The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

50.

The Mubaiwa household lay hidden on the periphery of the village similar to the way the Eagle homestead did. The head of the family Rekai Mubaiwa, Simbarashe Mubaiwa's father had led the household in a communal way, something that wasn't quite common in Rujeko village as it was something which had passed into the family through his own father who migrated to Rujeko village from Chikuni. It broke up later on as his brothers decided to depart from the tradition and go their own way.

The homestead was quite a sizeable one, on it's center was four huts where all the women of the family cooked meals to feed everyone. On either side were the male and female sleeping huts, with Rekai's own secluded from the rest as it lay South of compound near the fields.

The family comprised of Rekai Mubaiwa and his wife, his four brothers Bangure, Nyikadzino, Mamvura and Garikai, the youngest. All of them had their wives and Rekai's only child had mysteriously gone missing the previous summer, leaving him devastated.

As he was an only child, Simba grew up seeing his uncle's children as his siblings, but strangely the closest he had ever had to a brother was his youngest uncle, Garikai. He was merely a few summers older than him as he was the final and unexpected fruit of his mother's womb. Infact, when they were younger, Simba believed they were siblings. This grew even more intense after the communal household broke apart but Garikai stayed under his brother, Simba's father's care.

Their bond never changed, even as they gradually got older. Simba's father, even sat them down and discussed with them ukama and roles that came with which member of the family you were, but even after that, their closeness persisted. Simba had a habit of calling Garika brother and it often landed him in trouble with his father and other members of the family.

Garikai fell in love a few summers earlier, when his brothers had finally agreed to take him with them to the famed Festival of the Four in Makura village after he came of age.

'It was love at first sight,' he always said.

'It was right after her performance in the dance contest, when she looked up at me in the crowd, I was mesmerized,' he continued.

'You were bewitched, mukoma,' Simba had replied.

Garikai nudged him and continued staring into the deep darkness of the night which was solely lit by the fire in the distance where everyone else convened.

'I'm in love, just like you, Simba.'

'I can imagine it felt as good as the moment I was introduced to Cheneso as my betrothed, only to realize it was the girl I had been pining for the entire time,' Simba said.

Garikai was recalling this moment while sitting in the exact same place where it happened. It seemed like ages had already passed since then and he looked worriedly towards the fire the same way he had looked at it back then.

The voices coming from there were disgruntled ones. Obviously the topic of discussion was Gengezha's untimely demise and Hombarume's uncalled for retaliation.

Garikai looked away. He had managed to fool his family into believing that he was well, but the truth of the matter was that Simba's disappearance had devastated him beyond recovery. He would act calm all day, but when night came, he slithered away into the darkness to search, to appease the gods, to cry out to unknown spirits that he might find his missing piece. Everytime he tried to close his eyes, sleep would not simply come.

What was worse was the burden tradition had placed on him. Since Simba was gone and Cheneso had already been promised to him in a mutual agreement, Garikai had to take the place of his nephew and make her his new wife.