Amasa

Chapter nine- mourning festivities

Nothing made sense to me, nothing at all. Something was not sitting right. After all the jokes and mockery towards handsome men, Runesu tells me that she had fallen in love with a very mature man ...who was condoned from being with a woman till the day he dies? To Menhe's own right, he was a very good looking for a man of his age...just not for Runesu.

My thoughts scattered like corn kernels being thrown on the ground for the chickens. Maybe I didn't know Runesu as well as I thought I did. She probably fell in love with Menhe because he was one of the only men she regularly saw besides VaBhebhe, or because he was a man she knew she couldn't have by just batting her eyes...he became a challenge, sworn under a binding warrior rule of abstinence. He became a large ebony skinned obstacle she had to conquer.

'Love has made me do the unforgivable'. These words repeated themselves in my mind to the rhythm of the footwork of the Palace warriors escorting me down to Karimba. It nauseated me.

Everything at this moment seemed to agitate me, from the swaying of my carrier box down the Pokoda Mountain, to the asphyxiation I felt from the masses soon to surround me. The elaborate clothing draped on my body. Runesu's still presence next to me....

 Anxiety and panic came crumbling down on me. I had a realization like the wild birds have once they gratefully find abundant grain on the dry ground...that it would finish their hunger but cage them in a human entrapment,when they realize it is bait...it's too late , their entirety would have already been devoured.

In this case, I was the bird and Runesu the hunter....Runesu lured my happiness to subside in our friendship, my trust for her, our bond, and now my heart was hollow and confused, my mind unable to wrap itself around the situation without bitterness and anger trailing behind. Did I truly know who anyone was in this Kingdom? I was always the fool... I constantly felt hurt and betrayed.

One thought plummeted my feelings into nothingness. Seeing Runesu stare ahead with her body as stiff as dried meat made me realize that she too could be harboring boiling feelings of agitation or irritability towards my previous actions, however, there was a great difference between us. I could express my emotions towards her as master and she was forbidden to. I did feel suppression as a princess under the orders of an inexpressive nonchalant Father, but the villagers had it no better under a depressed King with more laws and regulations ever thrust into their daily living in the village.

The flow of life puzzled me. In an instant, the realization of the villagers struggles in the kingdom turned my annoyance towards Runesu to sincere empathy.Every Pokodan had their own dark forests to walk through, I assumed that my search to feel special due to my hardships caused me to undermine the hardships of my people. Just because we were different types of fish in the river didn't mean that we couldn't feel the same turbidity.

I did admire that pure trait in myself, I felt for my people. Unfortunately empathy always came enveloped in submission , which sometimes led to my hesitation to grasp onto power and wealth. The stronger and more privileged I became, the more I'd lose my strongest trait...my ability to feel, my ability to understand and relate to my people.

"Well,well, well... It seems the Princess has thorns embedded in her feet."

Rima broke my emotional trance of thought.Slowly looking up and down my immaculately carved wooden carrier box, he slowly reached out for the leading of warrior's shoulders and patted down on his molded body.

"You are so helpless, your life is dependent on a woman who cannot tread down the mountain upon which she lives."

Dropping down his hand and taking a step back, Rima lifted his gaze onto me and curled the corners of his lips as the dead leaves would on the cold winter floor.I could see Runesu's unsaid words gathering in her throat as she faced down and respectfully didn't add her opinion, did not utter a word.