“Wow, that’s intriguing!” said Tamura and he continued, “Incidentally, I also want to travel on a ship one day and sail across the ocean to anywhere in the world.” He grinned with excitement.
“We could travel together if you decide to come back one day,” added Leona.
“I will,” he said and added, “If you will come with me, lest you will be married to some handsome prince by then.”
“Ooh, no!” said Leona. “I am in no hurry to marry, I want to enjoy my life first, unlike some women in this village who just have children and stay in one place for the rest of their lives – must be really boring. I have ambitions, you know. I don’t want that at all, it’s just not me. Well, not yet anyway,” she said dismissively.
“Me too,” said Tamura, “I have already seen how hard it is to be a parent, as I am raising my siblings and working hard to make ends meet. That’s why I need to see my relations in case they can help us.”
“I wish you good luck in finding them,” Leona said, “and I bid you goodnight and a safe journey tomorrow. Ooh, and make sure you catch some sleep, and please remember to carry some food and water, you will need it!”
Tamura sensed her caring nature and responded jokingly, “Okay, Mother, and make sure you sleep too, you don’t want a charming prince to see a pair of baggy eyes sitting on that pretty face of yours, do you?”
She chuckled mischievously and protested, “What charming prince, from where?” as she headed for her bedroom.
“You will see soon enough,” Tamura giggled as he swung back into bed. Leona threw herself on her bed and sighed with delight as she recalled him calling her pretty. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Chapter 2
The king’s men and Tamura woke up at the break of dawn and headed north towards the Nengara Mountains. They carried foodstuffs, drinking water and beddings on two donkeys to ease the load on themselves.
The rest of the compound was dead quiet and still asleep. There was a rush of wind blowing from the east heading west, which slowed progress for the travellers as it was pushing them sideways, rather than forwards.
By the time the sun left its hiding place, they had travelled only five kilometres. However, the weather settled bringing warm sunshine and the path became more visible.
No sooner had they passed the eighth kilometre did they find themselves in the middle of a swampy area, which looked deep and dangerous. The strongest of the men decided to take the leading and ordered everyone to follow him carefully.
They followed him and were cautiously treading on the mashes as instructed and the donkeys seemed to be familiar with such trails and they followed suit with little effort.
Just as the last man was about to take the last step off the mashes onto dry land, a huge frog leapt on his forward foot. As he raised his leg to shake off the frog, he lost balance and fell into a huge puddle of mud, face down.
Everyone but Tamura roared with laughter at him as he grappled to get out of the muddy place. Tamura felt guilty that if it weren’t for him, this man would not have faced such humiliation.
Meanwhile, at the king’s compound, the women had gotten up to their usual morning ritual of preparing oat porridge for breakfast. Leona woke up a little later than usual, because she had slept late last night talking to Tamura well into the night.
She felt sleepy even now and wondered how Tamura might have managed to get up that early at all that morning. She shrugged her thoughts away and headed for the bathroom. Her mother followed her and asked her if she was missing Tamura. She said she wasn’t, but her mother sensed the brokenness in her voice.
Queen Eleaza knew her daughter very well and sensed she had fallen in love with Tamura at first sight. She knew what she would do to cheer her daughter up. She hurried herself to the kitchen to make jam tartlets and a hot mug of milk and waited for her in the bedroom.
When Leona came out of the bathroom, she saw what her mother had done and gasped, “Ooh, Mother, thank you, you made me my favourite!”
Queen Eleaza was pleased to have put back a smile on her daughter’s face and said, “Yes, I thought you needed a bit of cheering up, you really like that boy, don’t you?”
Leona knew she was fighting a losing battle where her mother was concerned in matters of the heart and she said shyly, “Just a little, he is a fine young man and handsome too, I might add.” The two women giggled naughtily and started chatting away about marriage, babies, food for dinner and the darning, sewing and stitching that her mother so loved.
Until the king walked in and interrupted them saying, “There you are, I thought you had disappeared from the face of the earth, haven’t seen you since we woke up.” Queen Eleaza got up and went over apologetically to hug and kiss her husband as she is well aware of his attention seeking tendencies.
She teased him and tickled him and stole a glance and a wink at her daughter, and they both smiled out of the king’s sight and Leona understood what that meant. Leona smiled to herself and thought that men were such big babies and wondered if Tamura would behave
