Nnedi Okorafor - Who Fears Death

“Are you sure about that?” Sola coldly asked. “Have you read it?”

“Of course I have, Oga ,” I said.

“Then you have understood the images of light and dark? Beauty and ugliness? Clean and dirty? Good and evil? Night and day? Okeke and Nuru? See?”

I nodded, but I felt I needed to look at the book again to further connect the dots. Maybe I could find the something I needed to take down my father.

“No,” he said. “Leave the book now. You know what you have to do. You just haven’t brought it forward in your mind yet. That’s why he was able to humiliate you the way he did. You better figure it out soon, though. My only advice is this: Mwita, keep her from going alu . It’ll take her right to Daib again. He’ll kill her swiftly now. The only reason he didn’t before was because he wanted her to suffer. Whatever happens between her and Daib must happen on its own time, not alu time.”

“But how do I stop her?” Mwita asked. “When she goes, she just goes.”

“You’re the one she belongs to, figure it out,” Sola said.

Ting elbowed me to keep my mouth shut.

Sola pursed his lips. “Now, woman, you’ve jumped an important hurdle. You’ve been unlocked. Many envy what we can do but if they knew what it took to be what we are, few would want to join the ranks.” He looked at Mwita. “Few.” He looked at Ting. “This woman here has trained for nearly thirty years. You, Onyesonwu, haven’t even gotten a decade in. You’re a baby, yet you have this task. Beware of your ignorance.

“Ting knew her center early. It is in these juju scripts. You, I suspect, will focus on your Eshu side, changing and traveling. But you lack control. No one can help you with that.” He snapped his fingers and seemed to whisper to someone. Then he said, “We’re through with this palaver.” He smiled broadly. “I’m not hungry but I want to taste Vah cuisine, Ssaiku. And where are your town’s old women? Bring them, bring them!”

He laughed raucously and so did Ssaiku. Even Mwita looked amused.

“Onyesonwu, Ting, go to Chieftess Sessa’s tent and bring us the food she has prepared,” Ssaiku said. “And tell those who wait there that their company is eagerly requested.”

Ting and I quickly left the tent. I didn’t care how much my body protested at the fast movement, I’d have done anything to get out of there. Once outside, we walked slowly as I tried to hide my slight limp.

“I think they wish to speak with Mwita alone,” Ting said.

“Right,’ I said.

“I know,” Ting said. “They’re old and have the same problem. But it’s changing.”

I grunted.

“Sola laughed at me when I first came to him… until he threw his bones and got the shock of his life,” Ting said. “Then Sola had to convince Ssaiku about me.”

“How did you… find Sola?”

“Woke up one day, knew what I wanted and where to find him, and found him. I was only eight.” She shrugged. “You should have seen his face when I entered his tent. Like I was a pile of rotten goat feces.”

“I think I know the look. He’s so white. Is he… is he human?”

“Who knows,” she said laughing.

“Do… do you think when the time comes that I’ll know what to do? As you did?”

“You’ll find out soon.” She looked at my ankle. “Maybe you should go sit down. I’ll bring the food.”

I shook my head. “I’m okay. You just hold the heavier plates.”

Mwita, Ting, and I didn’t eat with Sola and Ssaiku. I was relieved. Sola didn’t look up once the food was set before him. Heaps of everything, even egusi soup, something I hadn’t had since we’d left Jwahir. The three of us made a quick exit as soon as the two started to eat and talk about the breasts and backgrounds of the old women who were soon to arrive.

It took us nearly a half hour to get back to our campsite because of my ankle. I refused to lean on Mwita or Ting. When we got there we found Luyu sitting alone. She’d unbraided and brushed out her Afro. Even in her sorrow, she was lovely. I froze, looking at Mwita, who was looking at the two spaces where Diti and Fanasi’s tents had been. A look of complete and utter disgust passed over his face. “You can not be serious,” he said. “They left? ”

Luyu nodded.

“When?! During the… when Ting was saving Onyesonwu’s life? They left? ”

“I found out, right after you left,” I said. “Then Sola came…”

“How could he?” Mwita shouted. “He knew… I told him so much… and he still ran off? Because of Diti? That girl? ”

“Mwita!” Luyu exclaimed getting up. Ting chuckled.

“You don’t know,” Mwita said. “You’ve just been having intercourse with him, with men, you and Diti, like rabbits.”

“Eh!” Luyu exclaimed. “It takes a woman and man to…”

“He and I spoke like brothers,” he said, ignoring her. “He said he understood.”

“Maybe he did,” I said. “But that doesn’t make him the same as you.”

“He had nightmares about the killings, the torture, the rapes. He said he had a duty. That change was worth dying for. Now he runs off because of a woman?”

“Wouldn’t you?” I said.

He looked me square in the face, his eyes wet and red. “No.”

“You came because of me.”

“Don’t bring us into this,” he said. “ You’re tied to it, you’ll die in it. I’ll die for you. This isn’t only about us.”

I froze. “Mwita, what do you mean…”

“No,” Ting spoke up. “Hold your tongue. All of you. Stop this.”

Ting took my cheeks in her warm hands. “Listen to me,” she said. As I looked into her brown eyes, tears fell fast from mine. “Enough answers. This isn’t the time, Onye. You’re exhausted, you’re overwhelmed. Rest. Leave it alone.” She turned to Mwita. “There are three of you left. It’s right. Let it go.”

Somehow I slept that night. Mwita’s body was pressed to mine and my belly was full from the small feast Ting brought us. Still, it was in this sleep that the dreams started. Of Mwita flying away. The dream was of Mwita and me on a small island with a small house. All around us was so much water. The ground was soft with it and covered with tiny green water plants. Mwita sprouted wings with brown feathers. Without even a kiss, he flew away, never looking back.

We left Ssolu in the deepest part of night. Chieftess Sessa, Chief Usson, Ssaiku, and Ting accompanied us.

“You’ll have an hour, so move quickly,” Ssaiku said, as we passed all the tents for the last time. “If you’re caught when I resume the storm, bear down and keep moving.”

I heard the sound of small feet. “Eyess!” Chieftess Sessa hissed. “Go back to bed!”

“But Mommy, she’s leaving!” Eyess shouted in tears. Her loud voice woke several people in nearby tents. Ting cursed to herself.

“Go back to bed, everyone, please,” Chief Usson said.

People came out anyway. “Can’t we say good-bye, chief?” a man asked. Chief Usson sighed and reluctantly assented. More whispering and gathering. Within a minute, there was a large crowd.

“We know where they’re going,” a woman said. “Let us at least see them off.”

“We’ve enjoyed having Onyesonwu here,” another woman said. “Strange as she is.”

Everyone laughed. More people gathered, their bare feet whispering over the sand.

“We’ve enjoyed her beautiful friend Luyu, too,” a man said. Several men agreed and everyone laughed again. Someone lit sticks of incense. After several moments, as if someone had given a cue, they all began to sing in Vah. The song sounded like a chorus of snakes and it carried easily over the noise of the storm. They didn’t smile as they sang. I shivered.