**Fathers may be hard on their children, especially daughters but thank the heavens for that special relationship between papas and daughters. It is blessed from above to truly experience that. By anonymous …**
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Because of the last issue deliberated on, the meeting took longer than usual but the Townsquare was still bustling with activity as people patiently waited. Among them were Atiba, his wife, Narin, and their daughter Blossom Moe.
The oracle had blessed them with an auspicious and good day for the pairings as well. As it was a revered celebration, almost half of the occupants of the kingdom were present.
The sky was bright and blue with the occasional dancing white cloud slowly floating across the skies. They had all gathered in the morning before the sun rose and it was up high directly on their heads. Most of them were in their best clothes and the atmosphere was bustling with infectious happiness.
Atiba, however, stood out because of the sad expression on his face contrary to the ecstatic expressions all around him. This made people throw frequent questioning glances at him, but he was lost in his own world and did not notice. His sad emotions were not alien because they echoed how most parents occasionally felt when they gave their children away or watched them 'leave the nest'. In his case, it was because his daughter was to be matched as he would miss her, but Atiba knew that he had done all that a father could have done for her.
His only regret was that he had the foreknowledge but had not done enough to curb the consequences; he knew his wife's spending habits and had hidden two bars of gold from her spendthrift ways so that they could at least present something valuable with Blossom for a hopefully good match. He was glad that he had done so but wished that he had done more, as he thought back to the day he realised it,
"Where is the rest of the gold Narin?" he had asked her when they were ready to send Blossom to the Marriage Committee and even though he had prepared for the contingency, he was beyond furious. Despite Narin's ways, they had clear-cut responsibilities in their home and Narin oversaw all their expenses, so he preferred to let her keep the funds as well. She had mismanaged it several times, but that gold was her last test and she had failed it miserably.
Narin had looked at him with her head bowed and her shoulders slightly slummed. Her fingers twirled around each other and that was enough answer for Atiba. He clenched his hands and narrowed his eyes at his wife. He stood up abruptly toppling his chair over and stormed out of the house; the door slammed with a big bang behind him as the house got suddenly quiet.
"Mom, why is dad so angry?" Blossom who had been in her room came out to ask but Narin just brushed an invisible speck of dust from her dress, "my beautiful daughter, it's nothing! Your father will bounce out of it in no time," she then smiled at her and entered her room … and, also slammed the door. Blossom looked torn as she glanced in both directions and then resignedly went back into her own room.
They could do nothing but submit the two gold bars he had hidden in the hopes that they would get a decent match for her even though he knew that it was woefully inadequate. The minimum people submitted when they had next to no status was usually five gold bars.
Atiba came back to his surroundings when someone bumped into him at the Townsquare. He rubbed his hands through his hair and face and then surveyed his surrounding as he went back to his thoughts.
He was still worried about other things as well. One was that Narin had overindulged their girl so much that she could not even dress herself, nor could she do any household activity. He wondered how she was to survive in the home of another but knew very well that some lessons were best learnt through mistakes and reality, instead of advice. He may appear to be cruel to his own, but Atiba knew that he had her best interest at heart.
He sometimes missed Lendon, the little chubby girl who always wore a smile and did everything without a complaint. He also knew he was being a hypocrite as he had done nothing when she was sold to the palace. Atiba sighed.
Narin was, on the other hand, living in her own bubble which was to be burst very soon. She thought of the rich household that Blossom was to be paired with and how she was going to flaunt herself in front of her neighbours. Her nose was up high in the sky as she wore her best and sashayed in front of everyone. Even though it was not allowed, she had prepared a list of demands for the new household that her daughter was going to be in. She had a tall list in her purse and her heart swelled with pride and anticipation.
Some of the parents around who had presented their sons for a possible match prayed they were not paired up with the Moe family while others looked at Blossom with pity,
Sigh… "If only she had been born to a different mother,"
"She would have been okay."
"Her mother already rubbed off of her in a bad way."
These were all murmurs heard from all directions.
Blossom who had grown up to be a fine maiden had pale blond hair and blue eyes with a body like her mother's. She was petite as well, with a flat chest and back and almost no womanly curves but all this was countered by her pleasant-looking face. She had been dressed in a beautiful custom-made pale-blue dress that complimented her eyes. Narin had specially ordered the dress for her years prior in anticipation of this day.
Blossom heard what they were saying as she stood in a corner and observed all that was going on. She was… well, she had no idea what to expect and had a complex mix of emotions going on inside of her.
Later that evening when the sun was about to set, a representative from the marriage committee walked up to the Townsquare and could be seen pasting up the list of paired candidates on a giant board reserved for that. There was never any 'pairing ceremony' done in the land. The festivities went on the whole day and sometimes the week. When the pairs were pasted, the maidens usually had about a week to move into the houses of their partners and that signified the end of all the festivities.
Finally, the moment of truth had arrived. All the families trooped in towards the notice to check it out. Suddenly, a shrill scream was heard. Everyone turned and the sight that greeted them was,
Narin, stomping the ground while she pulled her daughter towards her. One could guess what had happened without the need to ask. Atiba who did not want to be part of the drama quickly glanced at the board and headed home leaving both wife and daughter behind.
When Narin arrived home later, she looked dishevelled and all sophistication she had had previously, lost. She had ruffled her hair and could not care about her current appearance as she thought of getting her daughter out of the current 'predicament'. Blossom had been paired with what Narin considered as the lowest of the lowest. He was a young man in charge of all the bulls in the land.
He lived out of the town on the outskirts where the herd was kept. He was a very respectable young lad, but Narin failed to see all this. She screamed and started breaking things in the room. Atiba did not react to any of these at all and sat down to watch both. Blossom did not look happy either as she was to the wife of a herdsman. She sat on the floor and started crying. Her mother tried to comfort her, but she only cried harder. Atiba finally left them both to sleep.
The next morning, Blossom rose with a headache as she had cried long and hard throughout the night. She tapped her hands on the bedside table to pick up her morning hot tea, which was always ready without fail for her but, there was nothing there. This caused her to frown and open her eyes.
With a startled gasp, she sat up and realised that she was in a foreign room! A male voice said from across the room,
"You're finally awake,"
"The sun is almost up high,"
"Everyone contributes their quota here so I expect that this will not happen again,"
"Please hurry up and come and help us outside."
It was her newly paired man, her husband. She knew the man well and could recognise him anywhere.
He was a blond like her but a stronger colour, with black eyes and a freckled face. He was however very muscular and tall; probably from the type of work he did. He leaned against the window of the room and stared at her. One could see the callouses on his hands from even across the room. The man was known as Tyus.
Without waiting for a reply, Tyus walked out of the door.
Blossom examined the room, she was currently in. It was small and mostly bare. It had a single bed on which she currently lay and a small table by it. There was nothing else in there.
"H-how did I get here?" she asked herself. Her mother had calmed her down with a plan that they would escape together but how? …
On the other side of town, Atiba had just arrived home after he delivered the bride, his daughter to her new house. Narin knew him very well and realised what he had done. She screamed, hit him, and did everything she could but the only reaction she got from Atiba was a deadpan look in his eyes that made her shiver and feel anxious for the first time after being paired with him.
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