MAIDENS

MAIDENS 4

Wura blinked four times before she burst into laughter. The Call? Of course, I have the call! "Father, everybody has the call." Wura managed to speak in between bouts of laughter. "Your words already made me afraid."

The stretching silence that followed did something to her mirth as she watched her father's body dancing in the shadow of the flames. Father was not laughing; he was even yet to face her. She remembered the last time she had watched his back like this. It was when he first told her she would never see her mother again. Right now, he seemed lost in the dancing flames in front of him. "Father," Wura tried again. "Father! Say something..."

Her father still did not turn to her. "Wura, I already said you have the call. I am only thinking of where to start my explanations from." And just like that dread crept back up her spine as she whispered, "Father, talk to me, please."

Wura's father whirled around then and walked close to the bed. He stared intently at her. He could clearly read two messages on her face- confusion and pain. The confusion, he could sort out soon enough but the pain would surely come. He shook his head to clear them of images of crying and screaming that had been in his own time. Yes, the pain was yet to start.

"Father..."

His daughter's voice pulled him away from the past. He had not known when he sat down on her bed and started using his hands to pat hers. The time had come. He had not had a parent to explain things to him carefully in his time. Wura will not suffer the same fate. "Listen carefully, Wura." His daughter's hands clenched in his and he knew he had her attention.

"The Call is as old as Aiyélojà Kingdom itself. Right from when our eternal king established this kingdom and gathered the people together, there has always been the need for a select few who were submissive to the law of the King to uphold his ways amongst the people..."

"But that's what we go to school for. We are all already the King's Vassals, and in training to become his stewards in the future."

"There is more to this kingdom than what you learnt in school. Every few years, the Call comes when a new season is about to begin in Aiyélojà Kingdom, right before the Great Harvest which is why it is so rarely spoken about. Do you know what the Great Harvest is?"

Wura recited it without thinking much. "The Great Harvest is the season when the King shall give rewards to everyone for the work done, whether good or bad." Even the first years knew about the Great Harvest.

Father continued, "Only the older ones can remember the call because it usually takes a long time to show again. The Called, is the person chosen by the all-knowing hand of our King to bear his power and they are to see to the success of the King's plan as at the season they are chosen to work in. It is a work of a lifetime." Father stared at her to confirm she was still listening.

"What is this plan? I mean the current plan?" Wura asked.

"The Marriage Banquet of the Prince."

Wura could never have seen that coming. "There's going to be a marriage? What marriage? The prince will take a bride? How come we have not been told this in school? Are you sure about this? What about..."

Father could not help the smile that pulled his lips at the corner. This was the daughter he knew. "Patience, Wura, I will explain everything carefully."

"I'm listening." Wura pursued her lips at the mild rebuke.

"King Adélòwò Adénúgà, through his depths of wisdom decides when the end of a season comes. He has decided that the prince's marriage ceremony will coincide with this season's end. If it is what I am thinking, then it is going to be the most glorious event in our history...more important than even the defeat and banishment of the mad king. According to the information the Àwon Asónà has received, our king has decreed that the marriage ceremony of his only son will include a royal procession. Everyone in the kingdom will be invited to join. That is, anyone that accepts the invitation."