He paused as he turned his head around to take in his audience and continued, "I thank you all for making the effort to come and meet us as we become friends and neighbours, in love and unity. We stand for friendship and unity. We are here to begin a new era of relationship. Your people are my people and my people your people from now henceforth. Let us look out for one another and live together.
“Division will only increase our ignorance of each other’s culture and reduces our tolerance. I want you all to be free here today and share in each other’s wisdom and trade whatever wares you brought with you. Eat and be merry, I now pronounce this summer festival officially opened!” he bellowed.
Everyone stood up and shouted with a resounding noise clapping their hands, which almost shook the ground and echoed, “Hail yee, the king! May Gama live forever, rejoice and shout for the fun is here. Here, here, the fun is here.”
Some started jumping up and down as the music started playing and some linked their arms as they swung around in a circle rhythmically dancing to the music. Women from Garanga were ululating as it was their tradition and their men were making groaning noises with their throats as if they were male pigeons performing a mating ritual.
The Makoma women were belly dancers, who would jig their waists in wavelike rhythm while turning their heads in a symmetrical fashion to let the flowing body of hair flow in the air as if it too were dancing. The Makoma men danced in a line behind each woman throwing their arms up and down as if they were marching, but with more passion.
The Goza men and women were more freestyle dancers, shaking and stamping to the beat in all manners of styles. All the dancers were dancing with vigour as if to outdo each other in a bid to win the king’s approval or favour for being the best dancers.
The king and queen and their children looked on in amazement, Tyza looked like he just wanted to get off his seat to go and get changed into something more comfortable, so he could join his friend, Baka, who seemed lost in enjoyment and excitement.
Tamura got up from his seat to see if all was well with the arrangements for the royal household’s refreshments. Just as he got up from his seat behind the king, the king sensed his concern and said to him, “You can do what you want for the rest of the day, my son, you have worked hard enough preparing for this event, I won’t be needing you for the rest of the weekend.”
Tamura was about to protest and the king quickly interjected and said to him with a mischievous look on his face, “On one condition,” and he cast a glance at his daughter, who was seated next to her mother. Leona looked nonplussed by what was going on as she too was getting tired of looking at all these faces looking at her as if she were a monumental item in a museum. She found the whole experience a bit intrusive and was not used to it.
She was getting unwanted attention from across the platform, from young and old men alike, who had lust written all over their faces. What she couldn’t fathom were the evil glances from women, which she couldn’t work out whether they were admiring her or purely being jealous and evil without putting it into words, worse still their grins from ear to ear when she caught them looking.
The king nodded towards his daughter but kept looking at Tamura and said, “Take her out of here, I know she is dying to go wherever you like, but don’t overdo it, you know your limits, don’t you, my boy?”
Tamura blushed and said, “Yes, sir, and thank you, sir, but you can call me when you need me, won’t you?”
The king said, “I am not an invalid, you know, I am hoping for an early night in with my wife after all this palaver tonight, because I am exhausted just by sitting here, so don’t think about disturbing me or else…” He chuckled.
Tamura went over to Leona, bent down and whispered in her ear, “Fancy going somewhere quiet and less intrusive?”
She gasped and got up quickly with a smile, curtseyed to her parents and left hand in hand with Tamura to the disappointment of her onlookers: men and women alike.
Tamura and Leona headed straight for the cottage to catch up on lost time as Leona was beginning to feel left out when Tamura was always busy. They entered the cottage and shut locked the door behind them and threw themselves on the couch just sat there hand in hand staring at the ceiling.
Tamura gasped, “I missed you, my princess.”
Leona answered with a purr, and said, “So did I, I thought we would never find time for each other anymore.”
“Sshhh…” Tamura hissed, “I know, it was the fete which took all my time, from now on I am all yours and your father of course.” They laughed loudly together.
When they had sat there for that moment, they started chatting about their future plans; they would occasionally whisper sweet nothings to each other and carrying on chatting at intervals, totally and completely lost in each other in a world of their own.
Tamura then said, “You can stay with me here tonight if you like, your dad said I should take care of you, I promise I won’t try anything, just want you beside me.”
“Are you sure my parents will approve, only I have never done something like this before,” said Leona hesitantly.
Tamura said, “It was only a suggestion, if you don’t feel comfortable, you can go home later, and we can talk till very late, I am not working tomorrow and the day after!”
Leona jumped up with joy as she normally did when excited and said, “So
