Father Water

Rinje sat beside the river and watched it flow with fury. It was always so violent. Every time she watched it flow, she would feel some sort of calmness. She always felt so good. The river was called “Father Water” it had divided the two valleys. The valley of light and the valley of Truth. Theirs was the valley of Truth. She never knew why they were not allowed to cross the river, to the other valley. It was forbidden. But the people, they always met at the river. When farming, when fetching water to drink and for their home duties and to just relax and have a good time by the river. But that was the end of the interaction. The communities never merged. They never crossed the river. Rinje was always curious since she was a young girl, she had dreamt; no, she had promised to cross it. the curiosity was and would be the end of her. That was what her grandfather had always told her. She was rather small in size, always looked younger than her age. This had been a source of people always underestimating her. Her mother particularly was always critical of her, she always teased her. But she told her, “Rinje, I’m teaching you how to be a leader”. But she knew, she had always known how much her mother had loved her. After all she was her first. The river was lined with arrow roots. They grew well near the river, because of the massive volume of water. Every family knew each other. They knew each other through the land. They would meet at father water during the planting season, they would talk and laugh while they tilled the land. The father water served both of them equally. Rinje was always amazed at how it did that. Every community stayed on their side of the valley. Rinje put her feet in the river, and her first reaction was to jolt them right back up. Because of how freezing cold the water was. It cut through her feet. But she caught herself at an impact and decided to keep them. She held fast to the ground with her hands, to avoid being carried away. As the water flowed around her feet, it started to get warmer. She felt more relaxed. Sometimes logs and sticks would hit her on their way, but the water never stopped flowing. The day was quite chilly, but with only enough sunshine. The rays of the sun made their way through the leaves of trees, through the Banana trees and mango trees. Rinje looked up at the sky and was amazed at how blue the sky was. It kind of seemed like it was smiling. There was no one else at the river, Rinje was all alone for as far as she could see. She loved how quiet the river was and the peace it gave her. Just as she was enjoying the rays of the sun on her face, she heard the sound of crackling branches. She was sure she had heard someone, she looked behind but saw no one. “Mmmh, I think I must be imagining things” as she looked back ahead, there he was, just standing there. He was the tallest man she had ever seen. He almost seemed gigantic for the human species. He was standing holding a machete which he had firmly inserted to the ground and used it to support himself. On the other hand, he held a sugarcane. He leaned quite slightly and watched her with what she thought were burning eyes. She felt as if he could see right through her. She felt uncomfortable and shocked she just stared back. As they stared at each other they heard voices as they approached the river. It was time to fetch water before the darkness settled upon the land. Usually the communities, women, would fetch water early in the morning before sunrise and at 4 pm. Rinje immediately removed her feet from the water and washed her face. By the time she lifted her head back up again, he was gone, nowhere to be seen. She took the jerrican and started fetching water, just in time for the girls to arrive. 

“Hello, our future queen” Kinjo bowed slightly and continued “are you excited?” Rinje always hated that, she wasn’t even sure she was ready to take up the role. To add to the matter, she wanted to make her mother angry. She had vowed to make her life miserable by doing everything that she thought shouldn’t be done. But she knew, deep down in her heart she was next. Her mother was the queen of the tribe. She was the leader of the tribe. As legend goes, it was said that many many years ago, the father had put man whom he named, “Word” and woman whom he named “Creator” at the heart of the valley. On top of the mountain. He had shown them the land, its vastness had no end. As far as the eyes could see. He told them to look after the land and cater for it. In return they would never lack. They would leave it to their children and generation. Word and Creator had done so. The land was very productive. It was respected among the other tribes of the hills. Everyone knew of its richness. Word and Creator had then been blessed with nine daughters. When the nine daughters had come of age to raise their own families, they had asked their mother Creator what she had done to get her husband. Creator had taken up the matter with word, her husband and word had requested God, The Father for a solution. He then made a sacrifice and asked the daughters to each choose a stick of the height they wanted their husbands to be. The sticks had been used to burn the sacrifice. The next day, nine men had appeared under the sacred tree and each daughter had gotten a husband of the height they had chosen. Due to the nine daughters who represented the nine clans of the tribe, the ruler of the tribe had been a woman. The tradition had been passed down for generations. Currently, Rinje’s mother was the leader of the tribe, that meant that Rinje was next in line. One of the things that Rinje did not like about leading the tribe is that the women were allowed to marry more than one husband. Her mother for instance had 5 husbands. Rinje couldn’t tolerate men. If she couldn’t stand even one man, how was she going to marry more than one. However, what surprised her the most, was that her mother had only two children. Rinje and her brother. No one really knew whether her mother had relations with her five husbands. Some in the village had whispered but only her mother knew the truth. Despite the status of the men in her tribe, Rinje had respected her grandfather and her father. She had good relations with her mothers’ husbands, but somehow, that situation had always troubled her. Her father was the first husband. They finished fetching water and went back home. Rinje wouldn’t keep her mind from wandering to the strange man she had seen at the river. All she could think about was the man. During supper, her mother had noticed how distant she was, Rinje was totally unaware of her mother’s probing eyes. They had supper at the kitchen always during the evenings. There was a small fire at the center and the fire would be seen warming its way in the entire kitchen. The branches would crack up as the fire made its way to the unburned regions. Vibrant colors would be seen as the fire kept on burning. As was tradition, they would talk while having food. Usually, her grandfather would tell a story. Everybody from the eldest to the youngest would listen to the story. Rinje, especially loved that part. But tonight, her mind was far away. As they bid each other goodnight, Rinje had been asked by her mother to stay behind and help with the cleaning. Her mother had taught her that, although they as the women were the leaders, it was their duty to take care of the homestead. As they cleaned around the kitchen washing utensils, her mother asked her “Who is the man?” Rinje was caught by surprise and talked before thinking 

“What?” she asked astonished

“Don’t play dumb, I know you heard me” her mother told her

“How did you know?” she asked embarrassed 

“My dear, love doesn’t hide” her mother answered her. As she said it, she looked lost in thought. As if a memory was creeping back. Her mother was always careful with her emotions. Always kept them in control. It was rare to see her vulnerable. Almost never. 

“You think I’m in love?” she asked excited and afraid at the thought. She did not even know the man. What if she hated the way he spoke? She hadn’t even heard his voice, didn’t know his name and for all she knew, he might be from the other side of the river. Which would be forbidden. It would be forbidden love. 

“I know you are in love. Now who is he?” Rinje looked lost in thought for a minute as she watched the fire burn. The fire looked so beautiful. It looked as if it was calling to her. 

“I don’t know him; I just saw him by the river. On the other side of the valley” the best thing about Rinje and her mother’s relationship was that it was open. Her mother had always insisted on saying it as it is. After saying those words, her mother looked as if she would have a heart attack. The blood drained from her face and she held on to the cupboard to support herself from falling. She was a rather medium woman. 

“Mother, are you okay?” Rinje asked rushing to her mother’s side to hold her. 

“Ah, Yes I’m fine. It’s just my leg, you know how stubborn it can be. Tell me more, how did he look like?”

“Very tall and gigantic, almost like a God. He was the most magnificent person I have ever seen” Rinje told her mother looking dreamy and excited. Just as her mother had feared, it was him. The prophecy had been fulfilled. Her mother had dreaded this day. But somehow, it gave her satisfaction to know that she would see it being fulfilled, even if that meant her downfall. 

“Okay, be very careful and don’t get involved with him. Do you understand me?” Immediately her mother had said that, Rinje knew then that she must know who the man is. She hated being given orders and her mother knew that. 

“Okay mother” they had already finished washing the utensils and cleaning the kitchen. 

“Have a good night my daughter” it was long since her mother had called her that. That statement settled on her mind and couldn’t leave her as she went to bed. Why does mother not want me to know who the man is? She asked herself as she went to bed. The next day she went to the river and there he was. It was as if he was waiting for her. Rinje sat down and immersed her legs into the river. He did the same. They stared at each other and Rinje threw a handful of water at him. He was startled but he smiled, he did the same in return. When they were done, he introduced himself.

“Hi, I’m Njithe” it was the most amazing voice she had ever heard.

“I’m Rinje” she said in return. They went on chatting. All this they did while sitting by the river. Eventually it was time to go and they each went back to their valley. This continued for quite some time. Rinje got to know that he was from the light valley. He told her all about their traditions and life. He even asked her to visit him on their village. To this request she denied. He did not know who she was. Rinje on the other hand, never spoke about her status in the tribe. She was rather happy to meet someone who did not know who she was. Things had not been going so well back home. There were rumors of a ploy to remove her mother from power. The rumor around town had been that men had finally had it with being ruled by women. The women were being unjust and treating them badly. Thus, they had decided to overthrow the women and come to power. No one knew if it was true and how they proposed to doing that. Njithe was the only good thing in her life. Her mother’s health had been deteriorating too. After one year of having met Njithe, the women in tribe had all announced that they were pregnant. The men had taken over power by getting the women pregnant at the same time. Rinje’s mother had been unable to bear more than two children due to her health. To this, since she was not pregnant, she had refused to give up power. One day after coming back from the river to meet Njithe, Rinje had found a multitude of people around her homestead. She went in to her mother’s house and found her laying on the bed.

“Mother, are you okay? What’s going on?”

“Listen, my daughter, I’m dying. It’s your time to rule the tribe”

“But I can’t, I don’t want to!”

“Your heart will guide you. You are meant to journey through life, just like the river that you love so much” to this her mother had smiled. 

“Now go, get out of here, I don’t want you to see me breathe my last”

 Rinje felt confused and unsure of what to do, she ran back to the river to cry and find peace. And just as she got there, he was there, waiting for her. This time she agreed to cross the river. He held her tight and she had never felt such electricity flow through her body. She felt right at home. As if that was where she was meant to be. They held tight and the darkness carried away their secret. That night, she betrayed her tribe. She never went back home that night. She had betrayed the tribe by crossing the river, she had forsaken her family, her community and even failed her mother. Later on, she heard that her mother had died that night and buried in her homestead. She had been poisoned and the men had taken up leadership of the tribe. However, to keep peace with the women, the men had agreed that the clans still have the names of the original nine daughters, failure to which, the women would kill every male child they gave birth to and their generation would never be realized. The men had agreed to the terms.