The information was too much. I made to sit on the floor, but ended up on my face as the banija lurched.

“You have not told me all you know” I told my mother bluntly. “Tutor told me something about hiding from the waters.”

She sighed. She looked at Mali once again.

“He’s staying”. I insisted.

She sighed again.

“Your father didn’t tell me much. It was supposed to be men’s secrets. But I found out somehow.”

She paused, as if contemplating how best to tell me.

“You do know we believe that there is nothing non living. Some nations worship the sun, or the earth, or other things, because they believe these things to be gods. The Masiks do not. All things are living, but humans are the most aware of that fact. Because we know we live, we rule.

The closest thing to have our level of awareness was the mother Earth, for it knows when we slight it, and punishes accordingly. But it seems the diviner woke the waters. How? We don’t know. But we know for a fact that the oceans started acting unusually after our first ancestors have been in it for some time.

Elinja had to use the powers he had just gotten to hide from the waters. So it was we’ve been hiding from the waters. But it seems to have found us, through the Masiks. They may have sought us out, then told the waters where we are. And used the storm as a cover to strike us down.”

I thought over it. It made sense, except for one thing.

“Tutor is not a Masik, but he seemed to have been waiting just for the storm to kill father.”

“That, my dear, is what I want you to find out” Mother relied gently. “ He could be a Masik who joined us. Occasionally, one of those from other tribes living in water would get lost and we would take in the person if we find him. He could be one of those”

Now, it made even less sense.

“You’re the Tani. You should know if the Hanu is an outsider”

My mother sighed again. A tired, reminiscent sigh.

“I told you, your father hid many things from me. Women were not supposed to know all those kind of things”

When I become Elaenja, that’s one thing that’s going to change.

“So, you are going to become Elaenja afterall” My mother said. There was a smile in her voice.

I started. I hadn’t realised I spoke it out loud.

“I…I…don’t want…” I stammered out. Then I paused. What’s the use? Subconsciously, the danger had already changed my feelings towards being a leader.

“I’m sorry it had to be this kind of situation that changed your mind. But perhaps, no other situation could have. You were always too empathetic, you had no choice but feign carefreeness to escape from constant pain. But I guess you can’t run now. I guess you live home too much”

The smile was still in her voice. Even more so now. Wow. She knew me more than I knew myself. I never thought of it that way. But now she’s said it, I realise it’s true. I wasn’t as carefree as I thought. I was only good at pretending to myself.

Doesn’t mean I would like the revelation though. I quickly steered the conversation away from the topic.

“We could simply ask the Maken” I suggested.

“You do that then” she said.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I nodded.

“Where were you going?” Mother asked.

“He killed father, and he’s a threat to everyone in the banija”

“No son, not unless he’s a Masik. If he’s one of us, he could protect us from subsequent invasions, and he may be able to hide us from the waters once again, as Elinja once did”

I heard Mali sigh in relief, not even bothering to hide it.

“Your revenge would have to wait” Mother continued. “At least, until you have learnt enough from him. Enough to protect us from the waters” She completed.

I nodded. I would postpone avenging my father. But I would still do it. And if it requires becoming the best abomination to do it, then I will become the best abomination.

…. …. …. …. ….

Falling asleep proved very difficult. It was the first time I had had to fall asleep with the winds howling like the world was ending. But it was an entirely different thing that kept me awake. The jumble of emotions in my heart. I was scared of wanting to kill someone this much. I was scared of what other abominations there are out there. I was scared of what I would find out when I investigate Tutor, and u was scared of having to lead the tribe if I kill him. And I was scared of what would happen if I fail. He was an abomination after all, someone who had access to the secrets of existence.

I felt tempted to let him lead the tribe till I was old enough by the customs to rule the tribe. But I was sure I would see my father turning to sand Evey single day before then, in my dreams.

Then it hit me. I had seen him turning my father to sand, and he knew that. It would be in his best interests to kill me. That’s what I had been truly scared of. It was a battle for survival now. It’s either he kills me, or kill him.

I leaped off the bed. A minute later, the door to my mother’s room burst open. I stood framed by the doorway. It seemed absurd, but I couldn’t help noticing that all of my families had burst some door or another, all in one day.

“Mother!” I literally screamed. She leaped off the bed.

“What?! Masik?!”

I shook my head.

“No. Tutor knows I saw him” I blurted out.

“What?” I could hear the shock in her voice. “That changes things then”

And that was how I found my self in what had been my father’s courtroom, standing before a pile of sand that had been my father’s flesh and blood.

“There’s a secret door in our room. He always carries the key on him, so I’ve never been in there. But I don’t think anyone know a about it, not even the Hanu.” She explained.

“Care to see if you can find it?” She asked in a strange cheery tone.

I wasted no time in shaking my head. She gulped, then stooped and fished around in the pile of sand with her eyes closed. Then she held up a bunch of keys triumphantly, still with a weird smile on her face.

Well, now I know why you know me so well.

Few minutes later, we were back in her room, what had been my parents’ room. She walked to the shelves of sealskin scrolls and pulled one at the top shelf. Then she pulled some three more in random locations I couldn’t really place. The shelf parted down the middle. The two halves moved away from each other. A door stood in the space between the two halves.

“I will be coming to get my things later. What would you tell him when he asks about me?”

“He won’t see me to ask. I’m coming with you” She replied promptly.

“Eh?!” I was shocked.

“Do you honestly think he wouldn’t think you might have told me before you disappeared? Besides, I can’t trust myself to stay the same court with him, even if he doesn’t know.”

“Why?” I asked. She only grunted in reply. I almost smiled.

Figures, mother. And here I was thinking you’re so good at reading people. Turns out you were only reading yourself.

“Go pack what you would need. Because we would only be coming out at nights, to get some food”

…. …. …. ….

Another few minutes and we stood in front of the door once again. I had a pouch made of sea otter’s pocket. It contained all my clothes, and some other things I would take if I was running from the tribe. Mother inserted the key and turned it. Beyond the door, it was pitch black, and foreboding. As we walked in, I felt as if we were walking into the bosom of Mother Earth.

Then suddenly, light sprang up behind me. I looked. It was my mother, she was rubbing her hands over a lamp wick. Wait…not her hands. She was wearing some kind of gloves, and they were producing sparks as she rubbed them together.

“Cool, right?” She asked, smiling. “The two gloves are not made from the same materials. One is made from by peeling off the outer layer of a jellyfish shell, other made from a young seals fur”

“Ironic. That the waters, with all these wonders in them, would want puny humans” I commented.

“Worse is that the waters, with all its vastness, was manipulated by a puny human” Mother replied.

She closed and locked the doors, then pulled some protrusion beside the door.

“Don’t forget to get the shelves to normal after you come in and after you leave too” She explained.

She walked along the walls of the room, rubbing her hands at intervals to light lamps. As she walked, more of the room was revealed. From what I had seen so far, it appeared to be entirely full of sealskin shelves.

I walked to the nearest one and pulled out a random scroll.

Ganenas' seventh season, in the days of Sarineka.

I was named after my father. So this must be some sort of records. Maybe, there would be one titled:

Ganenas’ first season, in the days of Elinja.

Would that be how our first ancestor would write it? We’re they using ganenas to measure two then?