Venda

It was outrageous! Outrightly ridiculous! Venda would not in any way succumb to such rite. How could her father on a good Sabbath day inform her that she was to perform the rite because a suitable heir had been found for her? Of course she always knew she would have to perform the rite but never did she imagine it would be so early. "Father I am eighteen!" She vented out again in fury. Venda wasn't sure if she was allowed to but she stared her father in the eye and repeated herself. Her people had always said, 'the king is next to the gods and in his eyes are fiery darts capable of killing anyone who dared to look in them.' "Listen to me Venda..." he paused and said something she would never have expected him to say, something that quieted and made her realize he was not speaking to her as a father to daughter but as a king to a surbodinate. "Look into my eyes." She trembled as she raised her weary head covered in the golden hair everyone adored, she raised her eyes past his legs and let them slide fearfully across his features that stood him out as a soldier till she faced him. "You. Will. Perform. The. Rites." The tone with which he reeled off those words told her it was final and not even a word from the gods could change it. His lips were set in a firm line and his jaw remained rigid as if he meant to let her know he wasn't changing his mind about the subject matter. But Venda wasn't ready to do what he requested... more like what he commanded. She had been ruled by commands and decrees, she wondered why she thought this would be any different. But how could she subject herself to allow two mad men to climb her just because a stupid rite dictated that as a test to know if she were a true princess; fit to be a king's wife? She couldn't do it. She wouldn't do it. And if it meant defying her father, so be it.