“Hey!” Abeni rushed to her side, dropping the butter knife on the ground to look her over. To assess the state of the powerful being who held her stomach with her hands and tilted her head downwards. Just…throwing up so hard that a spray of blood followed all over the ground as if her insides were crawling their way out.
What was happening?
“Fucking…shit, blurgh!”
Why was this happening?
Was she going to lose the female ẹda too?
Why?
No, she had to snap out of it! Abeni quickly shook her head. There was no time for panic! They needed to get inside as soon as possible. She doesn’t want to chance any late nigh guard snooping around. So, with shaking fingers the white-haired girl pocketed the butter knife, lifted the female ẹda up and laboriously dragged her through the wooden door, slamming it closed as the other heaved.
“Do you know what’s wrong with you?” Could it be… “Maybe...this is an after-effect of me using my ability on you too many times?” Was this her fault?
“Could…be…” the female ẹda considered, still coughing and leaving her hold to slowly lie face up on the smooth stone floor of the front room-kitchen. “But I doubt it. It never happened…before. Don’t mind me…I’m probably just t-tired.”
Tired…“This is what happens when you get tired?” Abeni asked, sceptical, looking her dead in the eyes. “Don’t lie to me. What’s wrong? How do you feel?”
“Nauseous…I don’t know. My stomach…hurts. More than when…” The female ẹda suddenly took a deep breath and made eye contact with a wall instead. “never mind.”
When what? What happened? Was this some kind of chronic sickness or was the female ẹda really just tired?
“Never mind! I’ll be fine…just go to bed. Didn’t we say you still need practice with the kitchen knife?”
Abeni shook her head firmly as she stared down at the female ẹda, unable to hide her visible unease. “I can’t just leave you like this. I won’t be able to sleep.”
“Well, tough luck! You’re going to have to figure that one out,” the female ẹda snapped, the normal carefree attitude nowhere to be found. She clearly knew what was going on with her body right now. What then? Could this be solved? Or was the female ẹda saying that it would solve itself?
“Are you sure, you’r—?”
“Just go to bed, Abeni!”
So, she did without another word.
On Wednesday morning, the next day, Abeni got up later than usual. Instead of taking her usual morning shower, the first thing the white-haired girl did was go into the front room-kitchen to grab a handful of those expensive and tasty unseasoned cashew nuts just to calm her nerves. Then, with the nuts in hand, she turned to observe the female ẹda who was in the same position on the floor as last night.
Except now there was some vomit by her face and fragments of coral petals on the floor.
Abeni wanted to wake her up and ask what happened, she really did. But the female ẹda had really gotten mad when she questioned her. Unusually and abnormally angry. So maybe leaving her alone would be the best choice for now. Although...Abeni could at least clean it up before doing anything else.
The white-haired girl bought a fresh new cloth and a natural soap bar for one nickel and seven zincs from a shop in the nearby better parts of the village for the vomit. And while it was stinky – boy, did it stink – it was an easy task.
With that done, Abeni got up to leave and get washed but not before hearing a “Mm…” which made her snap her head towards the female ẹda just in case the other being needed help…until she realised it was nothing but a sleeping sound.
“Alright, let’s go,” Abeni said to herself, taking a quick cold shower and then started her morning jog.
After their confrontation last Friday, she agreed to only exercise on the weekdays. Which was why Abeni would use this opportunity while the female ẹda was asleep and less distressed to go. Plus, hopefully, the exercise would clear her mind enough that she could figure out what was going on with the female ẹda. Or, what already went on.
Her life refused to be simple, didn’t it?
The route today was the same as it always had been, Abeni jogged down the rocky path from to her hut onto a long main street until she reached some mud huts at the end, past the general shops, past the main marketplace and all the way to the village plaza. Only taking a breather once she ran past a pharmacy and the doctor’s office she went to on her day back. Finalising her rough approximation for the number of guards that monitored the gate. Roughly 98. But not able to figure anything else out.
Truth be told, Abeni wanted to ask for help. But just like the last few times she was at the plaza searching for the female ẹda or for answers, the feeling of strangers’ eyes on her was present. But without her parents by her side to buffer everything, their silent gazes hurt. It felt reminiscent of abandonment.
No matter how many times she passed them or smiled at them, the villagers tended not to interact with her or even attempt to help her when she tripped up every once in a while. Maybe it was because she seemed like she was competent enough to take care of herself. Maybe it was because eniyans weren’t very trusting in general.
Regardless, Abeni wished things were different.
Because, this situation was not like with Martin’s sister, Mary. She couldn’t just ask someone about what medicine she needed to get to treat the female ẹda or how to handle her sudden anger. Uncle Ibrahim and Martin were the only people Abeni thought she could rely on. But the moment she realised who they really were, was the moment she realised that she could handle her own problems her way.
She had to figure this out herself.
So, for now, instead of dwelling of what wasn’t, she had to be open, not closed. Alert rather than hazy. Observant instead of rash.
Once Abeni returned home to do the rest of her exercises, she spotted the female ẹda had woken up and crawled into a corner of the room, not saying a word as she eyed Abeni with torn eyes. As if hiding something.
“Don’t worry about me,” the female ẹda immediately grunted out with a half-smile at the sight of her. But instead of reassuring her, it left Abeni wondering. Why was she being so cryptic all of a sudden? Did she think that Abeni couldn’t take it? That her mind might be able to but she wasn’t certain that her body could handle the truth that hid behind the female ẹda’s eyes. The truth about what was really going on.
No. In all honesty, it didn’t matter why. The only being left in the entire underworld alive that Abeni could trust was the female ẹda. That was why she had to trust that she knew what she was doing and let. This. Happen. No matter how unsure she was. No matter how much she was trying to figure it out without much luck.
So, Abeni ripped her eyes away from the other being, nodded and walked away without a word to do her exercises, have a late shower and play a game of Oware by herself in her bedroom. Unable to stop herself from pouting as she gave the other the space that she clearly wanted. Still running blank on a diagnosis.
Only a few days later, after the female ẹda’s condition seemed to remain the same and the other being still refused to rely on her, did Abeni decide to do something to take her mind off of her growing distress. To resolve one of her other problems to divert her attention from the female ẹda for a moment. To do something she had been putting off for a hot minute.
Look for the treasure that everyone seemed to want once again.
Her beloved parents’ equipment.
The first few times Abeni had been searching for items hidden somewhere in the storage units around the hut or under the bed. But this time, she finally realised that she had been thinking about this wrong. She shouldn’t have been looking for protected places where she assumed they would hide it, but instead for weak points. Weak points by the wooden door, by the wardrobe, by the bed and under the bed...
“Oh my...!”
Until she found it.
Right in the corner of the room under the bed was the same smooth stone floor as was in every other room…unless you looked at how worn down some of the stone here was. Almost as if it had been redone over and over again and was ready to crumble at any point which was exactly the case. It clicked. Baba’s sand manipulation ability, that was how they kept their things hidden!
Abeni snatched up her kitchen knife from the bed that she was just training with and immediately stabbed at the cracks of this unnatural rock as hard as she could…but there was no result.
“Hm…”
What should she do? Targeting the weak points with a strong move had always been her strategy. That was how she won Oware, at least when she had someone to play with. That was how she won against the ẹda the day they sparred. So, she looked again for another weak spot where it seemed to be crumbling, leant back…and stabbed harder than she ever had!
“Yes!” And to her relief, it felt apart.
Abeni’s eyes widened with wonder as she looked at what was underneath the broken rock, carefully brushing the residue dust away so as to not get it on her clothes.
Unfortunately, though before she could properly look through it, she heard a loud and alarming bang sound from the front room-kitchen making Abeni dash out without a second thought.
She knew she shouldn’t have taken her eyes off of the female ẹda!
[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]
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