BENYA.

Benya at six years of age...

As she lays on the small, thin mattress in the dark with only a candle in the hands of her grandmother.

She lays her small head on her grandmother's chest and stares at the lit candle with wondering eyes.

"Gogo, what does Benya mean?" She chirps, mind running on what her name means.

Her grandmother looks down at her to see the little sparkle in her eyes.

"Benya means to bring light and shine. You are just like this candle I hold. You bring the light in this dark world and shine bright enough to scare the darkness." Her grandmother says in wisdom.

"Why did mama and papa name me Benya?" She looks down at her small hands as she fidgets.

"Because you will be the light that will shine on this kingdom one day."

Benya at twenty six years of age...

"The jury has decided. We find the defendant...innocent." A lady who is part of the jury announces.

Benya, her colleague Monica and her client all sigh in relief at the good news.

"Case dismissed." The judges calls and soon everyone disappears from the courtroom.

"Thank you so much Benya. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be a free man right now." The client hugs Benya tightly in gratitude.

She smiles at the client and bids her goodbyes before heading on her way home.

As she drives home, she can't shake the sense or feeling that someone is following her but she takes that she's being paranoid and ignores her gut sense.

She parks her car in the garage and switches the engine off before exiting her car.

"Are you Benya?" A man in a navy suit speaks as she exits her car.

She shrieks in fear as she did not expect anyone to talk to her appearing from nowhere.

"Oh my. You scared me." She clasps her heart area in fear and clears her throat. "Yes. I am Benya." She confirms her identity. "Why do you want to know?" She asks out of curiosity.

"Khosatsana." The man speaks in a foreign language as he bows slightly.

She furrows her eyebrows and watches the man before her as if he's grown a second head.

"My princess, we have been searching for you." The man smiles. "O benya joaloka naledi wa hoseng. {She shines like the morning star.}."

Benya stands there dumbfounded. She is flabbergasted by the fact that she can understand the man's foreign language. She has only heard the language in her dreams but never from a living soul until now.

"That language." She whispers to herself. "It's from my dreams." She looks up at the man.

"What is that foreign language?" She begs to know, to fill her curiosity.

"It is the Southern Sesotho. A language of the beautiful Lesotho. A small country where you are bound to take the throne as queen." The man explains.

Benya shakes her head with a humourless smile.

"I apologize to disappoint you but I am no princess and definitely no queen." The man begins to frown.

"Please Khosatsana. If you do not come to claim your kingdom it will be in the vulnerability to the Swati people. The Swati people have not the good intentions on our people, they have prepared for war which we cannot fight for we have not a queen." The man speaks with sadness and concern.

"Why me?" Benya asks. "Why not anyone else from Lesotho?" She feels as though too much responsibilities are being put on her although she knows nothing about it.

"You are the first and only daughter of kgoskgadi Naledi and Kgosi Tebello. Your birth was the only hope given to the Sesotho people and when your parents were killed, their death brought devastation across the kingdom. The Swati people attempted many times to kill you until your grandmother, the late Lerato sent you here to the white people."

Benya stands frozen in her spot unable to comprehend what she is hearing.

She has never heard of the Sesotho people nor does she remember her grandmother.

She has only seen her grandmother in dreams, dreams that she thought were only just dreams.

"Khosatsana, I beg of you to please come with me. Come with me to Lesotho for your people are in need of a queen." The man pleads with desperation as he stares into Benya's sparkling eyes.

"Can I have a moment to think about this?" She finally speaks once more.

"As you please but you must decide soon before the end of the day. I must return to Lesotho by tomorrow with news." The man nods before leaving.

Benya sighs in exhaustion. She had just won a big case that had been overworking her for the past few months. When she won the case today, she thought that she could finally go home and have a good night's sleep that she hadn't had in a very long time.

She begins to wonder about the Lesotho kingdom as she walks around her house, changing into more comfortable clothing.

Are the Sesotho people really my responsibility?

Am I really the long lost princess?

She wonders to herself and moves to her laptop with a glass of wine.

She starts googling, hoping to find some truth about this.

Maybe the man had been lying.

She begins to the doubt the words of the man as she googles.

As the results come in she finds that there indeed is a lost princess from Leotho, that the Swati people are ready to strict and war with the Sesotho people.

Now knowing all the truth about her background.

She now knows what she must do.

◇◇◇◇

A/N

Hi guys. You've reached the end of the chapter.

I must say that this story is going to be something.

I had a battle with myself on whether it should be in first or third person and I saw third person fitting for the story.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

Updates will be soon. Maybe every Monday (still deciding.)

Till next time...