She slowly rose up and said, “I am going inside to have a bath and a sleep, I am so very tired.”
Tamura replied, “Yeah, me too, I am absolutely shattered, but first things first.” He said with a cheeky grin. “I have to see Leona first, so you go on right ahead and I will see you shortly.” Mara squinted at him and shook her head and walked on home, dragging her feet as she went, but felt grateful that she got back to the safety of the compound in one piece.
There were a few people in the compound who greeted them as they arrived but Mara did not respond and appeared oblivious to their presence. She overheard Tamura making excuses on her behalf as she walked straight past them on her way to her room. Tamura had said she was very tired and needed to go in and get some rest after the long journey. The people understood and she heard one of them saying, “Poor little thing, she must be exhausted.” Mara had kept on walking towards her room and didn’t care to stop and explain what was on her mind. Not now anyway.
Mara sighed with relief as she opened the door to get into her room so that she could sit down and breathe. As soon as she had gone into her room and locked the door behind her, Mara fell on her knees and prayed in a hushed voice, in case someone heard her, to God, saying, “Lord, God, my Father, I want to thank you for protecting me and my brother as we journeyed to Huru and back. Thank you for keeping your angels charge over us as we were surrounded by evil, and we still are, but you are stronger and mightier than all of them. I glorify your name and pray that you continue to prepare me to lead your people to pray against this evil. This, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
When she finished praying, she took a bath and gathered the strength to go looking for her brother, Baka. For some strange reason, she missed him even though half the time she felt like killing him for annoying her. When she found him sitting with Tyza talking about today’s events, she just stood there watching them chat and giggle without a care in the world, and for a moment, she wished she had that freedom to be a child again. But she quickly repented to God in her heart at the thought of complaining over such a huge responsibility she had been entrusted with. God could have chosen any other girl or boy for that matter, so she felt honoured to be the chosen one.
Tyza broke the silence by asking her, “Had a good journey, sis? How are the Hagas, and Mama and Papa’s graves?”
“They are all fine, you know,” she responded with eyes fixed on Tyza. She continued, “And you two, I see you have been having fun without me?”
Tyza responded almost apologetically, “Well, you know the usual, nothing special.”
Mara looked at him with her trademark squint and smirked, “You could have fooled me, and I could see the back of your throat from here with all that laughing!” She didn’t wait for a response and turned on her heels and went to find Leona and the queen before going to bed as she was very tired, but felt she needed to mind her manners by greeting the royals before turning into bed.
She found Leona engrossed in conversation with Tamura sitting on the sofa in the living room and she didn’t bother to interrupt them. The queen and king were having a night cap after their dinner on the veranda of the back garden, reminiscing about life. She gave them both a hug, bade them goodnight and went straight to bed and fell sound asleep. She was too tired to eat. The king thought it unusual that Mara would give him a hug as she always kept her distance and didn’t take too kindly to his jokes and his croaky hearty laughs. She would always give him a wry, disdained squinted look without making it obvious, out of respect for the king, but he always knew from her body language.
The queen noticed the surprise on her husband’s face and when Mara had left, she said, “Poor child, she must be missing her father, remember she went to the village where her parents are buried? It must have brought back some sad memories and she just wanted a hug.”
The king responded, “We have a lot to be thankful for. I may not replace their father, but I will do my very best to support them whenever they need it.” They both agreed.
Tamura had hurriedly walked towards King Gama’s household to see the love of his life, Leona. He felt as though he had not seen her for a whole year and could not bear separation from her any longer. As he reached the threshold of the king’s main door, the door swung open before he even touched it and Leona jumped into his arms with a big smile on her face. She gasped, “Welcome back, darling. I missed you so much. It’s like you have been gone a whole year!”
Tamura smiled and said, “How did you know I was at the door?” When he put her down, he teased, “Are you some kind of a mind reader or something, because you knew I was at the door and you repeated exactly what I thought before I got here, that I missed you so much like it was a whole year since I last saw you!”
Leona chuckled, “We are so in love with each other and we know what the other is thinking, but I think I am more intuitive than you are by all means possible. Simply because I am smarter than you as I have always told you!”
She pushed him away teasingly, and Tamura said, "Yeah, yeah,
