One cold morning when the women were busying themselves with cooking oat porridge for breakfast, a young traveller appeared at a distance.
He was lost on his way in search of his long-lost uncle after his own parents were killed by lightning while working in their field.
He had seen the smoke from the cooking fire shooting up and followed it to the king’s compound, not knowing where he was. One of the watchmen spotted him and raised the alarm to alert every one of the intruders. He was summoned to stop at a distance or be shot down with poison arrows, which the people of Goza used to kill wild animals.
He called back and said he was on his way to Chimunga in the Nengara Mountains and seemed to have lost his way. The watchman asked for his name and where he was coming from. The young man hesitated at first and muttered, “I am Tamura Mareto from the Kamba Tribe of the Huru mountaineers.”
“Aah,” said Zuka, the watchman, “you are from afar, we never heard of such a name before.”
The other watchman laughed at him hysterically and said, “Yes, because we don’t have any neighbours, that is why, you fool.” The watchman at realising his mistake, he angrily told him to shut up and beckoned the Tamura to follow him to the king’s household.
At the entrance to the king’s household, Leona, the king’s daughter, leapt to her feet to peep out the door to see who the stranger was being brought in. She raised her eyes and beheld Tamura and she thought to herself that he was good looking and around her age.
She eyed him up and down before taking her eyes away with a mischievous smile on her face. The watchman asked her where the king was, while Tamura exchanged a quick glance with Leona.
He then followed the watchman inside to meet the king without saying one word to Leona in case he said the wrong thing. They found the king in the huge lounge area as indicated by Leona with a nod, as she had suddenly become speechless looking at Tamura. The watchman and Tamura bowed before the king and introduced himself once again.
The king summoned him to sit down and sent the watchman to get him food from the women in the kitchen and a drink, as he looked hungry. As the food was quickly brought in, Tamura ate hungrily with hardly chewing his food and swallowing his drink in two gulps.
Leona was at the same time sitting at an adjacent seat watching him as he ate, and Tamura felt her eyes on him but refused to look her way as he was a very shy boy.
After which King Gama asked Tamura to give him an account of his life and where he was coming and going. Tamura spoke quietly about the loss of his parents and how he was now responsible for the upbringing of his siblings.
He hoped to find his relations who lived in Nengara, where he had never been to visit nor had he seen his uncle since he was five years old, many years ago.
King Gama noticed the mischief in Leona’s eyes and told her to go and help her mother or make herself useful somewhere else. She grudgingly got up and left the room to find her mother.
“You like that boy, don’t you?” her mother had asked her.
“No, of course not, he is just a common boy and I am a princess, he is hardly prince charming, is he? Besides I don’t even know him,” Leona snapped.
Queen Eleaza threw her hands up in the air with resignation and said, “That’s exactly what I said about your father when I first met him. It’s easy to think anything, but you can’t deceive me or your heart for that matter.”
“Well, at least my father was a prince when you met him, and this boy we don’t even know where he is coming from to start with,” Leona said dismissively.
Queen Eleaza said, “No, he was not, he doesn’t even have any royal blood in him, and it was by appointment because his great aunt didn’t have any children of her own to take the throne.”
The queen continued, “Your father was born of a pauper who worked in the grounds of the royal household, who then married a relation of the royal family and that’s how he got connected to royalty.” Leona was listening intently as her mother had never told her this story before, she was intrigued.
Queen Eleaza reminisced some more and said, “It was until your father’s great aunt, Queen Winona, died that your father was sworn in as the successor as your grandmother was too ill at the time to be enthroned.”
She continued, “She took very ill soon after your grandfather died of a mysterious illness. Some said she died of heartbreak and couldn’t go on with life alone. Everyone could see she wasn’t going to make it as she was very frail and was refusing to eat, and eventually days later, she died.”
“Remember I told you that your grandmother died on the day your father was sworn in as king? It was a sad time for all of us, with mixed emotions of joy for me and your father. Too much sorrow had befallen us within a short space of time. First your grandfather died, and then Queen Winona and your grandmother also within a few months of each other. It was like a plague had taken hold of our family all of a sudden, killing the older folk.”
Leona responded. “Mm, so sad that people have to die. I would have loved to see of them before they died. Anyway, who is talking about marriage, I want to travel to see the world and Tamura’s only passing through I can hardly call him anything more than a traveller, can I really, Mother?”
