Virago | 2018 Wattys Shortlist

four

FOUR

Susa,
2018

★ ★ ★

ESTHER 2:3

"Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful women into the harem..."

★ ★ ★

"I..." Esther said through a shaky breath. It felt as though the entire hall had held its breath in, waiting for her. Esther could feel the blood pumping in her ears, a scary metallic sound that felt like coin being scattered along the floors of her head. Esther felt her lips part, in an effort to say something after the pregnant pause that had taken place while Memukan - The Great Memukan Paria, Head Advisor of The Kingdom of Kediakin - awaited her answer with a patient smile.

Esther wanted to tell Memukan that he had made a mistake. He may have been The Queen's most trusted servant, but he had made an error by choosing her, of all people to be a prospective candidate for the Queen's first wife. She couldn't accept his offer because it must've been one big mistake.

Her tongue had grown five times its normal size in the past minute and she couldn't get it to operate. She began to shake her head, frustrated with herself and how much of an embarrassment she was making of herself. Memukan still watched with kind, gentle eyes without an inkling of annoyance towards her.

Esther was about to decline until she began to really think about it: out of all the girls in this hall - all the beautiful, wholesome, Muslim Arabs - she had been chosen. She thought about herself and her life: how insignificant and unimportant she had been leading up to this moment, with a grim future ahead of her.

She thought of her beloved guardian Mordecai, who had struggled through his young adult-hood to put food on the table, who couldn't practice his faith without fear of persecution.

He had encouraged her to chase her dreams and live unapologetically and had been her biggest supporter from the day he had to piece their lives into some semblance of normalcy after they'd lost their parents.

Mordecai had been so upset about the racial profiling at her school and how Madame Saleena prevented girls like Esther from getting a fair chance because she was racist. He would be so proud of how things turned out and he would want her to go with the Queen's Officials to the palace.

Esther thought about the black girls who were scorned in this small town, the girls who had been held back by their families from attending this event because they'd been told that they had no place in the Queen's palace. She had to do this for them, for Mordecai and most importantly herself.

"Yes, Sir, I will go with you," she managed to say at long last and bowed her head as deeply as she could in a show of respect. Memukan touched her arm and she stood upright again. Memukan smiled, his lips curling upwards in satisfaction and he looked at her like she had found the cure for cancer.

"Sir, I can assure you that there are far more suitable candidates to add to your list of prospectives, these girls were hand picked and are the finest in all of Susa-" Madame Saleena began to speak, using one of her long arms to gesture to her hand picked girls.

"We believe that your chosen candidates, although lovely, will not be a suitable match for this quest," Memukan said turning his attention away from them. The other officials backed away from the girls, because Memukan's word held much more power than theirs. Although they eyed him warily they wandered off to other sides of the room to examine the other girls.