Chapter 5 Tela

Laziza's pov

It has been a week and fourteen days since we lost everyone, and the three of us that survived stayed with the seer in the woods. But Kalanje had told Ara to go to Tela, where he would meet us later. The seer had told me not to decline his proposal when he asked. She had said we were dating to be together. As I watched her talk about fate and destiny, I felt guilty for Ara. I felt guilty about taking away the love of her life. Back in Mubaila, Ara has always spoken to me about being the wife of Kalenje. She had dreamt and lived it in her head for the longest time, and I, too, have fallen in love with how she spoke about him. And fate had played a trick on her. Everyone was gone. And still, he did not choose her. These thoughts cloud my head as I walk behind Ara, who was quiet today. She was always chatty and in the mode of jokes, but not today. It seems her head is full too, it seemed her mind was housing the same thoughts that I have, but I don't ask her."Ara, could you wait for me? You are walking too fast." I yelled. She keeps walking, and I call after her two more times, and then she turns to look at me. What is it? she asks. You are walking too fast. Sorry, she says, and then a smile comes upon her face, showing her perfect dentition. What has filled your mind?I ask her with my smile."You," she says slowly."Ohh," I say with tension welling inside of me."Why did he choose you?"I have always loved him!"I don't answer, I watch the area around me, and then I hear her say it."And you pitied me and asked him also to take me." I could feel the bitterness under her voice as she spoke. I said to her, "He can have the both of us;

He is chieftain now, and even after us, there will be many.""I did not pity you," I asked him. because I would like us to stay together when the others come.No, I want him to choose me because he wants to. I want him to stay with me because he wants to, not because you tell him to.She stomps off, leaving me speechless this time.I walk to Tela all alone. I go to my aunt's house, and I tell Aunt Manila all about my family, and days later I tell her of the chieftain's son, who is now the chief.I tell her all that has happened between me and Ara, and she tells me not to worry. She says Ara will still come around after her heart is healed.And after a brief silence, she asks "who will marry Ara now?"It would be easier for someone from another village to marry her, as her circumstances have changed.But since Tela has no market where strangers from far away come to trade, she would have to settle for someone who lives here and knows about her father, who can't control his taste for moonshine.I just listened to her talk and talk, but I just hoped. it would go this way.Kalenje would want her as his wife, and we will all live happily.As I sat there in thought, not paying attention to what my aunt was saying.One of her sons ran into the compound screaming "Gbali!"screaming, willItWhoasks, SheGbali!!She stood and ran into her hut, and I followed her without asking. It was inside that she had asked the boy who was the first to enter the hurt why he had been screaming that name.And the boy spoke in short breaths. First, he continued to call "global" as he tried to catch his breath."What happened to them?" His mother asked impatiently."They," he repeated as his eyes widened in terror, "are killing people outside." I saw them kill people outside," he added."Quickly let us hurry and leave before they come, my aunt instructed."I watched her carry a few things she needed. and then we followed the back of her hut and went straight into the forests.Kale, her only son, was with us, so I knew she would only worry about her husband if he was safe.Inside the forest, we made our way deeper, where we would be safe. The sun had gone down a bit before the attack, so it was already night.We slept there and then, the following day, returned to the village. The huts had been burned down. And corpses of people lay on the earth, waiting for kin to bury them. It looked familiar now; this sight looked like Mubaila. I could feel my tears betray me more. I turned, but my aunt was gone now. Kale, where is your mother? I don't know what he means by pointing to his left. But she went that way; I turned and headed straight into the village now. With Kal tagging behind, and then I hear my aunt scream, we rush there and find her crying over the dead body of her husband. She was still wailing when the Gbali people returned. She stood and ran towards us, but before she could reach the arrow piercing her heart, She fell, and her blood covered the earth. We ran towards her, but they didn't shoot us. They only moved closer to us and captured Kal and me.

And we were taken into the forest, and there we found a band of people who washed their bodies in the same stream that passed through Mubaila. And as they talked, I noticed that these people were impersonators of the Gbali people, but I saw a strange face-it was weird because it did not belong there

one that looked familiar and one that brought questions I could not answer.