In the evening we sat around the table as Gamu dished out for us.“Did you tell her Furah?” The chief asked Furah.Furah smiled. “I thought you would be the one to make such a beautiful announcement.”The chief shook his head.“Okay, I’ll do it.” Furah kept her smile although the chief was not returning it.I already knew what it was they wanted me to know. I didn’t want to hear it again.“Rena,” Furah said with a huge grin on her face. “A wonderful thing happened yesterday. You know when we came to find the people in the hut? It was Abu, his father and grandfather. They came to ask to marry you. Abu is going to marry you!”I looked down at the food before me, it was kasava leaves and pap. Gamu finished dishing and gave the chief a bowl to wash his hands.“We agreed to their proposal,” Furah continued. “they said they will pray to the Gods and request a suitable date for the marriage to take place. Once they get it they will come back to us and let us know.”“You agreed?” I asked her a
“Are you fine?” He asked me.I nodded, even though I was not. My future was lying in Abu’s hands, someone I could not even stand. How could I be fine?“We’ll figure it out.” Yoké told me for the second time today. “And I know the perfect place to go that’ll help us.”“Where?” I asked him.“You’ll see.”He put his arm around me and we started walking, in the direction away from the mountains.“I went to see my father today.”“How is he?”“Very well. The princess released him.”“That’s such good news!” I exclaimed looking up at him, he didn’t look as happy as I expected him to be. “So you finally got to see his face again, hug him again?”“Yes.” Yoké smiled sadly. “He lost so much weight. Too much weight.”“He’ll get better. So where is he now? Are you taking me to him?”“No, I’m not. The princess asked her men to build him his own hut in their village. So he is fine now, but she said he has to start going to the farm like everyone else in their village or else the other villagers may st
“Here Rena.” Uma said passing me my bucket that he had just filled.“Thank you.”“Yoké I forgot to tell you that Rena took water for us the other time.” Uma said moving onto his own bucket.“Yeah she’s been watching us do it for so long, I’m not surprised.” Yoké said leaning against the wall of the well.“Where’s your bucket, Yoké?” I asked him.“I have enough water in the hut.” He replied. “I just came to see you.”“Unfortunately there’s people coming our way, love birds.” Uma told us. “Rena should go now. Besides, her best friend is waiting down there for her.”“I’ll see you tonight Yoké.”“Tonight?” Uma asked looking surprised. “You two just don’t listen, do you?”“Believe me when I tell you this, friend,” Yoké said to him. “Us meeting at night when everyone else is asleep is actually much safer than people overhearing our conversation at the well or people seeing us hold hands during the day.”“I don’t think so because during the day you can defend yourself by saying that it was a
At Ana’s hut, there were only three new people. And I was surprised at the two new people whom I saw there. Uma and Yoké were there. They were seated in the group with everyone else. I almost smiled when I saw them. The other new person was a girl. A young girl.Everyone stood up to greet Furah. After she greeted them they all sat down.“Thank you, Furah.” I said as she took a seat next to me. “I’m glad to see that we are joined by three more people. Could you introduce yourselves please?”“I’m Umani. But everyone calls me Uma. I’m 23 years old. I’m joining this uprising because I also want change in our village like everyone else here.”“I’m Ema, I’m Uma’s little sister. I’m 19. I joined because when my brother told me about the uprising, I knew that it is going to be good for our village. Also because I believe that my brother is always right.”I couldn’t help smiling. “Thank you Ema.”“I’m Yoké, I’m sure everyone already knows. My father was banished when I was only 14 years old. As
Despite agreeing with Yoké that I wouldn’t come see him that night, I found myself sneaking out of bed and out of the hut. As I passed the cow it made a loud long mooing sound causing me to flinch. There was no where for me to hide so I just froze in one position. After the cow stopped and I saw that no one had come out of their huts. I ran across the yard, into the forest and up the mountain.When I reached his hut, I clapped thrice but he didn’t respond. I clapped again but he still didn’t respond. He was obviously sleeping by now.I don’t know what got into me but I touched the curtain and drew it away slowly. As I did my hands began trembling. I knew that what I was doing was wrong and that I was not allowed to do that. I did it anyway but I didn’t enter. I stood by the entrance. It was dark in the hut I couldn’t see anything.“Yoké.” I called into the darkness.“Hm?” He asked and mumbled something in his sleep.I smiled and called again. “Yoké.”“Hm?” I head him jerk awake. “Genes
When I sneaked back to my own bed I couldn’t believe what had happened between us. I couldn’t believe it at all. I couldn’t believe that Yoké and I actually went that far. I couldn’t sleep again that night. It felt like a dream I would’ve never known how to dream. This was huge, if anyone found out about this, they wouldn’t even spare us a second.When we made our way up the hill I saw Yoké and Uma standing at the well. They were not drawing water, they were just standing there and talking with their buckets on the ground.I hoped that Yoké didn’t tell Uma what had happened between us last night. I felt so embarressed, almost as if everyone that looked at me could read the shameful thing I did.“Rena. How are you today?” Uma asked me beaming at me. He looked almost as if he would hug me out of happiness. Did Yoké tell him?“I’m okay.” I said.“You good?” Yoké asked me, he couldn’t look at me too.I nodded. “You?”“I’m fine.”Uma looked at us. “What’s wrong with you two today? Did you f
Furah woke up the same time that Gamu and I were about to leave."Rena..." She called me."Yes."She hooked her arm into mine and took me out of the hut. Gamu followed. We stood a little distance away from the hut."You know the question you asked me that day?" Furah said.I tried to think. "What question?""About Rena... the one I refused to answer..."I looked at Gamu and she was looking back to me. I nodded at Furah."Today I dreamed of my daughter for the first time in a while. You were there in the dream too and you two were talking. I was standing at a distance and watching you. I couldn't hear what it was that you two were talking about. And that's all I saw in the dream.""Okay...""Then I thought, what could you two be talking about? You've never met each other. Then I remembered you asking me about her. So I decided that I will tell you everything about my Rena that you want to know."I nodded happily. "Yes, then please tell me Furah, who caught Rena at the men's side of the
Later on Furah and I went to Ana's hut. After Faurah's greeting they all sat down. I noticed that the two girls that we had seen at the well were also here. I knew that it had to be Uma or Yoké that convinced them to join. "I thought about how we can try to win over the elders." Ana said once everyone settled down. "Tell us." We heard clapping of a child on the other side of the curtain. Everyone became agitated. Ana got up and went to the entrance. After a short muffled conversation with the person, she let him in. It was Chiko. A little child. "What is it?" Ana asked him. "The Chief is calling for Yoké to come to the hut." He said. "Why?" Yoké frowned. "I don't know." Chiko replied. "He said you must come at once." Yoké got up and passed me. Chiko followed behind him and they left the hut. I looked at Uma and Uma shook his head once, I got the message. He was telling me not to worry about that. "Ana, you were saying?" Furah asked her. "The best way we can win over an eld