Like life always did, it moved forward. The tedious weeks of Uncle Ibrahim visits had gone by as quickly as the beating of her young heart and the female ẹda’s – now known as Oware – recovery. Until finally it was the last morning of her house arrest.

This morning Abeni and Oware had been peacefully eating some stew together, the female ẹda demanding apologies for last night’s commands that the white-haired girl readily gave, when Uncle Ibrahim knocked on the door. Momentarily, they both let out a sigh, appreciative that knocking on doors was a part of village culture. Because it would and did give Oware enough time to hide her sore body and eggs in another room and Abeni enough time to hide her real emotions.

Uncharacteristically, Uncle Ibrahim didn’t make demands today. Instead, grabbing the last of Abeni’s favourite unseasoned cashew nuts and munching on them as he sat down on one of her bare wooden chairs.

At first, he complained about the underlying smell of blood and discharge from the previous night that the smell stew Abeni cooked didn’t hide as they hoped it would. But after Abeni’s lie, that she had to use expired food – which would have been the truth if not for Oware’s kindness – he resigned to sit still with an annoyed expression on his face. Sneering at the white-haired girl, who silently stood by an opposing wall until he left, promising he’d be back sometime as he shut the door behind himself.

Abeni allowed herself to indulge in the heavenly, reverberating sound for a moment before she released the tension in her shoulders with a massive, full-bodied slouch.

“It’s finally done,” then collapsed on the same chair he was just sitting on. Yelling out to let Oware know that he was gone.

Now, over a month and a half after returning to Aajiz Village, after her long and undeserved house arrest, Abeni was questioning what she should do next.

On one hand, she had to acknowledge that maybe Aajiz Village wasn’t the right place for them after all. Maybe they should leave right this moment. The village chief, uncle Ibrahim, the villagers all seemed to be out to get her. Plus, she had probably already lost her new job after four shifts of unexplained absence. So, she had no stream of income or information, all the while she was housing a formidable enemy of Aajiz and her children. With all the places she now knew about on her parents’ map, maybe Abeni, Oware and her children could go elsewhere. Somewhere where even the village chief didn’t know about.

But, on the other hand, they should wait. See things through. Abeni didn’t know whether or not she would survive the aftermath of whatever those plans were. Whether they were as life threatening as she dreaded. If they weren’t, she really didn’t want to go. This was her home, no matter how strange it was. The chief’s plans, to somehow use her for his own gain, could harm her before they could even pack their bags to go...or it could be harmless. She simply didn’t know. And without knowing what they were and who would come after them if she thought of defying his demands, the hunters, it was better not to provoke him by running.

Yes, it as long as she figured out what the village chief was planning before he made his first move against her. She could win and gradually return her life to what it was. A life of stability and support.

That was why Abeni, after cleaning herself of sleep’s grimy grip and dressing in her puffy high-waist white dress she recently washed, went to the side of the market that she had avoided. All to determine whether her only source of knowledge about the hunters and money was truly gone, only to be shooed away from the Yousef’s stall. The tanned merchant saying that she forgot to add a clause where he couldn’t end their arrangement at any time with a strange look on his face.

But instead of protesting how unfair this was, how she was on house arrest by order of the village chief himself, Abeni found herself accepting it easier than before.

Because she didn’t trust him either.

With the way the chief and her uncle were talking, some villagers must be watching her. Or, at least, were willing to give information up about her to the chief. Abeni didn’t know if that was just because of who her parents were or if everyone in the village had always been under the same surveillance and she just never knew. Never expected. The underworld was a scary place. But to this degree? To the point that loyalty was a fictional concept?

Somehow...she doubted that. She knew she was a special case. Ugh, just what was he planning? What was so spectacular about her parents’ things? The map, techniques, short swords and arrows. Perhaps it was mystery of it? Was she a part of the mystery they wanted to solve too? Why not simply get rid of her? Not that she was ungrateful to be alive. But, in the end, Abeni was just a girl to them.

A girl whom no one wanted to hire, saying a thirteen-year-old shouldn’t bother them with such nonsense. A girl who didn’t pay attention to the sudden decorations up about some upcoming event about when she felt her life was in jeopardy. A girl who was only now noticing how these eniyans looked at her if they would rather devour her whole and leave no pieces than give her any kind of aid. Wring her dry until she had nothing more to give so they could survive another day. Because that was what everything was about here. Surviving.

What possible role could she play in this kind of environment?

For the reminder of the day, Abeni remained in her room after her hour-long exercise routines, munching on the remainder of her stew. Just...thinking. After going out, she felt even more uncomfortable staying in this town. The urge to leave was slowly creeping up inside of her but the village chief was right to laugh about it, where could they go to escape his reach?

Abeni had pondered using the map, but now that she was seriously considering it, she was hesitant.

The rest of the underworld seemed more dangerous and unknown compared to Aajiz village. Extremely so. Only groups of five junior manipulators or one senior could ever hope to survive on their own according to her own assumptions. And even Oware and her children would not ever be able to relax. Forget the curse, with the limited amount of resources and ẹda near Pessimum Path, information might be her only real weapon. Information to avoid losing fights, find resources and survive.

Was that why the chief wanted to use her then? For his own survival? But what about her parents’ weapons, paper map and list of techniques would help him when he already had so many juniors on his side? Oh no, she was repeating herself.

So, Abeni grunted to herself and brought them out from under the bed and sat on the smoothed stone floor, assessing them and rubbing her chin. Perhaps they thought that there was something else in her parents’ stash? Or...perhaps there was something that these things had that Abeni herself wasn’t seeing.

Man, she really needed to learn about those hunts and hunters.

“Abeni?”

Said white-haired girl met eyes with the female ẹda calling her, responding with a small smile. “Yeah? How are you?” She looked at the beginning of Oware’s tail, suddenly filled with fear, smile dropping. Her children weren’t there, “Are the eggs alright?”

Oware laughed at that comment and raised her voice, lifting her eggs up into sight much to Abeni’s relief. “Don’t worry. Of course, they are! These three are going to be the best babies of the entire underworld!”

Oware had said that so much that in the past day that Abeni almost believed it. “Nice. So…? Was there something you wanted? We still have the vegetables you...borrowed from the farm last week, right? I’m kind of doing something right now…” She gestured to the stash laid out on the floor in an organised manner.

“God, you’re so impatient,” Oware sighed before a genuine smile took over her features. “I want to play Oware.”

“Oh,” Abeni couldn’t say she expected that. “Now?”

“Why not? We were going to play before but we never got round to doing it.”

“That’s because someone decided to give birth during my house arrest…” Abeni muttered to herself. It was joke but it didn’t come across as one.

“What? You think I chose to give birth yesterday? Silly eniyan. I’ll have you kno—!”

“I’m kidding!” Abeni nervously laughed before standing up. Who knew? Maybe a game would clear her mind. Or…maybe it would be nice to simply spend time together. “Yes, let’s do that! Just to let you know though…”

Oware blinked. “Yeah?”

“I don’t go easy on beginners.”

And then laughed. “You better not!”

So, Abeni picked the board off of the floor, since the bed was still across the room, she hadn’t bothered to move the board from the floor too until now, and led them to the front room-kitchen. This time explaining the rules of the game and that the goal was to take as many groups of two to three beads on the other person’s side as possible.

Funnily enough, Oware wasn’t very good at Oware. Or thinking on her feet for that matter, and the first game was over sooner than she could get her bearings in the game. The next few games went like this as well to the point that Abeni wondered if her eggs currently being wrapped in Oware’s tail would be giggling if they could see this.

“…I still don’t get it!”

Abeni chuckled to herself, looking at the other with a raised eyebrow. “After five hundred games, you still don’t understand the rules?”

“No, I get the rules! Cheeky brat,” The female ẹda rolled her eyes. “I just don’t get how to beat you.”

“Well, I’m not going to tell you that, now, am I?” She grinned, cheeky, and Oware just grumbled to herself before boldly playing the move that made her lose.

"It's ironic that in a game I'm named after, I can’t win against you…"

"Hm…I wonder why."

"Because you're just better at the game, you cashew nut!"

Abeni laughed out loud, rearranging the board for another round. “I am not a cashew nut!”

“Yes, you are!”

“No, your brain is a cashew nut!”

“No, it’s not! I’ll win, just you wait.”

Abeni finished setting up another game with a smile. “I’m waiting.”

Eventually, Abeni couldn’t take Oware’s relentless complaining anymore and decided to teach her a few things. Talked through better moves with her and the art of properly assessing her and her enemy’s hands before making her move. Of thinking two and even three stepped ahead like she trying to do with the chief’s plans.

But Oware still didn’t get it. So, Abeni decided to make the demonstration a little more physical.

Recently, Abeni had been getting some new ideas on how to handle weapons. Instead of only using one at once, she had been training with two short swords and knives interchangeably, even mock holding an arrow and throwing it to practice her aim which was getting better and better every time thanks to her now toned muscles.

If Abeni couldn’t excel at anything like Oware, she at least had to be able to use everything at her disposal.

That’s why she brought what she did.

“This is just my opinion that I got from training, but I think you need to open your mind,” Abeni said once she had returned with a short sword in one hand and a knife in another and held them towards Oware who shifted upright on her tail, eggs safely tucked inside. Abeni learned this when facing the female ẹda herself that charging in didn’t always work. “When you fight, you always attack before the opponent does, right? To end the fight early? But...if someone is stronger than you, then you can’t expect that to always work, right?”

But the female ẹda just shrugged. “Well, no one’s stronger than me,” ah. Maybe that was why she didn’t get it.

“Well, many people are stronger than me, that’s why I use other tactics. Like this,” Abeni showed her a defensive position she’s been working on, self-conscious of her form. “That’s why I keep winning. Because I’m not relying on brute force to take all of your beads at once. I’m thinking ahead and targeting your weak points until you can’t fight back any longer.”

Oware hummed, taking a second to digest what Abeni’s saying. “You’re good at using knives and swords though. I don’t know if you have a preference…but, despite what I thought when we met, you clearly have some talent for fighting. And you beat me with one move when we sparred…so, you could still always use one strong move. Ẹda always fight like that. I fight like that and have had no problems so far.”

But that didn’t always work, case in point. Abeni lowered her weapons. “Yes…but only in situations where your opponent is undeniably weaker than you. Otherwise, observing and targeting is best. At least for me.”

Oware looked down at the swords with amusement. “Weaker, huh? Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Abeni paused before she caught on. “No, you’re not weaker than me…exactly. I didn’t mean it like that,” because it wasn’t entirely true. Abilities wise, yes, Abeni could take her down. But should Abeni hesitate for even a moment or run out of spiritual energy, Oware would be able to defeat her.

However, it seemed the female ẹda disagreed with a grin. “...I don’t care, it’s fine. Arguably, I am weaker than you,” Oware shrugged like she wasn’t really bothered by it. “But then why aren’t you using one strong move against me in this game?”

“Because, like in this game of Oware where the rules literally don’t allow it, not every battle can be won with brute force, no matter how hard you try...” Wait…That’s it! That’s why the chief needed her!

She figured it out.

 

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]