People of the Nykia

Chapter Two: To Shatter Silence

Kamau sat crosslegged on the moldy wood floor of their meeting room (if it could even be called that. The place was quite shameful). Sliding wooden planks made for crooked, hazardous walls. The windows had long been broken, leaving sharp, jagged teeth on the sill that always tempted him to touch. There was a counter top smashed directly down the middle, caved in making a splintered V-shape. There were other items that insisted this had once been a kitchen strewn across the floor, such as an over door and a broken pipes sprouting from the walls. The other rooms were in worse condition; broken doors, collapsed ceilings, and burnt belongings. Also, it smelled unpleasantly in Kamau's opinion. The only plus side he could see was that it was spacious and had a roof. Somewhat.

Kamau rocked on his place, boredom seeping into his bones. Majari smacked his arm with the back of her hand. "Stop fidgeting."

Kamau stuck his tongue out, but obliged to her command. His eyes flickered to the entrance. He had expected them sooner. Only Majari, Habri, Koeki, Bopato, and himself were in the room, each one entwined in their own task or conversation. Kamau tucked his chin on his knees and observed.

Habri was sprawled out on his back, moaning about being sleepy like the responsible adult he was. Kamau continued to watch him in hopes that he'd do something interesting. Even moving would be a major accomplishment for him at this point. His gangly body remained unmoving, even when Koeki poked him with a broken broomstick.

Her dark brown eyes were wide with amusement. "Bopato, look. Look. Look. Bopato."

Bopato kept his back turned to her, focusing on sewing up a tear in his jacket. His eye twitched as Koeki continued to call his name. Kamau was surprised he had kept his patience for so long. Usually he would have exploded when-

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE, KOEKI?"

Yup. That seems about right, Kamau thought to himself.

"Nah. But look, man," she said as she lifted Habri's cheek up with the stick. No movement. Not even a flinch.

The anger drained from Bopato's face. "Wah? Is he dead?" And then the both joined in poking him with sticks because, like Habri, they were adults, and that's just how adults acted. In Kamau's experience at least. He smiled. Sometimes, it was easy to pretend that each person in the room didn't have blood on their hands.

There was a creak in the door. Dust stirred on the cracked floor as Kamau whipped his head around to see a short woman with dark olive skin and jet black hair. Her unimpressed eyes swept the room, a half-frown tugging on her lips. Shyra: leader of the Desert Askari self-proclaimed Queen of the Nykia.

"This place is shit, alright," she announced as she further entered the room. Following behind her was her regal assistant, Xaria. Even though Shyra was the one in charge, Xaria acted as a den-mother to the gang, making sure her little delinquents never went too far out of control.

"Is this really everyone attending?" Shyra asked, looking at the five who had been waiting on her.

Xaria answered for her. "Kato is occupied at the moment preparing weapons for the send off, and Elgerian is helping. The five others were sent off this morning on Kasi Boards for a scouting mission, as you requested."

"Elgerian's halping Kato? Why does he even need help? He's a grown ass man!" Shyra responded, squinting her eyes and shaking her head.

"Well, he does only have one arm. That causes complications at times," Xaria paused. "How is it possible to forget something like that?"

Shyra waved her hand. "I'm not a detail person," she turned around. "Habri. What are you even doing? Get up," she commanded. Habri grudgingly obeyed.