40 Fear (1/2)
The day for the inauguration ceremony had come and passed. Everyone had finished weeding their farms and there was no much activities in the clan. A month had passed in a jiffy since Ochieng' came back. The Odindi clan under Chief Okoth Ang'wen was as peaceful as ever.
On the third day of the second month of Ochieng's stay at home, he decided to take a walk with Apeleka in Kobuthi timberland. This was a place he used to visit with his father when young. Today, he was with the person he loved most.
They walked deeper and deeper into the woods storing. They played a few games as they laughed. They were enjoying this jaunt.
It was quiet rare for couples to be this close in this era. One reason was that men had several wives to take care of, giving a single one his full attention could be unfair. In Lu tribe peculiarly, a man could never be seen in any of his wives' huts. Maybe that was why wives of a Lu tribe man loved one another. Of course he copulated with them but that was at night when everyone was asleep.
A man could sneak in one of his women's hut very late in the night, do his business and walk away before the first cock crow which is about three in the morning. He could begin with the first wife to the last one in different days and then start again from the first wife, but that was not necessarily the cycle, everything depended exclusively on the man. It was however unknown to anyone the hut he went to at night except him and the wife he visited.If it was food, all the women cooked and brought their food to their man in his hut. So in each and every meal he tasted food from all his wives.
During the day, men and women attended to very different duties. Men were ever in the field either hunting or training for war or in the farms or grazing for the young men. Women most of the times were at home, cleaning or cooking or storing with other women or working on the small gardens cultivating vegetables. It is then intelligible how the interaction between men and women was very low.
Ochieng' and Apeleka were entirely different. First of all they were from different ethical backgrounds. It was very difficult to forge a relationship between two people from different communities especially betweenthe Lang tribe and other communities. Ochieng' knew this but managed to convince his people to accept Apeleka and her mother as their own though he had not confirmed the marriage between him and Apeleka.
Secondly, it was for how difficult it was to be very close for people of different sexuality, but things were the other way round when it came to Ochieng' and Apeleka. Apeleka was someone who had been rejected like infestation. Only Ochieng', her mother and a beast had accepted her. Ochieng' had grown up with beasts. When he almost forgot with the existence of fellow human beings, Apeleka appeared. In a nutshell, they had met in a place where human beings were a nihility. The moment they set their on each other, indefinable emotions had to surge. Patently, they had to be close regardless of the time they had spent together.
”I didn't know there were people still capable of maiming me.” Ochieng' said shaking his head bitterly.
”I don't think that is the case.”
Before Apeleka said anything, they heard a beautiful voice above their heads. The voice was undoubtedly Jakony's. The bird descended and landed on Ochieng's right shoulder such that it was in the middle of the couple.
”What do you mean?” Ochieng' asked discombobulated.
”The problem is not that you are weak..I have been checking your body, I am very sure you are unvanquishable among your fellow human beings...”
”What?!” Ochieng' interrupted in astonishment.
”The other day you almost lost because the wizard first showed his ability. Since you have abilities that you yourself don't even know, you thought he was powerful than you are and in you something was ingrained.”
”What was that?” Apeleka was the one who questioned this time.