MAIDENS

MAIDENS 1

As the sun began to set, its warm golden rays cast a soft glow over the land, enveloping the world in a tranquil embrace; the evening air was cool to those gathered in different houses along the paths. Somewhere in the distance, a soft rhythmic background sound played, adding to the serene ambience of the moment but one person was missing from this usual nighttime experience of the Aiyelojians.

A man sat under the tree in front of his house moving his rocking chair to the rhythm coming from the distance. Unlike many others, his family was very small, just he and his daughter since his wife died. Since she had decided to rest early, the usual festivities of story-telling and singing had reduced a lot in his house. Instead, he gave himself to his rocking and chanting to find peace against the restlessness in the air.

"He makes me lie in still waters, he redeems my soul."

Something was coming. He had been watching nightly like they had been taught years ago but something was still not adding up. A huge piece of the puzzle was missing.

If the former war should start again he wondered if his aching limbs would have the strength to determine victory for his people and his king. He wondered what role his daughter would have to play in it or perhaps the cup had bypassed his home after all she was already 20 years old and yet to receive anything. He was not sure how he should feel about it if she had been bypassed for the gift. Sometimes he thought it was joy, other times, sadness. It was on nights like this one when he did not have his daughter's boisterous energy to distract him that he wished his wife was here to help him sort through his thoughts.

The rocking man smiled as he remembered his wife's sharp tongue. She would never allow him to hide from the truth behind falsehoods like, "I can't understand what I feel." She would have called him out immediately. He smiled to himself. My Wura has her tongue. The cycle resumed again as soon as he calmed. Something had been off with Wura recently and he just couldn't place his hand on it.

"Our King never dozes or sleeps. He makes me lie down in still waters, for his namesake...."

Inside the house, where the man with the rocking chair sat, a young lady lay on her bed shaking. Something was disturbing her sleep. The darkness she saw in her night vision was concrete and the heat was scorching her skin from somewhere in that cave she stood. Sweat drenched her bed as little moans of discomfort escaped her lips and bounced off the wall. The one outside receiving the night air remained oblivious to his loved one's plight. Wura was dreaming. And she knew it.

She was in the same cave again. She knew exactly what was going to happen but she could not for the life of her know how to escape it. As if her thoughts were the green light to start the activity moving, the air became thick with smoke, making it difficult to see the details of the room. How could any human being bear this kind of harsh condition? Such heat? How!

At the center of the room, five mysterious beings with their faces covered danced energetically, their movements synchronized to a tense background sound. As they moved, their bodies seemed to blur and merge creating a haunting effect. Their energy was intense.

Suddenly the dancing stopped and the coven went silent. Wura took a quick breath in to stop her heart from pounding. She knew the sight waiting for her. As usual, ten old women emerged from the shadows, their faces covered in mud. They began to cry deep, gnashing sobs that echoed off the walls of the room. Their mourning was interrupted by the arrival of a fierce-looking, aged man with piercing eyes and a menacing face in a black Agbádá.

"Welcome!" he said with much authority. It sounded like a sincere greeting full of joy and yet mocking at the same time. But whatever it was, it threw the women on their knees as they wept more sorrowfully than before, if that was even possible. The man threw back his head and laughed with such glee that tears poured out of the corner of his eyes. Then he stopped abruptly and carefully walked to a corner, the same one she was standing, heavy liquids escaping her eyes to ease the pain in her heart, even when she did not know why she cried with them. 

"Who are you?!" The man roared. He looked around carefully overturning tables but Wura shirked in the corner even though she knew he could not see her. "Please! Please!" She did not know whom she begged but she knew he could hear her. Please...please!

Wura jumped out of her bed shaking, her limbs weak from their trembling. She shook her head in a mixture of fear and confusion. She did not try to seek the meaning of the dream as she had done the previous twelve times she had had them but went to the corner of the room to warm her convulsing hands beside the lamp. She took a bowl of water from the corner and drank from it, pouring the leftover on her face. Wura heard the soft rhythmic beat coming steadily from outside. She opened the door and stepped out needing that rhythm to stabilize her heartbeats again.

She walked over to where her father sat on his rocking chair staring at the moonlight sky and lay at his feet, using them as her pillow. Her father opened his eyes briefly to scan her face worriedly. How are you? She saw the question clearly in his gaze and gave him a small smile which must have convinced him that all was well because he closed his eyes again. Wura refused to worry him even a little bit. She knew her father; he would go to the ends of the kingdom to search for the solution, which was exactly her problem: What if the whole world found out about her visions? What if they deemed her unfit for service to the king which had been the entirety of her being since she was twelve?

She remembered the day the officials had ticked off the requirements as she passed one test after the other to become a member of the school; without blemish, skillful in wisdom, knowledgeable, bold, quick in understanding- the five pillars of the king's vassals. And here she was seeing such darkness she could not explain. It's my burden to bear not his.

She watched her father's peaceful face for some time, afraid to sleep lest the visions returned right here before him. She lay like that until the early morning cold air began to blow, sending everyone into their houses for warm safety. She helped her father inside too, staying close to his warmth. Whatever this is, I will find a solution soon by myself.