Finding Contentus

Chapter 135: The Inheritance of Parenthood

They saw her disappearing in a spray of drizzle that felt refreshing on their skin. That settled it. They finally got to converse with the hidden mastermind who studied under the radiant architect. They weren't disappointed. If anything, their admiration for both mothers skyrocketed.

"You showed her how to initiate the Racaan introduction process and interest that her family would amplify, for us, correct?" Genesia asked the obvious. He just wanted to hear his mother talk.

"I did show her. I'd say it worked rather well, all things considered. I couldn't do all the work, regrettably. Laying the foundation for the upheaval of the Optimer system and the stigma of our people required a more direct approach that your father was adamant about ever since he became Chief. Amoar couldn't change his mind. So my astral self had to be more indirect, leaving my physical self clueless at the time. Why do you think Ramsis, Ramela, Ramela, Ramiya and Musa are so enthralled by our culture? I haven't heard a thank you yet." Bantii cupped her left ear.

"Medase Mama!" Neosa chimed in a high-spirited thank you. Her box braids swayed.

Genesia stayed quiet, still registering things.

Bantii pouted her lips.

"Medase Mama," he thanked, leaving his registrations for now.

She smiled and smoothed his wavy dreadlocks for a bit.

He noticed something else that was right in front of him the whole time. "Is that why Nephthery and Ramiya cry the way they do, with their tear-stained marks from their black eyeliner? Paying tribute to your black tears?" He asked.

Bantii nodded. She let her black marks run down the inside corners of her eyes. "It's an automatic thing for them. They can't help themselves because of the tear marks I dropped in their empathetic pools. When I had my first Impulse dream..."

She frowned sadly, letting go of his hair. "I cried so much like you wouldn't believe it. Black tears and black blood leaked out of my ears, nose and eyes. They wouldn't stop falling. My cries were like a bleak rainstorm that could flood the world. My mother and father were very concerned. They had never seen such a reaction before. No one had. I knew then that I was special. Obviously it took me many years to configure the tracks. I do recall that a small part of me didn't consider the things I saw to be a curse."

Like Venus bursting out of storm clouds, Bantii's smile was that of hope that did not recognize hopelessness. "I saw them as a blessing because I could run with time when it was against me. I saw the ways in which I could cheat everyone, including myself. When I saw myself losing my three cubs, over and over again, when I saw them being hunted and killed in so many different ways..."

"Like the tale of the Mother Cheetah who wept and wept until her tears blackened, staining her and all her fellow cheetahs for all of time," Neosa said with narrowed eyes like she was looking into pure light itself.

Bantii nodded and sighed, composing herself. "See what I mean? I still succumbed to my fate by losing both of you and Mpho, whilst simultaneously finding a way to save you, my three cubs. The same applies to my three grandcubs. Omphile, Essenia and Ossaro."

"Omphile? Oooh! So Mpho does have a hybrid child! She's the baby peacock I saw in my Impulse dream before the Impundulu snatched me!" Neosa smacked her hands together. "I knew it!"

So did I, I saw the same baby peacock in my Impulse dream. "Blue eyes?" Genesia glanced at his mother. "Like Kakara's?" He thought of the planet sized blue eyes from his encounter with Rosari.

"Mmm. Those eyespots in the peacock's tail feathers? Òsun's ornamentation. My ornaments. Sissie's weather patterns from Oya blew into Sekai like a breath of fresh air, sending him to Mpho. Her astral winds calmed the Conqueror storm within his primal blood, making it lighter with his Natalian blood. Your niece has his blue eye and Mpho's brown eye. Or should I say, mine and sissie's brown eye." Bantii winked.