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  The girl grabbed her aunt’s hand and admired the flawlessness.

  “I wish I had your skin.”

  “Gods forbid that you do,” her aunt countered.

  The girl looked at her face.

  “But it is beautiful and so clear and your hair is......”

  “It is a curse which has brought problems in our family,” her aunt cut her off.

  “No, my father is the reason behind the problems in our family.”

  “I do not know where you get these thoughts from, Safiyya, but your father is a good man; to you at least.”

  “And to you?” the girl.

  Lunja smiled.

  “I’m different,” she admitted.

  “No, the color of your skin is just not like that of the rest of us and even though you suffer each day from this, my father treats you wrong.”

  “And you should not be bothered about me because it will bring punishment from your father on not just me, but you also.”

  “He would never show me anger,” the girl bragged.

  “Not unless he heard you saying all these things against him in here.”

  Safiyya rose to her feet now.

  “He put you here.” the girl spread her hands to point at the whole room. “There is no door, no security, no maids, no decorations. You live in worse conditions than Kalarian commoners.”

  “You make these deductions based on what exactly?” Lunja asked, crossing her arms and smiling.

  Safiyya stared at her with a confused face.

  “What are you smiling for?” she asked. “You are being treated wrong and you smile?”

  “Would frowning get me better treatment?”

  “It would at least show your discontent.”

  “And if I don’t mind hiding my discontent?”

  “Aunt Lunja, it is hard to support you when you will not support yourself.”

  “I do not need support, Safiyya. Mame is queen and as long as that remains the case, Gwafa cannot reinstate the law against people like me. Mame will not support.”

  “So it does not hurt you that a man you grew up with hates you so much, aunty?” Safiyya asked, squatting before her.

  “Your father and I did not grow up together,” Lunja countered. “He was seven when I was born and when he asked what was wrong with my skin and hair, your grandfather explained everything to him and he just hated me since that day; said I did not deserve to live because our ancestors would not have accepted me.”

  “Our ancestors were retarded,” Safiyya stated.

  “Do not say that!” Lunja said sharply, slapping the girl’s lips hard.

  Safiyya rose to her feet and covered her lips with one hand. She looked at her aunt with a stubborn frown and the woman stared back with anger.

  “You do not speak against your ancestors. That is not our way. They protect you and guide your actions.”

  “So they guide my father to do this to you?!” Safiyya snapped.

  Lunja rose to her feet.

  “As your elder, it is my job to correct you where you go wrong and punish you should you insist on doing wrong.”

  “If our ancestors are the reason my father treats you like this, then I hate our ancestors!” Safiyya shot.

  Lunja raised her right hand to strike the girl. Safiyya covered her face to keep out the slap, but it never came.

  The girl lowered one hand and found her aunt just standing there, her hand raised, but suspended.

  Lunja slowly lowered her hand.

  “Perhaps striking you will not teach you as well as explanations will,” she said. “My papa is your ancestor now and I think I am mostly angry when you insult the ancestors because of him.” She sat down on the bed once more.

  The curtain was pushed aside and a woman walked in. She was of the same skin tone as Safiyya and looked about the same age as Lunja. Lunja was taller than her by one inch though, standing at 5ft 7” This new arrival was just as beautiful as Safiyya and she had the blue-black makeup across her lips and on her cheeks. Her long, white tunic showed the silhouette of her body underneath. Her long hair was held together in three places down her back.

  “Lalai,” Lunja said, rising to her feet and falling to both knees in respect to the new entrant. The word, “Lalai” being the Kalarian word for “Senior.”

  “Mame,” said Safiyya, turning and kneeling to the woman also.

  The lady ignored Lunja’s greeting and went straight to Safiyya, grabbing the girl by her left ear.

  “Ai, mame!!” the girl squealed as she was pulled to her feet by her mother.

  “What have I told you about coming here?!” the woman snapped.

  “Tadla, I offered you greetings as my elder,” Lunja called the woman’s attention.

  The woman ignored her.

  “This is the last time I will find you here, Safiyya, do I make myself clear?!” she told the child.

  “Yes, mame!”

  The woman gave the girl one serious slap on the backside before letting her go.

  “I will tell grandmother!” the girl said, starting to cry.

  “Don’t you dare....” the woman began, but the girl ran out of the hut.

  The woman turned to Lunja who was still kneeling.

  “You see how my daughter treats me because of you?!”

  “I offered you greetings and you still leave me on my knees,” was the princess’ only reply.

  “You should be put to death before your curse spreads to everybody else!” the other snapped.

  “Tadla, I am still on my knees.”

  “My husband will have your head soon enough. Your mother cannot protect you forever, wajefa!” With those words, Tadla, wife of King Gwafa, turned around and exited the room.

  Lunja was left on her knees. This was her life since her father passed away, driven from her home, shunned by the greater part of the family and treated like an outcast.

  “Papa, why did you die?” she murmured as she rose to her feet and lay down on her bed once more. She didn’t cry; not today. She’d done that enough.

  ****

  Out in the city, a man made his way through the streets. He used a long cane to support himself as the lower half of his left leg was very thin. It had not formed well during his time in his mother’s womb, but that did not hinder his life. He was well dressed, with a head-wrap entwined with rope of gold thread.

  The man was at least forty years of age and he walked gladly along one of Tijene’s wider roads. At his side, a donkey bore some load and followed him.

  A group of young men came walking in the opposite direction. There were six of them and none was more than twenty-two. They were chatting happily as they walked, but the man with the bad leg caught their attention as one pointed at him.

  “Wajefa,” said the young men who pointed at the man.

  The word, ‘Wajefa’ which Princess Tadla had used on Lunja meant ‘Cursed one’ in Kalarian.

  The man was somewhat offended that rather than greet him, these young men chose to use derogatory language instead, but he knew better than to beg a confrontation. He would not be safe from it today though.

  The young men stepped in his path and three began searching through his load on the back of the donkey.

  “Are you young men practicing stealing now?” the man asked.

  “Shut up, Wajefa!” one of them snapped, dealing the man a sharp slap.

  The man had not expected the boys to hit him thus he had not braced for it and with a bad leg, keeping balance was not easy thus he fell on his back.

  One of the young men looked around and suddenly bolted to one side of the road. There were some stones there and he began gathering them. The man watched this and knew this situation was about to escalate fast.

  “Please just take everything!” he cried out now.

  They were not waiting for his permission as they were already taking the load off his donkey. The others had not noticed their partner who was gathering the stones, but when he came back to the
scene and threw the first stone at the man, it struck his bad leg and drew a scream of pain from him. The scream caught the attention of the others.

  The other young men looked at the man and their companion who held the stones.

  “There are more over there,” he said, pointing at the stones at the side of the road.

  The other men rushed to get stones and things got very bad fast.

  Stones were thrown at the man with such ferocity and callousness. They struck him everywhere and he quickly lay on his stomach in an attempt to keep his stomach and face from betting hit.

  “Please, stop!!!” he cried. “Please, I beg of you!!”

  The young men didn’t care for the man’s screams of pain and pleading. They were enjoying what they were doing and nothing else mattered. They continued pelting his back with those stones and it got bloody fast, but they did not see a bleeding man; only a bleeding “Wajefa”

  Thus a man going about his life on what seemed a simple day was now being assaulted and possibly murdered for something no one could ever wish on themselves.

  ****

  King Gwafa was in his throne room. Night had fallen on the beautiful kingdom and it was cold, thus thicker clothes were needed now. Here inside the throne room it was warm though as several large cauldrons burned bright. There were more than fifty people having small gatherings in different parts of the room.

  The Throne of gold and ivory stood against the rear wall of the throne room. It was 7ft high and 3ft wide. That of the queen was not as high, but it was wider; 5ft wide to be precise. The room was two stories high, one less than the grand foyer outside it. The walls were designed with printed draping, weapons and drawings. Sofas lined the side of the walls to the left and right and a red rug ran down the middle of the room, from the door, to the thrones. The cauldrons of fire lined the sides of the rug.

  Queen Kahina was up in her room. She practically ruled from there these days. Gwafa was in the room, but not on his throne. He stood in the largest of the small gatherings in the room. To his left stood Prince Aksil; his and Lunja’s younger brother.

  Aksil was twenty-one years of age and quite the handsome man. His skin was just a few shades lighter than Gwafa’s and his hair was full, bouncy and curly like that of a pure Semite, unlike Gwafa’s which was curly, but low as he’d taken from his Negroid side. Aksil stood at 5ft 10” with an athletic build and sharp features that beautified him greatly.

  At Aksil’s other side stood Chi-Chi, a full grown, female cheetah. Chi-Chi had a collar of leather and gold around her neck, marking her as property of the Prince.

  The prince and king were not discussing anything of importance today. They were just chatting with nobles and wealthy men and women of Kalari and cups of wine in their hands showed the mood they were in.

  “I was at a Viennese party with my father once,” the king was saying. “Aksil was there also, but he was barely three years old at the time. I met this Viennese girl who was just about my age. I wanted her and she wanted a king. See, Europeans are quite fascinated by we who rule in the deserts. They wonder how we can survive in such a place and I told her I was going to show her, but not the way she imagined.”

  The other men around burst into laughter at their king’s dirty joke. The few women around were not too comfortable with it and Aksil took notice.

  “I admit I did not do anything with her in the end though,” Gwafa continued. “She was not royalty and their nobility does not count as high among us.”

  “In simple words, she was not worthy of him thus nothing happened,” Aksil stated and the entire crowd burst into laughter.

  The doors to the room suddenly swung open and Princess Lunja stormed in with three maids in tow. They followed her when she was in the palace, but not outside.

  The princess truly lived up to her name; “Fantasy Princess” She was so white she seemed to glow. Her shiny hair fell down her back and the white, formfitting dress she had on showed the silhouette of her slender figure. Her white shawl went around her shoulders and blew behind her like wings. She definitely caught everyone’s attention whenever she stepped into a room even though right now she was without any footwear.

  “Lunja,” Aksil murmured. Chi-Chi bolted from her master’s side.

  The cheetah come to Lunja and rubbed her side against the princess’ legs.

  “Brother Gwafa?!” the princess yelled, looking around.

  The crowd around the prince and king parted so their sister could see them and them, her. Lunja ran to her older brother and fell on her knees before him.

  “Lalai,” she said, bowing her head.

  Her maids came forward and knelt behind her. “Enukal,” they said first. “Shalau,” they said next. Enukal; ‘King’. Shalau; ‘Prince’.

  Gwafa turned his face away from his sister, refusing to ask her up. Aksil looked at his sister, then his brother.

  “Gwafa?” he called softly.

  “Stay out of this, Aksil,” the king replied; his head still turned the other way.

  “Leave me on my knees if you must, but you must hear me at least,” Lunja spoke. “People stoned a man in the streets today. He is in critical condition and all because of something he never asked to be born with, Gwafa.”

  The entire throne room was silent. How would this play out?

  “Wajefa has come to plead the case of wajefa,” the king said with a sigh.

  “You cannot call our sister that,” Aksil reprimanded him softly.

  “But that is what it is,” Gwafa stated, looking down at Lunja now. The princess had tears on her face and they shone in the light of the fire. The sight of it broke Aksil’s heart, but it just disgusted their elder brother.

  “Call me what you want, but you have not reinstated the law thus you must take action against those who have committed this crime.”

  “I do not know the perpetrators, wajefa,” the king stated smugly.

  “I can have my people find them,” she promised.

  “Your people?” asked the king, getting angry now. “This is my kingdom. You have no people except those I give you.”

  “And those mother gives her also,” Aksil put in.

  Gwafa gave him a stern look, but he stood his ground.

  “Gwafa?” Lunja called, reaching out and touching his tunic.

  “Do not touch me, wajefa!!” he barked, slapping her hand away hard. “Who let this filth into the palace?!”

  “That is enough, Gwafa!!” ordered a sharp, female voice.

  All looked at the direction from which the voice had come. There was a door in the wall and Queen Kahina had come through it now, her four maids with her.

  “Tanin!” a joint voice went up from among the people, men bowing and women kneeling.

  The queen waved a hand and all women rose to their feet. The old woman walked without the aid of a stick, though one of her maids carried a stick in case she needed it.

  “Mame!” said her three children when she got to them. The boys dropped to one knee and Lunja had to rise from kneeling to her brother so she could kneel again to her mother.

  “Aksil, Lunja, rise,” said the queen.

  The prince and princess rose, but the king was left on one knee.

  “How does it feel, Gwafa?” asked the queen.

  “You should not do this to a king,” he grumbled, looking up at her.

  “Yes, but I should do it to my child should he displease me.”

  The king mumbled something and his mother slapped his head hard.

  “You will speak so I hear you, or stay silent!” she said.

  “Everyone leave!” Aksil barked and all the nobles and servants made for the grand, double doors.

  Chi-Chi remained though. She was family.

  “Mame, please you do not need to do this,” Lunja told her mother.

  “No, he is going astray and it is a sin if I do not rein him in.”

  “At least let him rise,” Aksil joined his sister in her intercession on the king’s be
half.

  “He was fine with Lunja remaining down, was he not?”

  “I am sorry, mame,” said the king. “It will not happen again.”

  “Now that is how a good child behaves,” the old woman said with a smile. “Rise, my son.”

  The king rose to his feet and massaged his head where his mother had struck him.

  “It still hurts?” she asked.

  “You are old, but your strikes are just the same as always,” the king murmured.

  “Thank you,” his mother said with a grin.

  “Mame, a man was stoned in the streets today,” Lunja told her mother. “I want justice for him.”

  “And there will be justice,” the old woman replied, eyeing Gwafa.

  “I will do my best to find them,” said the king. “I make no promises though.”

  “I will make sure they are found, dear,” the queen reassured Lunja.

  “Thank you,” said the lady. “Goodnight.” She scratched Chi-Chi behind the ear before turning to walk away now.

  “Stay awhile, Lunja,” said her mother immediately. “When last have we all just been together like this?”

  The princess turned to face her family members.

  “Gwafa does not want me here and if I want to make him happy, which I do, then I must leave now. I just came to plead a case before him; nothing more. Goodnight.” She turned around and walked towards the door.

  “Lunja?!” Aksil called after her, but she ignored him.

  “Look at your sister go, Gwafa,” the queen said. “You said one had to be perfect. Tell me what is more perfect than that.”

  Gwafa watched the lady go. Her form was one any man would desire and her silhouette under that tunic was highly impressive.

  “Tell me you are not proud to call that your sister.”

  “I am not proud that I share blood with a wajefa,” he hissed and turned away. “I am going to bed. Goodnight.”

  “Stupid boy,” said his mother, shaking her head in disappointment.

  The throne room main doors were shut now as Lunja went though.

  “Allow me walk you to your room, mame,” Aksil offered.

  “If only you were king instead of Gwafa,” the woman mumbled as she took his hand.

  Both mother and son turned around and walked towards the side door she’d come though, the same one Gwafa was moving towards now. The cheetah walked at Aksil’s other side.