Assegai

In the morning the girls came to fetch Eva and take her to the pool in the stream that was reserved for the women. When she had bathed they braided her hair with flowers. Then they brought her a fresh unworn red shuka to replace her own torn and dusty clothing. Giggling and caressing her as though she was a pretty child, they showed her how to fold and arrange the shuka like a Roman toga. Then, barefooted, they took her to the great council tree under which Lusima was waiting. Leon was already there, and the three shared a breakfast of sour milk and sorghum porridge.

After they had eaten they talked together for the rest of the morning. Eva and Lusima sat side by side watching each other’s faces and eyes, every now and then holding hands. They were in such complete accord that Leon’s translations were mostly superfluous, for they seemed to understand each other implicitly on a level above that of speech.

‘You have been alone for a long time,’ Lusima said at one stage.

‘Yes, I have been alone for too long,’ Eva agreed, then glanced at Leon and reached out to touch his hand. ‘But no longer.’

‘Loneliness erodes the soul as water wears away rocks.’ Lusima nodded.

‘Will I ever be alone again, Mama?’

‘You wish to know what the future holds, Maua?’ she asked.

Eva nodded. ‘Your son M’bogo says that you can see what lies ahead for all of us.’

‘He is a man, and men try to make all things simple. The future is not simple. Look up!’ Eva raised her head obediently and gazed at the sky. ‘What do you see, my flower?’

‘I see clouds.’

‘What shape and colour are they?’

‘They are many shapes and shades, changing even as I watch them.’

‘Thus it is with the future. It takes many shapes and it changes as the winds of our lives blow.’

‘So you cannot foretell what will become of M’bogo and me?’ Eva’s disappointment was so childlike that Lusima laughed.

‘That is not what I said. Sometimes the dark curtains open and I am given a glimpse of what lies ahead, but I cannot see all of it.’

‘Look into my future, please, Mama. Tell me if you find a glimpse of happiness there,’ Eva asked eagerly.

‘We have been together only a short time. As yet, I know little about you. When I have looked deeper into your soul, perhaps I will be able to scry your future better.’

‘Oh, Mama! That would make me so happy.’

‘Do you think so? Perhaps I will come to love you so well that I will not want to tell you what I see.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘The future is not always kind. If I see things that would make you sad and unhappy would you want to hear them?’

‘All I want is that you tell me M’bogo and I will be together for ever.’

‘If I said that will not be, what would you do?’

‘I would die,’ Eva said.

‘I do not want you to die. You are too lovely and good. So if I see in the future that the two of you will be parted, shall I lie to you to keep you from dying?’

‘You make it very difficult, Mama.’

‘Life is difficult. Nothing is certain. We must take the days allotted to us and make of them what we can.’ She studied Eva’s face, saw the pain and took pity on her. ‘This much I can tell you. As long as you are together, you and M’bogo will know true happiness, for your hearts are linked like these two plants.’ She laid her hand on an ancient vine that twisted around the trunk of the council tree like a python. ‘See how the vine has become part of the tree. See how the one supports the other. You cannot separate them. That is the way it is with the two of you.’

‘If you see dangers that lie ahead for us, will you not warn us? I beg you, Mama.’

Lusima shrugged. ‘Perhaps, if I think it will be to your advantage to know. But now the sun has reached its noon. We have talked the morning away. Go now, my children. Take what remains of the day and be happy together. We will talk again tomorrow.’

So the days passed, and under Lusima’s gentle counsel and guidance, Eva’s fears and uncertainties gradually faded and she entered a realm of happiness and contentment so complete that she had never suspected its existence.

‘I knew we had to come here, but I never knew why until now. These days spent on Lonsonyo Mountain are more precious than diamonds. No matter what happens they will be with us for ever,’ she told Leon.