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
As I was telling Yoké about everything that the elder had told me about Gamu, he sat with his hand supporting his chin and his foot tapping vigorously. He didn’t say a word throughout the story. He didn’t ask anything. Just listened and continued to tap his foot.When I finished, he shook his head.“I doubt that Rena went to meet a guy at the river. I don’t believe that part. But whatever reason she had, I know that Gamu reported Rena only because she was jealous of Rena. Uma was in love with Rena and Gamu knew it very well.”I sighed heavily.Yoké looked very uneasy. “Do you know what happened to Uma after Rena’s death, do you know how thin he became? If you saw him you wouldn’t recognize him. He refused to eat anything Genesis. He ate nothing, for 8 days!”“Keep your voice down, Yoké. Someone might here us.”“All he did was cry. I almost lost my brother. The only person I had. And it’s all that Gamu’s fault.” Yoké looked enraged. “That girl deserves to be reported too! I’ll go to the
When it was night time I didn’t go sleep. I stayed by the table. And after they all started snoring loudly I sneaked out to Gamu’s chamber.I woke her up.“Yoké managed to convince Uma to see you and talk to you. But it can only happen now because you two can’t have such a conversation at the well.”She was so excited. She even washed her face even though we were supposed to be careful.We sneaked all the way into the forest. She started giggling.“When last did I do this?” She asked.I didn’t respond.“When last did you do this?” She asked me nudging me and giving me a knowing look.I shrugged. “The last time you warned me.”She laughed. As if I had said something so funny. “I’m so sorry.”“It’s okay.” I said. I couldn’t smile with her no matter how hard I tried. But the darkness was working in my favor because she couldn’t really see my face.“Where are we going anyway?” She asked me hooking her hand into mine.I felt like throwing her off me. I tensed up and tried my best not to rea
5 days until Rena and Abu's marriage7 days until Yoké and the princess' marriage.After the river. Furah and I went to the meeting. In the morning Gamu greeted me only. She didn't look at me strangely or anything. I didn't know whether she was upset with me or not. She didn't give me any signs.At the meeting I was surprised to see Uma there. His sister Ema was sitting between him and Yoké. She was talking to the both of them and laughing about something. They were both smiling and nodding their heads. The other people there were also talking amongst each other. I wanted the three of them to keep smiling like that, I didn't want to interrupt them so I just stood in front and acted like I was examining something on my thumb."Rena needs your attention." Furah called out and everyone stopped talking and shifted to look at me properly."Uh..." I fidgeted with my fingers for a while and then looked up at Uma. "I want to say that I appreciate everyone here today. We keep growing in number
At night I went to see Yoké. He was already there by the tree waiting for me when I crossed the yard. As soon as I got to him he started to kiss me. We kissed for a while and then he cupped my cheeks and brought his nose to mine. We shared a warm smile. He then swerved his nose against mine."Why do you always do that?" I asked him.He smiled and put his arm around me and we started walking. "I just enjoy doing it to you. Also because I know you'll smile when I do it.""Hm..." I blushed. "Well, I like it.""By the way we shouldn't go this way because your people are camping there." "So they are really here?" I asked as we took another turn. "Yes, I was the one interpreting for them when they came to the chief's hut. They said they'll stay for 7 days.""Didn't they recognize you?" "Ofcause they did!" Yoké laughed. "They wanted to beat me up in front of the chief. It's good that the chief couldn't understand a word they were saying. But I told them that I had no idea where you were. A
“What in the world is going on here? Is this what you two do?”I couldn’t answer I just shook my head.“Rena, I’m asking you!”“No.” I said shaking my head.“Am I blind?”I shook my head.“And you Yoké… I just knew it!” Furah said shaking her head in disbelieve.“It is not how it seems.” Yoké told her.Furah scoffed. “It doesn’t seem like anything. It’s as clear as day.”“We’re so sorry.” Yoké said putting his hands together in an apology.“I always knew it.” She said. “Ever since the first time you joined the uprising I started suspecting you. I knew that Rena knew you since long ago because you were the one interpreting for her and also because I once asked you to look after her for a whole night when her people came to the village. So for her not to remember your name at the meeting! I found that very strange. Plus that whole play you three performed at one of the meetings… I was just not sure which guy she was involved with between you and Uma. That’s why I kept quiet and observed.
4 days until Rena and Abu’s marriage 6 days until Yoké and the princess’ marriage That night I went home with Furah. We didn’t sneak back. We walked across like it was day time. I was so scared someone would see us but she didn’t care. She was so upset with me. The next morning she didn’t even respond when I greeted her. Even Gamu noticed.She didn’t teach me anything on our way to the river or even when we got there. She basically just accompanied me. And when we were returning we met Yoké and Uma on the way. They both greeted her but she didn’t respond. I tried so hard not to catch Yoké’s eyes, although I could feel him staring at me until we passed them.After we got to the hut Furah went into her chamber and stayed there. I spent a while sitting in the main chamber and just waiting for her to come out. Then I remembered that she had said that she was no longer part of the uprising. That meant that I had to go on my own now. It’s okay, I was not going to stop this uprising no matt