Royal Linkage

Tshelela

I woke before the sun and made quick work of getting ready for the day. Today I’d be visiting an old friend, I was beyond excited to see her, she was my best friend honestly. Once I was ready to go, I left home to go meet with the other girls, so we could go to the fields – we do this once a month to ask for rain and blessings.

Everyone went although we were separated by gender. The women tended to the forest, digging out weeds that prevented nature from growing while singing and dancing while the men took to the fields to look for the remains of dead animal and put them to rest and collect witchcraft relics and other scary items, this was one of the few times the commoners get to mingle with the royals. They weren’t as fancy as everyone thought but I guess you’d have to know them to see that, if anything they were a little on the annoying side.

The queen I’d always loved, she tried to mother us as much as possible after my mother passed, I knew she felt guilty for what happened. I didn’t blame her nor did anyone in my family, but she did it to herself and I completely understood, as queen she was the one who had to save us that day but instead she did nothing and I lost my mother before her time. That’s the thing about the throne, its bestowed if you come from a certain bloodline, marry into the right family and other trivial things but it has nothing to do with deserving it.

Her children however were something I could never wrap my head around. She only made two of those devils, thank the heavens. She had a son that was two summers older than me and a daughter that was as old as me.  The thing is – if you’re going to have your mouth hanging open all day with sound coming from it could it at least be something smart? – again that’s the thing about the throne, royals are so spoiled that they think they are untouchable, when in fact they are the least capable of any and everything. After the attack the King had decided it would be best if they never did anything really, the prince couldn’t fight, he could however strategies, I assume that’s what the king thought went wrong the last time, the strategy. He was good at it too, but couldn’t wield a single weapon, if anything were to happen, he’d have to stay with the women, all he knows is war strategy so if there was a draught or the crop died, he’d be completely lost.

His sister on the other hand only cared for marriage and giving that unfortunate man a village of children. How can that be all you want out of life? She could get away with literally anything and all she does is fantasise about the wedding she will have and if she does get out of bed it’s to go to other villages to meet princes she can breed for, it’s disgusting. But I suppose that’s the thing about a cage, it doesn’t have to be physical.

That however doesn’t stop her from feeling like the most important person to have ever graced the land of the living and I understand that too, the girl is beautiful, and nobody failed to tell her constantly, nobody but me, I failed miserably at it. I understood why she was so shallow, the girls in the village worshiped her and girls from other villages were jealous of her, men desired her and thought she was made of gold. Too much attention will do that to you.

The village would never survive under their rule. That’s why my brother and I were here.

There wasn’t much we hadn’t been groomed to do and there wasn’t much we didn’t know about surviving. My brother was right hand to the prince and how he was able to hang around someone so vain was mind boggling to me, it must have been the girls the word “prince” automatically gained, it’s like moth to a flame.

Everyone met at the village gate and gathered under the trees waiting for the royal family.

My brother and I stood far back, we could barely make out the rest of the villagers, although everyone was obligated to be there, my father hadn’t gone since my mother died and my brother and I never bothered to go under the trees and everyone understood. It was probably just my imagination, but I swear her blood is still on there, in the cervices of those trees somewhere.

Once they arrived, the people cheered and sung unnecessary praises – we all had to wait because they had to lead us into the fields – once they stared moving, we did too. We made our way around the village to the only exit we ever used since the incident and started our long track to the fields. We didn’t talk, this was one of those things that upset me, so my brother would never say anything, just take my hand to show he is here and sing a little tune my mother loved to sing to us.

This used to be one of those things my mother loved doing and had made me love just as much. She believed strongly in the ancestors and how very close we were linked to them, that everything we see is a result of their grace and blessings. See every time we asked for rain and growth, they’d grant it to us. When we returned from the fields, the rain would be pouring heavy and there would be a general spirit of warm and nurture as the spirits come down to bless and surround us with their love. She always said to pay close attention to the whispers in the rain, that’s when they told us what they wanted in return and when you gave them, you received in abundance.

While everyone ran for shelter laughing and basking in the wonderful feeling, we would walk slowly, capturing every moment of being under the blessed falling water and we would do this in absolute silence, watching everything. Like how much greener the forest seemed now and how in sync the forest was and once it was silent and all that could be heard was rain drops, the mummers would come, soft as ever. Saying what they wanted from us and or people. We’d listen till they died down completely and then went on to ensure they received what they wanted.