river side and they all had to cross over to the  other side. Kuka had insisted on leaving the cursed baby by the river side over there but trusted Orau to  insist on her no. He however refused to set his eyes upon the baby as he went ahead. He wanted  nothing to do with that cursed child. The people had to assist him with building huts gradually. It took  some time though, but soon they were able to set up a new Wuwa. The big tree that had fallen over was  already getting chopped into pieces and soon enough they would get rid of it. Kuka was not ready to be  married as he was hell bent on reestablishing his village. Everyone was settling in just fine, and the best  part of everything was that they had found out that there were enough animals to hunt as this part of the  forest extended greater than the other. 

On her own part, Orau could not understand why Kuka would turn his back on the child. The baby was  beautiful and pretty much was not harmful. She had such beautiful eyes and dark lush hair. Her giggle  was like beautiful music, she was supposed to be a blessing. It was against their tradition for a woman  to rename a child when the man had already given a name, she was left with no choice but to call her by  her given name, although she had shortened it to just Ara. The baby's survival so far was a thing of  surprise as there was no milk or any animals to get milk from. She had to get a mixture of flowers and  plants and make something that tastes close enough to milk. With the help of honey, she achieved it,  this was how she fed her up until this time. Perhaps in the later years, Kuka would come back to his  senses and accept the baby. 

The villagers were not even helping matters as they all avoided the baby-like dread. Probably it was as a  result of what Kuka’s actions signified but she did not find it funny. This was not enough reason to  abandon a little baby. It was just selfish and unbecoming. At least, they were all beginning to do well and  had new expecting mothers among them, soon enough, Wuwa would take back its greatness. Kuka was  already preparing a training ground because he was not going to be taken unawares. Orau believed that  probably someday, she was going to groom Arawa into a warrior so great, even greater than all the men  in the land. She was going to take it upon herself to mold her into a fierce woman. To her, rejection  was not a reason to give up. It was at the point of rejection that a reasonable person should begin  showing everyone around them their mistakes. She knew that she had actually been able to make that  point clear to even Kuka himself. She had not missed the way he used to look at her even before the  death of Nulaa. She had been able to show him his flaws. Yet again, she would show him another of his  life’s mistakes by making Arawa just like her.

However, the gods seemed not to abandon them as the survivors of Wuwa were met with another great  happening among them. It was Kili, the little boy that had been bitten by a snake in the forest. He had  completely healed actually. But there was something more to him at the moment. At first, they had  thought that it was him isolating himself, but then, he would always be found sitting by the river. Then,  he advanced to sitting there and conversing with unseen people. Kili had been in the defense that there  were people that would always come out of the river to talk to him. The fish people, he called them. Then  he began having dreams and talking in his dreams. Next thing they saw was him giving out talks about  things yet to be, which began to happen. Kuka’s joy knew no bounds at this point. The gods of the river  had decided to protect them. Ara was on their side. He named the little boy priest. 

However, Kili was the only one of the entire village that had this strong affection for Arawa. He would  come often to play with her. Thanks to his position as priest, no one dared to stop him. Whenever Orau  went away hunting, she was rest assured that her baby was in safe hands as Kili would always be with  her. At a point, curiosity had pushed her to ask questions about what the future held for the  child. Kili informed her that the path the girl would tread would be rather tough and cruel, but then she  was going to emerge victorious. This was part of the motivation Orau needed to get the child prepared. 

It took Kuka two years to come off his pain as he began to realize that he was lonely. There were new  babies in the village. The big tree had been successfully removed and safety reassured. He needed a  woman to give him an heir and the only one he could think about was Orau of course. The lady had  proven herself more than capable to take up her place as his queen but he wondered if she would take  him as husband. He heard that some other men had tried in vain to still win her over but she turned  them down. Unless she wanted to die single but then, it was somewhat clear that she seemed almost  like she was waiting upon someone. Someone like himself. Kuka decided that it was time he paid her a  visit. 

Ever since he disowned that child, Orau had carefully avoided any situation that would bring them both  together. She tactfully avoided his eyes whenever there was a gathering, and would quickly leave as  soon as such gathering was over. He knew that she held anger against him in her heart but then, he was  her king. She was just being her stubborn female nature.