CHAPTER NINETEEN - COMFORTING.

“You will tell them everything, won’t you?” 

Asi’s voice sounded low and accusatory, through Uloma’s already hazy, teary hearing. Asi held her shoulders and shook her slightly. Uloma, even in her state, knew that her sister was being gentle; if she wanted to hurt her, she would shake her with vigour. 

“Why are you still crying? This is why we don’t get along. You did something extraordinary. Rather than waking up like a warrior back from battle, you are weeping your eyes out. What is your problem?” 

Asi paused, her hand frozen on Uloma’s shoulder. 

“Will you say something? Stop crying already, for Death’s sake, what do you want?” 

Uloma sniffled and shook her head, still sobbing, her eyes swollen and red-rimmed from crying. She looked at her sister. 

“I won’t break down and tell them anything mother doesn't want me to tell, I promise.” 

Uloma managed, her voice hoarse. She sounded too syrupy to her ears.  

“Okay.” 

Asi answered her, still not moving her hand from Uloma’s shoulder. 

“So, you can leave me alone now.”  

Uloma fluttered her lashes, and tears slipped off them to join the hundreds of tears on her face. She sniffled, rubbing her runny nose with the back of her palm, and turned away from her sister. 

“Will you stop crying now?” 

Asi’s voice was gruff and demanding. 

“Leave me alone, please.” 

Her sister replied, her face still turned away from her. 

“Fine.” 

Asi answered gruffly and dismissively. 

“Everyone needs their space, I guess. It's embarrassing, bawling like a human child in front of another person. I can appreciate that.” 

She moved her hands away from Uloma’s shoulders, but did not move away. The seconds went by. 

“I will be fine.” 

Uloma broke the silence. She wiped her runny nose again, still not looking at her sister. It was awkward to show weakness in front of Asi, and Asi's attempt to be caring was equally uncomfortable. 

“If you need something.” 

She said and patted Uloma on her head, an awkward show of affection that almost made Uloma smile. 

“Okay then.” 

She said and vanished. 

“That was brutal to watch.” 

Abali stepped out from one of the shadowy trees. 

“Your family is less affectionate than mine sometimes, and we are literally the absence of daylight. You know, the happiest time of the day.” 

Uloma silently watched as he advanced towards her. He was covering up unease with talking; it was more awkward because he was not one for chattering. 

“How did you find me?” 

Her sister would have disguised her cosmic energy; Asi was almost impossible to locate. She wouldn’t have wanted her to be found either if she was trying to keep her from blabbering. Abli did his shrug, his muscular shoulder moving in sync with his pelvic muscles. 

“Even your sister knows this is where you go when you want to feel comforted. I made an intelligent guess.” 

He ran his hand through his shrubby hair, and his stomach muscles moved to imitate his movement. 

“You would like to be alone, I heard. I can go, if that is what you want.” 

He looked more vulnerable than she, who was crying. Uloma shook her head to let him know that she wanted him to stay. Abali nodded. He walked over to a tree and sat down. She watched him move silently, his muscular build a contradiction to the way his feet moved. Abali, even when his feet touched the ground, still moved as if he were floating. With his back against the tree, he reached out his hands to her, an open invitation. She knew what he was asking. Eligwe’s face flashed through her mind, but Abali was familiar and comfortable, and right now, she wanted to be comforted. She went to him, sitting between his legs, and she let him hold her. 

“We can talk or just sit here.” 

He told her, his throaty voice gentle. 

“Sit here.” 

She answered him. Guilt nibbled at a corner of her mind. Eligwe’s face would not go away. She forced him out of her mind and concentrated on Abali. He was the most solid shadowy being she knew. 

Uloma sat there, silent and still, with Abali, her heart racing through the events of the past months. Oge, Oma, the things that she was connected to. She had felt bad for them as they were being carried away; they killed and took away the death in all those people, and yet she had felt bad for them because she felt the sting and pain of being immobilised and suspended in the air. And then there was what she had done to the essence of the school. What was she? Her mother had said she and Oma were from the dark side of the universe, an unexplored region. How were they possible? How was she possible? And is Oma truly her, that existed outside of herself? Oma did not appear to be half of anyone; she was a being of her own, and she was incredible, even being so young.