Eseere: The Language of Wind

The Beginning

Al Akhadi Café, Hupa Village, Ward 1 of the United Republic of Provinces, Tribal Reservation of Urnah, Nasai, Orange Moon 3289-  July

       “BaBa, look! I’m flying!” Safiya called as she ran with her arms outstretched down the short slope of the hill beside the family café with her pink and yellow synthetic wings that her uncle Musa had given her strapped to her back and shoulders.  

“BaBa!” she called ecstatically with laughter in her voice as the wings caught in the afternoon breeze and lifted her two feet off the ground, “BaBa look!”

Safiya’s father raised his head from the conversation he was having at one of the outside tables a short distance away and smiled at her distractedly, nodding his approval.  He sat in the small courtyard engrossed in discussion with a man in a strange uniform.  Lots of men had been coming to the café lately but Safiya had never seen this man before and although he looked kind enough around the eyes, something about him alarmed her 7-year-old mind.

“Leave your Baba to talk, habibti,” her mother called from the kitchen side door to the rear right of where Baba and the uniformed man were talking. “Come, show Umi what you have been up to.”

Safiya’s feet returned to the ground and she reluctantly obeyed her mother’s request, leaving her father to talk, and galloping down the remainder of the hill to gain her mother’s attention instead.  Her mother stood over the wide wooden countertop kneading dough for pastries while Una, their day-worker, fanned the ovens.  Hupa Village had only one café and Baba smiled each and every time he told her and her little brother Amir the story of how it had remained under the ownership of their clan, even after the arrival of the off-worlders.  The wooden kitchen door was open to allow the afternoon breeze as Umi stood beside it singing tribal songs as she worked.  She was singing Desert Flower, one of Safiya’s favorites, today.  Umi smiled as Safiya walked over and grabbed a sufa berry from the countertop.

“Umi, can you come watch me? Please? I can fly!” Safiya exclaimed earnestly into her mother’s eyes. 

Umi wiped her hands on her apron and motioned for Una to finish kneading the dough for her as she walked around the counter and through the open door.

“You can fly?” Umi exclaimed incredulously and tousled Safiya’s hair playfully.  “I have to see this!”

Umi stopped at the base of the hill with sunlight shining in her hazel eyes as Safiya ran back up the slope so that she could leap off again just for Umi.  Once she had reached the top, she turned around to face her mother, and just as she began to run and leapt into the air, a loud blast sounded from behind her.  Safiya watched the smile on Umi’s face transform into a grimace and tried twisting her neck to look behind her but it was impossible to see over the wings strapped to her back.  She turned her head quickly to face Umi, alarmed by the thudding reverberating behind her, but her mother had already closed the distance between them and was running full speed towards her.  Safiya was in Umi’s arms before her feet touched the ground as Umi ran back towards the café and Baba. Baba and his uniformed friend were on their feet and scowling at the horizon beyond the hilltop when Umi reached them.

“Gather the children and bring them to the safe house,” Baba ordered without hesitation.  “Do not wait for anyone, Naiya, I mean this!”

Baba grabbed Safiya from Umi’s arms and stood her up on her feet in front of him, expertly removing the wings from her back and shoulders, before gently pushing her towards the front entrance where Umi stood.  She’d never seen them like this: Baba was stern-faced and alarmed and Umi looked frightened.  The man in the uniform did not look afraid at all, he kind of looked excited, and Safiya got a strange feeling in her belly.