A Crook In The Sand

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE WARM BREEZE RIFFLED THROUGH Mazeeda's lush dress and short hair, making her close her eyes and savior the sensation. The heat brought her home and she could see Evilla from her closed lids; children running, hunters coming home with their game, and her family riding back home in the distance.

"Mazeeda!"

The sweet and fruitful voice snapped away her imagination, bringing her back into reality. Evilla was no longer her home, she would have to make do with Yaheisea the best she could.

She found Sonya sitting underneath a cherry tree just shy of three years. The shade was cool amongst the sun's heat.

Once she got closer, Mazeeda realized that Khai's cousin brought an enormous book. She swallowed, becoming stressed.

Sonya noted her fallen face. "Oh, don't worry. These are just folk tales my father reads to me. I wanted to start easy."

A small smiled appealed on her face. "Of course."

Sonya moved closer, thrilled to be the storyteller. It was her turn to weave the stories into her own. She pointed to a sentence she thought would be easy to start with.

The words were jargon to her, nearly none of them sticking out in any way. She exhaled before pushing forward, there was no use in any of this if she did not attempt this challenge.

"The prin...prin..."

"Princess," the young girl guided her.

Mazeeda mumbled the word to herself, testing it herself. So strange to be able to say a word but not read it in a book. Finishing the eight word sentence proved to be difficult.

And she distrusted things that were difficult, like Khai. She wanted things simple, like her story.

When she looked up, Sonya was staring at her in a sense of affection and sadness.

"What is it?" the queen asked.

"I wonder..." the child hesitated. "I wonder if this is what it feels like to have a mother read to me."

Mazeeda looked from the book to Sonya. "I had thought...I...where's your mother?" She flinched at her own question, afraid that it would not be answered directly.

The young girl wrapped her arm around her knees. "I've never met her; she died giving birth to me with the war still raging one. At least, that's what father claims."

The storyteller remained silent as the night, always there but never making its presence known. She had never recalled Yaheisea being in a war recently.

"He tells me that I remind him of her. That I will be just as strong as she was. I know he tries to lift the burden by always being there for me since I have no mother and I know he loves me dearly, but if that's so, then why do I still feel like a mistake?" She turned her head away. There was no need for tears, and yet, they came so easily.