Princess

"Hello," the person said, stepping out from behind the trees.

Cecilia's mind was racing trying to find a reasonable explanation to offer for their conversation. As she opened her mouth to speak, Salifyanji ran over to the person and hugged him. Cecilia's mouth fell wide open, speechless.

"What are you doing??" she asked.

"This is the boy I was just telling you about. His name is Nkasha," Salifyanji replied. "He is 15 years old. We are going to get married soon." she added in a childishly dreamy way - not realizing the shock her friend was experiencing.

"Cecilia?"

"Someone's coming. You two need to get out of here." Panicked Cecilia said.

Immediately, Salifyanji and Nkasha ran off into the thick bush until they were completely out of sight. Cecilia breathed a sigh of relief and turned to face the approaching stranger.

"Are you out here talking to yourself," the stranger said with a chuckle.

"Pffft no!" she retorted before looking up at the stranger.

Suddenly she fell to the ground, bowed her head and threw dirt on her head.

"Princess Thandiwe! Forgive me for my rudeness! I did not realize it was you. Please show mercy on your servant." She said as she continued throwing dirt on her head.

Princess Thandiwe was Chief Chiti Mukulu's eldest daughter of five daughters. As tradition holds, the first born was a son, her older brother Prince Chilufya. The princess was dressed in the finest traditional patterned dress with a beautiful head wrap embroidered with jewels and sandals made from the finest leather that were also embroidered with jewels and beautiful beads.

This was the first time Cecilia had seen anyone from the royal family, let alone meet one. She was afraid that one of the two guarding warriors she traveled with would hurt her for offending the princess with such a disrespectful response.

The princess slowly walked over to where Cecilia was kneeling and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Little girl, it is okay. I forgive you. Don't cry." She said with a smile on her face. "Can I sit here with you for a while?"

Cecilia was surprised.

"Ye-Yes of course Princess! Who am I to say no to you?" she laughed nervously.

Princess Thandiwe bent down to take a seat on the grass by the river when she was suddenly stopped by Cecilia.

"Princess wait! You can't sit on the dirty ground when you're wearing such fine clothes please sit on my Chitenge." She said while spreading her wrap on the area where the princess wanted to sit.

*Chitenge is the name of the traditional wrap that was worn and used by the women.

"Come and sit with me," the princess called out to Cecilia who was standing a little far away.

She nodded and quickly sat down next to the princess. She noticed a huge smile on her face which wasn't fading but also her teary eyes.

"Princess, may I ask what's wrong?"

"Actually nothing. I'm very happy that I'm getting married in two days," she smiled.

Princess Thandiwe was betrothed to Prince Milambo, the first born son of the Chief from another village in order to unite the villages. Even though the marriage was only for this purpose, the two fell in love with each other which fulfilled her wish of getting married to someone she loved. She was allowed to take a day before the wedding ceremony to visit her village and say goodbye to the people.

"However," she continued with sadness, "I have to leave this village. it's my home and I'm not happy to be leaving it."

Cecilia looked at her silently, not knowing what to say.

"And also, I'm afraid that my in-laws don't like me and will therefore end up mistreating me." She added.

"I hope Milambo and I can move out of the palace and live in our own place." She said happily.

While they were chatting about the wedding and eventual marriage along with the joy of falling in love, one of the guards walked up to the princess and let her know that it was time to leave.

"The Queen is already on her way to the meeting place," he said.

With that, princess Thandiwe rose up and straightened up her clothes.

"Thank you for keeping me company Cecilia. I wish you luck in your life too." She said and turned to leave.

"Thank you Princess," Cecilia bowed until the princess was out of sight.

She started dancing around and squealing out of excitement from meeting and talking to the princess. She knew for sure her friend was not going to believe her but she was going to tell her anyway.

She waited for her to come back for a while but it was getting late and the sun would be going down soon. Since she had still not returned, Cecilia decided to head back to the side of the river where they had left their pots. Unfortunately, there were no more women there for they had all returned to the village.

The path back to the village was scary if one was alone so she was getting a very anxious. However, it would be dark soon and she had to get back home. So she picked up her pot and put it on her head and started off on the path. All of a sudden, she was joined by Salifyanji and Nkasha. She breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Where were you two?!" she asked angrily.

"Sorry Cecilia we lost track of time," Salifyanji apologized.

The girls smiled at each other. "I can't be angry with you," Cecilia laughed.

"You won't believe what happened while you were gone!!" She continued, trying to contain her excitement.

They chatted and shared their stories for the day until they reached the village where their mothers were waiting to whip them with leather belts for their insolence.