“Are you fine?” He asked me.I nodded, even though I was not. My future was lying in Abu’s hands, someone I could not even stand. How could I be fine?“We’ll figure it out.” Yoké told me for the second time today. “And I know the perfect place to go that’ll help us.”“Where?” I asked him.“You’ll see.”He put his arm around me and we started walking, in the direction away from the mountains.“I went to see my father today.”“How is he?”“Very well. The princess released him.”“That’s such good news!” I exclaimed looking up at him, he didn’t look as happy as I expected him to be. “So you finally got to see his face again, hug him again?”“Yes.” Yoké smiled sadly. “He lost so much weight. Too much weight.”“He’ll get better. So where is he now? Are you taking me to him?”“No, I’m not. The princess asked her men to build him his own hut in their village. So he is fine now, but she said he has to start going to the farm like everyone else in their village or else the other villagers may st

At Ana’s hut, there were only three new people. And I was surprised at the two new people whom I saw there. Uma and Yoké were there. They were seated in the group with everyone else. I almost smiled when I saw them. The other new person was a girl. A young girl.Everyone stood up to greet Furah. After she greeted them they all sat down.“Thank you, Furah.” I said as she took a seat next to me. “I’m glad to see that we are joined by three more people. Could you introduce yourselves please?”“I’m Umani. But everyone calls me Uma. I’m 23 years old. I’m joining this uprising because I also want change in our village like everyone else here.”“I’m Ema, I’m Uma’s little sister. I’m 19. I joined because when my brother told me about the uprising, I knew that it is going to be good for our village. Also because I believe that my brother is always right.”I couldn’t help smiling. “Thank you Ema.”“I’m Yoké, I’m sure everyone already knows. My father was banished when I was only 14 years old. As

When I sneaked back to my own bed I couldn’t believe what had happened between us. I couldn’t believe it at all. I couldn’t believe that Yoké and I actually went that far. I couldn’t sleep again that night. It felt like a dream I would’ve never known how to dream. This was huge, if anyone found out about this, they wouldn’t even spare us a second.When we made our way up the hill I saw Yoké and Uma standing at the well. They were not drawing water, they were just standing there and talking with their buckets on the ground.I hoped that Yoké didn’t tell Uma what had happened between us last night. I felt so embarressed, almost as if everyone that looked at me could read the shameful thing I did.“Rena. How are you today?” Uma asked me beaming at me. He looked almost as if he would hug me out of happiness. Did Yoké tell him?“I’m okay.” I said.“You good?” Yoké asked me, he couldn’t look at me too.I nodded. “You?”“I’m fine.”Uma looked at us. “What’s wrong with you two today? Did you f

Later on Furah and I went to Ana's hut. After Faurah's greeting they all sat down. I noticed that the two girls that we had seen at the well were also here. I knew that it had to be Uma or Yoké that convinced them to join. "I thought about how we can try to win over the elders." Ana said once everyone settled down. "Tell us." We heard clapping of a child on the other side of the curtain. Everyone became agitated. Ana got up and went to the entrance. After a short muffled conversation with the person, she let him in. It was Chiko. A little child. "What is it?" Ana asked him. "The Chief is calling for Yoké to come to the hut." He said. "Why?" Yoké frowned. "I don't know." Chiko replied. "He said you must come at once." Yoké got up and passed me. Chiko followed behind him and they left the hut. I looked at Uma and Uma shook his head once, I got the message. He was telling me not to worry about that. "Ana, you were saying?" Furah asked her. "The best way we can win over an eld

When it was night time I didn’t go sleep. I stayed by the table. And after they all started snoring loudly I sneaked out to Gamu’s chamber.I woke her up.“Yoké managed to convince Uma to see you and talk to you. But it can only happen now because you two can’t have such a conversation at the well.”She was so excited. She even washed her face even though we were supposed to be careful.We sneaked all the way into the forest. She started giggling.“When last did I do this?” She asked.I didn’t respond.“When last did you do this?” She asked me nudging me and giving me a knowing look.I shrugged. “The last time you warned me.”She laughed. As if I had said something so funny. “I’m so sorry.”“It’s okay.” I said. I couldn’t smile with her no matter how hard I tried. But the darkness was working in my favor because she couldn’t really see my face.“Where are we going anyway?” She asked me hooking her hand into mine.I felt like throwing her off me. I tensed up and tried my best not to rea