RITES OF PASSAGE.

I was brought up believing widowhood isn't the only path to power for women.

Staring into this fragile 'pot of truth', with it's deadly murky concoctions, I realised, the only thing that stood between what I wanted and what I could achieve was the 'TRUTH', the fickle truth, how little it would serve me in this bleak situation.

Akello and Helen lay lifeless on the ground, the 'truth' of this pot had damned them, a fate I'd soon suffer. I brought the pot to my mouth, ready to drink.

"STOP." Labejja, the Chief Elder halted me. He was barrel-chested with a face like candle grease.

"She's Dead." Someone shouted hysterically. It was Akena, brother to Anena, the soon-to-be fourth wife of the Rwot. A crowd gathered round him, he explained his distress, after much effort to calm him down-"The pots were all poisoned."
That explained how Akello, Helen and now Anena perished.
Pointing at me, Akena added "She did all this, she murdered the Rwot too."

Everyone was bewildered and astonished. They called for explanations.

No explanation was needed as far as the Council of Elders was concerned-I'd always posed a passive threat to them, this was one way of getting rid of me. I was seized by the council guards.

"I'm INNOCENT. I'm INNOCENT." I shouted.

"If not you, then who?" Labejja asked.

I didn't know.

"TAKE HER AWAY." His tone something of a chortle.

"What will they do t'me?" I asked.

The guard escorting me, returned in condescending tone. "Stone you, to death."

I fainted at the brutal thought of what lay ahead of me.

***

I awoke to the vague smell of death-me.
I was chained to the oldest, shrivelled mango tree, one whose fruit was said to be bitter-a poetic setting for my 'justice'.

The noon sun was resplendent as always, there was a rustle of leaves as the promiscuous winds swept through the courtyard, carrying with it my fears.
Everyone paid attention, except Onen, that coward!. I thought about the bleak future, with Onen as Rwot.There was no way I'd let his plan bear shape.
I'd to unravel all this.

My mind wandered to where my legs couldn't, and everyone else's objectivity wouldn't-THE PAST THREE DAYS, where it all began

It was a question of Why, not Who. . .

This mysterious murder of Rwot Awich, the cultural head of our village, my husband, remained a mystery only because it was too plain, every pertinent detail was hidden in plain sight; for instance the mutual distaste I, Akello and Helen had for each other, or Onen's hate for his brother- Rwot Awich-he wasn't pleased with their father choosing Awich over him. He was always the weaker of the two brothers, and with that came the inability to accept what his faults were.
There was on event though that stood out in my mind; Helen's affair.

It'd seem that 'Helen's Affair' was the key to all this. It was the one event that had marred this whole harvest season. Customarily, no marital relations were to be maintained, for this was a time of 'reaping' not 'sowing'. Helen, the Rwot's obese second wife, 'sowed' elsewhere. She was sighted with another man, whose unknown identity had sparked a row of rumours all over the village. Such 'shame' and scandal, however, didn't rest on the Rwot's head- it was our duty as his wives to keep each other in line.It was up to us to find out who this person was and help out back the Rwot's name in high esteem.

"I will not tell." Helen retorted, shrugging as me and Akello asked her who she'd been with.

Akello, in her motherly grace beckoned. "Please, you have to, it is the only way we can protect ourselves and the Rwot's honour."

Helen didn't badge. It was a war of wills, and she was winning.

I slapped her, hard across the jaw, and demanded. "TELL US WHO HE'S." I was almost surprised with myself, but my patience had run out, I wasn't going to take any punishment from the Council at her expense.

"Alanyo, No!" Akello protested my cavalier methods.

It wasn't my place to hit her, Helen had seniority over me, I was only the third wife.

Helen broke her silence, though. "I will not tell you Who, but Why. . .When last I was with the Rwot, he shared a secret, can I trust you?"

There's no solemn an oath as that between co-wives. We nodded in its respect.

She continued. "The crown is in danger. The council has lost all it's novelty, and the Rwot has lost its favour. They question his resolve to lead them to a favourable place, they feel he has grown weak and corrupted."

"What's a 'favourable place'?" I asked.

"One that doesn't involve your input-they're weary of you especially."

"Why did he tell you, and not me. I am his senior wife." Akello returned in an agitated voice of meaningless jealousy.

"He felt I could persuade the elders-seeing as Labejja is my father." Helen almost gloated, despite the 'oath' to protect our husband, petty feminine bickering still had it's hold on all of us.

Helen narrated how she tried to do the Rwot's bidding, Labejja wouldn't hear any of it.
"The more I pleaded His case, the worse it got. Hence, I sought other means, and only one other person could offer any help- that is the WHY.
But I failed him, I should have done more. I should have accepted Labejja's terms. That way I wouldn't have brought shame upon you all." She whimpered.

"Do not say that. Alanyo is one of us, accepting his terms would not have been right." Akello assured.

I was the core of his terms, but Akello wouldn't let Helen tell me what the terms were. Despite schooling and everything, I still envied them, they represented a deeper symbolism of womanhood than I could ever summon. They wore their ovaries on the outside.Mama always said something like that to describe women stronger than her, women she admired.
The only way I'd get them to talk was if I shared my secret with them.
"I'm barren." I intimated.

They weren't surprised, it seemed I'd only confirmed their foregone conclusions.

"Is that why Labejja wants me gone?." I asked.

Helen answered. "They do not know about your 'condition'. They are more concerned with how you are influencing the Rwot to undermine all the liberties they are accustomed to."

Akello added. "They are not fond of the way you lash your tongue against them. And No, Labejja doesn't want you gone, he just wants us to mistreat you in a way that would break what he calls 'your stubbornness', like they did in the old days."

We sat in the courtyard discussing all the changes that had occurred since my arrival. I defended all my actions and empowerments. They approved, but were more concerned about their standing with the Council, than about what's Right.
They however, protested against me leaving. I'd no intention of leaving, neither did I, of staying to watch as my being valuable to them, becomes their undoing.

The next day we met again. Helen seemed more distraught than we last saw her.
She explained. "Rwot sent for me last night. He wasn't pleased with the way I was handling the Council. They are pushing their Council meeting to next week, and he thinks thats when they are going to try and give the crown to his brother.
I tried to explain myself, but this is what happened."
She lifted her Kitenge blouse and revealed to us bruises on her ribs and belly.
Much effort was put in hiding it. I thought about it a while, abandoned the thought, and helped comfort Helen's cries.

Helen composed herself and explained.
We didn't believe anything she said, but neither could we dispel it, for the 'rumour' was like a spring, one day, it'd bubbled from the earth, without anyone ever knowing where it came from.

"NO." Akello fervently protested, adding. "Rwot would never do such a thing. He may be many things, but not a MURDERER."

"Onen wasn't always this way." Helen enthused, in a tone of ardour.

"Is it Onen you were with. Is he the one who 'confirmed' this rumour of the Rwot killing his father for the throne?" I asked.

"Yes."

"And you believed him?. . . This is much worse than I thought. You've just sealed all our fates."

"Why do you say that?" Akello asked.

I explained that Onen wasn't as stupid as he looked. He must've been the one persuading the Council to abandon the Rwot. Helen was insecure that she'd easily be lured by him, in order to make it look like the Rwot was incapable of handling his own house. Then he told Helen everything, knowing well she couldn't keep a secret. Helen's bruises were not real. He wanted to scare us into defending ourselves when we saw the Rwot next. "He wants the Rwot's crown."

"I CAN keep a secret. An d, we didn't do anything wrong, I wouldn't undermine the Rwot like that. No one ever gave me a chance to explain." Helen defended.

"Really? How's it that, I'd a nice chat with the Council about my infertility. How did they get to know that?"

"I, too saw the council in respect to my forbidden knowledge of The Rites of Passage. Who did you tell?" Akello demanded.

"I DID NOT TELL." Helen swore, sprung to her feet and walked away. We soon followed.

The next day, Akello and I met. She'd been with the Rwot and was equally distraught, saying the Rwot was very upset with something that WE had done. She told me to be careful.
I asked if He'd hit her too. She said He'd never do such a thing. "Helen must have done something to really upset him." she added.

That night with the Rwot wasn't the best. We quarrelled about Helen,and this whole affair, but passed the rest of the night in peace. The morning, though, came with it's own bizarre share of turmoil-the Rwot was dead, poisoned.

Despite me being the last to see Him alive, all of up were accountable-it was custom, we all had to subject our guilt/innocence to the 'Pot of Truth'. A ritual where the accused are required to drink from a pot whose sacred waters can be fatal to those that are guilty,innocence was judged by one not dying from drinking the pot's sacred waters.

The council observed as we took the pot hesitantly. Akello was first, confident and composed, sure of her innocence. She repeated to me to be careful.

We held our breaths as she drunk from the pot, moments later she grabbed her stomach writhing on the floor. . .in a few seconds she was dead.

"NEXT." Labejja motioned callously.

"You can trust me with your secret." I held Helen's hand. I frightened her even more.

"The snake." She cried as she drunk from the pot. She died moments later.

***

The sun's fierce rays made me dizzy, much like my futile recollections. It wasn't about what I knew, but what I could prove. I studied Onen, nothing came from that. I was wrong about him.

The snake? What did Helen mean? was it someone with a snake's mark?

It surely wasn't Onen, he didn't have the brains to do all this, who else had motive, who else. No one stood. I resigned myself to my fate as the angry crowd pelted me with dirty looks.There was on hope.

I retorted. "Him without sin, cast the first stone."

Everyone but Akena hesitated. He picked up a rock. Right before he cast it, Onen dropped on the ground, dead. A crowd gathered around him, gasping in awe.

Akena wasn't bothered, good thing he'd terrible aim. He picked another stone.

It dawned on me-the Rites of Passage. "if the Rwot, his brother, or his wives were dead, a brother-in-law could assume his position, under the guidance of the Council."

The snake wasn't a mark, the snake was Akena.

I frantically called for Labejja, drawing everyone's attention. He came, anxious, asking me what I'd done to Onen.

"It's AKENA. He's behind all this."

There was uproar followed by WHAT from Labejja.

I explained how he was using Helen to get information from us and using it to ruin the Rwot's honour at the Council.

"What does that prove?"

"Check him, check his hands. I'm sure you'll find some poison residue. He poisoned his own sister, the Rwot, Akello and Helen."

"And Onen." The crowd roared.

"SHE's LYING." Akena protested, flailing his arms as the crowd mobbed around him.

I explained the Rites of Passage, and how the rumour of the Rwot killing his own father emerged right after him and Anena came to the court. He was somehow able to persuade the Council by making the Rwot's house look bad. He must be bribing some of the council members.
He's the one Helen was with, he convinced her to play along. She was always greedy, so it was easy, and everyone knows just how much Helen envied the privilege of senior wife, he must've promised her all that, if she could make it look like Onen was behind all this, he must've also hit her to make me and Akello quarrel with the Rwot, thereby giving us motive, he hoped the Rwot would see us outlawed. His plan went well,though, except for the part were his sister and Helen would still inherit the crown, he'd to get rid of all of them, all of us.

"Then why didn't he let you drink the poison?" Someone asked.

"It would seem odd." Labejja answered.

Akena didn't defend himself. There was nothing to defend. Some of the Council members thought they could defend their reputations, they started retreating. He pointed them out as his accomplices.

Labejja apologized for his mistrust and wanting me 'quieted', as Akena and his friends took my place on the tree. He apologized also for Helen.

Justice was brutally served, with me casting the first stone.

If Mama could see me now. . . Rwot Alanyo.

***