Translations ⢠Makube chosi, makudede ubumnyama kuvele ukukhanya. = Every said on the shrine, let it manifest into everything we say and ask for. May Light prevail and darkness be abolished.
Camagu = Ancestral greetings equivalent to amen
Endumbeni = Rondavel house for the ancestors
Taglist ⢠@ziayamikaelson @sweetsummerhaze @nzia-writes @greek-freak101 @iinkonde
Trudging across the forest in attempt to get to the group of tiny figures playing around a small fire. Nearing the children, they start to sidle away or melt into the air. Only one figure remains, a child facing the fire .Slowling circling around the child, who continues to stare on at the bristling fire. Hands busy grinding something onto a big rock near their feet. Peering under the hood itâs eyes are blank,a far away look etched onto their features; features that are familiar⌠itâs the face⌠those eye-
Ramonda woke up with a startle. Laboured breathing as she gripped the bed sheets to level herself in reality.
Filled with adrenaline she makes work of getting out of her king size bed. Stumbling to the bathroom, her fingers find the switch as soon as she enters the room. The light is blinding but she doesnât care.
Quickly making her way to the sink, flicking the tap open she falls over the basin immediately splashing the cold water on her face.
Absentmindedly reaching for a towel, dragging it down painfully slow. Wanting to delay having to look up into the big mirror in front of her. Afraid sheâll be transported back into the dream, transported back to those eyes. Ones she hadnât seen in over two decades.
Raising her eyes to the mirror, she takes note of the bags under her eyes. The gray in her eyebrows. Exhaustion written all over her face. Her silk headwrap probably well on its way out of the palace now. Those things never seem to stay wrapped around her head. Her frizzy braids starring back at her. Pointing out of their original place.
She lets out a huff and shuffles out of the en-suite. Grabbing the gown laying on the ottoman.
Patting her bed for her scarf right on the edge of the bed the purple fabric lay. Snatching it she hastily wrapped it around her head, didnât matter the presentation.
âGriot, the door.â Ramonda spoke to the AI
The door clicked open, she straightened her posture and stepped out. A few royal guards patrolling the hallway stopped to greet her. Yoliswa in particular quickly walked to her side.
âQueen Mother, are you in need of assistance?.â She hurried out.
âTake me to Ramatla. Alert the General tell her we have a long journey aheadâ The Queen responded in a hushed tone.
She didnât want for this to reach the ears of Shuri or anybody else before she understands what exactly this is, whatever these dream thatâve plagued her for a few weeks now mean
This one though, it left chills along her spine. The hairs on her neck were left sticking out she was nervous. Anxious for what awaits her.
Yoliswa quickly presses one kimoyo bead sending a signal to Okoye.
Ramonda turned and made her way to the exit of the palace. Yoliswa made a quick sign for the rest of the gaurds to stay behind.
"My Queen, are we walking there?"
Ramonda just turned and looked her in the eyes. That was a answer enough. Yoliswa nods at that and takes strides alongside her majesty.
Venturing out at midnight was a repeating occurrence for the queen. For the year and half the palace has felt suffocating for her. She felt like the walls would close in on her. It felt so different and cold being here.
The two people she came into this kingdom for were both gone. She hadnât had enough time to process the loss of her husband and she was losing her son a few years later too.
And she so quickly had to be strong for her daughter and her nation.
She doesnât remember having a moment to just settle in her loss and feel the magnitude of the pain that she felt. The gaping hole in her heart too much to bear. So sheâd explore Wakanda and all she had to offer all over again.
Just to keep her mind occupied because she was sure if she left it slip, sheâd fall and never get back up.
The second set of footsteps behind her broke her out of her reverie. Okoye had joined them as soon as she received the message. Ramonda could sense the perplexity in the way the walk.
She was grateful both of them had followed her without question. Ramonda wasnât sure she even had the answer. All she knew was she had to relay this to Ramatla. Hoping he could talk with the answer, beg them for clarity if need be.
Because for the life of her, Ramonda couldnât wrap what she saw around her head. So many scenarios ran rampant in her head and none of them made much sense.
The journey to the seer didnât take long. In the short distance they could see a figure by the rondavel.
Yoliswa quickly stepped in front of her to open the gate for them to enter. Okoye silently closed the gate behind her.
âDaughter of Lumumba, we were awaiting your arrivalâ. Ramatla stepped into the light.
Ramondaâs body went rigid for a minute. Blood drained from her head. This changed things. If they were waiting for her it means this was bound to happen. It was no coincidence.
All the of them work to remove their shoes. You canât enter the ancestral house with shoes on.
Ramatla moves aside to let them enter eNdumbeni. He watched Ramonda sit near the mirror. Shaking his head chuckling as he noticed the anomaly of her action.
âKawutsho Mntwanâezinyanya uboneni?â Slight humour in his voice.
The two Doraâs couldnât be more confused. They truly didnât know what to make of this. Although there was a whimsical attitude in the way the great seer spoke to them, the atmosphere was tense. Seriousness filled the air.
As soon as those words left Ramatlaâs mouth, Ramonda was transported back to her dream. And all the other visions sheâd seen were all flowing and ebbing around her like pictureâs swirling in the wind.
Okoye could see that her queen was in a trance, she crawled towards her. Sitting behind to support her neck. Ramondaâs body limp in her hold.
Ramatla motioned for Yoliswa to turn the mirror toward Ramonda.
He kneeled near them, incense burning slowly in his hold. He swayed it around himself first before doing the same to Ramonda.
Breathing it in harshly she let out a series of coughs. Her eyes opened slightly. A tear accompanying her focusing vision. Ramatlaâs hand tilted her head slightly upwards. That triggered something.
Suddenly there was water coming out of Ramondaâs mouth.
To say Okoye and Yoliswa were horrified would be an understatement. Okoye was petrified, she couldnât lose the queen. Not over something like this, this was unexplainable. Nobody would believe her. Ramonda couldnât die, not in her arms. Certainly not so soon after they lost their Black Panther.
âDo something! Why are you just sitting here, canât you see sheâs choking?â Okoye cried out.
Ramatla just raised his hand to silence her. And motioned to a semi conscious Ramonda
Her eyes snap open., Sheâs covered in a cold sweat and water, salt water, shaking, heart pounding, looking around the room suspicious and paranoid that the water may have followed her.
"The water. Itâs coming. I can smell it, it enveloped me and all of you-" Ramonda let out, frantically trying to sit up. She turned to Ramatla, the hint of humour from before long gone. Panic swirled in his eyes.
"The screams, people being swallowed by the ocean. My peopleâ. Ramonda settles into whoeverâs behind. Sheâs so tired, so exhausted.
âMy Queen, the only thing that was shown to me was your pending visit. I was told to point you to that mirror. Our ancestors didnât want any messages to come through me. Only that I provide you with means to an answer thatâs been waiting for you for weeks nowâ. Ramatla provided sounding just as down as he felt.
Yoliswa who had been kneeling near the mirror throughout the episode, looked at Ramatla for an instruction. He blinked in response. Yoliswa shuffled closer to Ramonda.
âQueen Mother, are you comfortable with your soldiers being here. They also might be able to see what you see in this mirror?â.
She didnât have a choice and waiting for the counsel to decide whether or not her visions are things to consider emergent was not something she wanted to pursue.
Ramatla sings a few chants. He lights his incense again. They canât necessarily hear the words he saying. His hushed tone and the way his words tumble out his mouth proves it difficult to follow his line of sentences.
â-ingathi ningamâmpendula. Makube chosi, makudede ubumnyama kuvele ukukhanya.â
He stands up and makes his way to the Djembe. On his way back he scopes a white powder substance. Wearing the drum diagonally around his body he starts to thump it slowly at first.
Walking circles around him, the rhythm picks up and the volume increases.He stops⌠only to blow the powder into the mirror.
The strange powder and increase danced in front of their eyes. The frequencies were high. When the smoke cleared, Ramondaâs eyes caught movement in the mirror.
The reflection of her environment slowly morphed into a motion image of free fields. Like a movie was projected on the mirror.
The fieldâs started to seem familiar. It was like she was walking through them. A hut came into view. A very familiar hut. One she remembers playing in as a kid. One she remembers having sleepovers at as a teenager. One she remembers sneaking into as a young adult.
Remembers running up that hill to inform you sheâd cracked the code. That sheâd heard the elders whispering about a powerful hidden nation. One that she knew sheâd be able to penetrate, because sheâd said she was smart enough to do that one time.
She was. She did get into the nation. Had met a young boy in the woods. The woods that sheâd later find out are some sort of hologram.
The hut was right in front of her now. It was like Mama Noziza would walk right out, with a glass of water ready for Ramonda to drink because somehow she always knew that she ran and never walked when she came up there.
Noziza would just tilt her head back and Ranonda would barrage past her to get to you. It was almost always the case. Ramondaâs mother had mentioned it was the same story with you too. Theyâd laugh about it over a cold glass of sugar water.
The wooden door opened. Nostalgia punched her right in the gut. She canât remember the last time sheâd seen this scenery. More than 20 years the voice in the back of her head whispers. Ramonda could cry, she wants to scream really.
The broken window on the left brings in the most light. She remembers it breaking. A bunch of your friends were playing with a DIY dodgeball made with plastic and filled with wet newspapers. Your cousin had tied it so tight you had to develop skills to dodge it because it was painful. The stinging sensation forever etched into her brain.
You, tired of losing threw it so hard it went just a little higher than you wanted it and it pierced through your window. Everyone scattered. Including Ramonda, who just as she rounded the Rondavel to try and slide down the small hill, was snatched from behind by Noziza.
Tears gather at the memories, they cloud her vision. Snuffling she wipes them away to carry on the journey her ancestors are taking her on.
As she fixes her gaze back into the vision. She notices the room is empty. Void of the small pieces of furniture it once held. It zones in again. She can now make out a small figure in the middle of the hut.
Kneeled down facing forward. It feels like dĂŠjĂ vu. The same instance as her dream earlier.
This time the figure turns around, still on the floor. One knee tucked into their chest. Hands still grinding into a big rock. This time though Ramonda sees a pile of leaves and branches surrounding the small figure.
It looks up⌠and Ramonda letâs out a chocked sob.
âNoâ. She lets out. âNoâ.
The mirror clears instantly. No sign of it ever being a projector or whatever the heck that was. Ramonda wants to get up and leave. But she knows she canât. Her bodyâs too weak to carry her all the way back to the palace.
âKumkanikazi, ngobani ababantu?â
