"I am intrigued by the premises of your proposition, Ezinwanyi. I shall think about it more deeply and get back to you about the decision I make."

Ugegbe was all smiles as she curtsied before the dowager queen. "Thank you so much, Your Majesty. I strongly believe this is a venture that will be beneficial to the palace. At the same time, we will be helping many women in this trade." She pronounced happily as the image of the woman she'd met at the market replayed in her mind's eye. She imagined the mother smiling with profits for her hard work and felt emboldened to further elucidate her perspective.

"I must say, queen mother, that I have noticed traders in this business do not have profitable trades as others dealing with food and needed commodities. Collaborating with them and employing their skills in this way will be very welcome, I am sure."

The older woman beamed from her throne of wood and fiery-coloured wrappers layered evidently to form a comfortable cushion. "I am impressed by how much work you have put into this, Ezinwanyi. You are passionate about this, and I commend you for your hard work. It is such endeavours that we need more of in this kingdom to move us forward."

Ugegbe felt her cheeks warm at the compliment. The dowager queen did not know that the services she was doing were a form of penance for her sins; apart from her penchant for being unable to stand still, watching those around her suffer, she needed a mode through which she could offer help and relief to others after she had brought too many people untold woes and sorrows.

Still, she'd come to take the woman as a mother figure and was pleased to hear such uplifting comments from her. Granted that she'd never felt a mother's love, Ugegbe liked to imagine that it was something like what she was currently experiencing. It was beautiful. She couldn't help but wish for more than she'd been given.

Once in a while, she thought wistfully that receiving a mother's approval must be lovely. She'd not been fortunate to have that, but she'd had a great father who she wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

Ugegbe threw her gaze at the ground as her eyes misted. She missed her father so much. It hurt to be so far away from him, unaware of how he was doing, clueless if his health was getting worse or not or if he was sick of loneliness as she was.

At least when she had been in Osisi, it'd been possible for her to gather information about her father's whereabouts and doings. She could send Zelunjo to pry details from her father's neighbours if Daa Agughalam was in an awful mood, refusing to grant her permission to leave the palace.

As Zelunjo did not owe as much as she did, and not to a wicked man, she was granted the privilege to move about and live more freely. In this way, she'd provided invaluable kindnesses to Ugegbe in the direst of times.

Now, such favours weren't in the slightest plausible. Ugegbe did not want to ponder the miles that spanned between her and her father. She could not take a walk and go to visit him. Neither could she check up on him to see how he was coping. It all made her want to cry and weep and wail.

The only notion that kept her from breaking down each home she missed her father was the reality that she deserved what was happening to bee. A murderer should not be happy. They should not be skipping around, joyful in their ways without repercussions for their sins.

Ugegbe reflected that perhaps this was one of her punishments. This pain eating at her had to be one of the ways she had to pay for murdering a man. She understood that nothing would ever measure up to or get up to erasing her mistake that day. She would pay for it all her life, and she'd made peace with that. If only she could come to terms with what she'd done so she could forgive herself just as readily.

"Ezinwanyi. Are you alright?" Ugegbe startled out of her reverie. She'd forgotten that she wasn't alone. Her audience was royalty, and she'd zoned out without thinking twice.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty." Ugegbe apologised profusely. "I fear I was lost in my head for a moment. I got swept off by your kind words, Your Majesty, that I thought of older times I spent with loved ones. I am sorry for getting carried away."

The queen mother laughed jovially. "I love that about you, Ezinwanyi. I love that you're always truthful. You could have decided to lie about why you hadn't been paying attention. But you didn't. You always are truthful."

Ugegbe winced at the newest set of praises to her name. She wasn't truthful. Nearly everything she'd said about her identity since arriving in Zoro was a lie. While there'd been glimpses of honesty here and there, most of it were falsehoods. In other words, she was leaving an elaborate and intricately spun lie.

"Thank you for your kindness, queen mother. It means so much to me." She chose to express her gratitude instead of correcting the queen. As it was, she had no right to do such that could be considered disrespectful.

"You are welcome, Ezinwanyi." The older woman, spotless in her immaculate wrapper, greeted happily.

Some idle moments passed by awkwardly. Ugegbe worried for the day to slip out of her fingers if she did not take ahold of it. It was enough of a concern for her that she deigned to ask for permission to leave. "Your Majesty, I would like to return to my chores of the day, by your approval, if you do not require anything else of me."

"In a moment, Ezinwanyi. First, there is something I must discuss with you."

Ugegbe's ears perked up at the prompt. "What might that be, Your Majesty?"

Tension gripped a waiting Ugegbe as the dowager queen's countenance turned grave. "The process to find a wife for the king begins in two days. You have heard of it, have you not, Ezinwanyi."

A sigh of relief fluttered beneath Ugegbe's chest as she nodded affirmatively. "Yes, Your Majesty. I have indeed become acquainted with talks of the event. I have heard it will all be grand."

"But, of course," the king's mother chortled, dark eyes sparkling like glittering stars. "There shall no less be expected for my son. He deserves the best."

"I am glad to hear that, Your Majesty." Ugegbe smiled softly at the pride the woman wore like a gorgeous cloak at speaking of her seed. It was the most beautiful thing to watch. She had the faint wish at the recesses of her mind that someday her father would be as proud of her too. It was all too saddening that she'd only brought him pain and hardships so far.

Lost in her thoughts, Ugegbe startled at the warm hand that found hers. The queen mother grinned at her reaction, and the notion occurred that the woman must have been one cheeky child when she was younger. She still hadn't lost her tendencies to make little troubles here and there.

"Ezinwanyi,"

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Ugegbe allowed her fingers to curl around the fragile fist affixed to hers.

"I want you to become one of the prospective brides for my son."

A quaking coughing episode befell Ugegbe at once. The dowager queen freed her hand, which she promptly clasped over her mouth, putting some distance between her and the throne. "I am so sorry, Your Majesty. Please forgive me." She apologised the moment her voice box could achieve the fit of speaking without cracking.

The dowager queen appeared to be amused, as she dismissed the plea for forgiveness. "Why are you so surprised, Ezinwanyi?"

Ugegbe tapped a finger against her throat, trying to calm herself as her senses rode into overdrive. Her pulse throbbed to a foreign rhythm none could hear. "I suppose I did not expect to hear that, Your Majesty."

The queen mother frowned slightly, eyes squinted at Ugegbe. "Why is that so, Ezinwanyi?"

"That is because..." Ugegbe shut her eyes and thought of a calm, peaceful scene: Osisi's largest river bank in the early harmattan morning before the village had arrived to disturb its rest. It brought her relief from her edginess, so she could construct a response for the royalty before her. "It is because I am a stranger in Zoro, Your Majesty."

"So?"

Ugegbe was nonplussed. She'd imagined the logic stacked against her were apparent without her needing to point them out. "Well, some might say that I am not well versed in the ways of this kingdom, queen mother."

"Then you must learn it."

Ugegbe was stunned into quietude. She'd summoned up a concern, and the dowager queen had supplied a reasonable solution to the problem. It seemed all so simple, but she knew it was definitely more complicated. She could learn all about the culture of Zoro, but she would still be deemed a stranger, an outsider in this kingdom.

She wished the queen mother would not place such a high expectation on her when her chances of being chosen as the king's bride were slim to none. Ugegbe hated disappointing those who believed in her, and she had a sinking feeling that this case would be no different, and that her effort would be fraught with failures.

That being said, Ugegbe had already laid out plans to become one of the prospective brides for the king. She knew the power that would come with being queen, and she was sure she wanted it. If she were queen, she would be able to save her father, and hopefully, pay off her debts as slave.

Ugegbe wished to be a queen.

"What if learning is not enough, Your Majesty? There is the possibility that even though I decide to join the maidens who hope to marry the king, that I be disqualified or treated unfairly because I am from Osisi. I fear that despite your good wishes for me, Your Majesty, that I shall not be victorious in this regard."

The queen mother tilted her head, fixing a keen stare on Ugegbe. "Is that what you are afraid of, Ezinwanyi? That you will not be accepted as a bride for the king, and consequently disappoint me?

Ugegbe was surprised at the accuracy with which the woman hit the nail on its head. It was all she could do to not gape with an open mouth. "Y-yes, Your Majesty. I do not want you to be dissatisfied with me. I am beyond grateful for your kindness to me, and I sincerely wish for your happiness, queen mother. And so, I fear that my actions will not be enough to please you."

"Ezinwanyi, my dear," the dowager queen beamed in that soft, gentle way that warmed a person from the inside out. "I want you to participate with the other maidens. Unless I were a seer, there is no certitude that you or any other maiden will be the chosen one. I can only promise you that I shall do everything within my power to ensure that each candidate for the king's wife is judged fairly and without any prejudice, regardless of where they come from."

Ugegbe knelt to thank the benevolent woman for her grace. "Thank you so much, Your Majesty. An extra mouth would not be enough to explain how much your goodness means to me. I promise to do as you have advised, and to do my best however possibly, queen mother."

"I look forward to that, Ezinwanyi. You are free to leave now."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Ugegbe strode out of the palace with everything else forgotten but one task on her mind: buying new clothes worthy of catching the eye of Zoro's king.
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