Umariri Songhai, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Sunday 1st April, 2018.

The backyard of the house was heavily decorated with Fulani accessories by The_Haajarah. A platform was raised which was made specifically for the bride to sit on. It was covered with coffee material. Behind the platform were Fulani decorations consisting of fayfayi —a light plate-like woven item used for covering the top of calabashes—, gammo —a round hard item with a whole in the middle such that it resembles a doughnut covered with woven material used to balance a calabash on the head or on the floor to avoid falling —of small and large sizes, ludayi —a spatula like tool with a deep head and short handle usually made of wood specifically for serving cow milk— and small calabashes.

On the raised platform, there were traditional large round pillows known as timtim placed on either side. A little farther away, samira —deep silver plates usually coated in white paint and then designed with brown flowers painted on it— in numerous sizes were arranged together with some calabashes which had been designed with red and white.

Smaller timtim were placed on a carpet, surrounding the raised platform to serve as a place for the bridesmaids and groomsmen to sit. Then there were tables set at the left and right hand side of the raised platform, about seven of them on both sides, making a total of ten, each with five chairs surrounding it. Atop these tables were traditional snacks in calabashes ranging from goruba, magarya, kurna, taura, carbin malam among others.

The remaining space was kept empty and open save for the old women that were sitting on a large carpet getting set to perform the traditional kidan kwarya which was done by hitting calabashes that were placed upside down. Sometimes, the calabashes are immersed in water.

When Eesh stepped outside, her jaw dropped to the floor. The place looked better than she imagined. Even though The_Haajarah wasn't Fulani she still captured the Fulani theme required.

The event kicked off with the old women beating the calabashes and singing in Fulfulde while the bridesmaids danced the koroso. After some more dancing and singing, Nono was brought to Eesh so she could feed her husband as per tradition before anyone else got a taste of it.

The photography crew were set and ready to capture the moment. The camera was already rolling, taking videos of her every move. Some of the bridesmaids were also standing, taking videos and pictures of the moment.

Eesh got down from the raised platform she and Abulkhair were sitting on and bent down as low as her wrapper would let her. She took the calabash and opened it. Taking the ludayi, she scooped some of the Nono and carefully took it to Abulkhair's mouth. The latter opened his mouth and she fed him.

When Eesh dropped the calabash, she stood up and sat back on the platform. Turning to Abulkhair, she noticed some of the nono had stained his trimmed beard so she used her hand to clean it, smearing it in the process. She was about to stand up when someone passed her a serviette so she used it to dab on his beard and lips. They stayed in that position, each lost in the other's eyes. They weren't even noticing the camera men struggling to capture the moment from all angles.

And when Abulkhair leaned and whispered, "You look beautiful, just like a Fulani queen." in Eesh's ears, the crowd couldn't hold it in. Series of awws and coos flew into the air. They didn't know what Abulkhair had said but the slight smile on Eesh's face gave them away.

The event continued and it ended after an hour with the couple taking pictures with everyone there after they had danced.

°°°

The Arabian night was set to happen from 7pm to 10pm but it was already 8.30pm and Eesh hadn't even gotten dressed. The color of the day was any shade of purple. It was a females only event.

"Aishatu if you don't get up and get dressed right this minute zan manta za'a daura miki aure kwanan nan in miki dukan tsiya {I will forget that you're getting married one of these days and beat the living daylight out of you}," Uwani's mother said, hands akimbo. She was wearing grape abaya with bishop sleeves and boat neckline. It had rainbow colored rhinestones adorning the edge of the sleeves and the neckline. Grape veil was wrapped around her head Egyptian style. Her stretched hair was peeking out from the back of the veil which stopped around her neck.

"Here is your Abaya." Airah removed a lavendar Abaya from a hanger and dropped it together with its veil. Airah was wearing a mauve abaya with white rhinestones adorning the neckline and edges of the sleeves. Mauve leggings were peeking from underneath her abaya. According to her, she felt naked and couldn't risk going out without cover. Instead of rolling her veil like everyone else did, she tied in on her head because according to her, her silver chain needed to show.

Eesh took the Abaya and walked into the closet and came out minutes later. The lavender abaya complimented her skin tone so well. And then the oxblood and coffee rhinestones that covered the edge of the sleeves, the neckline, making double straight lines down to the edge of the abaya and then the edge too, lined with the rhinestones in this sequence shimmered in the nightlight. A lavender rope was used to tie the lower bust.

Asscher rainbow teardrop earrings were dangling from her ears. A rainbow beaded Lariat necklace dangled from her neck and rested on her bosom. The same ring, the one with two entangled As encrusted on it adorned her middle finger and a ten karat diamond ring from bozjewelry was on her ring finger. Luxe bracelet was clasped around her wrist. A lavender Louboutin D'orsay shoe was clasped around her plain feet.

"Sit." Uwani's mother ordered and Eesh grumbled something under her breath before sitting on the chair in front of the vanity mirror. Uwani's mother decided to ignore Eesh's grumbling and took a small baby comb from the top of the vanity then used it to comb through Eesh's tangled hair. A rubber band was what she picked next and then used it to pack the hair in a low ponytail.

"Bani gyalen nata {give me her veil}." Airah passed the veil and Uwani's mother rolled it Aisha Humairah style, allowing the packed hair to slip out of the veil. The action reminded Eesh of JKS and she started to wonded how her small mummy was. She made a mental note to call and ask about her later in the night.

"Keh! What are you thinking about?" Uwani's mother asked. She had been asking Eesh to smack her lips but the latter was sitting still on the chair with a faraway look on her face.

"Nothing. Can I please skip this event? I don't want to attend it." Eesh said and Uwani's mother waved her off then left the room. Airah followed suit leaving just Eesh and Uwani.

"What happened?" Eesh felt tears pricking her eyes so she closed them. She didn't know why she was suddenly feeling emotional. She suddenly wanted to bawl her eyes out. Maybe it's because she was remembering... She wiped her tears, wiping away the reminisce together with the tears.

All the while, Uwani was looking at her but didn't make a move to console her. If she wanted to talk, she would've done just that. But she didn't. And Uwani knew just her presence was enough for Eesh, so she sat back and kept quiet.

Uwani knew alot of things about Eesh no one else knew. Like that document and how she had acquired it without her father's influence. Not even Alhaji Muhammad was aware of the document and if he knew, Eesh would be forced to do something she didn't want to do. She only acquired the document to fulfill a promise, more like a last wish. And it was nothing more than that.

"You okay?" Eesh nodded and relined her eyes with Kohl. She added more peach lip gloss to her lips and adjusted her shoes.

"Let's go." Eesh said and Uwani nodded. They walked downstairs and to the back of the house where the Arabian night had already started. She knew they wouldn't wait for her. She was the bride yes but that didn't mean that they had to wait for her.

"Eesh! You're here! Come sit here." Airah patted the space beside her. Eesh smiled and walked there then sat down Indian style.

"Allahumma Yahdeeki Aisha," Uwani' s mother said, shaking her head before she went back to the story telling. It was a tradition that the mother of the bride had to tell 'the story' —a story of how their ancestors left Yemen to Maiduguri because of a throne that was meant to be theirs, but they didn't want it so they ran away. Then after telling the story, she'd read a poem she wrote for her daughter. All this had to be done in Arabic, then translated to Shuwa, before the bride would dance with her mother and sisters.

Since Eesh's mother, Hajiya Asma'u was dead, Uwani's mother had to take up the responsibility. And since Eesh didn't have any sisters, Uwani was going to do the dance with her.

"Aisha, ta'alee {come}." Eesh stood up and an Arabic song, Tarhanin Habibi started playing and Uwani's mother held Eesh's hand and started dancing with her. After almost an hour Uwani came and joined the dance. They danced and danced until their feet hurt. The rest of the ladies there, mostly the bridesmaids and Eesh's aunties stood up and joined the dance. They were few because if one didn't understand Arabic or Shuwa, preferably both, the person wouldn't understand a single thing that was happening.

After they had finished dancing, kebabs were served to them and they all sat on the throw pillows under the moonlight eating and chattering amongst themselves. Later on, Uwani's mother stood up and all attention yawed to her.

"هذا لأجلك أنت
عندما كانت أمك تحتضر
وضعت يدك في يدي وقالت:
"اعتني بابنتي لأنها لك"
والآن، بنعمة الله
أنا على وشك تسليمك لرجل
أتمنى أن تحترمه وتعمل من أجل الحصول على جنة منه
أعلم أنك لن تخيب ظني
أحبك يا ابنتي
الآن ترك لك أن تحب نفسك"

Uwani's mother smiled, looking at Eesh as she concluded. Eesh smiled a teary smile, the last sentence had tugged on her heart strings. She knew she was right, but she couldn't just let go. Letting go wasn't as easy as they made it sound. How could it even be easy? Healing from something as bad as death? No way!

"Jazakillah Maami. Ana uhubbuk." Eesh threw a flying kiss to Uwani's mother and the latter caught it and placed it on her heart.

Monday 2nd April, 2018.

"The place looks beautiful!" Amrah gasped. The theme was ebony and rice. There was a huge rice banner that said 'Eesh's bridal shower' in ebony large fonts and beneath it was '#KhaEsha forever' in ebony cursive font.

There were rice and ebony balloons tied on both sides of the banner. In front of the banner was a long rectangular table covered with rice table cloth an obsidian shimmery large four tiered cake, champagnes, mocktails, small cupcakes from Yasaf deserts and different candies. There was glitter all over the floor, Eesh even felt her heart squeeze when she remembered it was humans that were going to clean the place. The feeling disappeared immediately it came and she smiled again.

"I know right! The_Haajarah really knows her stuff." Airah said fetching confetti from a bowl and throwing it up into the air.

The large speakers by the side, coupled with some DJ stuff weren't very visible and would probably not show in the pictures. There were tags and an ebony sash which said 'latest bride' alongside obsidian facecaps which had each of the bridesmaids nickname written glittering rice paint on it was kept on a different table. One cap stood out tho, it was a rice colored one with glittering ebony writing which said 'KhaEsha'.

The bridesmaids were all wearing rice colored tops with black leggings while Eesh was wearing an ebony robe-like-gown with surplice neckline and bishop sleeves. There was a rope right below her bosom tied in a bow. Atelier Vedahno shoes were clasped around her feet and Luxe teardrop earrings were dangling from her ears. The ring with two As entangled was still on her middle finger, while a simple plain silver ring was on her ring finger. She looked beautiful.

"Let's rock this bridal shower!" Eesh shouted and Assurance by Davido started playing.

"You're the one I want oh, before my liver starts to fail.
You're the one I need oh, before cassava starts to hale.
If I ever leave oh, make water carry me dey go far away, far away.
So I am looking for a sister, Chioma my lover oh.
She get the dollar, she dey wear designer oh." They followed the song word by word, shouting at the top of their voices. When the song changed to Able God by Chinko Ekun, shouts followed before Airah and Amrah started dancing their best leg works. Eesh followed suit and soon they were all dancing.

"Baby shey you no dey close to me yeah yeah yeah.
Baby girl na you I want oh,
Baby shey na me want eh,
Make we dey one plus one na two yeah yeah yeah" They jumped and followed Wizkid's voice.

At the end of the bridal shower, Airah and Amrah had lost their voices and were limping because they danced in stilettos. Uwani was having a headache because of the way the music reverberated in the closed room. Eesh was smiling like a loon because that was the most fun she had in years. Mami was coughing because her voice was also cracking due to too much shouting or in her words, singing. Ruqayyah's thighs ached and the rest of the girls had posted every single part of it on their Snapchat and Instagram stories.