•°○°•-- We always seem to forget that the studded jewels on a crown not only make it beautiful, they also make it heavy. --•°○°•

“Nohereka!” It sounded like a distant roar interrupting my much needed rest. I concluded that perhaps the ancestors had begun their horrid tricks once more but it seemed far more realistic than anything.

“Nohereka!” The voice sounded familiar and yet I decided against it choosing to nestle my head deeper into the pillow as an attempt to drown out the sound of my name.

It was then that the huts door burst open revealing a fuming Makhosi and to say I was confused was an understatement. His heavy eyes settled onto my now seated figure, anger was burning through his mud brown orbs causing me to sink deeper into my confusion. ‘What could I have done?’ I asked myself, ‘Why was he upset with me?’

“Is it true?” His heated gaze held onto mine as he continued, “Are you nursing the child of a commoner?” The tone of his voice was strained, he was holding back his uncontrollable rage; his efforts were as good as useless because the harshness was tenderly laced in the sound of his words.

In that moment I understood what he was talking about, this was all about me becoming Zithukuthuku’s wet nurse. As soon as my mind had registered Makhosi’s words, it sent the dormant rage into an active fit, and I couldn’t control my words.

“He is child! Have you no heart for a motherless child? Was I to let him die?” My words caused him to flinch, he was taken aback by my words and that served him right.

“Nohereka, you are a queen! You can’t nurse the child of a commoner. You must remember your title, your reputation and your duty!” He shouted back at me, causing the flames of my rage to consume me, I was now struggling against it, desperate to keep it at bay.

“My duty is to serve my people! I’d rather be stripped of my crown, my royal heritage than turn away a motherless child and let him face death.” I paused, allowing my eyes to meet his before I continued. “If you cannot accept this child, I will highly recommend you begin searching for a new queen who can be your mindless pawn in your reign as king because that will never be me.”

His eyes had widened with shock, he seemed to forget that I too was of royal descent and that I would not cower in fear of his words. He was a king, but in my presence he was a husband and it was time he learnt to act as one. My feet carefully slid into the shoes that lay beside my bed, I would not let him speak to me as if I was nothing more than his royal child bearer.

“Where is it that you are going? Nohereka, I am speaking to you?” His voice was a bit softer but still the traces of his rage were deeply woven into his words.

“Away from you. And I am ignoring you until you learn to speak to me like I am your wife.”  I responded heading for the hut’s wooden door.

“You do not walk away from me, Nohereka!” He raged, as I continued heading towards the forest.

It seemed he needed the time to think about his actions towards me and this child I have decided to nurse as my own. He was always obsessed with having a flawless reputation and that was only to please the council men, but a true leader knows that sometimes we must lay down our crown and serve. To be a King or a Queen requires the humility and the ability to serve our people and to be selfless. What is a King or a Queen without their tribe, their people? Nothing.

My feet carried me deeper into the forest, I needed the space and the sound chirping birds allowed me to unwind and feel free from the issues that awaited me on my return back to the royal quarters. Mazimele’s words began to replay throughout my mind, “Gifted you are with the nature of a mother, but just as the streams lose themselves into the larger rivers so shall you.” How would I lose myself? The question just brought about more confusion than it did an answer.

Her voice spoke once more, allowing a ghostly echo to remain, “Your strength will become your greatest weakness.” My strength would always come from the love I have for my tribe and so I failed to understand her riddles, I couldn’t put the two phrases together.

I hadn’t realised that I had arrived at the edge of the cliff; the beautiful scenery of fresh water cascading down the waterfall brought me comfort and peace. I had discovered this place during my patrols with the warriors and Vikali had mentioned how Makhosi too would come and find solace in this place, it was ironic how despite us being two different people we were somewhat alike.

I sat down thinking of everything that had just occurred between Makhosi and I. There was absolutely nothing wrong with what I had done, I had taken a motherless child as my own and that was the right thing to do. I wouldn’t ever regret that decision, I made a conscious decision to stand for that child and anyone who came against him had to come through me.

The rustling of the leaves caught my attention; I was sure it was a person from the crackling twigs and dried leaves that crunched with every step they took. A deep sigh escaped me before I spoke, “I wish to be alone, please leave me be.” It was a simple request.

“Seems that is not going to be the case, my queen.” His deep baritone voice responded, as he headed towards me.

I couldn’t help but scoff at his words, before casting my eyes far beyond the cliff over to the gushing water. I ignored his words as he took a seat beside me his feet casually dangling off the cliff as his eyes fell onto my seated frame. His heated gaze traced every single feature of my face before he spoke once more.

“My queen, I apologize for my behaviour earlier on this morning. That was uncalled for and unnecessary, I should’ve have talked to you and not acted out like I did.” He apologised, it was genuine and sincerity powdered his eyes. He had finally laid down his crown and humbled himself which caused a small smile to tug the corners of my lips. “I also have decided I will accept this child, I can’t imagine my life without you, my queen.” His mud brown orbs were begging for my forgiveness, which caused my heart to ache, I hated seeing him like this.

“Your apology is accepted my king, but I too must apologise for the way I spoke to you. I am very sorry; I should have personally informed you.” I apologised, my fingers gently laced in his causing his warmth to spread through me.

“I accept your apology too, my queen.” His words caused peace to replace the pacing rage that now lay dormant within my chest before he gently laid a feather like kiss on my forehead. It was moments like this that I realised Makhosi wasn’t completely perfect but he didn’t need to be, we always managed to balance each other out. Two puzzle pieces made for each other much like a key and lock tailor made to perfectly fit one another.

So as I rested my head against his muscular chest, I decided to finally tell him. “Makhosi,” his mud brown orbs gently fell onto me as I continued. “You asked me, why I was struggling to sleep and why I was always seemed to be out of touch with my reality. It was because the ancestors visions.”

His eyes were pooling with concern as questioned me, “What did you see?”

My breath hitched in my throat as the horrid visions began to surface; all the blood, the screams and flames of fire that destroyed everything in their path. “Well, blood it was all over the land and my hands like I was to blame for it. I could hear the heart shredding screams of our people and I was powerless to stop it. Lastly fire, the large flames raging across the homes engulfing everything and leaving nothing but ash and dark clouds of smoke that rose up to the sky. I saw the beginning in our end.”

“What does that mean?”

“It was both our end and beginning. That was what I saw, along with the visions of losing our son.” My eyes were now stinging with the unshed tears that were blurring my vision, “I am scared to die. I fear for both our son and myself...” My words were swallowed by the small sob which caused Makhosi’s arms to gently embrace me, giving me the comfort I needed. “I saw myself die.”

“Nohereka, look at me.” He instructed me which caused my teary eyes look up at his beautiful face, before he spoke once more.

“You won’t die, as long as my heart is beating and I am breathing, you should never fear death. I would go to the ends of the world, cross the large oceans that surround the edge of the southern lands; I would cross over to the ancestral realm to bargain for your life because I made a promise to be your shield even against death.”

“Makhosi, death is the route every soul must eventually take; you cannot protect me from law of nature.”

“I can try.” His mud brown orbs tightly held onto mine, promising me the impossible. It was seeing the faith flooding his eyes, he believed in the impossible and all we could do was hope his faith was not misplaced.

I nodded my head in response before casting my eyes beyond the waterfall the golden brown grass glistened in the sunlight; I could only wonder what was beyond the grasslands. “I heard that this was your thinking space, that you’d always come here to clear your thoughts, is it true?”

A deep chuckle escaped his plump lips, “Well you heard correctly my queen. Zithaka would always bring me here whenever I needed space or was upset. He’d always say to count the many birds to ensure many blessings from the ancestors.’ A sad smile crossed his lips, pain etched itself deep into the skin of his face. It seemed this was a painful memory although bitter sweet, the sweetness was overpowered by the bitterness.

“I wanted to be just like him, Zithaka was my idol. He was good at everything from hunting, hand to hand combat and even using weapons. He taught me how to fight everything I am today, the man I am today is all because of him and without him, I would never have made it this far.” His eyes shut tightly holding back the tears that threatened to escape, his pursed lips were hidden in attempt to stop them from trembling.

I could see the pain that surfaced every time he thought of his brother but I couldn’t ignore the love he felt for him despite the pain. Indeed blood was thicker than water but I could only wonder what happened between them.

His voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke once more, “Sometimes it’s better we leave our memories in the past where they belong, that way they can never hurt us.”

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With love from❤

Maniac_lunatic