The Healer's Warrior Read Online Free PDF

ears weren’t big, they just weren’t flat, and they unfortunately reminded everyone of a baby chimpanzee. She used to hate the nickname and think it was demeaning to make any comparisons between a black person and an ape. But she had grown to accept it because it was coming from people who loved her, not from those who thought less of her and her people, like the fair-skinned population did.
     From the sack she gave everyone a gift. She’d cleared out most of her beach house and gone shopping at various bazaars along the way. The adults got anything from fabric, spices, bracelets, combs, and mirrors, to bowls, cups, pens and paper. She bought spinning tops for the little boys and colorful twine dolls for the girls.
    Kibwe appeared, tall, broad shouldered and perpetually grinning. He bound towards her, picked her up, and spun her around before she could protest. Kibwe Okobi , with his deep dark skin and his long friendly face, was her only full blood sibling and her older brother. He was her first patient, the person who comforted her when she was frightened to discover she made the pain disappear from Kibwe’s sprained ankle only by touching it. Kibwe was the only one who supported her and believed in her when she decided to leave Tikso on a one-woman journey with no real plan other than to reach the sea. Jem’ya began to cry.
    Kibwe flicked her ear. “Such a crybaby, Zee.”
    Jem’ya poked him in his bare stomach where he was ticklish, and she laughed as the man tried to quiet a giggle before it escaped his mouth. Kibwe grabbed her arm and pulled her quickly to the hut where his family was. Jem’ya hugged his young wife and his little son who had grown so much, and she met for the first time his one-year-old daughter. “I’m afraid she has your ears, Jem’ya,” Kibwe grinned. Jem’ya cried happy tears, held her new niece in her arms, played with the little girl’s ears, kissed her fat cheeks and blessed her.
    Kibwe went with Jem’ya to their grandparents’ hut. She kneeled at their feet. She respected them not just because they were her elders but also because the love they shared for each other was what she dreamed of having one day. Her grandparents were married for 47 years and her grandfather never took another wife. He stayed committed to her. He needed no one else. To take only one wife was a thing of controversy in the village, but her grandparents proved it could work, that it was fulfilling, prosperous, and beautiful. To her grandfather Jem’ya gave an ornate copper chalice and to her grandmother she gave a red silk headscarf, both items she’d received from Tareq.
    Finally Kibwe accompanied her to see their parents. Jem’ya was nervous to see them. When she left Tikso two years ago her parents were very upset. She stayed in contact with them through letters and they expressed that they loved her, but still there was underlying tension. She had shattered the dreams they had for their first daughter to marry young and start a family within the tribe. Kibwe led Jem’ya to Mama and Papa’s hut.
    “Is it really you!” her mother cried upon seeing her face. Mama jumped up from her cushion and embraced Jem’ya. It was a long while before Mama let her go. They stepped back and they wiped the tears from each other’s faces. Mama was still beautiful, with small bright eyes, high cheekbones, a small waist and youthful skin. Mama was Papa’s first wife. Jem’ya and Kibwe were the only children they had together. They were Papa’s first two children of the eleven he’d fathered with his three other wives. 
    Papa stepped towards her. He was a tall man and it was from him that she got her round eyes and dark eyebrows. There were wrinkles under his eyes that made him seem tired and he wore a short, thick beard. “Jem’ya, my first daughter, are you here to stay?”
    Her eyes began to brim with tears of remorse. She shook her hanging head. She had fought her conscience repeatedly during her journey