Diamond In The Forest

Episode 2

She and her daughter walked
away, leaving Remi standing
When Remi got home she
complained to her mother
“I don’t understand why they
always see us as enemy, we
are not in any
competition with them, when
your Baba was alive he does
everything
equally, if he buys one wrapper
for me he will also buys one
wrapper for
her, he tried not to show
favoritism to any one of us yet
she was never
satisfied…iya Nike will see her
daughter doing wrong but will
not call her to
order… you were born in the
month of (August) while Nike
came after a
month, (month of October) so
by right you are her elder
sister… for
everything they have been
doing to us (God will judge).
Remi remembered her last
fight with Nike as she walked
along the bush path
with her brother, her Calabash
was placed safely on her head
as she greeted
other women coming from the
stream that morning, she has
tried to avoid
Nike and her mother ever since
their last fight, Remi who
always listen to
her mother’s advice has kept to
herself and kept away from all
trouble.

“E ku aaro, (morning greetings)
please hope all is well
my name is Leja, peace be unto
your household, greetings from
the king we
are going round the whole
village, reminding people of
the coming first moon
dance, where the princess will
chose her personal maidian…
please info your
daughter to be at the palace on
time that day because the
event will be
starting early in the morning…
(thank you)
(Thank you ma)
They turned and went to the
next house belonging to iya
Nike and knocked,
Nike who has being watching
Leja speak to iya Remi (Remi’s
mother) from
the window with her mother
gets more angry with every
minute that passes,
she was relived as Leja
approached their hut, she
quickly ran out of The
house but Leja did not pick
interest in her he just greeted
them and gave
them the message, as he tried
to leave iya Nike said to him
“Leja, oko mi..se daadaa ni o
wa? (Leja my husband, hope
you are fine)
“Mo wa daadaa…ese. (am fine,
thank you)

“Sometimes, you can come and
visit us. My daughter is fond of
you, you are
strong and the gods blessed
you with good look, I also hard
that you have
acquired another large plot of
land close to the steam…you
are doing well for
yourself…not all Young men of
this land are well doing as you
are…you have
the Oba’s ear…

“The piece of land was giving
to me by the Oba, after I saved
the prince
from drawning at the oku river
where he went to swim, I
didn’t acquire the
land rather it was a gift but I
appreciate your kind gesture..

“So a whole “omo oba” (king’s
son) can not swim, that’s
unfortunate…

thanks to the gods that you
were there to save him… what
do you say to
my request of coming around…

“I will, on one condition…if
Remi will be around and agree
to sit beside me,
then I will honor your request,
… and by the way Remi is a
very good
dancer, I asked her to teach her
sister, Nike some fine moves
that is the only
way Nike will be selected
among the palace maidians…

she need to start
practicing now with Remi…
before the said day arrives…
where’s Remi, I
have not seen her around..

“You should have asked her
mother where she sent her to…
she sometimes
send her out to go and give
herself to other men just for
them to have food,
she can even sells her daughter
for a loaf of bread. (believe me)
they are not
what they appear to be.
(that’s not true) but not
withstanding maybe I should
bring some money for
them since that’s the reason
Remi goes to meet other men,
if I give them
enough money they will have
enough food… that’s what i will
do. (have a
nice day, good bye)
He walked out, leaving them
standing and wondering what
kind of man he
was

“You shouldn’t have told him
that iya mi, it will seem like we
hate them and
that will push me far away
from Leja, I don’t want that…
now look at what
you caused, they have gotten
undeserved money from Leja,
that money that
Leja intend to give them was
suppose to be ours if you have
acted well…
“You are right (my daughter) i
acted without thinking but
don’t worry we will
still win, from now onward just
play along with Remi, pretend
to be sorry
and tell her to teach you the
dance, because Leja said that’s
your only way
to the palace so do everything
you can do to enter there…
Leja came back and gave
Remi’s mother money but the
woman rejected it,
Leja pleaded to her to accept it
if not for anything but for her
children, Remi
and her brother, he did not tell
the woman what Nike’s
mother said, he kept
pleading until she finally took
it Few days later Nike came to
Remi and pretended to be
sorry as she ask
Remi to teach her how to
dance and Remi was glad to do
that They kept practicing every day,
non stop as Remi tried to make
sure that
Nike gets the dance moves
Right but Nike was a slow
leaner and it was
difficult teaching her but Remi
was determined to make her
get itll
The day finally came and Remi
prepared early in the morning
and left with
Nike to the palace
They arrived on time with
other young girls and boys, the
dance floor was
getting crowded as more
people kept coming,
They later changed into their
dance costumes.

Remi took Nike to one corner
and asked her if she still
remember all the
dance moves, she told her how
to throw her legs and waist
and how to
Master all the move
The king’s only son was
looking out from his window
and saw two girls
practicing their dance moves,
he picked interest in one, she
was beautiful and
a good dancer as she teaches
her second some dance steps,
he doesn’t know
who the young beautiful girl is
but he was determined to find
out.

After the dance he Will ask
Leja, who seem to know
everyone, who the girl
may be.

When Remi and Nike was
returning to the dance floor
Leja saw them and
came to Remi

“E jowo Remi, (excuse me)ikini
irele mi (my kind greetings to
you)

He walked to a quiet place
with her leaving Nike to join
others, Nike was
really angry as Leja took Remi
away, jealousy was written all
over her but
she tried not to show it as she
smile and walked away.

Leja kept on greeting Remi
with full smile on his face
“Ko ye mi… (I don’t understand)
is there a problem… Hope we
are not in any
trouble with this your early
morning greetings…
“Ra ra o (not at all) I just
wanted to wish you luck and
to tell you that you
are beautiful and hope you still
have me in mind concerning
my request…or
maybe we will talk about it
after the dance….yoo dara o
(good luck)
“Ese… thank you.
She walked back to join the
others, the prince saw Leja
talking with her
from his chamber window, he
wondered what Leja was
telling her
No one has ever caught his
attention like The strange girl
did, it wasn’t
because of her beauty alone
but there was something else
about her and he
was determined to find out.
it was a good thing that Leja
knows her, getting to her
won’t be difficult
because Leja will help him out
with her every detail.
fee