CHAPTER FIVE - ASI.

Music can be heard from miles away, loud and rhythmic beats that the waist could sway to. A throng of students in their meticulously glad attire or appearance, for those Cosmics who did not wear clothes, marched excitedly towards the direction the music travelled from. A tall clay creature accidentally jostled aside Uloma. When he turned around to apologise, he almost lost his balance. 

“Sorry.” 

He muttered. 

“Watch where you are going.” 

Uloma snapped before she could stop herself. The distraught look on the boy’s features reminded Uloma that her anger was not with anyone in this realm. She flashed the boy a smile that had him doubling over and profusely apologising again. 

“I know, she has the family smile now, but that is no way to respond to the kindness of a Death.” 

Asi was her green self. She looked regal in the cloudy light from the night sky. She flashed a smile of her own, and Uloma wondered if she also smiled like that now. No wonder people apologised when she was trying to be friendly. It did not escape her either that her impatience and irritation were also a family trait. Was she turning into her sisters? Was she truly now a Death? 

“I would have said a cowrie for your thought if I cared the tiniest bit what your thoughts are.” 

Asiya broke through her thoughts, telling her. 

“You don’t have to say everything that is in your head, you know?” 

Uloma answered her sister, who shrugged and then shrugged again in time to the music. Her whole body was moving with her, Uloma chuckled, rolling her eyes. She looked behind her sister. 

“Where are your henchwomen?” 

“Sent them to the Heavens, to bring the finest palm wine they can carry. 

Asi replied, still doing her shoulder-shrug dance. 

“You know that will be considered contraband tonight. A Cosmic party does not allow outside things in. This is just for us, Asi.” 

“Stop whining, it's a bad look. Oh wait, that is how you actually look, tsk.” 

“Asi you can get in trouble if you get caught.” 

Uloma insisted. 

“So who will tell on me?” 

Asi asked, looking around her like she dared an onlooker to raise their hand and learn a hard lesson. 

“Asiya, you admitted to it in front of all these people.” 

Uloma reminded her sister, looking around her as well, at the crowd milling towards the direction of the music. 

“Let them tattle then.” 

Asiya shouted and started walking. Uloma fell in step with her sister reluctantly. Nobody in this crowd would be insane enough to get on the bad side of the children of the ruler of the realm, but even without their mother, Asiya, like all her sisters, was not someone you wanted to have on your back; she fought dirty. 

“Asi.” 

Uloma started as they walked, feet crunching against wet grass. She looked over at her sister, confident in her stride. Was Asi ever afraid? Their worlds were about to change. Was Asi bothered? She did not seem bothered. If she were, her tiny bare arms swung on her side almost in rhythm with the music. 

“Stop talking to me, I am not your friend.” 

Asiya eyed her. Uloma clammed up, hurt. What did she expect from Asiya, that Asiya would feel her fear? She scolded herself. Why would her sister feel her fear? Asi wasn’t the type to empathise. 

“Besides, this is not the place to ask the questions I can see rolling around in your head.” 

Asiya shouted. They were now closer to the music. It drowned and submerged everything around them. Uloma perked up, momentarily returning from her sulking silently beside her sister. Asiya paused in her walk and pulled Uloma forcibly to herself so that there was barely any space between them. Her strength did not surprise Uloma. The tiny sprite could pull down a tree, and she has many times. Uloma could feel her sister’s neck beads pressing into her stomach. Her dark eyes stared into Uloma’s. 

“Tonight immerse yourself, forget yourself, that drink is for you too. I heard about all the moping you have been doing.” 

Uloma was bending to her sister’s height, so why did it feel like Asi was the one towering over her? Asi’s grip on both her arms was firm. Uloma tried to shake her sister off, with no success. She gave in and let Asi hold her in place. It should be comforting that her sister was no longer fading, but the implication was more heartbreaking if anything, Asi was in this fight too. 

“You are one of the trainers. I heard.” 

Uloma whispered, looking into her sister’s eyes. Did she blame her for all of this? She had upturned their whole existence. Asi has had to go through so many changes because of her. Did she resent her? Uloma would not blame her if she did. She resented herself, Uloma thought, looking down on her painted feet.  

“I might as well, I am graduating thanks to you.” 

Asi had fully come into her powers. She was now a proper Death because of her. Those beings were somehow her fault. Everything that was happening was her fault. And Asi was the one it affected the most. All the deaths by those beings have become her responsibility. She was no longer fading because Emenikes were helping her manage her strength, but Uloma wondered whether her sister had just gotten good at hiding her pain.  

“I am sorry.” 

Uloma managed, feeling deflated. She would cry, but her eyes were taking a break from leaking. She sneaked a peek at her sister, willing her eyes to convey how sorry she felt. 

“As you should be, you should apologise every day to the rest of us for having the audacity to walk around with a face such as yours. And now you are making it worse by looking like wet grass. Tah.” 

Uloma narrowed her eyes at her sister, her emotions quickly switching into something resembling anger, but Asi ignored her.  

“Besides, I have to be responsible for you, apparently. You were stupid enough to allow yourself to be born a human, and it was because I was not watching over you. Try to get me off your back now.” 

“I don’t need watching over.” 

“Ah, stupid, I am trying to say I have your back, unfortunately for me.” 

She had not known how much she needed to hear those words from her sister, but here she was, lost for words. Hating and blaming herself all the time was becoming too heavy to carry. Only a Death would understand. Maybe that was why she was avoiding her friends. The guilt was eating away at her. All those souls lost forever — they were her servants—it was all her fault. Asi’s words made her feel seen. 

“You are welcome. Tell anyone that I was nice to you, and I will make good on my promise of torture, and in the end, I give you my word, I will find a way to kill you.” 

She flashed Uloma a smile and vanished into the fog. Asi was saying the same thing as Eligwe, but in an Asi-way, ‘this was their fight too’, Eligwe had said. If Asi, who was having to carry the weight of thousands of massacres quickly spreading through the realms, can still look like she always does, so could she, it was just for one evening. Uloma followed her a second later, determined to pretend it was only for one night. They all deserved this escape. One last Cosmic party, who knows when they will have the chance again? ‘If they will have the chance again,’ a voice in her head corrected. 

 Inside the fog was disorienting for only a second before it cleared up. In front of Uloma was a chaos of bodies moving and dancing. The music was deafening and full of so much life that your body tapped to it involuntarily, like a call of the siren. This was earth music, sound born from the very essence of existence. Uloma found her waist moving in tune. She could not help herself. Unlike the parties hosted by the Heavenlies, there was no showmanship here; everything was raw. Darkness did not blanket the space, how could it when creatures made of crystal bounced light off each other? Spiral spheres circled the space above their heads where the sky should have been; someone was tapping into the darkness in their universe to project it. Uloma did not stop where the crowd gathered. The popular children, which in translation meant the children of the ruling Cosmics, partied away from the party.  

She navigated moving bodies until she came to a wall. Stone placed on stone, arranged to look as if their realm grew rocks like it grows trees. Uloma followed the wall to an underground opening. From memory, she knew overhead was a bridge that led to a brook. The tunnel was dark and damp, and every sound made inside it was amplified. When she reached the part where the arch touched the ground, she did not go through to the opening that led out. Instead, Uloma tapped the wall twice. Before her, the opening rotated to reveal the other party. Only the children of legacy are allowed here or are invited. The secret of this place was very well preserved, and for the other children, it was a legend they whispered to each other, hoping to be allowed in one day. 

The music heard from here was less deafening. The tunnel’s powers filter sound. 

“Ulom, you made it!” 

Karim, with his bushy hair and silky skin, greeted her. His body was smoother than the surface of water, and he always joked that it was an insult to cover it up. Uloma gave him a curt nod and a stiff smile, but if he noticed, he did not show it. 

“Your friends are over by the granite.” 

He informed her, drinks slushed off his wooden palm-wine cup. Uloma nodded her thank you and moved in the direction he had pointed her to. Giggling girls, with waist beads that shook faster than the wind, pressed against each other. Their hips bouncing off each other's thighs marked her arrival, where her friends were gathered. Kama saw her first and disentangled herself from the other girls. 

Uloma felt her assault before it happened. Ekama pulled her into a hug and jiggled her around, so that their beads were clanging. Uloma eyed her giggling friend. Her eyes were dilated. 

“Ugh, you are sweaty and shiny.” 

Uloma complained. Ekama giggled and dragged her away further toward the granite stones where the rest were gathered. Their eyes were all dilated. It couldn't just be palm wine, could it? Uloma wondered as she allowed herself to be pulled along. 

“You cannot be just drunk; you certainly are something.” 

Uloma muttered. Ekama's usual sharp ears must have been on a break because she did not react to Uloma’s statement. 

“Ulo.” 

Abali greeted them when she reached them. She smiled to a chorus of Ulo from the rest of the party. Uloma nodded her head in response, noting how dilated their eyes looked. They were collectively giggling. Abali chuckled at her, like she had said something funny. She raised her eyebrows at him. 

“Are you okay?” 

She whispered to him, furrowing her brows. He chuckled in response and brought a finger to his lips. 

“Shush.” 

He told. 

“We are not telling.” 

Ekama giggled, and Uloma nodded. 

“Great, you are all under some type of spell.” 

“Nope.” 

They replied, chuckling. 

“Hey, you know what you should do? You should go and say sorry to Echi.” 

Ekama lazily stretched and folded herself into Abali, telling her. Uloma raised her eyebrows again at Ekama. Kama letting Abali hold her was new. She said he thought his arm and shoulders were some saving shelter, but here she was snuggling into him. This, she would use against them once she finds out what was wrong with all of them and how she can get them to snap out of it. 

“Go to him,” 

Ekama giggled, pointing towards Echi, who was watching her. She did not want to leave the two of them in that state, but Echi was looking at her with so much hurt that she could not bring herself to ignore him. 

“Don’t go anywhere, I will be right back.” 

She said sternly to her friends, but Ekama was already on her feet. 

“I want to dance.” 

She said petulantly, and Uloma sighed, shaking her head. 

“Fine, but I am keeping my eyes on you. On both of you.” 

She said, eyeballing Abali, who was now resting against a lynx. Uloma did not want to even ask where the lynx had come from, and Abali did not look capable of giving a coherent answer. 

“I will be back.” 

She told him as she reluctantly left his side to go to Echi. 

“Hey.” 

Ehi flared when she sat next to him. 

“I am sorry about earlier.” 

She told him, and he flared again, amber and blue. Uloma smiled. 

“You are right, I was being an angry goat head.” 

He covered her in an amber glow, and she sniffed at his new scent. 

“I know, you did not call me goat head, but that was what I was.” 

She told him. He nodded and flared. 

“I am sorry.” 

He could never keep his anger, she thought as she watched him gazing at her. What did he see when he looked at her? She wondered because all she ever did was mess up and make mistakes that affected the people she loved. As if he could read her thoughts, he flared, covering her in orange and yellow light. It tickled. 

“Stop.” 

She rolled her eyes, laughing when he tickled her even more with his flames. He smelled different, Uloma noted again, not his usual sweet smell. He smelled fruity. She should be making atonements, but he was Echi. He could never hold grudges, she thought, gazing back at him. Their reconciliation was abruptly interrupted by a hand pulling at her. 

“Come away.” 

Eligwe pulled on her hand, appearing from nowhere. 

“What?” 

She fought back, and Echi flared, engulfing her, his powers acting as a hold against Eligwe’s pull.  

“Let her go.” 

Eligwe warned. She had never seen him like this before. His pupils were dilated too, but they looked crazed and haunted. 

“Hey, what is your problem?” 

Sani piped, temporarily pulled out of whatever happy daze he had been in. 

“She does not want to go with you.” 

Sani shouted, shoving Eligwe. The dazed crowd was rousing now. Uloma saw Abali and Ekama striding towards them from the corner of her eyes and made a hurried decision to avoid any more scenes. 

“It's okay, I will go with him.” 

She assured Sani and Echi. Echi still held her in place.  

“It's okay.” 

She assured him. 

“I won’t be long, keep my seat warm.” 

She joked, trying to diffuse the taut scene. Ekama and Abali were drawing close. She had to leave now. She told herself before her friends escalated things. In their state, she could not be sure how they would react to Eligwe’s erratic action.  

“I am fine. I will be right back, okay?” 

She called to them before she walked off with Eligwe. She trailed quietly behind Eligwe, who looked like a storm as he stalked off. She saw Abali and Ekama reach the group, but she was already disappearing into the night with Eligwe. 

“What is wrong with you?” 

She shouted at him when they were far enough away from the others, but he kept walking, prompting her to follow silently behind him. She was fuming. She could shout at him again, but she thought better of it. She would see what this was about, why he was acting as if he had lost his mind, and decide on how to kill him.  

He stopped to face her when he decided that he had walked far enough. The fear in his eyes stopped the onslaught of verbal beatings she was about to unleash on him. 

“Are you okay?” 

She asked instead, searching his face, but he shook his head. 

“Earlier, Asiya suggested to the group that we take the fruit that relaxes you into a waking dream state, we fed it to Echi, and he...” 

He trailed off, staring into the night. She had not noticed his hands shaking, but they were. Uloma nodded. Echi’s powers, she knew the story. Abusing their powers was something that Cosmics did without a thought. Echi could burn anything and release it back into the air, stronger than when he had ingested it. And it does not take much to convince a Cosmic to do something as stupid as inhaling a hallucinogenic plant. The trouble was, it would make a Cosmic giddy, but the influence on a Heavenly would be something else entirely, breaking rules went against their nature. Also, how did Asi manage to get here to cause havoc way before her? And why had they not waited for her? It was so unfair that she was the only sober one in the group, just her luck. Eligwe was blinking at her like he was expecting her to grow an extra head. 

“It's only a hallucinogenic. Luckily, your Heavenly system does not allow for outside influence. It is why your mind is fighting you right now.” 

She told him, but he still watched her blinking rapidly. She wondered if she had grown an extra pair of heads for him. What was he seeing? 

“It will be out of your system in no time.” 

She told him slowly, counting her words. 

“Will you stay with me until then?” 

He asked desperately, his dark, dilated eyes begging her. Under the spiral glow of the firmament spiralling above them, he looked like one of Abali’s animals. She could see the thousands of ways she was about to regret this, but she could not just leave him here. He looked so helpless. 

“Here.” 

She said, sitting on one of the stones. He did not sit beside her. He sat on the grassy ground and rested his head on her thighs, surprising her. 

“Hey.” 

She meant to push his head away, but she couldn’t bring herself to. He needed a friend. He has been there for her when she needed him. She could be here, just this once, and it would not even begin to compare to what he had done for her.  

She let him lie there, the distant sound of music and laughter floating towards them. From nearby, a cricket creaked, and a frog responded with its croak. Above her, the firmaments swirled, a projection from a Cosmic's mind. For the first time in a month, Uloma felt at peace. She let her head drop back against the granite wall behind her. She had come to the party to escape, but this felt better. Eligwe stirred and snuggled deeper into her. Uloma allowed her hand to tap rhythmically on his back, in time with the music. 

She did not know when she started to realise that he was awake, he had dozed off after a while, and she had lost track of time. Listening to him breathe, against the sounds of the night and the distant music, had lulled her into a state of relaxation. Maybe it was Asiya’s kindness, or perhaps it was letting herself be there for someone for a change, but she felt less lonely than she had in a long time. 

“Thank you.” 

He said simply from her thighs, his breath tingling her exposed leg. He lifted himself to a sitting position. 

“How are you feeling?” 

She asked him, and he shook his head. 

“Does that mean that you are not sure?” 

She asked slowly. 

“Let's go back.” 

He told her, standing up, ‘Oh,’ she thought, why did she feel used? What had she been expecting? That he would wake up and they would have this heartfelt discussion? What has gotten into her? One understanding word from her sister and she was mush. She blamed the calmness of the night as well. She had been lulled into a false sense of safety and intimacy.  

He needed a friend, and she was there for him. He said thank you, so why did she feel like burrowing into the earth to hide? He offered her a hand to help her off her feet, and she contemplated slapping it away, but decided it would make her look petty. She took the offered hand, but he pulled her up too fast, too quickly, and she fell into him. 

“Oh, sorry.” 

She muttered. 

“I’ve got you.” 

He replied, holding her tightly, his hand wrapped around her waist. The seconds ticked away with the deafening strum of her heartbeat. His gaze drank her whole, and she felt herself melt into him, so when he pulled her even closer, he met no resistance from her. He leaned into her and covered her lips with his.  

Uloma did not pull away, her first kiss. 

“I have wanted to do that for a while now.” 

Eligwe whispered into her parted lips and kissed her again. She kissed him back this time without hesitation.