‘The first blood came long ago. It stopped.’
‘How long ago did it stop?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Did you lay with Toma?’
‘No.’
The women looked at each other.
‘I think you are growing a child, Zokho.’
Zokho sat with her face in her hands and looked down at her feet.
‘What happened?’ Nani asked.
‘I didn’t want to, he forced me.’
‘Who forced you?’
Zokho looked away.
‘Someone where you were?’
‘I didn’t want to do it.’
‘Toma will not accept a white child,’ Tau said gently.
‘We can give her the leaves,’ Nani said.
‘It’s too late.’
‘Maybe it will still work.’
‘I don’t want a husband,’ Zokho said suddenly.
‘What do you mean you don’t want a husband? You have no one. Your mother is dead. There are no brothers, no uncles, only Koerikei and me. Toma can look after you. He wants to look after you. He went all that way to fetch you back.’
‘I cannot do it for food.’
The women looked at each other.
‘What nonsense is this? Of course, you do it for food. And for someone to care for you.’
‘I have someone.’
‘You have?’
‘And I don’t care for Toma.’
‘You will care, when your belly’s full. And who’s this someone you’re talking about? He’s with us? Here?’
‘He’s not of this tribe.’
‘Where’s he from?’
‘Not from here.’
‘You are talking in circles, making us cross. He is the one who did this?’
‘No.’
‘Then, if he is not here, and he’s not there, and we cannot see him, there is no one. Toma will be your husband.’
‘I’ll run away.’
‘You will not. You will have his children and make his fire. You have learnt some bad things, Zokho. You have got answers for everything.’
Zokho’s tears fell silently on the kaross.
The women regretted their harshness and leaned forward in comfort.
‘It’s not so bad,’ Nani said. ‘A husband can be good.’
‘Yes,’ Tau agreed. ‘I lost two before Koerikei. But Koerikei is a good provider, and kind. In the end it all works out, you’ll see. Come, Nani, we will leave Zokho now, to rest before Toma comes.’
Outside the skerm they returned to Tau’s hearth where the women discussed Zokho’s behaviour.
