---Baritones

So I kept myself from reacting, from responding, nnanyi said to challenge demons, to not let them feel that they have the upper hand against you. But I didn’t speak, couldn’t, making a fool of myself was not an option.

“I come here on Eke days just to see her, I arrive here at dawn and stare at the river waiting patiently, watching carefully, just to get a view of Uhammiri.”

Laughing, he said

“ You know, the shining beauty of the water. Honestly her reluctance to be seen makes me doubt her existence, if she is so sure of her unrivaled beauty, and intelligence, if she’s so sure of her invincibility, why does she hide? Why not come out, and be the stirrer of destinies. Don’t you think so?”

Silence, minutes of him waiting for a response, and minutes of me hoping to not hear his voice again.

“ I am Njoku, you?”

Yet I kept my eyes closed, I’d decided that it’d be best to keep my eyes shut, to not turn, to not see him, to drown myself in the silence of my mind. But I listened, his voice, a calm and confident bass.

“I heard she’s very wealthy and wise, and all whom have been sworn in as her priestesses, for she only takes the women, have led a life of wealth. They say she’s graceful and wise. Do you think so?”

Done caring I answered,

“ I don’t know”

“I thought you were deaf, and mute?”

I could hear the laughter in his voice when he questioned me, and to his question I kept mute.

“I know you, your father is the holier than thou man who lives a good distance from here. I know he’d never let you come here, so why are you here?”

Turning to look at him, I felt at that moment that I had met a demon. His features were impossible, his hair, his skin, all in rich black, yet he seemed so dazzling, so radiant, so so heartbreakingly, beautiful. I watched an all knowing smile surface on his face, and an ultimate realization that my face said all that I thought, brought me back to Earth. He was in every sense beautiful, his features, all unbelievable, brought together a form so perfect and beyond all imagination. And wrapped in the richest of all fabrics, in vibrant colors of reds, oranges, blues and greens, all in perfect synchrony, all in the traditional regalia which my father had made a point, to ban in my home, he looked like a divine king, a god.

Looking into his eyes, I found life, amusement, laughter, and deep deep within his eyes, cunning.