The castle was grand. It was marvelous; beautiful. Large enough to hold her entire country in, tall enough to touch the clouds with the brisk of it's fingertips. The sun painted it's pristine walls. The castle was a sight to behold. But Junki knew what it really was. This grand exterior was a charade to hide it's true identity; a prison.
Sature could be described in one word; beautiful. Jongikhaya lived no where else in the world, and even still she knew it was special. Being princess to the land meant everything to her. Her people were so filled with love and joy all the time that it was hard to believe other things existed outside of it. If the world could just leave us alone, Jongikhaya thought, oh how happy I would be.
But the world wouldn't work out that way.
"Utata." She spoke to her father, in attempts to catch up with him. They traveled long and wide to the next village. They never stayed long in one of the villages, it was the walks in between that Junki dreaded most in the world. Her father peered back in his grandness; his gorgeous black hair pulled up in a ponytail, still reaching his waist. He stopped walking and waited for his daughter to keep up, same with Jongikhaya's mom and her stick that helped her navigate.
"Next is Umalume's town right?" She questioned with a smile on her face. Her father nodded with a smile and Jongi jumped up and down in a victory dance, slamming her heels to the ground.
"He just got married to his lovemate under Yue Hao. I can wait to bless them!" She danced as her father rolled her eyes and continued to walk on the trail, happy to see his daughter happy. Their walk was a while longer and usually took a while, and when the nights got cold and they had to sleep through the trip Junki would sleep in between her mother and father snuggled up for warmth. she was in the joys of her life, no clue it could become a nightmare.
It took them a bit to get to a town where the attack occurred. Utata heard of the attack and it was hard to get to the boarder that quick. When Jongi was going with him, this nerve pinched at her stomach. An attack? It was unheard of. Violence never happened. So when Utata came to the town, it wasn't very surprising to hear it was a different country that attacked. Saturians were peaceful people, they never result in violence. Yet the town was in ruin. Jongi had barely heard the conversation, but she got bits and pieces of it.
They couldn't speak the country language, Sature was a pretty closed off place, so even knowing the names of other countries didn't strike much. So the people of the tribe weren't able to properly communicate with the man that had come. They thought he was the chief of the kingdom, seeing how he was well surrounded and guarded with men in matching uniforms. The head of the tribe tried to talk to the man but had no clue what he was saying. Apparently the man got angry from the explaining and started getting hostile. When the head cheif got closer to hear him more clearly, the man saw it as a challenge.
"Jongikhaya." Junki's father spoke her name and looked in her direction. The head man of town, he was hurt. Apparently her dad could tell Jongi was there, and called her out. When she came out from her hiding place he spoke up. "Take this man and pray over these vile violent wounds." He told her. She nodded and took him by the hands and lead him to the healing tent of the tribe.
She didn't understand what was going on. This; It never happened. The healers tent was used for accidents and faults of nature. Not act against other human beings. The leader sat down on the plated purple blanket in the center of the room where Jongi got on her knees , took his hurt forearm and started to recited her chants, taking the evil away from the wound inflicted in him.
Sature never enacted in violence against each other, and if they did they would repent before the Gods willingly in days and night trips. The poor leader dealt with this scary man who did it so easily, and the way the leader described the story, it sounded like this man had no intent with repenting his violent sins.
What was waiting out there? What did this kingdom want with sature?
It would be a few weeks until Jongikhaya found out the answer. Where her father would meet face to face with this man in the future. Her father had taken him to the center of the village where they were granted access to the room and waiting of the town. Jongi sat with her mother on the firm blankets besides father.
Jongikhaya took notice of the man. He was tall, and while he shared the same skin tone colored as most of the people of Sature, he was lighter. He seemed very young to be a chief, that was for sure. But he had this seriousness in his eyes. His eyes... They were such a vibrant yellow, they were frightening. Some how knowing he was capable of violence with repented scared her. But she kept a normal face for the sake of her parents.
Her father started to speak in english.
"You Chief, what brings you to Sature Land."
The yellow eyes peeked in surprise. "Oh so you do speak English. Quite surprising. I take it that you are King of this land?" He asked, not answering his question.
He firmly nodded. "I Cheif Kholo. I know little English. Best leader should." He explained.
"I am King Aine. I came here to invest in a treaty. You see the King of Lotus is in quite the famine. Sature's hand in filled to the brim with proper soil and good things for harvesting. It would mean much to my country to invest in such land as this." He spoke.
Kholo had a hard time picking up some of the English words but processed them well enough. "The tribe of Lotus. Your Land?" He questioned. "Hungry?"
Aine nodded.
Kholo lookes straight into the eyes of the King. It was a long and intense stare before he got to his feet. "No." He told her.
Aine's eyebrows shot up before leaning forward. "What was that?"
"Sature's land is sacred. Saturian use land for it's food and give back to land and Gods its gratefulness. We take what needed, nothing more, God are not protected if land goes low." He spoke. Jongikhaya was trying her best to translate the words inside her head to get the conversation.
"With all due respect Kholi" He spoke the name wrong. "My people are hungry." He spoke up.
Kholo looks over the boy. "A leader dressed in rich waters and fine stones must reflect a land of prosperous virtue."
Aine glared. "You-"
"No more. Back to Lotus and your people. My child bless your travels." He spoke up.
"Jongikhaya." He spoke towards her. She immediately sat up to attention. "Bless his travels." He told her in their language. Jongikhaya nodded and got to her feet, taking the King by the hand and leading him to the blessed tent.
Kholo's Wife stood up after they had left. "My love, You had every right to deny him our land and resources. But you had not consulted the Gods with such decision." She told him with worry.
Kholo shoo his head. "It was the Gods that told me to do so." He held onto his wife's hand with love and kissed her knuckle to languish love against her for that scene. "In the eyes of the young chief I saw evil. One untouchable. Our land mustn't have anything to do in those eyes. May he be blessed and sent away."
