Kadian

The Great Departed One

"So are you gonna tell me who threw da rock at you or not?" Zee asked as she dressed Kadian's wound.

"Can't, sorry."

"Eh, watever. And I didn't mean nothin' by screaming earlier, about those pictures. Some things just aren't meant for your eyes, child."

"But why not?!" Kadian wondered. Instead she said, "It's okay-I'm sorry too."

"A'right," Zee said as she patted the gauze. "Leave this on for a few days, then take it off and let it breathe."

Before Kadian could thank her, Chief Mohoso burst into the tent carrying Sister, with a sobbing Alaba following behind him. Sister looked unconscious, and was drenched with water.

"Elder Zee, tell us she isn't lost!" the chief pleaded.

"PLEEEASE TELL ME MY BABY SISTER ISN'T DEAD! WHY?! WHYYY?!" Alaba bawled.

Sister quickly replaced Kadian on Zee's medical table. Zee took one look at the girl, and slowly walked towards a box in the corner. When she pulled out a towel and a pallet of paint, Alaba collapsed, while Chief Mohoso looked grief stricken.

"Why must you forsake, us Onile?" The chief whispered solemnly towards the sky. Alaba's wails became even more hysterical, and Zee began to dry Sister's face, and streak it with white paint.

It was all happening too quickly for Kadian to comprehend. Something happened to Sister, Zee was drawing, and now everyone was miserable? Why wasn't anyone looking for a First-Aid kit, or checking her breathing? As if she had read her mind, Zee grimly told Kadian "We often paint our departeds' faces."

*******************

"Why she keep standing there?" A village teen asked.

"I know! She wasn't here long, she didn't know Sister like we did."

"Oh hush up," A nearby woman scolded them. "You don't have to know someone to feel pain for their loss. But I agree with y'all a little, she does need to cut that moping out."

They all stared at Kadian, who was gloomily leaning over Sister's display. She discovered that in Azuraya, they leave their 'departed' people out in a beautiful glass display case for a week- it reminded Kadian of Snow White. The departed person would don beautiful face paint, and lie surrounded by flowers, and all of their favorite things. When the week was up, their family would take them to be cremated off reserve. The ashes typically stayed with the immediate family-Alaba in this case.

It was Sister's last day on display. Everyone had took the young girl's loss especially hard, but managed to carry on. "We should be celebrating Sister's life, not weeping!" People would say. Kadian was not one of those people.

She stayed at Sister's display for hours on end, staring at the girl. "That is not going to help," Mohassen told her one day, but Kadian hardly saw him. It was hard to see anyone that wasn't her.

The bathroom off reserve was the only thing that Kadian would walk for, and the only food she nibbled on was the meals that Zee brought her. The villagers grew less and less sympathetic each day, but Kadian hadn't noticed.

Sister looked so beautiful in her little white dress, with little white swirls adorning her plump cheeks and forehead. Pale flower petals and extravagant, glistening beads surrounded her. Her small hands were wrapped around the stick she used to make jewelry with, now wrapped in ribbons. She looked so peaceful, so lifeless.

When her own family members died, Kadian, like most, usually cried. It helped to ease the pain of the loss. But she couldn't cry, because she couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that her dear little friend was dead. Dead. The girl was so sweet, so young. Maybe one day, Kadian would be able to pour her heart out and mourn properly. Until then, she wasn't sure what to do-so she sat. Sat, leaned, stood, and moped.