Meaning Of Prophecy

Katana On Trial: Chapter 32

Read Chapter 31 here and Chapter 1 here.

I left Beatrice to her chat with Bobobo and walked back towards our camp with a heavy heart, hunched shoulders, and my face on my feet, wondering how long Beatrice had been faking her illness and why she felt the need to fake it in the first place.

I was deep in thought, and I only realized I had made it back to camp when I heard chatter from Alee. “There is a shift happening in Keepia, twin sister, you can feel that people desperately want change… If it isn’t the Great Ruler of Nobii City, perhaps you will be our liberator,” she said after seeing me. “Who died and took your soul to the grave with them?” she added after noticing my sadness.

“You are handling all this very well. If I were the one who was prophesied upon by a blocked Seer, I would be sick with worry,” Aame said.

“Come, Katana, sit with us. I bought choma crab-rabbit and pine water from the farmers market,” Alee said, making room for me on the grass they sat on. Crab-rabbit was a delicacy; it had two legs and pincers, and when it was roasted, every corner of it was flavorful, but my stomach roiled from what I had witnessed earlier, and I was in no mood for food.

“Perhaps we should lift his spirits by telling him what the prophecy means,” Aame mocked as I sat down.

“Poor thing, let’s keep it under wraps,” Alee said. “A boy from Churo village comes, he comes, he comes. You know what that means if the blocked Seer’s sin was promiscuity?” she asked with a voice dripping with treachery.

“It means all you will be doing is coming and going,” Aame said, and they both laughed. They were back to being sisters again. Aame had loosened up, which made me think that the pine water had something more than the eye could see, or was it the crab-rabbit? There was no way of telling.

“They are coming for you, where they come from or go to, unknown, unknown, unknown,” Alee whispered eerily.

Aame took a sip of her pine water, “Your precious Beatrice will vanish, stolen by an unknown man, taken to an unknown place,” she said, and took another sip from her cup, glanced at me, and began laughing uncontrollably. The water she had drunk spurted out of her mouth and nostrils and sprayed on me. I was in such a mood that I did not move an inch.

“Wait, I don’t think it’s the prophecy that has our Ruler sad,” Alee said. “Is it hunger? Eat something,” she pinched a muscle of rabbit from one of its pincers and directed it to my mouth.

“Only husbands and wives feed each other,” Aame droned.

“This one is too wrapped around Beatrice’s finger to see me,” Alee responded as I took the chunk of meat with my hand and began chewing it. A part of me registered that it was choma crab-rabbit. Smoked, salted, white meat with natural spices, and an overwhelming part of me felt like I was chewing on rubber.

Alee directed her cup of pine water to my mouth.

“Only husbands and wives give each other drink,” Aame said.

“Wash the crab-rabbit down with this,” Alee said, ignoring her sister.

I took the cup. The contents inside looked and tasted like pine water, pale-green, frothy, and sweet. With the sun up in the sky, it was refreshing even in my sombreness.

Alee pinched more crab-rabbit muscle onto a plate and poured me my own cup of pine water. I ate and drank with my sadness.

“Twin sister, I think I have figured it out, it’s not hunger nor the prophecy, it’s heartbreak. Tell us, Katana, what did Beatrice do?”

“Did she leave you for Bobobo the fool?” Aame asked.

“Or perhaps she lied to him that she was a virgin,” Alee added.

“Speak for yourself, Alee. I am a virgin until the gods take me,” Aame said, and I found myself laughing with them.

By now, I was almost through with my cup of pine water, and my head was feeling dizzy; it was the same sensation I had felt when I had drunk Njoro’s beer. There was more chatter and laughter, and in no time, we were on our feet dancing to the music of the chirping birds in the trees, and I had forgotten my sorrows, albeit for a moment.

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image credit: richard sagredo