She looked up and thanked the angel quietly in her heart for managing to make her sound as though she was mumbling, for she was convinced she was talking loudly and that if Baka was standing there for long, he could have heard everything.
Mara was thinking deep of how she would execute her mission. This was the time she wished Mama Haga was near to advise her on what to do. And speaking of which, she felt she needed to inform Mama Haga and maybe Papa Haga too so that they can start learning how to pray as well. She had grown to like Mama Haga as family over the last few weeks before moving to Goza.
She surely didn’t want her to perish and she hoped God had made her believe as well so that when she would tell her to pray, she would not resist. Either way she knew she had her work cut out to protect the villagers from evil and the battle has just begun and it was a race against time.
Trouble was that she didn’t know how to break the news to the Hagas and she was not sure how they would react to the terrifying news, and worse still if they would swear to secrecy. Also, she was not sure if the evil spirits might hear her when she told them and sabotage her plan to save mankind.
She promised herself to whisper and not to speak loudly like she normally did when she got excited. That settled, she was planning of how she would convince her brother, Tamura, to escort her back to Huru to the Hagas without having to tell him why she needed to see Mama Haga suddenly.
That evening at the dinner table, Mara started by telling her brothers, “I miss our old home and I miss Mama Haga. Is it all right if we go there and visit her and Mama and Papa’s grave to rid of any overgrowth and weeds?’” The boys looked at each other and thought she was a bit quiet these past few days and were not sure why.
“Ooh, I get it,” said Baka, “you are all moody because you want to go back to the village?”
“Big deal!” he said, dismissing his sister’s suggestion, because left to him, he wanted to put the memory of the Huru village behind him for good, as the memories were all too painful to bear.
He made it quite clear that he was not interested in accompanying them back to the village. But Tamura, sensing the apprehension in his sister’s tone of voice and temperament, interjected and said, “Yes, Mara, I will escort you, I think it’s high time we visit Mama and Papa Haga and the graves to see if all is well.”
“Just tell me when and we will go, never mind, Baka, he likes to mock and would give any excuse to play with his stupid birds,” he smirked and chuckled mockingly at Baka.
Baka snapped, “They are not stupid birds, they are sensitive and intelligent animals and need someone looking after them.” Mara didn’t say one word but gave him her trademark look of squinting her eyes at him. Moreover, she had a lot on her mind lately than her usual sibling squabbles with her brother.
She got up slowly and said to Tamura with all earnest, “Can we go tomorrow morning please, please?”
Tamura wanted to protest, but somehow he couldn’t, he just smiled and said, “All right then, since I have a couple days more off work, but we have to leave very early because we must come back, we don’t want to burden the Hagas for putting us up for the night, so are you sure you are up to the journey?”
Mara just nodded absent-mindedly and added, “Yes, I am,” and she went off to bed, but Tamura wasn’t so sure that his sister could cope with a same day return journey, which was nothing short of a 20-mile walk either way. Tamura didn’t want to take liberties by asking the king for one of the horses to ride to Huru, so he had to prepare to walk with his sister.
He quietly prepared himself for a night at the Haga’s at the prospect that Mara might be too tired to return home, which was why he had tried to discourage the journey in the first place, but felt so sorry for his sister too much to let her down. Mara slumped herself on the bed and started to think back on the conversation she had had with the Angel of the Lord and with her brothers and felt all too tired to think.
She fell into a deep sleep. She didn’t worry about what she was going to wear the following morning and was not taking any bag with her either, she just wanted to close her eyes and fall asleep.
Chapter 14
Early in the morning, she was awakened by Tamura’s gentle voice calling her as he was trying to wake her up to get ready for the road trip that morning. He said, “Wake up, sis, we have to leave in a few moments’ time, the journey is long.” Mara got up and washed her face in the basin just outside her bedroom door, brushed her teeth and got changed.
Tamura did not even bother to ask her about having a proper bath, because judging from the way she looked at him when she rose from her bed, he knew she was either still too tired or was not in the mood for a bath.
He had woken up an hour earlier and had prepared some packed lunch to eat on the way as it was too early to eat anything before they left. He had informed Leona about this trip and she was in agreement with him as she was also worried about
