Ndlovukazi - Queen

Chapter 4

I woke up grateful, today is our free day, no lessons, just free time to rest. I get up from my grass mat and take iphangela to the river, I bathe and collect water. As I lift iphangela onto my head I hear a whistle.

"Nkosazana!, Inkosazana enhle edlula inkanyezi, inkanyezi ewele emhlabeni, awu Madlanduna (clan name), sawubona" ( Princess, the princess that is more beautiful than a star, our star that fell from the heavens, to you I say... Goodmorning), I roll my eyes, "Yebo, Mandla"( Yes, Mandla). He looks at me and smiles... I don't smile back, as I begin to walk back to our hut, he walks besides me. "Tell me when are you going to let me marry you and let me make you the mother of my children?", I huff and reply " Never", he holds his holds his chest as if I've hurt him, "why so cruel, nkosazana". I don't reply as I enter the hut and put down iphangela.

"Ufunani Mandla?"( what do you want, Mandla?), I ask as I look up at him. Mandla is two years older than me, he is handsome, generally speaking, he is tall, has fair skin, thick lips, broad shoulders and strong arms, if I was purely looking for an attractive man I would have married him ages ago, but I am looking for more. I also cannot ignore that he tries to be too charming, besides, rumour has it he has been courting another girl in the village for some time and I am not trying to marry my father. 

"Don't be like this, Nkosazana you know I love you" he whispers, I chuckle " really?!", I say "awusho (tell me), how is Thembi doing?" , he gives me a look, I smirk. Thembi is the mother of his child, and usually, I would entertain his nonsense but after the last few days, I just want to be left alone. 

"Lalela(listen),  you should go marry that girl you, also told you love. She believed and may still believe you, she is the mother of your child, I suggest you leave me alone or I may be tempted to give her umuthi ( love potion) to use on you." I see him scratch his head and slowly walk away, mxm, I thought so.

I go back into the hut where Ma and Sindiswa are laughing, "since when do you make umuthi" Sindiswa asks, I shrug and reply "I don't", and they laugh even harder. We eat breakfast and go our separate ways, today I walk past the river and up the hill, just past the hill to the farthest part of our territory, it takes me a awhile to climb up but its worth it, no one will follow me up here.

The view is breathtaking, beyond the hill is a valley with trees on both sides, it has a steam running though it an no matter how hot it gets the air from the valley is always cool. I lie on my stomach and look below, here I am at peace. I then turn, and lie on my back I looking up to the sky, I see a few clouds float by and I can't help but ponder over my life, how did it get so...argh! I don't even know how Ma has survived this long. I can't wait until my twenty-first birthday, I will have completed both trainings and be able to start living my life, the way I want. "Sekuseduze phambili"( the end is near), I sigh as I dose off under the sunny sky.

After my nap, I get up and walk down into the valley, in the next week is my final exam with the healer, once I have completed the exam I will be recognised as inyanga within the tribe. My older siblings were trained but got married or left before completing their training, I will be the first nkosazana to complete the training.

To prepare for the exam, I walk around the valley naming and listing the properties of the plants I see, any that I don't recognise I pick and I will take them to inyanga later. After about an two hours of walking,  I see a mango tree and I realise that I'm hungry and so I climb up the tree, I pick a few since my siblings will want some,I get down and see a guava tree close by, I climb up and pick a few, eating two while sitting in the tree.

Suddenly I see something slither by, I turn my head and it is a green snake, in my fright I let go of the branch and fall, hitting the ground with a thud. I feel the impact of my fall, my back and head must have hit the thick roots of the tree, groaning I move slowly getting get up.

I don't think I broke anything, but to be careful, I get onto my hands and knees. I then collect all the friuts that have fallen, I am hurt so I decide to start the walk back to the hut. I wince taking the first few steps I can feel my back, ribs and head hurt, I see that I scrapped my leg and I am bleeding a little. I slowly walk back to the hut, and it is sundown by the time I get to the river. I wash the dried blood off my leg and continue to the hut. "Finally, you're back!", Ma says as soon as I walk in, "sorry, I lost track of time" I tell her smiling, I hand her the fruits and seemingly all is forgiven.

Sindiswa and my brothers come in making a noise and I am glad, they talk about their day as we eat dinner, we wash the dishes and then prepare to sleep. " What did you do today, sisi?", she asks me as I lie down, I tell her everything and her eyes go wide, then she laughs at me when I tell her how I fell.

Eventually she settles down, I thought she was asleep until she asked " will you leave us when you complete your training?",I think for a moment then, I turn to look at her, "angazi"(I don't know). With that she falls asleep and I doze off soon after.