Spear and the Heart

Sato looked at herself in the mirror, taking in the full length of her figure and loving how she looked. Using her forefinger, she slowly traced the golden lace that trimmed her emerald green dress that ran around her neck, down her cleavage and ended at the train that flowed behind her. She smiled at herself in the mirror, elegantly placed her hands on her lap and sat on her dressing table. She nodded, signaling to the helper who stood behind her that she was ready. Wearing a beige dress with a light brown apron and cream scarf that covered her head, she slowly walked up to her master, placing the perled crown around her neatly plaited cornrows. Sato smiled, straightened the crown on her head before walking out of her chambers. The guards followed behind her, walking down the great hall that was different that day. The large heavy frames that hang on one side of the wall, holding the pictures of her predecessors, were now decorated with emerald green and golden fabrics with ribbons,her family colors. The chandeliers hung from ceiling, lighting the long hallway that stood tall with heavy silver double doors, reaching the ceiling at the end. Her soft footsteps on the red carpet were muffled by the thud of her guards' metal shoes on the cold cemented floor beside her. Finally, she was going to be the emperor, she was taking a seat that rightfully belonged to her. When she reached the massive door, she drew in a deep breath, a mental preparation for what awaited her behind the door. Her eyes trailed off to her right side of the door where she saw the print Baba Dule, the palace blacksmith, had curved on the door, the names of all the rulers of Alkebulan. She saw her grandmother’s name next to her mother’s name and she smiled, knowing well that her name would soon be up there together with the greats. She lightly traced her fingers through the names as if it was a good luck charm and nodded to the guards that stood on each side of the door to open. Everyone went quiet and stood up when they heard the door open and with palms placed on top of each other right under her breast. She liked this feeling of power, she liked the feeling of making people know their place with just her mere presence and she reveled in it.She straightened her back and made her way to her chair that sat empty in the middle of the C-shaped mahogany table that was a gift to the kingdom about 100 years ago and to honor the agreement,the Kringa kingdom decided to keep it in the great hall so that all the leaders of Kringa can sit on it, see it and remember the agreement. The past few years had seen the table surrounded by papers, leaders of each land together with their generals training to make the continent run without an emperor. It was filled with different types of meats, from beef,whole pigs, goat, camel, chicken and some bush meat. Chang’aa and muratina were in plenty and the maids made sure that the cups never ran empty. One could see different groups of people gathered around a huge black pot that stood on a wooden stool, sipping busaa through long plant straws, occasionally stirring it mid conversation. Sato loved how lovely the hall felt. She loved that all these people were all gathered here to see her get crowned the emperor of Kringa. She looked over to her far right and saw Mambo, the leader of the Eya village,the biggest producer of weapons, making her the chief in charge of security in Kringa. Sitting proud in her land's colors, her dreadlocks were held in a high ponytail with a red ribbon. A long black sheer sleeve dress under a dark umber crocodile skin chest vest. On her right shoulder fell a thick sheer red cape with silver detailing at the end, held to her by a silver lion's head with red eyes. Next to Mambo sat Kori, the leader of the Nzani. The biggest producer of all the science and technological improvements on the continent. Her white flowy dress had a neckline that had silver detailing with a sheer yellow top that made her look like she was in a bubble. Her clean shaved head made her dress stand from the other Lords. On the left side of Sato sat Lulahve who came from the village of Urun, the finance and economy of the continent. He was bald, short and round and the purple robes with silver hemming made him look less intimidating. He lifted his glass of muratina at Sato before taking a sip. Next to Lulahve finally sat Selia, the lord of Raan. He was the right hand of the queen. Raan and Gan, the capital of Kringa, have been working together since the dawn of time. Raan offered diplomatic help to the continent and acted as an advisor to the emperor. “Where is Gera? Sato leaned in to ask Selia while still smiling at the guest. “He said he would not miss it.” He reassured her. “But the ceremony is about to start.” She looked over to where Gera should be seated, on her left eye view, just above the crowd below, a seat on the right of his grandmother, Iien and her two daughters Tien and Nyan. Right then, Iien caught Sato's eyes and a smile crept up her face, she slightly bowed her head to the next emperor of Kringa. The main door opened and Chule, the chieftain, walked in. The hall went quiet and everyone knew what time it was. The maids, who were both made up of men and women, all dressed in beige colors, prepared the podium by placing it in front of the table and Chule would stand behind. Sato pulled a deep breath through her nose, happy that the moment she had been waiting for had finally arrived. Chule took off his hide satchel bag that hung on his left side and pulled out an old leather bound book and placed it on the podium. He then pulled a thin sharp sword out of a shaft and put it next to the old book. Finally, he pulled out a tiny bottle that fit into his hand and a small wooden bowl and laid them next to the sword and book. He then turned around locking eyes with Sato and nodded for her to come down the stairs to meet him. The buzz that was in the room went quiet as she walked her way to him, holding his hand that he had held out to her. He led her around the podium and in front of a knee pillow that had been placed for her. She knelt down, bowing her head with her hands falling by her side. Chule then proceeded to remove Sato’s crown and gave it to one of the helpers. He then opened a page in his leather bound book and read, "Tumeungana tena mbele ya mababu zetu na myoyo Safi tukiomba kua mababu wataskia machozi na maombi kua anaye chukua himaya hii awe mweye roho ya watu.” He closed the book then opened the small bottle and put its content in his mouth before spraying the moth content on the sword then Sato’s head making her flinch a bit. Chule then poured some of the bottle's contents into the wooden bowl, swirled it and mumbled some words to the gods. One of the helpers walked to the podium with the emperor's crown carefully held with a scarf that had Sato’s land colors. Chule held the crown that had golden leaves and vines intertwined with each other, a huge tear-drop diamond that looked like a fruit hanging in the front middle of the vines, in his hands, lifted it to the skies as if giving thanks to the heavens, then placed it on the sword, he used his fingers to spray some of the mystery liquid on the crown and sword. Then everybody in the hall stood up, knowing what was coming next.  Chule then touched Sato’s head using the sword and mumbled to himself, then he took the crown and put it on Sato’s head and bowed at her once he was done. “Kringa has a new ruler, a new emperor, Sato Medao from Gan.” The room was filled with claps, laughter and jubilation from the people who were at the party. ↝.↝.↝.↝.↝ “Why weren’t you at my coronation?” Sato stormed into Gera’s room, frustration was hardly masked by her stern voice. “Do you know how it looked when my own son was not seen at any point in the hall?” The room lit up with activity as the men who were pleasing Gera ran out half naked trying to cover their bare ass and face. “Mum, not today.” Gera pulled his covers to himself and sat up, looking Sato in the eyes. Her lean figure and stern face always intimidated others, but not Gera. She looked around the room that had evidence of what happened last night, jars of changa,some condoms and toys lying on the floor, clothes that seemed to be more considering the two men who ran out had some in their hands. She felt defeated by her own son's actions and knew scolding him would not give her an answer. “I just wanted someone there for me.” Her voice went from stent to soft as she took a seat on the chair next to her. “Dewa and her two daughters were there, weren't they?” He stood up, wrapped the covers around himself and walked to the bathroom. She made a fist and bit into it as anger rose up inside her. “You know what I mean.” “You had things under control yesterday, plus I was held up in Nzani and got home late yesterday.” She let out a sigh, “ Couldn’t you come to my chambers to congratulate me?” He popped his head out of the bathroom, “Congratulations Emperor Sato, the crown really fits you.” She gave up and rose from the chair, “ We are having a meeting with the other Lords in a few.” She walked out of the room trying hard not to let her anger show when closing the door. Gera walked into the council hall, with his black on black outfit with emerald and golden details on the hem. Everyone was seated in their land colors, switching the party outfits for some official attire that was mostly made up of black on black with the land colors peering somewhere. "What are you doing here?" Mambo asked Gera, not moving her eyes or head from the map she was looking at the table. Everyone seemed to echo Mambo's question. "Mo, Emperor Sato asked me to be here. She said something about a meeting with the other Lords." Right then the door opened and Sato walked in, everyone stood joining Gera. Once she took her seat on the round table, everyone sat, leaving Gera standing beside Sato. " Before we start, my Lord, what is Gera doing here?" Kori asked, passing the documents she had in front of her. "Ah Gera, I just thought he needs to know how we handle things, he might end up taking my seat once I'm dead." Sato said, lifting a piece of paper that was handed to her. "She's right." Lulahve spoke before anyone else got a chance to. "So Mambo, tell us what's going on with our soldiers that we sent to the North?" "Turns out it was the underlings were just having practice, that's all, it was no threat." Mambo answered with an unreadable face. "I confirmed with Abua." her eyes darted at Gera who stood beside Sato with his hands behind him. He stared back at her with a blank face. Sato shook her head, agreeing and moving on to the next agenda. "What of the blue rocks? How is that?" she asked, looking at Lulahve. "Still a mystery, no one knows where they come from and they seem to have taken over the iron blood." he replied in a fading voice expressing his concern for them. "We can't do anything about it either. Clearly, they don't want our help, they have never wanted our help." Mambo replied after noticing the room was too quiet. "Have you tried to talk to them..," Gera asked. Mambo interrupted, not hiding the rising anger in her voice. "You know we have tried, we gave them a deal and they did not want to take it." "Who was the deal beneficial to, you or them..? "They were getting something out of it." Lulahve chipped in. Sato sank back into her chair and failed at hiding the frustration that was boiling inside her. Gera leaned over the table, resting his hands on the desk and let his head lean between them. "We all know why we wanted to help them, we all know even before we sat down with Abua, Mambo, with orders from Sato," he lifted his head looking at both of them. "We stirred the pot and the reaction we are getting now is a valid response. "You have no idea what you are talking about. This started even before your grandmother, Kinyi took over." Kori calmly spoke for the first time in the meeting. She felt Sato’s eyes on her. "We can't blame ourselves for them not trusting us, only God knows why they act like that." With his forefinger poking the table to drive his point, creases had formed on his forehead clearly showing his now blown frustration. "We are the government, shouldn't we be concerned about why the people we rule over are not trusting us, not trying to blame them, we…" He was cut by Sato's deep voice,"Stop it, you don't know what you are talking about." she sat up in her chair, anger wrinkled her forehead. The vein on the side of the head looked like it was ready to pop. “The conflict between iron blood and the rest of us. We are doing our best here. Can we move on?” She looked over her piece of paper and jumped on to the next agenda. The meeting proceeded with everyone walking on eggshells. No one wanted to provoke Sato, they had seen a glimpse of what she could do and could do. Once the meeting was done, everyone went out to their own business. Sato sat in her chambers somewhere that looked like a tower. She was enjoying the beautiful view of Gan that extended all the way to the horizon and somewhere there was the beginning of Raan. She loved how big the continent had gotten. She remembered her grandmother's stories that told of how the other lands joined Gan. Her favorite was about how the lords came up with the name kringa. She loved how everything was at peace, how everyone was working together, the system put up was to help everyone and she understood when her grandmother told her why the underlings did what they did, she understood what had to happen, what had to be lost in order to get what they wanted, so when the underlings came and wanted to govern themselves they knew what could be lost and why it had to be lost. Her eyes moved closer to her, she looked down and saw her two little cousins playing with the servants, running around the well-manicured lawn. She then saw her aunt, Iien and Lulahve walking in the garden. She had a concerned look on her face as Lulahve seemed to be whispering something to her. They walked over to the curved stone bench that stood in the middle of the garden overlooking the beautiful Gan. He leaned over to her, carefully making sure no one could read his lips on whatever they were talking about. Iien's face looked surprised, then replaced by disgust before her eyes met up with Sato. She straightened her back, giving Lulahve a slight head bow and both waved a hallo at her. She smiled and waved back before getting lost in her chambers. .