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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:17 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:25 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:33 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:37 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:41 pm
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"It is time, child. Time for you to leave here and learn; your body grows, but so too must your mind, or else you will never truly be grown, no matter how beautiful you become." The words seemed worn and familiar now, already spoken ten times before. The only thing that really changed was the child to which she must say goodbye.
"I gave you a name, once. I called you Mluziluzi; it is a child's name, and as long as you bear it, you will be a child in the eyes of the spirits, in the eyes of the Mother, and in my eyes as well." A child she loved with all her heart, but a child no less.
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:46 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:50 pm
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"You must leave home, and you must leave it now. Leave these lands without delay - do not turn to bid your brothers and sisters goodbye, nor your father nor anyone else. Go, travel as your paws take you, as the spirits and fate take you. Go and find your name." And please, please come home!
"When you have found your name, and only then, return here, to your home. Return to your pride and speak your name before us all."
This time, the words she spoke next were difficult not to choke on - because she knew that this promise she made now, as she had made to her other children, was one that she would soon have to fulfill for them. "If, after one year and one moon, you have not returned, know that we will say the rites for you, so that you will not roam as a ghost forever."
Zi continued to nod along with her mother's words, calmly accepting of them all. It wasn't that she didn't worry, didn't wonder what would happen to her while she was gone, how long it might take her, or any number of other things - she just knew it had to be done. It was the way things had always been, and would always be, regardless of who returned and who did not. Even if the former were forever outnumbered by the latter, it would not change. And who knew? Just because they didn't come back didn't mean that they were dead...perhaps, instead of names, they had found new places in the world.
But which would she discover?
"Now go, my daughter," Asali said shortly, to bring Mluziluzi from the thoughts she seemed to have become lost in. And with that, Asali'jua turned and disappeared, fleeing into the solitude of the deep swamp to weep.
And return to me, one day...please...
Mluziluzi's head snapped back up as she came to attention once more, just in time to see her mother's form retreating. After standing for another several moments, she sighed, and nodded once again - this time to herself. She could do this! She would go and find her name, or her place, or even her death...whatever the world held for her, she would find, and everything would be as it was meant to be.
"I'll be alright, Mother," she said to the empty air, "I know it. I can't see it, but...I know it." The adolescent bowed her head, and turning, left her home behind her.
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