"I can't believe you're doing this, Faderera. The king will probably punish you for it" she say, I look into her eyes without uttering a word. Moyemi, her father had died in battle, she was just about four years old when her mother passed too.
Her mother was my mother's Onidiri afin (Royal hairdresser), my mother liked her work that she never allowed any other royal hairdresser touch her hair.
She decided to raise Moyemi in the palace, and now she's more like the sister I never had. The sun has dipped below the horizon, filtering through the little spaces between the mountains to the East of the kingdom. Most parts of the kingdom is surrounded by mountains, which has shielded the kingdom from invasion and during war times for centuries.
I had returned from the training ground, after an intense training and now I'm here at the kitchen, just outside our quarters, with my body covered in bruises and tiny little cuts begging Moyemi for a massage and to help treat the cuts. My mother can't find out about this, I plan to sneak into my room once I'm done here, hopefully she would have gone to sleep. There will be no stories tonight, so the Palace yard will be free of people, except for the guards on duty.
I lower my head as Moyemi places on my back a cloth soaked in hot water, massaging both my shoulders and in-between, those part hurts more than I expected, I have been throwing and catching spares, and other heavy objects all day. She asks me to give her my injured arm, it feels as numb as a frozen limb, but this goes away as she grabs it, as much as it hurt and the pain, a bit unbearable, yet it must be done or it won't heal anytime soon. She cleans up the traces of dried blood mixed with sweat from my body, and gives out a loud sigh, her own way of saying that she's done.
"Thank you so much Moyemi" I say, she nods back and returns the the calabash and cloth into the kitchen after throwing out the hot water, "you don't have to do all of this you know? Your father, wants you to focus on regal pursuit and not engaging in the art of war. Why don't you do just that and live a sweat peaceful life Faderera?" I don't utter a word, "you have to stop please, you're the closest that I have to a sister you know? I don't want to see you hurt anymore, the way of a warrior is filled with so much evil and they have no peace, you know that, so Please stop, don't throw yours away" she pleads, without a word to her, i slowly get up, take a few steps away and stop.
"Moyemi, you're like a sister to me too, and I love you too. I know you care for me and don't want me hurt, but I have to do this, it's not only because I want to, but because I have to. Look, life may seem bright and peaceful today, with the soothing melodies of birdsongs filling the air, but it won't be like this for ever, I do not know yet what the future holds for me, and even for you, but I'm quite sure it's not going to be full of sunshines and rainbows, and the gentle sway of blossoming flowers" I say, and continue towards our quarters slowly "I don't expect you to make any sense of this, but don't forget this, just as a tranquil lake can be disrupted by a sudden storm, so too can our lives be shaken by unforeseen circumstances". I pause and turn around again.
"But I think I can see mine. You will see, you'll come to realize one day, somehow" I say out loud, and continue towards the quarters.
"How do you know this?" She ask, "I don't, it's just something I've been putting together all day" I say, "go to sleep, would see you tomorrow". "I will, but please be careful out there" she say, I don't reply as I try to think of a better way to sneak in without raising alarms, everyone had gone inside their rooms and most of the fire touches had burnt out leaving the yard halfway dark. I'm pretty sure EMIRAN would be somewhere in the dark watching me now, and the closer I get to the passage without a sign of another person, I'm beginning to think he must have gone out to inspect the vicinity.
And just when I'm about to relax I hear his spare striking against his shield twice from behind me, I quickly hide, "why are you sneaking into you father's home, Princess?" he ask, how did he get this close to me without me noticing. "How did you" I could not finish as he cuts in, "how did I get here without making a sound?" He say sharply, "you will understand soon, but you must pay attention to everything I do around you, everything I say and teach you, for everything has a reason or a meaning. You must find out the meaning of the double bangs that I make when I see you", yes that bang, I've been wondering why it has always been twice and not once or three times.
"Tell me what it means" I say, "shh, I can't, you must find out alone, now go have a good night rest my Princess" he disappears into the darkness, "you have a big day ahead of you" his voice echoes from somewhere in the yard.
Double bangs, could it be an "I see you" message or something, I'll keep that in mind, "twice, I must figure it out", I whisper.
Finally I'm in the passage.
My mother's room is located at the other end of the passage. Its lantern shines brightly as usual, spreading out from underneath her door like the roots of a large tree. She wouldn't be aware that I'm back unless she was awake. She cannot see all of the bruises on my body, so I must conceal them until they are completely gone, and I will take care to avoid getting any more.
The incessant banging on my window had stirred me from a peaceful slumber, could it be a bird, but how big could it possibly be to make such loud bangs. It would take a great strength to bang that hard.
I cautiously get out of bed and approach the window, the whole joints in my body aches from the pain I've had gone through yesterday. However, my hand seem a lot better now. I yearn to unveil the source of this disturbance. Slowly, I unlock and push the window open, revealing the morning sunlight just as the window creaks open, a fresh morning air sweeps through. I peer into the surroundings, two stones comes hurtling through the air, I could barely move out of the way only to find that it wasn't aimed at me, but the calabash hanged on the wall next to me, shattering the serenity and calmness of the room.
I look at the calabash that now has two holes in it by the stones. And again, it is two, now I remember that he has been doing this things around me for as long as I can remember, does everything in twos, could this be why he has always watched me? "what does it mean?" I whisper.
I look outside again, "it's time Princess" he calls out and stalks away swinging a sling in his left hand. Quickly, I put one my shoes and head out. I make sure to check my mother's door before I leave, her door is normally locked if she's indoor, and halfway open if she's out. She would say ' locking my door makes me feel safer inside and leaving it open helps, because you don't know who could be waiting in there for you, so with it open, you don't raise alarms, doors creaks only when you open them'.
The door is closed meaning she's indoor, so I quickly rush out without worrying to look around.
"Isn't it too early for this Princess to be out? Where are you going?" My mother ask from outside the kitchen, what, how, she must have forgotten to leave it open or something, I turn around and greet her, "Ka aro ọmọ mi" (good morning my daughter) she reply. "Where are you rushing to" she ask again as she comes closer, but I wouldn't want that, I can't let her see the bruises on my skin now, "I just want to go get some threads for my bids, and also check up on some friends on my way back" and I take a step backwards at each one she takes towards me.
"Come on, DERERA, you don't need to lie to me, I'm your mother, we both know you don't have friends, not even in the palace, you could send the savants to the market but you stopped making bids since you were nine". She say, "I- I, I decided t- to", I stammer as she cuts in, "You didn't think that I would know where you were all day yesterday? Or that I was in your room last night, i saw the bruises, DERERA" she comes closer and scoops my face between her palms, "I thank the gods who have helped you to find your purpose at this early stage. He told me you came to him your self and that he had been waiting for it, I don't know why he had been waiting but I trust him, he's loyal to me and your father," she smile.
"You will make a great leader one day, let's talk about this later, alright, you need to go now". "Thank you mother, thank you" I say hugging her tight, I quickly let go when I realize I could be hurting her or her baby. "sorry mother, bye mother" I say jumping off.
The sun is fully out and burning, that wouldn't stop the training though I've been training since I got here. He'd say 'no rest, warriors don't rest, a warrior who rest is a dead warrior'. He had shown me the positioning and taught me how to swing a sword, how to block strikes from spears, swords, and arrows with a shield. It was only a matter of hours and I'm practicing already from, sword to spears, he says I learn faster than he anticipated.
He asks me to take a break, and rest. "I'll be back in moment" he says heading back towards the palace.
I resume my training slicing through air and thrusting forward, I repeat everything he showed me until I can switch between them without having to think.
"You'd make a great warrior, Princess. If only you can focus and put everything else behind" he says, "how long have you been there for?" I say. "Well, long enough to realise how strong you could become, only if you focus, but this is just the least of the reasons why I've accepted to train you", he say as he walks towards, he has a bag made of what looks like a snake skin in his hand. I wonder what he has in mind this time. "Your training here Is over, we need to move to the next stage", he say handing the bag to me.
I can't help but wonder what he ment by 'moving to the next stage' as we head into the forest.
We've been walking for hours now and he hasn't said a word to me, I'm getting uncomfortable now, no knowing, it makes me feel nervous and the fact that he's not saying a word to me, I feel like giving up. Could it be that he's testing me, perhaps he's testing my patience, he wants to know how strong I am emotionally or something. Now feeling like I've got everything figured out, I don't bother saying anything too.
I kept the silence until we get to a free space in the middle of the forest, it looks like it has been cleared out, and the trees had grown in a way that it makes this place look like an arena, like a training ground in the middle of the woods. Finally he lets out a slit cough as he clears his throat.
"We're here, you can put it down now" he say pointing at the bag. I drop it gently.