Chapter 25

The next morning greeted the land of Simunye with a summer weather. Young people went out to fetch water. At the rivers, they played, danced and sang. Some jumped around, splashing the cool water at one another. The land too seemed to be dancing and singing along with them.

Their beads danced along and so did their clothes responding to their vigorous movements.

Nisa came to the river; she had her minions with her. They caried their own clay pots to fetch water while Nisa had two manservants who fetched water for her. Nisa was from a noble family. She was well known for being very beautiful, wealthy and ferocious. She had the young men in the village eating out of her palm. All of them wanted to be with her. They all wanted a spot at her family's fortune.

Because she was aware of all of that, she definitely took advantage of it. She bossed boys around, and they happily obliged. There were times when she would tell them to get some apples for her and her friends from the trees. But would end up not finishing them. She would just toss the remaining away.

There was also a time when she had a young man put his animal skin cape on the ground to prevent her feet from touching the mud. There were other incidents where young men climbed very tall trees to get her some honey.

Dexterous young men made her clay pots, wooden stools adorned with beautiful colourful river pebbles, and others built her small pergolas at the river sides and other places were these young people hung out. They also installed hammocks in them for her. Artistic young men drew portraits of her on rocks and on leaves, some drew on fabrics. Other artistic men made her the most colourful beads for her hair, neck, shoulders, upper arms, wrists, hands, waist, and ankles.

Young men with vocal talents sang to her when she was bored. Some performed poems in a satirical manner. While there were those who performed comedy to her.

Nisa was also well-liked by the young women as well. They admired her confidence. Nisa was not the only rich girls in the village, there were many. But the difference between her and the other rich girls from noble families was that she commanded what she wanted. She was not afraid of rejection or how she will be viewed if all attention is on her.

Nisa was not afraid of being sensual and being a diva. The young women liked her ferrous nature even more. It annoyed them sometimes, but most of the time, they appreciated seeing it manifest. And she had a devious sense of humour.

Well, she was at the river, where most of the young people were in that particular moment. Nisa leisurely sat on a rock and chattered away with the young people there.

"Sesethu", Nisa called a young lady. "I heard you are getting married."

Sesethu simply smiled.

"Now remember," said Nisa. "…you are going there to get married. Not to be a house help."

The other people at the river laughed. Sesethu was well known for being a very dedicated worker. She could spend the whole day on chores. In fact, when getting a scolding from their parents, every young man and woman in the village was compared to Sesethu. Sesethu, in most parents' eyes, was the epitome of what a proper child should be.

"I hear he is from a well-off family. If you ever need a clean house, just hire a help, girl. None of us here want to hear about you when we are married", said Nisa. "They will be saying, 'why can you not be a proper daughter-in-law, son-in-law like Sesethu from those in-laws'…"

The laughers went on. Nisa laughed too. She continued;

"No… we will not be having that."

Sesethu laughed too. She had no excuse for herself. She recognized that her obsessive cleaning really did ruin the childhood memories of the people she grew up among in the village.

"When I get married, I will be having servants; left, right and centre. Serving my every need", said Nisa.

"And so will I," gladly said Sesethu. "My cleaning days are over."

The young people cheered Sesethu on.

"Ok, that is enough, now", said Nisa bringing the attention to herself. "I will be marrying the future King of this kingdom." Nisa grandly announced; "I will be Queen. Did I tell you that?"

"All the time", said the young people.

"That is all we ever hear about", they went on.

"Well,", said Nisa. "I am glad you are all keeping up with my life."

"But how will you get Prince Abasi to choose you?", asked one girl.

"All I know is that I will be the Queen of Simunye. 'How do I know that?' you might ask. Well, I feel. I want it", declared Nisa.

Back at the palace, Buhle woke up and realized that she was in an unfamiliar place. The head-maid, who was reading a book, said; "You have finally woken up."

The head-maid had let Buhle stay the night in her room.

"Get out of my room", she said. "You cannot sleep the whole day, you know… Work starts in three hours."

Buhle quickly got on her feet.

"By the way, how did I get here?", Buhle wanted to know.

"The Prince found you. Out there. And I brought you to my room", the head-maid answered. She raised her eyes to look at Buhle; "And I am regretting that. Look at you… not wanting to leave my room."

"Oh, sorry. And thank you for letting me stay", Buhle said and left.

The head-maid slopped onto her bed as if tired. She had slept on the floor the previous night. Now that Buhle was gone, she could have her bed to herself again.

Buhle entered her room. Her roommates woke up at the sound of the door. It was Buhle! Joy filled their faces. They went and gave Buhle hugs. They were relieved to see her alive and seemingly well.

Buhle was mad at them. She did not forget that Lebo had her abducted the previous day at the market place. Knowing that was enough for her to realize that they were all in on it. She shrugged them off of her. And gave them a glare.

They pouted. One after another, the three girls started explaining things to her. They explained to her that the intention was to come back for her. And that they never meant any serious harm.

"I mean, we do not like you. But we do not hate you", said Lebo trying hard to defuse the situation.

Buhle scoffed at what she had just heard. Sana and Letho reprimanded Lebo; "We are trying to apologize to her. Not make her mad!"

"I did not mean it like that", Lebo said to Buhle. "All we wanted to do was to get you in trouble with the head-maid, that is all."

The two girls reprimanded her again, they whispered, sternly; "What are you doing?!"

"I am trying to clarify to her that the intention was not murder!", Lebo whispered back.

Sana and Letho scoffed. They were disappointedly of her bluntness, which could be incriminating. That whole time, Buhle could hear their whispers. They were not even whispering silently enough.

"What I am trying to say is; we are sorry. What we did crossed the line. We crossed the line. And you could have been harmed out there. I can promise you now that I am done making pranks on you. I do not know about the others, but I am done. I just got a shock of my life. You almost lost your life and it was because of me", said Lebo.

"And the fact that you are here, standing… is beyond me. It is by mystery. And I cannot be pranking people and hoping that mystery will ensure that they do not die", Lebo added.

There was short silence in the room. Sana and Letho stood studying Buhle's face, they were hoping to gauge a change in Buhle's mood. But Buhle's face remained cold.

"I am sorry, Buhle. Very sorry", said Lebo.

Lebo then gathered her stuff and went for a shower. There were just three people left in the room now. The air got even tighter. Sana and Letho, who had been clung onto each other, split up.

"I am sorry, Buhle", said Sana. "Indeed, what we did was beyond cruel. To think that what made us angry with you was that you did not want to tell us anything about your transformations. Your business… I simply cannot begin to process how we got here."

Letho took a step forward and said; "It is I who suggested this… I should take all the blame. Buhle, I am really sorry."

The girls showered and prepared for work. Before leaving their room for work, Lebo announced; "I do not know if you have reported any of this. But I am going to The Prince to turn myself in today afternoon."

Lebo then left the room. The other two followed behind, leaving Buhle alone in the room. Buhle sat on her bed and thought about the whole situation for an hour.

She then went to the head-maid's room. She was let in. Buhle hesitated for a while before she finally said; "Head-maid, what happens if someone is reported to The Prince?"

"If you report your roommates to The Prince, they will get fired", bluntly said the head-maid. "If you want to report them, report them. They should have known not to do that to you."

"I was not talking about them", argued Buhle.

"The decision is yours", the head-maid said and went back to sleep.

Buhle went to work. There, she was scolded by the kitchen supervisor for being late. But she simply walked past the kitchen supervisor. Buhle had a weary look on her face. She went and washed some dishes.

Washing dishes was the most avoided task in the kitchen. Each servant tried their best to avoid it. But there Buhle was, washing those dishes, seemingly not begrudgingly.

The staff in the kitchen witnessed how Buhle, not only walked past her, she completely ignored the scary kitchen supervisor. And she willingly did the dishes. Her mind seemed to be troubled by something else. It was clear, everyone should stay away from Buhle on that day.

Lunch break came. And some of the servants went for lunch under the pergola. Sana, Letho and Lebo met at a different spot. They had not gone to dish up for lunch. They were seated on a stoop as they talked. Sana and Letho tried convincing Lebo not to hand herself in. But Lebo argued otherwise. She assured them that she would not be including their names.

"I need to go now", Lebo said and stood up.

Sana and Letho pulled her back down. "Look, Buhle has not reported you. At least that is what I think. So, reporting yourself is completely a bad move", explained Sana.

"You guys, we almost killed someone. Do you understand that. I mean, she is annoying as hell. But then, do you realize that we almost killed her?" said Lebo. "I still do not like her, but I hate what I did."

Lebo pulled away and left. She went to The Prince.

Meanwhile, Buhle could not eat. She had no appetite for her food. She got up and went to see if Lebo had gone to The Prince. While she was on her way to The Prince's palace, she saw Sana and Letho rushing behind Lebo, who was headed to The Prince's palace.

"Ugg! This fool will ruin my life!", said Sana. "If she reports herself, I too will get exposed someday!"

Sana and Letho had finally decided to also hand themselves in. They felt by doing so, they might get a lighter penalty from The Prince as opposed to being exposed later.

Buhle secretly followed behind. She was hoping that they would not go ahead with their plan to expose themselves. But she did not want to be the one to talk them out of it though.

The three girls were announced to The Prince. The Prince allowed them in. Buhle could not seem them anymore and could not hear them; they were inside The Prince's palace. Monitoring the situation was impossible.

The Prince listened on as he occupied his throne. He had no idea what they were there for. But he was curious. The girls stood there, with their heads bowed.

"My Prince, I have something to report", said Lebo.

The Prince leaned forward, expressing interest. "What is it?", he asked.

His interest made Sana and Letho a bit uncomfortable. To them, he seemed too enthusiastic. That convinced them that his ruling would be unforgiving.

"I am responsible for last night's incident", Lebo reported. "I had a hand in Buhle being out of the palace."

"Actually, I also had a hand in it", said Sana.

The timid Letho nodded and clung onto Sana as if saying that she too was part of the group. The Prince looked confused a little.

"I tied Buhle and left her in an abandoned bar outside the palace", Lebo tried to clarify.

"And I helped cover our steps", Sana added.

"And I…", Letho said and timidly looked back down after stealing a glance at The Prince. "I suggested the whole thing."

The Prince sighed. He could not believe what he had just heard. Before The Prince could say anything, Buhle came running in. The guards at The Prince's door came running behind her.

"Please forgive us, your Highness", said one of them trying to pull Buhle out.

Buhle kept her eyes on The Prince as if she was telling him to let her stay. The Prince signaled his guards to let her be. They obliged but before they left, they let go of Buhle's arms begrudgingly, she almost fell. Luckily, she caught her balance.

Buhle wondered how much the girls had told The Prince. She tried studying everyone's faces. But they were blank. They were rather staring at her, curious about what kind of news she had brought.

"We do not have all day, young lady. What has brought you here?", The Prince prompted.

"Well, um… you see", Buhle looked at her roommates. Still trying to study them. "These girls!", she yelled with a sudden energy bust, pointing at them. "They do all sorts of things. They pour water on me… they do all kinds of things. And I need them to stop."

"Alright, I am listening. Tell me in detail", said The Prince.

"You will make sure they stop?", Buhle wanted to know.

"Yes. Yes, I will", The Prince answered.

Buhle jumped to The Prince's side.

"My Prince, I am only but a damsel in this endless palace. Protect me! From those vultures! They tease me day and night, relentlessly. Oh, my hero", she said.

Everyone in the room was thunderstruck at her boldness, and her speaking so fondly to the Crown Prince, who was revered by all, across the land. The Prince, himself, was also thunderstruck. He was also shy about it. But he liked it. He felt pleasure. Although he tried hard to prevent it, a little smile still cracked at the corner of his lips. He started blushing. Buhle's roommates saw him. They glanced at each other.

"Ahem!" went Lwani, trying to get The Prince to get himself together.

"Right. And how do want them to be punished?", The Prince composed himself as he asked the young lady.

Buhle thought for a second. "They should be at my service for the next 7 days, My Prince", answered Buhle.

"At your service?", asked The Prince.

Buhle responded sweetly; "Yes, My Prince."

Sana, Letho and Lebo stood wondering what was going on. They had been working in the palace longer that Buhle, but they were not that close to The Prince. In fact, even those that served the longest at the palace were not that close to The Prince. The girls wondered how Buhle and The Prince became seemingly fond of each other.

But more importantly, serving Buhle was an extremely light punishment for their crime. Bullying was taken seriously in the palace.