Chapter Four
Ayira The Princess
The drums beating echoed through the chambers as I stepped from behind the curtains wearing a blue veil that stretched from ear to ear.
The beaded tassels clung to the end, teasing my chin as I stared at the open marble flooring.
The courtyard was scorching as the sun hung right above.
There was a firepit just behind it as guards stood at the four points of the square.
In the shade, my karasha teacher, Niraji, sat on a hand-woven blanket with a large wooden stick decorated with bright colors and jewels.
Her brown wrinkled skin looked like layers of dark honey melting in the heat as she sat in the shade with beads of sweat seeping back into her skin the moment it poured out.
She was cloaked in black with her bare feet out as the men continued to beat on the drums, waiting for my arrival.
“Breathe, Ayira!” Niraji yelled as she stomped the stick onto the ground three times. You could see the flames in the pit respond as they twitched and stretched into the air. “Do not forget to breathe!”
I exhaled with a light tap of my stomach, feeling the heat attempting to surface.
The winds from the north carried bits of sand as I opened my eyes, seeing the dunes in the distance.
The courtyard that sat above on its own balcony overlooked the rest of the palace below as I took my first steps.
My linen pants gave room for my skin to breathe, and the protective wrap went around my breasts in order to protect my heart from the flames.
My arms were wrapped exposing my skin that rarely saw the sun but welcomed it all the same.
“Breathe!” Niraji shouted with a pounding of her stick.
I took long steps, striding towards the center before slowly raising my leg in the air.
The sun kissed the bottom of my foot, giving me its blessing to use its flames before slowly raising my leg back down.
Parts of the dance snuck in bits of martial arts and defense tactics, the hidden yet well-known secret of karasha dancers.
Arming women with strength to protect themselves against men while remaining beautiful and provocative all the same.
Just as I was about to raise my arms, the drums stopped.
I heard the familiar jingles of beads as my father stepped onto the balcony with his three precious sons behind him.
The boys smirked at me with the youngest winking.
“Great Sun,” Niraji exclaimed as she attempted to get up. “I am honored–––”
“No need,” King Khamar let out as he waited for his seat to be made by the Ashari that accompanied him.
Whatever he needed, they were meant to produce it at that moment.
“I have come to watch my daughter dance. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her in this light.
I want to be sure she is tamed and keeping with basic traditional movements. ”
I gritted my teeth in annoyance, hearing him dote on me like a child while my three brothers, Kasen, the oldest, Jalani, the youngest, and Malik, the mischievous middle son came up to me.
“Your precious Baba has men ready to take you away sister,” Malik whispered as the three began circling around me like predators. “Are you scared?”
“Of course she’s not scared,” Kasen said with a boastful tone. “She is Ayira…Baba’s little favorite–––”
“No, no no…stop teasing my big sister,” Jalani said as one of them tugged at my pants. “So what if she is old…she is not spoiled. The men will have her as a second or third bed wife–––”
“Stop it,” I gritted through my teeth.
“One of them is missing an eye and teeth but promises to warm your bed every night.”
“While you three obsess over who I lay with, why are you not sitting at the throne your Baba keeps leaving empty?” I shot back. “Hmmm? While Baba is off traveling the world, doing as he pleases, what are you three half bred princes doing?”
“Ooooo, you hurt my feelings,” Kasen cooed as the three laughed. “Remember, you are not the only one who can breathe fire, sister.”
“When are you going to tell her that you are going to travel outside of the palace with Baba?” Malik asked. I whipped my head around to meet Kasen’s gaze as the three continued to circle around me.
“What?” I let out.
“It’s more than likely the rest of us will follow. He wants us to see the world, so we know how to run our own. It’s already been decided.”
“The Morai would never approve of that,” I declared before lowering my voice when I saw my father looking at us. He continued to talk with my dance teacher with his hand occasionally pointing at me for emphasis. “They would never allow that.”
“The Morai is the one who encouraged it. The new world is only going to get bigger. We need to know what we are protecting ourselves from in order to maintain our own world,” Kasen said.
“Baba just wants us to see the big cities like he did as a child growing up,” Jalani smiled.
The three surrounding me like lurking felines, laughed and teased while I stared at my father.
“Boys! Let your sister return to her performance!” King Khamar shouted as he clapped. “I want to see what you have learned all these years. Karasha is a beautiful dance of our ancestors, delicate in form, but powerful when done right. Let me see something special, my daughter.”
Niraji stood up, cracking her old worn-out bones and stretched her curved back over six feet tall to walk towards me.
The boys went snickering back to their father, carefully knowing to stand or sit in front of him at all times.
Never in the back. No one was ever allowed to stand behind him, not even by mistake.
“I can see the fire in your eyes, Ayira,” Niraji whispered as she grabbed my arm to steady my nerves.
“Calm yourself down and find another way to release that anger. Calm yourself. You are going to give him a nice, peaceful, beautiful show… Show your delicate and softer side… He still views you in some light as a child and trust me, that is a good thing. I have seen many kings terrorize their daughters. You were born lucky. Show him you are still his daughter, but you have grown.”
“You have always told me to never suppress my fire, or it will ruin me,” I said as I finally turned my gaze towards my teacher. She stared at me, searching my eyes before wearily nodding her head.
“Do not burn the palace down and watch your feet when breathing.”
I smiled as I stepped back with a crack of my neck.
I reached up to release my hair, letting it flow down my back side as I inhaled the heat from the sun.
My foot lightly tapped the surface in groups of three, keeping the same rhythmic beat.
When I opened my eyes, I could see the heat waves surrounding me like a clear visible liquid sitting thick in the air.
All of it was pouring from the sun as the drums began.
I raised my arms in the air with my palms flat, reaching for the sun’s blessing.
My hips slowly began to move, following the rhythm of the drums until my fingers gripped the air.
Feeling the heat in my hands, I brought it down as a blanket of bright red fire came pouring down like a sheet.
I spun around, wrapping myself with the flame, but I could see the shocked expressions.
I saw my brothers jump back while my teacher shook her head.
The drums began beating faster as I began to take up space, dancing with the flames while exhaling them out through my nose.
As much as I took in, I made sure to release it so it wouldn’t remain in my body.
My arms extended to the left and right before shooting up as a thin strip of blue flames coiled around my body.
I brought myself closer to the men as if I was dancing for many husbands.
Pouring my hands over my breaths and stomach, and spreading my thighs, I stared directly at the king.
The childish ways to prove how grown I am when I have never experienced anything close to sex and sensuality with my own body.
The moment I grabbed my own breasts, King Khamar stood up just as the drums stopped.
All fire ceased instantly as the two of us glared at one another. No one said a word
“Do you see,” I said in a low threatening tone. “How nobody dares to move, Baba? They do not know who is more powerful and who to fear. The selfish King,” I spat angrily with tears coming down my cheeks. “Or his prisoner.”
…
My body flung across the cold floor of my room when my mother stood over me enraged. Her hair was sprawled about her head, face bruised and angry tears in her eyes after being attacked by her own husband.
“DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE AYIRA?!” She screamed.
I laid crouched on the floor by the bed with a trembling frame.
“HE CANNOT KILL ME BUT HE WILL BEAT ME OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR YOUR TONGUE! WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?! YOUR MOTHER?! HE DOES NOT BEAT YOU! HE DOES NOT ABUSE OR HURT YOU! ONLY ME! I AM BEING PUNISHED FOR HAVING YOU!”
“You are being punished because you cannot have a son,” I replied in a low voice.
I would never step to her the way I would the king and I could never understand why.
Still, I said it without looking at her.
Queen Nayara snorted with her wicked laugh as I looked at her, seeing the darkness and hatred she had for me.
“No,” she laughed. “No, I am not being punished for not producing a son. I am being punished for keeping you, and not…”
Queen Nayara stopped herself as a smile broke through the tears, and without another word, she turned and walked out of my room.
It didn’t take long for word to get around when Minka slipped her way back into my room to chastise me.
By now, I was sitting at my vanity table combing and straightening my hair after a hot bath run by the Ashari.
I was at peace with it. Another trying day in my life.
“The king is telling your mother he never wants to see you again…He wants the ceremony to be done with,” Minka hissed. “What have you done now to disturb him?”
“If he never wants to see me again, tell him to release me,” I replied dryly. “No? He will marry me off to whoever fills his pockets or whoever can place the most beautiful woman in his bed. I will be taken somewhere far where I cannot speak up for myself–––”
“You already do too much talking, princess!” Minka stressed. “Your mother is in tears and the king is threatening to have her arrested.”
“He threatens her every day, Minka.”
“This is different. Something does not seem right with him, with any of this. I feel there is another reason why he is suddenly rushing you off to marry someone.”
I stared at her through the mirror before rolling my eyes.
“Did you find me another phone?” I asked, hoping I could get my hands on another screen.
My father at one point would sneak one in from his travels and show me how to work it from videos to movies, music and more.
My mother would have someone buy from the local markets.
Both parents kept me well fed with the outside world and yet both refused to let me see it.
“Ayira, this is serious… You are not listening to me. There is something going on and the less of a problem you cause… Fine. Ignore me. You are no different from your father. The selfishness you speak about with him; you are not far behind.”
“I am not selfish enough,” I declared under my breath when Minka walked off.
I stared at myself in the mirror, replaying the dance in my head.
The shock and fear on their faces will be something I will never forget, and I regret none of it.
If I am to be married off, there was nothing wrong with me sneaking off one last time.
Wherever I end up, I will find a way out and leave for good.