The deep frown and the suddenly intense murderous atmosphere around Amira went unnoticed by the others but they chose to ignore it, besides it wasn't really their business anyway. After chatting and laughing for a while, they reached Lady's family compound.
"Farewell,my sisters" Amira bade goodbye to the others with a forced toothy smile on her face.
"Farewell, you too and please take care of our new Makri" Takoa responded for the group.
Then as goodbyes had been said, they left Lady and Amira in their compound. Amira went straight to her hut without so much of a word to Lady. Lady was a little confused but not surprised, her mother always had a way of doing things. Lady went into her hut and laid down on her bed, a permanent grin left on her face
Every possible vein in her body was pulsing with energy, she felt too full and satisfied. Trying to test what her new found powers can do, she sat up and crossed her legs looking around the room; then her eyes fell on a shawl that was laying down on the ground a few metres away from her, she smirked and raised her hands.
She took in deep breaths, calming her mind and making it peaceful. She willed her power to her fingertips and imagined lifting the shawl up and then placing it in front of her. Lady could feel her fingers getting warm and she could feel the room becoming a little lighter up from behind her eyelids but she refused to open her eyes, just in case in the worst scenario, she finds disappointment. After while, her fingers returned to their normal temperature and then Lady placed her hand down. Her heart shot up, beating a thousand miles per millisecond. She swallowed a huge lump in her throat nervously and then slowly opened her left eye.
She looked at where she saw the shawl only to find it missing, she glanced quickly at the space in front of her and her eyes bulged out of their sockets. Right in front of her, just as she had imagined was the shawl and it was even neatly folded. Lady broke into a wide grin and breathed a sigh of relief. She fist pumped and jumped from her bed, dancing around her room.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" an ambiguous voice said from behind Lady.
Lady jumped twenty metres into the air, her face becoming pale as she turned around in fright towards the direction of the voice.
"Oh, it is you" Lady said relieved as she saw who the voice belonged to.
"Yes, it is. I thought it nice to visit my new child"
Lady smiled at the statement and calmed down, why was she frightened anyway?, Only the Goddess Mai could have such an ambiguous voice, a voice sounding like a calm flowing water but also like thousand thunders, calmly comfortable and suffocating.
"Thank you, Mother for thinking about me" Lady said bowing her head to the goddess.
The Goddess Mai who was levitating in the air, gently came down till her feet touched the ground and then suddenly, a bright light surrounded her. When the blinding light had dimmed down, it revealed a more human form of Goddess Mai. She was now a bronze toned woman with long locks of white hair cascading down her back to her bottom posing a possible challenge to Lady's now hair length.
"And from henceforth, call me Mai, no formalities, I am you and you are me" Mai began and sat on Lady's bed " I am able to take this human body because of you."
"I understand Moth- Mai"
"So I came here to explain a few things to you about being a Makri and also to tell you that, I am now going to be around you all time using this human body" Mai smiled and laid down on the bed, roaming her hands on it and sighing again. She noticed Lady had been silent and raised her head a little to find Lady with a tilted head and furrowed eyebrows, deep in thought.
Mai who was part of Lady and so could feel whatever she was feeling felt that Lady was confused about her walking in human body with her.
So she laughed and drew Lady's attention "Don't worry, no one will able to see me, unless of course I will it for them to be able to"
"Ah, I see" Lady nodded understandably.
"Now join me here" Mai patted a space beside her on the bed.
Back in Amira's hut, she had been pacing up and down supporting her chin with her hand, furrowed eyebrows and deep in thought. She had racked her brains of all plans to make sure Lady doesn't become a successful Makri so she can save her family but so far she could come up with nothing. In terms of behavior and character, Lady was unrivalled in the village, she was as calm just as she was respectful. She couldn't find any fault on Lady, her daughter was almost perfect. And that was the problem, she was almost perfect so what was her weakness?.
"Mother, are you inside?" Amira heard the voice of her second son outside her door. Forcing a smile on her face, she cleared her throat and opened the door.
"My son, is anything the matter?" she asked.
"No mother, I just wanted to tell you that I was going fruit hunting with my friends but I had been knocking for a long time and no one responded" her son replied.
"I was just having a nap, sorry. And you can go but make sure you are very careful and also bring me the largest fruits you can find" Amira laughed.
"Okay, mother. Then I'm off, see you later"
The moment her son went away from the house, the frown returned to Amira's face and she sighed deeply. Just then she heard loud but muffled giggles from Lady's hut. She dismissed it thinking that her ears might be playing tricks on her so she turned to go into her hut and then this time a loud booming laughter followed by a voice hushing came out of Lady's hut.
Amira turned as fast as a bolt of lightning and the frown on her face turned from despair to confusion. Who could be in Lady's hut at this time?. So far as she was concerned, Lady had only one friend in the village who was Star. But Star was in training as a pillar so she wasn't allowed to come out to meet people, not even her fellow pillars or the Makri, so who could be in the hut?.
She drew near and heard two voices in Lady's hut, both feminine.
"You know how good that feels?" a dreamy voice said and sighed.
"I know, it's just that I have been thinking of him all this while, he is plaguing my thoughts" she heard the frustrated voice of Lady.
Amira frowned more, who was plaguing Lady's thoughts?.
Then the other voice laughed " Do you know how excited I would be if I could really feel what you are feeling right now?"
"But Mai, you are literally me so you can feel whatever I'm feeling" Lady retorted.
Amira gasped and her eyes widened, the goddess was already on friendly terms with her daughter, that meant only one thing, she was doomed and the destruction of her family was fast at hand.
"Lady, you only get to live once and loving or having feelings towards someone is part of it and it's not a bad thing at all, just that in your case, you'll have to wait for a little bit before you approach your subject of love it else we will all be doomed" Mai touched Lady's shoulder and sighed " and about the feeling part, I choose to feel what I want to feel. I don't feel all things going in in your mind just as you are not feeling what I'm feeling because you haven't chosen to feel it" and they both fell into silence.
Amira brain was working wildly, all the gears in her head shuffling. So Lady was having feelings towards a guy in the village?, she smirked evilly, her daughter had a weakness after all. It was a great taboo for a Makri to approach a guy before her training. A new Makri without training was just like a small plant, fragile and weak with no strong roots, easily swayed and taken advantage of.
Lady was now more than beautiful but her body was weak and extremely vulnerable but nevertheless a beacon to all guys to approach her, both worthy and unworthy. The power in her body hasn't been tamed and she was just as weak as a small tree, even a small breeze in the shape of a man can be detrimental for her.
She had finally found a solution to her problems, her family would be saved and the Makri would be no more. Killing two birds with one stone, she applauded herself and turned to leave from Lady's door when the voice of Mai came again;
"So who is this young man who has stolen your heart with no effort?"
"Vesi, his name is Vesi" Lady replied solemnly.
"Vesi eh, a kind name for a kind gentleman. His name really suits him, kind"
Amira stopped in her tracks and almost fainted, just how much mysteries were in Lady's life, first she was a Makri, talked to the goddess and now the prince of the village had stolen her heart. The prince was the only one with the name Vesi, it is his hidden ancestral name from the old language, which only the royal family had the rights to. Besides this name is only known to a few people, the royal family and she, Amira as the head pillar so why then would the prince tell it to Lady?.
Her problems just increase but she would have to get to the bottom of it all, she regained her composure and hurriedly left the compound to go find Takoa.