Bisi lifts her chin and smiles, remembering the origin of our div?ner title. Mama Agba reaches down and tugs on a strand of her white hair, a marker we’ve all been taught to hide.
“The maji rose throughout Or?sha, becoming the first kings and queens. In that time everyone knew peace, but that peace didn’t last. Those in power began to abuse their magic, and as punishment, the gods stripped them of their gifts. When the magic leached from their blood, their white hair disappeared as a sign of their sin. Over generations, love of the maji turned into fear. Fear turned into hate. Hate transformed into violence, a desire to wipe the maji away.”
The room dims in the echo of Mama Agba’s words. We all know what comes next; the night we never speak of, the night we will never be able to forget.
“Until that night the maji were able to survive because they used their powers to defend themselves. But eleven years ago, magic disappeared. Only the gods know why.” Mama Agba shuts her eyes and releases a heavy sigh. “One day magic breathed. The next, it died.”
Only the gods know why?
Out of respect for Mama Agba, I bite back my words. She speaks the way all adults who lived through the Raid talk. Resigned, like the gods took magic to punish us, or they simply had a change of heart.
Deep down, I know the truth. I knew it the moment I saw the maji of Ibadan in chains. The gods died with our magic.
They’re never coming back.
“On that fateful day, King Saran didn’t hesitate,” Mama Agba continues. “He used the maji’s moment of weakness to strike.”
I close my eyes, fighting back the tears that want to fall. The chain they jerked around Mama’s neck. The blood dripping into the dirt.
The silent memories of the Raid fill the reed hut, drenching the air with grief.
All of us lost the maji members of our families that night.
Mama Agba sighs and stands up, gathering the strength we all know. She looks over every girl in the room like a general inspecting her troops.
“I teach the way of the staff to any girl who wants to learn, because in this world there will always be men who wish you harm. But I started this training for the div?ners, for all the children of the fallen maji. Though your ability to become maji has disappeared, the hatred and violence toward you remains. That is why we are here. That is why we train.”
With a sharp flick, Mama removes her own compacted staff and smacks it against the floor. “Your opponents carry swords. Why do I train you in the art of the staff?”
Our voices echo the mantra Mama Agba has made us repeat time and time again. “It avoids rather than hurts, it hurts rather than maims, it maims rather than kills—the staff does not destroy.”
“I teach you to be warriors in the garden so you will never be gardeners in the war. I give you the strength to fight, but you all must learn the strength of restraint.” Mama turns to me, shoulders pinned back. “You must protect those who can’t defend themselves. That is the way of the staff.”
The girls nod, but all I can do is stare at the floor. Once again, I’ve almost ruined everything. Once again, I’ve let people down.
“Alright,” Mama Agba sighs. “That’s enough for today. Gather your things. We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow.”
The girls file out of the hut, grateful to escape. I try to do the same, but Mama Agba’s wrinkled hand grips my shoulder.
“Mama—”
“Silence,” she orders. The last of the girls give me sympathetic looks. They rub their behinds, probably calculating how many lashes my own is about to get.
Twenty for ignoring the exercise … fifty for speaking out of turn … a hundred for almost getting us killed …
No. A hundred would be far too generous.
I stifle a sigh and brace myself for the sting. It’ll be quick, I coach myself. It’ll be over before it—
“Sit, Zélie.”
Mama Agba hands me a cup of tea and pours one for herself. The sweet scent wafts into my nose as the cup’s warmth heats my hands.
I scrunch my eyebrows. “Did you poison this?”
The corners of Mama Agba’s lips twitch, but she hides her amusement behind a stern face. I hide my own with a sip of the tea, savoring the splash of honey on my tongue. I turn the cup in my hands and finger the lavender beads embedded in its rim. Mama had a cup like this—its beads were silver, decorated in honor of Oya, the Goddess of Life and Death.
For a moment the memory distracts me from Mama Agba’s disappointment, but as the tea’s flavor fades, the sour taste of guilt seeps back in. She shouldn’t have to go through this. Not for a div?ner like me.
“I’m sorry.” I pick at the beads along the cup to avoid looking up. “I know … I know I don’t make things easy for you.”
Like Yemi, Mama Agba is a kosidán, an Or?shan who doesn’t have the potential to do magic. Before the Raid we believed the gods chose who was born a div?ner and who wasn’t, but now that magic’s gone, I don’t understand why the distinction matters.
Free of the white hair of div?ners, Mama Agba could blend in with the other Or?shans, avoid the guards’ torture. If she didn’t associate with us, the guards might not bother her at all.
Part of me wishes she would abandon us, spare herself the pain. With her tailoring skills, she could probably become a merchant, get her fair share of coin instead of having them all ripped away.
“You’re starting to look more like her, did you know that?” Mama Agba takes a small sip of her tea and smiles. “The resemblance is frightening when you yell. You inherited her rage.”
My mouth falls open; Mama Agba doesn’t like to talk of those we’ve lost.
Few of us do.
I hide my surprise with another taste of tea and nod. “I know.”
I don’t remember when it happened, but the shift in Baba was undeniable. He stopped meeting my eyes, unable to look at me without seeing the face of his murdered wife.
“That’s good.” Mama Agba’s smile falters into a frown. “You were just a child during the Raid. I worried you’d forget.”
“I couldn’t if I tried.” Not when Mama had a face like the sun.
It’s that face I try to remember.
Not the corpse with blood trickling down her neck.
“I know you fight for her.” Mama Agba runs her hand through my white hair. “But the king is ruthless, Zélie. He would sooner have the entire kingdom slaughtered than tolerate div?ner dissent. When your opponent has no honor, you must fight in different ways, smarter ways.”
“Does one of those ways include smacking those bastards with my staff?”
Mama Agba chuckles, skin crinkling around her mahogany eyes. “Just promise me you’ll be careful. Promise you’ll choose the right moment to fight.”
I grab Mama Agba’s hands and bow my head, diving deep to show my respect. “I promise, Mama. I won’t let you down again.”
“Good, because I have something and I don’t want to regret showing it to you.”