Diamond in the forest Episode 1 & 2

Diamond In The Forest
DIAMOND IN THE FOREST
( EPISODE 1 )
From the writer of being Mrs Spence
 
 
“Ekaro Mami…the Oba’s men
are here… they brou-ght a
message from The
Oba…
“Haaa, hope all is well…
“I hope so Mami, they are
probably here to remind us
about the first moon
light dance where the princess
will chose a personal maid and
two attendant
for herself…
The woman took her wra-pper
and tied around her w@!st
before going outside
to attend to the men.
Remi went to the kitchen and
picked up her water Calabash,
she called her
younger brother to join her so
that they can go to the stream,
she has
wished to hear what the king’s
men c@m£ for but she nee-ded
to fetch water
for the house and also for her
grandmother who lives not too
far from them.
One of the king’s chief guard
who has picked interest in her
was among the
men that c@m£ to the house,
she wanted to avoid him
seeing her,
Despite he has made his
intentions known to her in the
last festive dance, he
has walked up to her after the
dance
“You are beautiful and you
dance well too, my name is
Leja, I’m the Chief
guard here…
“Thank you Leja, my name is
Remi…Oluwarem
ilekun, that’s my full name…
“Remi, that’s a beautiful name,
is that your sister…I mean the
girl you c@m£
in with… she’s not much of a
good dancer, maybe you can
teach her…or she
won’t be able to p@rticipate in
the next festive dance…
“Her name is Nike, she’s my
step sister…I will teach her,
plea-se don’t
exclude her from the list of
maidian who will dance next
season…
“Alright, I won’t if only you will
teach her to be a good dancer
like you
are…I like you Remi…can I get
to see you tomorrow evening
un-der the oak
tree close to the market
place…I will be there waiting
for you…
“Sorry Leja, I can’t, I’m not
allowed to keep male friends
for now, Mami
said there’s time for everything
and the time for me to start
keeping male
friends has not come yet…
“Okay Remi, I respect your
wishes, I will patiently wait
until you are re-ady…
just don’t forget that some one
cares de-eply for you and don’t
fail to let me
know if you nee-d anything…
“That’s so kind of you Leja,
goodbye..
Nike has refused to talk with
her on there way home
because of Leja, as
they got closer to the house,
Nike turned to Remi angrily
“Who do you even think you
are, because everyone was
cheering at you at
the dance floor you decided to
go and sell yourself to Leja, I
liked him first
before you but he didn’t even
look at me when I was dancing
rather his eyes
was on you… you know I like
him yet you went there to
s£dûç£him so that
you can have him… you and
your witch mother plan….
“Shhhh… don’t call Mami a
witch, leave her out of this,
Nike, you can
become a good dancer if only
you can come and practice
with me, I will
teach you some good steps,
and as for Leja… I’m not
interested in him… I
have no interest in him at all, I
have made that known to him
alre-ady… you
must not be bitter all the time
Nike…
They were still talking when
Nike saw her mother coming, it
was a good
opportunity for her to impress
her mother who usually tell
her to attack
Remi, and she should not allow
Remi to win her in anything
Nike suddenly sl@pped Remi
who was still talking, Remi
held her cheek in
shock, Nike did not st©p there
she started raining insultive
words at Remi,
who stood and wondered
what she did wrong.
When Nike mother walked up
to them, Remi was about to
complain to her
about her daughter’s behavior
but the woman hushed her to
keep quiet
“Nike my daughter, can not
just attack you, when she’s not
mad, you and
your witch mother has always
been jealous of me and my
daughter, that
was how she bewitched my
husband and made him to love
her more than
me, is a good thing he ended
up in the grave, the gods
fought for us and
stro-ke him dead because he
was displea-sing me to plea-se
your wicked
mother, let me tell you
something… no matter what
you people do The gods
eyes is on us I will surely win,
Nike Will always be ahead of
you no matter
what..you and your mother
will not succeed. daughter of a
witch…
 
Cont’..
She and her daughter walked
away, leaving Remi standing
When Remi got home she
complained to her mother
“I don’t un-derstand why they
always see us as enemy, we
are not in any
competition with them, when
your Baba was alive he does
everything
equally, if he buys one wra-pper
for me he will also buys one
wra-pper for
her, he tried not to show
favoritism to any one of us yet
she was never
satisfied…iya Nike will see her
daughter doing wrong but will
not call her to
order… you were born in the
month of (August) while Nike
c@m£ after a
month, (month of October) so
by right you are her elder
sister… for
everything they have been
doing to us (God will judge).
Remi remembered her last
fight with Nike as she walked
along the bush path
with her brother, her Calabash
was placed safely on her head
as she greeted
other women coming from the
stream that morning, she has
tried to avoid
Nike and her mother ever since
their last fight, Remi who
always listen to
her mother’s advice has kept to
herself and kept away from all
trouble.
“E ku aaro, (morning greetings)
plea-se hope all is well
my name is Leja, peace be unto
your household, greetings from
the king we
are going round the whole
village, reminding people of
the coming first moon
dance, where the princess will
chose her personal maidian…
plea-se info your
daughter to be at the palace on
time that day because the
event will be
starting early in the morning…
(thank you)
(Thank you ma)
They turned and went to the
next house belonging to iya
Nike and knocked,
Nike who has being watching
Leja speak to iya Remi (Remi’s
mother) from
the window with her mother
gets more angry with every
minute that pas-ses,
she was relived as Leja
approached their hut, she
quic-kly ran out of The
house but Leja did not pick
interest in her he just greeted
them and gave
them the message, as he tried
to leave iya Nike said to him
“Leja, oko mi..se daadaa ni o
wa? (Leja my husband, hope
you are fine)
“Mo wa daadaa…ese. (am fine,
thank you)
“Sometimes, you can come and
visit us. My daughter is fond of
you, you are
strong and the gods blessed
you with good look, I also ha-rd
that you have
acquired another large plot of
land close to the steam…you
are doing well for
yourself…not all Young men of
this land are well doing as you
are…you have
the Oba’s ear…
“The piece of land was giving
to me by the Oba, after I saved
the prince
from drawning at the oku river
where he went to swim, I
didn’t acquire the
land rather it was a gift but I
appreciate your kind gesture..
“So a whole “omo oba” (king’s
son) can not swim, that’s
unfortunate…
thanks to the gods that you
were there to save him… what
do you say to
my request of coming around…
“I will, on one condition…if
Remi will be around and agree
to sit beside me,
then I will honor your request,
… and by the way Remi is a
very good
dancer, I asked her to teach her
sister, Nike some fine moves
that is the only
way Nike will be selected
among the palace maidians…
she nee-d to start
practicing now with Remi…
before the said day arrives…
where’s Remi, I
have not seen her around..
“You should have asked her
mother where she s£nt her to…
she sometimes
s£nd her out to go and give
herself to other men just for
them to have food,
she can even sells her daughter
for a loaf of bre-ad. (believe me)
they are not
what they appear to be.
(that’s not true) but not
withstanding maybe I should
bring some money for
them since that’s the reason
Remi goes to meet other men,
if I give them
enough money they will have
enough food… that’s what i will do. (have a
nice day, good bye)
He walked out, leaving them
standing and wondering what
kind of man he
was
“You shouldn’t have told him
that iya mi, it will seem like we
hate them and
that will push me far away
from Leja, I don’t want that…
now look at what
you caused, they have gotten
undeserved money from Leja,
that money that
Leja intend to give them was
suppose to be ours if you have
acted well…
“You are right (my daughter) i
acted without thinking but
don’t worry we will
still win, from now onward just
pl@yalong with Remi, pretend
to be sorry
and tell her to teach you the
dance, because Leja said that’s
your only way
to the palace so do everything
you can do to enter there…
Leja c@m£ back and gave
Remi’s mother money but the
woman rejected it,
Leja pleaded to her to accept it
if not for anything but for her
children, Remi
and her brother, he did not tell
the woman what Nike’s
mother said, he kept
pleading until she finally took
it
Few days later Nike c@m£ to
Remi and pretended to be
sorry as she ask
Remi to teach her how to
dance and Remi was glad to do
that
They kept practicing every day,
non st©p as Remi tried to make
sure that
Nike gets the dance moves
Right but Nike was a slow
leaner and it was
difficult teaching her but Remi
was determined to make her
get itll
The day finally c@m£ and Remi
prepared early in the morning
and left with
Nike to the palace
They arrived on time with
other young girls and boys, the
dance floor was
getting crowded as more
people kept coming,
They later changed into their
dance costumes.
Remi took Nike to one corner
and asked her if she still
remember all the
dance moves, she told her how
to throw her legs and w@!st
and how to
Master all the move
The king’s only son was
looking out from his window
and saw two girls
practicing their dance moves,
he picked interest in one, she
was beautiful and
a good dancer as she teaches
her second some dance steps,
he doesn’t know
who the young beautiful girl is
but he was determined to find
out.
After the dance he Will ask
Leja, who seem to know
everyone, who the girl
may be.
When Remi and Nike was
returning to the dance floor
Leja saw them and
c@m£ to Remi
“E jowo Remi, (excuse me)ikini
irele mi (my kind greetings to
you)
He walked to a quiet place
with her leaving Nike to join
others, Nike was
really angry as Leja took Remi
away, jealousy was written all
over her but
she tried not to show it as she
smile and walked away.
Leja kept on greeting Remi
with full smile on his face
“Ko ye mi… (I don’t un-derstand)
is there a problem… Hope we
are not in any
trouble with this your early
morning greetings…
“Ra ra o (not at all) I just
wanted to wish you luck and
to tell you that you
are beautiful and hope you still
have me in mind concerning
my request…or
maybe we will talk about it
after the dance….yoo dara o
(good luck)
“Ese… thank you.
She walked back to join the
others, the prince saw Leja
talking with her
from his chamber window, he
wondered what Leja was
telling her
No one has ever caught his
attention like The strange girl
did, it wasn’t
because of her beauty alone
but there was something else
about her and he
was determined to find out.
it was a good thing that Leja
knows her, getting to her
won’t be difficult
because Leja will help him out
with her every detail.
fee
 
( EPISODE ,2
 
Remi walked into her
grandmother’s hut with a pot
of water secured on her head,
her grandma wasn’t around,
she brou-ght down the water
from her head and poured it
into another pot
She walked to the backyard
shouting her grand mother’s
name, the old woman who
was picking firewood in a
nearby bush ha-rd someb©dy
shouting and knew it must be
Remi her granddaughter, so
she called back asking her to
come down to where she was
Remi got to where her
grandmother was and saw her
gathering sticks for fire, she
greeted
“Good evening grandma.
welcome my beautiful
granddaughter
“You praise me too much iya…,
I was wondering where you
might be this evening when I
c@m£ in and you left your door
open again…
“There is nothing in the house
that can be stolen, you know I
always leave my door open…
be it when I’m far or near…
anyb©dy that wants to steal
should go right ahead…that’s if
they see anything to even
steal…
Remi joined her to gather the
sticks, which will serve as a
firewood.
I did not see you yesterday
we went to the palace to dance
Ooh…I remember….how was
the dance
“it was good…but the princess
has not make any pick yet,
they only ask few of us to
write down our names and few
other things about us, they
want to do a background check
before anyone could be taken…
“I remember when I was
young…I use to be the best
dancer in those days…we will
dance from the market square
to the king’s palace….i was
never tired…without me the
dance group is not complete
they will wait until I arrive and
I’m always stationed in the
front…I danced so well and
almost ended up with the
king’s son but my father
refused because I was alre-ady
betrothed to be married to
your grandfather and your
grandfather was a good man,
tall and handsome, he was
guard in the king’s palace and
later bec@m£ a hunter before
he died…
“You must have loved him very
much Iya… to have turned
down a whole prince
proposal…
“I didn’t turn it down because
he did not come straight to me,
he s£nt someb©dy to my father
to inquire about me, and my
father told them that I was
betrothed, and if I was asked
to chose him and your
grandfather, I will chose your
grandfather over again, I
would have said no to the
prince because he was alre-ady
married with two wives, I
would have ended up as his
third wife, but your
grandfather was never married
and did not marry again after
me, even after child bearing
was difficult for me, it took us
time to conceive your mother, I
even advice your grandpa to
take another wife who will
bear him children but he
refused and I later got
pregnant with your mother.
Whenever he comes back from
hunting back then he will call
me “Arewa…oko re ti pada si
ile (Arewa, your husband has
returned) wa, je ka jo (come
let’s dance) hahahaha..he was
always saying that whenever
he comes back and I will dance
to make him happy before
bringing his meal, he like
ewedu and amala that was his
favourite…his death was so
painful that I still feel lost in
my own thought just
imagining myself dancing for
him and cooking his favourite
food with bush meat…I miss
him…you were little when he
died so you didn’t get to really
know him but he was a good
man and also strong too…
grandma you truly love
grandpa, is sad that I didn’t get
to eat any of those bush meat
he caught…plea-se show me
how you dance in those days
Remi watch her grandma laugh
before dropping the sticks in
her hands, she started singing
one of those old song and
throwing her legs and w@!st,
Remi was cl@pping and also
laughing while her grandma
dance , she was filled with live
and was still strong even at old
age, she later st©pped
“how is your mother…
“she is fine Iya Iya…she was
peeling cas-sava with Dami, my
brother, which she plan to use
for fufu…she is not so active
like you…what was her
childhood like
“hmmm…she use to be very
lively when she was growing
up, despite she wasn’t a good
dancer and ha-rd ly as-sociate
with people but she was a
good child, she loved your
father but the gods did not
bless them with a child on
time, they waited for years
before you father decided to
marry iya Nike, it was during
then your mother found out
she was pregnant with you
and within months Iya Nike
also conceived but your
mother gave birth to you first,
your father loved your mother
but he died unfortunately ,
your brother was still small
then , his death was
unexpectedly but I know who
is responsible but is all in the
past, let God’s will be
done.Olorun a se idajo won
(God will judge)
The old woman pause and
watch as Remi pu-ll-ed at a dry
stick which was stuck on the
ground, she smile and shakes
her head
don’t be lazy. pu-ll it ha-rd you
are stronger than you think
Oluwaremilekun, you are just
like me when I was at your
age, a beautiful dancing strong
girl, you are not like your
mother because she easily get
into battle with emotions, she
is so emotional, and like
keeping to herself…you have
power…you don’t know how
much power you have until the
time comes, and when the
time comes make sure you use
it well and for good thing, no
matter what people may do
don’t allow evil to take over
you or it will be disastrous…but
with what I see in your eyes I
know you will be pu-ll-ed down
by anger and revenge because
that’s your only weakness…
“grandma plea-se speak more
slowly. I don’t un-derstand just
tell me what you mean, you
usually say strange things like
this to me anytime I come
around but I seriously don’t
un-derstand
“oti ya to ju (you are very
special) you have power my
beautiful granddaughter you
will not un-derstand now until
the time come believe me,
mmm…ohun gbogbo yo dara
(it will be alright)
“my step mum hates us, Nike
fought me again yesterday on
our way back from the dance…
she said I wanted to take Leja
from her, Oba esho, (kings
guard) the one I spoke to you
the last time that want me, but
I don’t want him, I don’t feel
anything for him, I have
explained myself severally but
she doesn’t believe me, after
the dance yesterday Leja c@m£
to me…just to congratulate me
…that I dance so well and on
our way home Nike refuses to
talk to me, and she really
dance well too, I thought her
and I was glad to see her doing
fine, when we got close to the
house she started calling me
names and she sometimes calls
Mami bad names and I don’t
like that…if I complain to her
mother…she will support
Nike…I just wish Leja will even
leave me alone…and go for
Nike…I’m tired of the constant
fight between us, when I
thought we are getting along
she will just switch into
another mood…unexpectedly,
Con’t
“otito (is okay) is not Nike’s
fault…is her mother…iyawo
babai koirira iya re (your step
mother hates your mother)
oburu gan (she is very wicked)
I pray to the gods to guide you
because history is about to
repeat itself but in a total
different way, whatever a man
sow so sha he repe. God will
judge
They kept talking until they
finished gathering the
firewood, Remi tired it up and
carried it to her grandma’s hut,
she set the fire before coming
to meet the grandma who was
seated outside the hut
“What do you want to cook, let
me help you and prepare it
“egusi ati eba ( melon soup
with cas-sava meal) check inside
the basket that is hanged over
the fire place you will see
everything in there and
remember to tell your mother
to give you some fufu (cas-sava
meal) so that you can bring for
me, I like the way she prepares
her fufu, I don’t have strength
this days to make mine, maybe
whenever you are free you can
come and help me prepare
mine, I just finished the last
one you made for me with
ewedu soup
After Remi finished cooking she
ate with her grandma before
returning back to her house
She thought of what her grand
mother had said earlier while
she l@yat her mat in the night,
she wondered what she meant
by history was about to repeat
itself but in a different way,
Remi thought of Leja being a
guard and her grandfather was
also a guard before he bec@m£
a hunter, does it mean she will
end up with Leja who she
doesn’t feel anything for, the
prince ones fell for her
grandmother but she was
alre-ady betrothed to be
married,
“but the prince doesn’t even
know if I exist, he doesn’t
know me, even if he does am
only a commoner, there’s
nothing to my name, the
Prince has his league and clas-s
of royal women, I don’t belong
and I’m comfortable in my
world, someb©dy like me can
not even get close to him,
there are other good dancers
among the maidens of the land
not just me” Remi thought
within herself
She knows her grandmother
has some strange power and
she usually say things she
doesn’t un-derstand, she is
believed to be a diviner, she
was close to her grandmother
than her mother, all the things
she said rings in her ear that
night until she fell asleep.
The following morning Leja
and his guard c@m£ to inform
her that she was chos£n to be
the princess personal maid and
Nike was among the four girls
chos£n to work for the princess
in the palace, but Remi was
going to be her personal maid
which makes her higher than
the other maidens, she will
serve the princess for three
years and also live in the
palace for this period of time.
The prince asked Leja about
the strange beautiful girl that
caught his attention but Leja
did not give much details to
him, he was not happy that the
Prince has eye for Remi, the
beautiful maiden that he loves,
He will do anything to make
sure the Prince will not have
her, Remi was coming to live in
the palace he wondered how
he will prevent her from seeing
the Prince, he wanted to have
Remi all to himself and doesn’t
want anyb©dy competing with
him on that, not even the
Prince.
The Prince ha-rd that the young
maiden that caught his
attention has being picked to
become his sister’s personal
maid, he was alre-ady thinking
of how he will see her again
until the news broke out, the
prince was really happy as he
looked forward to having Remi
all to himself.
 
 
TBC…