Kai's Pov
She was the most beautiful thing my eyes had set on the following morning.
Sikeka wouldn't allow me to set eyes on her that night when I returned.
And, I was slightly surprised why she never asked me the lady's whereabouts.
Tasi came to me before I'd gone to bed, he was angered by the look of his face, "You never told us that she was Muna, the girl from the Iga tribe," Tasi shot at me.
I winced, hit by the news, "Muna? What are you talking about?" I'd asked.
"The girl we rescued," Tasi put in.
"Oh," I tried to string up the words.
"My question is how was Muna who is from the Iga tribe be taken into captivity by the Tarks? That is what I don't understand," he further relayed.
I couldn't explain that either. Muna didn't seem like Muna to me. Infact, she was from a stranger world, a world that dresses oddly. A world.....
"Kai," Tasi called me.
I strung out from my daze, definitely I couldn't give us delicate details about Muna. If Sikeka said she was Muna, then she was.
"She is who Sikeka said she is," I said to Tasi.
"I don't understand..., I don't believe Sikeka! How can she be Muna? A lady so powerful caught in the clutches of the Tarks, how?"
I shut my eyes briefly, Tasi had always opposed Sikeka with his embittered words. It was only good that he did and said all that to me. Himu or Hitai would have taken none of that.
"Tasi," I called out again.
"You shouldn't go about opposing the words from the great one. If Muna is what she said she is, then she is Muna. Anything could have happened," I shrugged.
Tasi nodded, giving up finally, "I'm sorry if I raised too many questions. I just don't want us to go through the trouble of entertaining a stranger as our seer," he told me.
I placed a hand over his shoulder, "I understand you. Now, can I at least get some sleep. You will get to know her when the dawn breaks."
She was dressed in our traditional wear, hyena's skin. Her eyes lids were painted with dark indigo, a different colour which interpreted a seer. Her hair was plaited at the sides and gathered as a pony tail at the end.
She was beside Sikeka while our people gathered around her as Sikeka have out the introduction to Himu.
Himu was the happiest, I'd never seen her so happy. Muna never got out of her sight, Himu was busy giving her a tour of our kingdom.
I certainly did not have any chance to speak with until late at dusk when she went into the new hut given to her.
"If I'd known how much power you exude among my people, I would have found a way to get you out from that glass," I started.
She startled, turning to face me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," I apologised, clasping both hands as I smiled at her.
"Oh, it's fine," she smiled back.
"How do you see this place?" I said after much thought, I couldn't push down the thought of her being from the Iga tribe outrightly.
"Your people are quite hospitable. It still feels so unreal," Muna said.
After a pause, she put in quickly coming close to me, "Let's be real with each other," she said.
"I don't understand," I said.
"I mean, let's be sincere with each other. You and I both know that I don't know a thing about the Iga tribe. I mean, you saw me, in my world," she paused looking intently at me.
Of course, I knew what she was driving at but I couldn't just point that effortlessly.
"What is your real name? Let us start with that."
She gave a vague smile, "In my world, they call me Sharon, Shay for short. Sikeka, you see right there is...," she paused, taking a deep breath.
I urged her on with the look of my eyes.
"I might sound crazy but it's the truth. I don't know anything about an Iga tribe or whatever Sikeka said I'm from. It's ridiculous that everyone thinks that I fell from the sky. And the worst part of it all, is the fact that Sikeka was my late grandma in the world which I came from."
I scoffed, narrowed my brows, "You mean all these?" I asked.
"Yes, it feels like I am in a dream. I tell myself that I would wake up soon. Meeting you is.... something I'd really wanted but looking at it now....,"
I took both of her hands, "please, do not say anything like this to anybody else. They would think you are an imposter," I said to her.
"You do believe me, do you?"
"Yes, I do," I paused, taking a deep breath, "Sikeka here is a different person entirely. She must have the exact face with your grandma from the world which you come from. If she says you're from an Iga tribe, you definitely are. You just haven't discovered that," I explained.
She laughed, her laugh was soft and intoxicating, "maybe, I'm infact dreaming."
"I would keep your secret. This should be between us. And whatever thing you don't understand, you only have me to question."
She nodded, squeezing my fingers in the cave of my hands, "Thank you," she said.
Sikeka pushed open the door and stepped in noticing how we broke off from holding hands. "Muna, I've been looking all over for you. Come now, the elders of our tribe want to meet with you. They represent the council of the kingdom," Sikeka gave a smile.
"Sikeka, I only came in to have a quick bath," Muna said, pushing herself forward.
"You do not have to feel awkward about this," Sikeka said.
Then, Muna left leaving us both.
"What conversations were you having with her?" Sikeka turned on me, her face as hard as rock.
"It was just a harmless conversation, Sikeka." I shrugged.
"A harmless conversation in her room. You should respect Muna. She is not just an ordinary girl. You can meet her anywhere else but not here."
I gasped, Have the rules become as such? I asked myself.
"You of all people should know that," Sikeka said to me.
"Why do such rules apply to her? We weren't doing anything of ...the such." I intoned.
"I am not angry that I caught you holding hands with her. But, I'm only advising you for whatever plans you have in mind." She nodded and walked out, leaving me in a daze.
Whatever plans I have in mind?
Now, what was that supposed to mean?
(Himu means mother, Hitai means father in the Siuan language. Sikeka is the woman shaman in the Siuan tribe.)