Chapter 1
-Zuri
"Fine, what do you think Abeni? what should we do?" my father asks making the conversation stop, all eyes turn to my sister and I smile at her encouragingly.
Unrelated but he couldn't speak English and never bothered to learn so he always turned to me or in dire cases my sister for translation when speaking to foreigners.
My siblings and I could speak two languages, English being one of them and the other our kingdom's, so it wasn't a problem.
The problem was that ever since I gave up the throne and passed it to my younger sister he had been treating her coldly and only interacted with her when necessary.
He knew she wouldn't be easy to control like me so he wasn't happy about my decision, but it is what it is,
My decision.
Back to the situation at hand, the foreign men who had skin nearly as white as chalk looked at my sister expectedly and I mentally sigh.
A little back story;
Although our kingdom was hidden there would be a few people trespassing from time to time. Our warriors nearly killed these men till they started rambling and brought out strange equipment.
Our men confiscated the items and brought them to our father, he was about to give out the order for them to be killed like the rest but I stopped him
"We need to talk to the villagers about our..." my sisters voice gets cut off by the commotion going on outside our large meeting hut and our father who had been looking for an excuse to shut my sister up quickly bellowed to the servant at his feet.
"Find out what's going on outside"
"Yes sir" the servant girl rises and steps outside make my sister roll her eyes
The servant walks back in after a minute and addresses our father "Sir, the warriors caught some strange men with weapons by our border, the warriors brought them and askes what should be done"
Chatter between the elders starts but I tune them out, listening to the commotion that went on outside
"Please... negotiate... family... home" Is that English?
As if reading my mind my sister looks at me and whispers "We need to help them"
"I agree but you have to do it" she scrunches her eyebrows at me
"Why"
"You're going to be these people's queen soon, you need to stand up, talk and earn their respect"
"Your still a princess, why don't you..."
"... why do they have to consult me? they aren't the first but will soon be the last, we need to show those foreigners they have no right to let their feet touch out soil"
I give her a pointed look and she rolls her eyes pushing me to act,
"Kill the..."
"Father wait" I say and my father stops mid-order "Yes child?"
"Abeni had something to say" my sister looks at me shocked and sends me a quick glare to which I respond by wriggling my eyebrows
"Father, the foreigners may have something to offer.
We have the upper hand as they are in our land so they can't try anything"
My father frowned at her and I could tell he wanted to refuse but the eager elders faces made him agree, he turns to the servant with masked anger
"Tell the warriors to clean those men thoroughly and seize whatever items they may hold"
I frown at his words "Father, I don't think the men would be comfortable with two muscled men seeing their bare body and I don't think our me..."
"My order stands" he says and the hut remains quiet, the servant girl retreats quietly.
The foreigners were cleaned and brought to us red-faced and wet, our men would have done better job but my father demanded them to be done in five minutes.
"Barbarians" I hear one of them mutter and I smile behind my fan.
"You'll be helping us communicate with them Zuri"
"So will Abeni father" the men looked confused as they didn't understand our language
"If you say so daughter"
"Begin"
"Good afternoon gentle men" I began in English and the men looked at me in shock, they started speaking at once but I held up my hand to silence them.
"I am Princess Zuri of Jari Kingdom and by my side is my sister, Crown Princess Abeni, our brother is Prince Omar.
Our father is King Zikr and before you is the council of of elders"
"You have trespassed our land, why?"
One of the men stands up making our stationed warriors approach, I wave them off and turn to the white man.
"If you want to keep you head I advise you do not move carelessly" he nods and starts to speak.
"Hello, my name is Jerry Quinn, my partner and brother, Arnold Quinn. We have discovered the land is fertile and has great potential so we would like to come to an agreement"
My father looks at my sister and she repeat the mans words to the hearing of my father and the council.
My father turns to Elder Ume and he nods, affirming that my sisters words were the truth
Elder Ume is the elder of wisdom and his family are the only other people apart from the royal family permitted to learn English.
His family teaches us royal and is also extremely loyal.
"Ask them what we would benefit if they grow on our land" I look at my sister and she askes them.
The other man, Arnold Quinn replies,
"On our way here we noticed the infrastructure and we're offering to help build better homes and install some facilities as we wish for our workers to live here"
Infrastructure? facilities? what are those again?
"Can you put your words in simpler terms? it seems my sister a bit confused" my 11 year old brother speaks up making me scowl at him.
Big talk for a person who said more than half of that sentence in our native tongue.
"Shut up" I whisper to him in our language and he childishly sticks out his tongue.
I turn to the white man with a sheepish smile "What were were you saying again?"
"We will help develop your kingdom" I feel my face heat up, maybe he could tell what Omar was trying to say as he said simple and confused in English.
My sister tells my father who seeks confirmation from Elder Ume and starts speaking angrily.
"Do they think we do not have the ability to improve on our own?"
"Father that's not what they..."
"Father, I don't think you have a right to make that decision on your own, there is a council of elders for a reason"
Wrong move sister
"Really? you dare speak like that to your king?"
"I'd like to think I'm speaking with my father not a man with a headdress covering his eyes"
More chatter erupts at her words, father faces the council and speaks with obvious amusement.
"Oh really, that's what you think Abeni?"
"You know what I mean father"
"Do I? because with the way you're speaking I wonder if you want me to drop dead so you can show my kingdom how a true leader acts" my father says to the Counsil making the conversation stop, all eyes turn to my sister
"Can we talk about this later? or have you forgotten the foreigners in our mist"
"But I want to know whether you want me dead" I stretch my hand and take hold of his as he wasn't too far from his chair
"Father please, I'm sure the elders and foreigners are mocking our disunity right now" I whisper to him and sits down
"Fine, what do you think Abeni? what should we do?"
His voice sounded as if he genuinely wanted her opinion but his eyes said otherwise.
She was already going to be in a lot of trouble after everyone leaves so tells the white men what he wants
They started trying to convince us but my father shouted "Get them out of my sight and k..."
"Spare their lives" my sister cuts in and my father stares at her
"Throw them out of my kingdom" with that he walks out of the hut followed by the council, leaving me, my siblings and the white men.
Along with the guards
My sister faces the two men and leaves after saying in English,
"If you value your life don't come back here"
"Tell the others"
The men get dragged away and I lean back on my throne
"Quite the day?" my brother who was still seated on his chair askes and I sigh,
"Quite the day"
