Mama Mula and Kioma were a little uncomfortable as they stood in the hallway and looked around to see how beautiful the inside really was. They didn’t know what to do with themselves and were totally bemused and perplexed at the grandeur of the place. Shula called out to her, “Mama, Mama, come this way, come don’t just stand there!”
Mama Mula came back to herself and said, “Of course, I am right behind you!” She walked awkwardly behind her daughter to find Queen Eleaza. Kioma was dumbstruck and followed behind hastily, quietly.
When they had all been measured up for their dresses, the queen started a conversation with Mama Mula to put her at ease as she could see the anxiety in her manner and said, “I need all the strength I can get to get all the dresses done in four weeks! The wedding is just around the corner you know. I have just finished Leona’s gown and now I need to saw five more dresses and my own too!”
Mama Mula retorted, “It can’t be easy, I can feel the pressure just by listening to you talking about it!”
“I am sure I can just about do it, if I work flat out in the next few weeks that is! For the girls’ dresses, the hardest thing will be the bodice part which needs intricate embroidery, the skirt part is simple and plain,” added the queen.
“I am sure you can manage,” added Mama Mula reassuringly.
Mama Mula bade the queen ‘good day’ and left to her house in haste. The queen pondered on how she was going to design Mama Mula’s dress and felt she could do that one in a day as it was going to be a long flowing, simple but figure-hugging gown, to enhance her elegant stature.
Queen Eleaza decided to have more hands-on deck to assist with the dress making. She employed her housekeeper to assist with hemming the dresses and with cutting out the cloths using the laid-out patterns. She also asked Leona to help in any way she could to ensure the dresses were ready on time. Leona embroidered some of the girls’ dresses and helped with stitching as well. Her mother quietly thanked God that she had taught her a thing or two about sewing and dress making, now those skills had come in handy.
The king was so happy that for once he forgot about attention-seeking tendencies from his wife as he could clearly see how busy she was with the wedding dresses. She hardly had time to see him or talk to him and he understood why. However, not having her besides him at his beck and call made him more grouchy and miserable. He often took it out on Tyza or any of the men or children in the compound.
Of late, the king had noticed that there was a lot of rubbish lying around the compound and he raised his voice at some of the young men and ordered them to clean it up immediately. In his annoyance, he shouted, “You bunch of ingrates, get rid of all that rubbish, you are turning this yard into a pigsty. Do you think that I have no eyes to see how lazy you can be?” The boys did not say a word and hurried to clean up the mess. It was a few wood shavings left behind by one of the boys when he was making some garden tools. The shavings had been blown in the wind and littered the compound.
Satisfied with their quick response, the kind uttered some unsavoury words under his breath and stormed back into his study to do some more reading or to fall asleep after reading the first sentence as it was his custom. He never read a book to completion as he would always almost immediately fall asleep and snore the place down. Tamura always had to wake him up for any important matter he would want to discuss with him.
Tamura needed to go Waru market to get his suit and some of the items of clothing for the boys. He went along with Chega to assist him. Leona had insisted on the colours he must go for and not buy anything that would clash with her dress colour.
He had to stick with the theme of cream, gold and white. Therefore, he was to buy charcoal grey suits or navy blue or blue-grey, otherwise he had no other option given to him. Waru was five hours away on foot and is a large market where merchant ships dock bringing in goods from far and wide foreign lands. There was always a variety of items from antique furniture to items of clothing; however, these items were pricy and reserved for the affluent in the society. Tamura had saved up for almost three years for this and he was very excited to finally use up his savings for something as special as his wedding.
He found himself a beautiful grey-black suit and bought matching outfits for Baka and Tyza of which the king had given the money for the two. He then bought similar outfits for his best men and the other groomsman, but at a lower prize. Chega was well impressed that for the first time in his twenty-four years he was going to wear something as special as this suit. He thought he had died and gone to heaven.
After their purchase, the two men went around to have a look at the entire marketplace and went into one of the ships with permission from the captain to look around. Tamura grinned and told Chega, “You know it’s my dream that one day I will sail on one of these ships and see the great big wide world out there?”
Chega replied, “Well, the sky is the limit for you because you have the money now working for the king. So I am sure
