Yar started laughing then her mother, Amou followed. The more they laugh, the more Nyanachiek's smiles widens.
"Look at this girl, I hope you are not referring that kang (proverb) to me because I will slap those dirty teeth of yours out of your mouth" Yar told Nyanachiek.
"I am sorry Mama, sometimes I say things without thinking, sorry if that offended you" Nyanachiek apologized.
"Point of correction, akol det (next time) don't ever call me mama or thong ke mor cit ke ci nguath? (do I look like your shameless mother?)" Yar asked her.
"No mama, but" Amou interrupted her rudely.
"Didn't you hear what she said? Do not call her mama, she is not your mother and can never be" Amou told her.
"Yin ca ping (I have heard you), Amou" Nyanachiek said.
"What did you just say?" Yar asked in bewilderment as her mouth hung wide open.
"You said I should not call you mama, so I called you by your name or do you want me to call you by your last name? Nyanachiek responded and smiled.
"I know it, I know yin e menh jok rac (you are a devil's child). Who sent you to me? tell that person you did not see me. Amou said.
"Mama instead of exchanging words with this little girl, I will go and ask my husband to chase this stupid girl out of this palace right away" Yar told her mother.
"I will be with my grandchildren" Amou said, turning and going back to the hut they a few minutes ago and Yar left for her husband's throne room. Luckily for her when she entered the throne room, he was alone and was in a deep thought. Clearing his throat to bring his attention to her.
Chief Wong-heer smiled when he saw her. "My beautiful wife, my morning sun, what brings you here?"
"Please I don't want to hear that nonsense until you tell me who that little girl is" Yar said rudely.
"Are you talking of Nyanachiek?" Chief Wong-heer asked.
"I don't care to know her name, just tell me why she is here and who gave her the permission to be in that hut" Yar responded and continued. "Your Highness I don't want to know and I don't care who she is, I want her out of this palace, right now."
Taking a deep breath before responding. "I can't do that my love" He told her. How would he explain things that he doesn't understand yet to her? But, he has to tell Nyanachiek is his daughter.
"And why is that if I may ask, Your Highness?" Yar demanded.
"Because that little girl is my daughter." Chief Wong-heer answered truthfully.
"What?" Yar exclaimed in shock and proceeded to clean her both ears well then asked again. "What did you just say Chief?"
"Nyanachiek is my daughter, Yar" Chief Wong-heer repeated himself again.
"That is impossible, that smelling girl who has no respect for her elders is your daughter? You are joking Chief" Yar said not believing him.
"Do I look like someone who is joking yar?" Nyanachiek is my daughter and she is staying here in my palace" Chief Wong-heer told her with seriousness. "She will not stay here in this palace" Yar said to him.
"Okay, let me assume I agree to what you are saying, if I chase Nyanachiek away, where do you want her to stay?" Chief Wong-heer questioned.
"Anywhere as long as she is not here. I don't care where she lives" Yar answered her voice raising up.
"Instead of you asking how she became my daughter, you are here telling me to chase my own daughter away, someone who I just met today, you are not serious Yar" Wong-heer said.
"And how sure are you she is your daughter?"
"Didn't you see our resemblance? She looks like me."
"So you won't send her away?" Yar asked.
"No." Chief Wong-heer answered. "I won't send her away" He added. "Besides what has she done to you that would warrant me to chase her away?"
"Aci leu ba lek ming tong aci gol (you don't need to tell the deaf that war has begun) Chief, is either you send her away or I will take my two children and leave the palace for her. choose one, either me or her" Yar threatened.
"And what is going on here?" Chief's Mother, Aluel, asked as she entered the throne room.
Chief Wong-heer and his wife, Yar, refused to speak. "Again I ask, what is going on here?" Queen mother, Aluel asked again and when both of them refused to answer, she decided to call her son's name. "Wong-heer my son, what is it? Why the noise?" she asked. "Mama, it's Yar." Chief Wong-heer replied. "She was the one raising her voice" He added. "Why are you calling my anme instead of going straight to the pont, ehh Chief?" Queen Yar said before facing her mother in-law who also turned to look at her. "Mama, your son brought in a stranger and started claiming her as daughter." She told her.
"What?" Queen mother burst out in surprise.
"Yes mama, and when I saw the little girl, she gave me the insult of my life. She lack respect, so I came to tell my husband to chase that girl away from this palace and he refuses", Queen Yar said in a shocking and shivering voice.
Returning her gaze to her son. "Your Highness, is that true?" She asked, "Do you have a son?"
"Yes Mama, it is true and I can't send her away, because she has nowhere to go." Chief Wong-heer said.
"When did you impregnate a maiden in this palace or village without anyone knowing? Weren't you the one telling me to hope on Mayual for children when I told you to get a second wife? So you went behind my back to impregnate a maiden?" The Queen mother demanded in fury, and Yar nodded her head in support.
"Mama, both of you should stop concluding. I did not impregnate any maiden in this village or our neighboring villages. If I did, I would have told you Mama, but I didn't. Don't you trust me?". He said.
"So the little came from the air, ehh?" Queen Yar asked holding her waists.
"No, she didn't, I went to see Priestess Akuer about six years ago for her to give me a solution to my wife's barrenness, so she told me to pour out my seeds (sperms) into a white calabash and go that the gods will give me a child, so I did and left her shrine and six years later, Nyanachiek came out of the white calabash." Chief Wong-heer explained and Yar burst out laughing hard. "Wait, you think we would believe that lie you just said? Just confess that you slept with that old woman and she gave birth to that manner less girl" Yar said after she stopped laughing.
"Wong-heer, you know it is an abomination to have a carnal knowledge with Priestess Akuer in this village" Queen mother Aluel told her son.
"Mama, I did not sleep with her. I would have told you, I was surprised seeing that little girl in my compound today. She looked exactly like me" Chief Wong-heer said to his mother.
"Guards" Queen mother called out hardly.
"Yes, Mama" One of the guards came bowing his head.
"Call that little girl for me" She said.
"There will be no need mama, I am here." Nyanachiek said as she entered the throne room and greeted her. Her little bag was with her.
Seeing the little girl, Queen mother noticed she has a little resemblance to her son, except his dark complexion no doubt, Chief Wong-heer is the father of the girl but how he came to have her seems impossible.
"What is your name?"
"Nyanachiek mama." Going to sit down on one of the elder's seats.
"Where do you live?"
"I live at the shrine of Akuer" Nyanachiek answered.
"So why didn't you come all these years, why now?"
"Akuer is dead and she told me to come here" She responded.
Wong-heer and his mother were shocked.
"Why didn't she die when she shamelessly opened her legs for my husband?" Queen Yar shouted.
"What killed her?" Queen mother asked, ignoring her son's wife.
"It was her time mama" Nyanachiek answered.
"I have said my own, is either she will leave this palace or I leave with my children and my foot wont step in here again" Yar threatened.
"It hasn't gotten to that my daughter" Queen mother said to her son's wife.
"Mama, it has. So your son should choose between both of us who will stay in this palace."
"She doesn't have anywhere to go Yar, reconsider your decision my daughter." Queen mother Aluel said, trying to make her see the reason. "I don't care mama, let her go to wherever she came from, I don't want to see her or you won't see me here." Yar said without an ounce of pity in her. "Your Highness, I am going to give just two minutes for you to make up your mind. "I or Nyanachiek"
"There shall be no need for that, I will go." Nyanachiek spoke up and stared at her right palm for a brief minute before staring at Yar. "But, be rest assured that I will be back someday mama." She told Yar who hissed loudly. "Go, I don't need you and how many times have I told you to stop calling mama?" Queen Yar shouted.
"Where will you go, Akuer is dead?" Chief Wong-heer asked.
"Don't worry Baba, I will be fine." Nyanachiek replied and moved to where he was sitting, bent down slightly and touched his two feet, then straightened up and left the palace.
Ten years later…..
It was towards evening and Yar with Chief Wong-heer were seen seated on a mat made with leaves are were eating roasted yam and groundnuts outside their small painted hut when his twins, Mayual and Nyanachiek came out of their huts and walked up to them and greeted. "Evening my children" Yar and Chief Wong-heer both responded to their greetings.
"Baba I came here to tell you something." Nyanachiek, a dark beauty who took after her father's complexion, said. Beads of various sizes and colours (traditional beads; Jaang and abiech) were used in decorating her hair, hands and waist.
"And what can that be Nyanachiek?" Yar asked.
"In the middle of this palace, my shrine must be built."
"What did you say?" Chief asked in shock.
"My shrine must be built in this palace and every village must pay homage to it. Failure to do so, death awaits them all. And not only that, on every full moon, a new born baby boy must be sacrificed at my shrine, not only in this village but the rest of villages as well."
"Nyanachiek are you sure you are okay?" Yar asked in bewilderment.
"Point of correction Yar." She said, earning a shock look from her mother and father. "My name is no longer Nyanachiek, from now henceforth, call me Nyawiir."
"You must be out of your senses" Chief Wong-heer told her.
"Baba." Mayual said, bringing his father's attention to him. "Nyawiir has made her own request, when it gets to my turn, you shall know my request."
The twins left their speechless parents and went out of the palace.
Chief Wong-heer and his wife, Queen Yar couldn't believe what their ears heard. Their appetite for the roasted yam was gone far in the sea.
'Yar, did you hear your children or I was the only one who heard what they said?" Chief Wong-heer asked his wife. "Monydie (my husband) I heard them perfectly clear. But why will Nyanachiek and Mayaul say such a thing? I think they must be joking." Queen Yar responded.
"I hope they are not serious because I will flog nonsense out of their bodies if Nyanachiek repeat such words again." Chief Wong-heer said with seriousness.
"It hasn't gotten to the extent of flogging them my husband, maybe they heard it from one of their friends and then decided to joke with us." Queen Yar told her husband. No, her twins were only joking with them. Nyanachiek can't suddenly change her names and neither can she demand blood sacrifice from new born babies. As far as she was concerned, they are just playing pranks on them.
"Which friends of theirs are you talking about? I have watched them grow to this level and I yet I haven't seen the play with their own fellow children. They are either at the river or inside their huts laughing and talking. So what friends are you talking about, Yar?" Chief Wong-heer asked, staring at his wife.
"My husband, I was only suggesting, they just went out now so I think they had to meet their friends." Queen Yar told him.
"I will believe what you said. Mathiang! Malith!" He shouted and two of his guards ran to meet him.
"Greetings to you Your Highness." Mathiang and Malith said in unison, going down to their knees and bowing their heads in respect.
Chief Wong-heer nodded his head and pointed towards the direction he saw his children went. "Nyanachiek and Mayual took the road that leads to the village river, I want both of you to hurry up and follow them and make sure they are safe." Wong-heer ordered them and Mathiang with Malith stood up to their feet and left the palace, heading towards the village river. "They are just little kids but yet they can't allow any of the maids or the guards in this palace to follow them. What sort of children are they" Chief asked himself.
Queen Yar didn't respond. "Are you still eating my husband?" She asked rather.
"I am no longer hungry. I just hope what Nyanachiek said isn't true because I Wong-heer, who is still the supreme Chief and leader of this village and whom the rest of the villages fear, will not succumb to her useless request. I will know if it is my palace or her palace." Chief Wong-heer said.
"Amer!" Yar called out one of the maid's name and a beautiful young dark skinned lady hurried up to meet her.
"Greetings to you Your Highness, greetings to you my Queen." Amer greeted them with her head bowed in respect.
"Take this food away." Yar ordered and Amer quickly took the full plate still filled with roasted yams and another plate of groundnuts and left for the palace kitchen, and called the other maids to finish up the leftover food.
Chief Wong-heer stood up from the mat and started walking around slowly awaiting his children's return. Queen Yar did not move an inch from the mat as she sat and also awaited the return of her children.
The sky was getting dark as minutes went by. An hour later, Mathiang and Malith returned to the palace without the Prince and Princess.
"Where are my children?" Queen Yar demanded immediately she saw the guards.
Going down on their knees, their heads bowed low.
"My Queen, we have searched and combed everywhere at the village river and even headed up to the tail of the road that leads to Yirol but couldn't see them." Mathiang responded.
"Hmmm." Chief Wong-heer mused to himself.
'Are you sure you searched well? Did you search the bush that led to the river and even across the road to Cueibet? They might be hiding there." Yar asked in worry.
"Yes mama, we searched everywhere but we couldn't find them. They are not in the bushes or even at the river side." Malith answered. "So where could they be at this hour?" Queen Yar asked no one in particular.
"You can go back to our posts." She dismissed them with a wave of her hand, with a lot of worry. Chief Wong-heer looks on.
Mathiang and Malith stood up and went to back to the front of the palace gate made with bamboo sticks and palm tree leaves where they stay throughout the night. They had barely gone to their positions where they saw the Twins Nyanachiek and Mayual coming with some young maidens, older than them, tying black wrappers around their hands and heads.
"And where are you both coming from?" Chief Wong-heer demanded angrily.
"We went to the river Baba." Mayual responded.
"That's a big fat lie, Mathiang and Malith just returned from the river where they searched for you and your sister but couldn't see both of you." Yar said.
"a long koc kok e lang nyin kua ce dai Yar (there are some people that have eyes but can't see), Mayual Said.
Queen Yar was shocked when she was called by her name. "And who are these maidens with you and where are they from?" Wong-heer asked, his eyes never leaving the maidens which stood behind his daughter.
"They are the maidens that will work with me for once my shrine has been built." His daughter replied.
"So you were serious when you said that?"
"Yes Baba, and you shall do as Nyawiir has requested." Mayual replied to him.
"Not in this palace, if you want your shrine built, then go and have your palace because as long as I am the Chief and your father, I will make the decision." Chief Wong-heer told them.
"Then it's better off you die." Nyawiir(Nyanachiek the twin) said and lifted up her left hand towards her father. A dark smoke left her hand and moved straight to Wong-heer. It was about to enter his body when it disappeared. Chief Wong-heer and his wife saw the dark smoke dispersed.
"Ace yic (it's not true) Nyawiir (Nyanachiek the twin) shouted and sent another dark smoke towards her father, but it dispersed before it reached him. "This cannot be happening" She yelled out in outrage. Mayaul moved close to his father and smelled him which left Chief Wong-heer confused by his actions.
"I see she protected you before she left." Mayual said as he went back to stand next to his sister.
{Flashback}
"Don't worry Baba, I will be fine." Nyanachiek (Girl from the white calabash) replied and moved to where he was sitting, bent down slightly and touched his two feet, the straightened up and left the palace.
{End of flashback}
"I am giving you one week to erect my shrine in this palace or else, heads will roll." Nyawiir (Nyanachiek the twin) said and left with her maidens to her hut.
"Two masquerades cannot rule a land Baba." Prince Mayual said. "Te chi yap thok akal, nhiak ka ber a nhiak (when a hunting game starts today, tomorrow is yet another day)"