THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: THE ORIGIN

The beginning

And so it had begun when the first man to settle in the lands of Tasaka. Before Tagayia became Tagayia, it was called Tasaka. He was a man of mysterious origin. So the tales said. It was the same tales every mother said to their kids and their grandmothers instilled in them when they were sitting around the fire watching a pot on the three cooking stones. Perhaps it was a way to distract them from their hungry stomachs. A watched pot never boils, and so the young ones with their doe eyes wide with curiosity absorbed every word.

”His name was Taliga. He was a man talented in the art of hunting like the West. Talented in arts of war like the north, plants knowledge like the east, and innovative in new arts like the central.”

”What about the south nana?” A round-eyed boy asked. He was among a dozen other kids from his clan, a third uncle’s son from the third family tree. It was just custom to sit by the fire. Children belonged to the community, and a child belonged to every parent in the clan. After all, families made clans and clans made tribes, and in that order, tribes made nations.

”Aren’t you a clever one?” Nana laughed her toothless mouth off her cackles echoing in the outside cooking area.

”I was getting there, my little one. Taliga was mysterious like the South. That was his faith quality. I have lived for a hundred years, and I haven’t heard anything about the South. When I was just a girl. A beautiful girl I once met was a tourist from the south, and even he couldn’t tell me anything about the south except that round-eyed kids who don’t listen to their nana and parents disappear to the man-eating tribes in the south.” Fear marked every child’s eyes at the scary tale, making them move unconsciously closer to the fire.

”Taliga was blessed by the land with four wives. One tall and powerful fighter, especially with long hair, could drag behind her. She was a beauty, and her gray eyes could bewitch anyone. She made a spear and stood in front of him to protect him. Her name was Asaka Nakiya. Meaning powerful and beautiful.

”His second wife was charming and short, but she was blessed with fertility, and everything she touched flourished. Her hair defied gravity and stood in the sky. She was adorned with red ore, and her skin bore the markings of the land. Her chocolate orbs, like the earth, made her quite a beauty. Her name was Takata Sama, meaning the earth goddess.

”His third wife was fierce and vicious. She stood tall and proud, her neck filled with pride and her chest full of vigour. Her skin was as dark as night, and her eyes were the colour of the frozen oceans. She liked to be free, kept a shaven head, and she chased the wind and hunted prey. Taliga loved her even so and didn’t restrain her, letting her run free and ride wild beasts. Her name was Sawaka Tatora, meaning a brave hunter.

”His fourth wife was the most silent of all. She kept to herself and spent her time studying the moon and the stars, trying to understand how they came to be. If she saw a stream, she could try to understand how it came to be. Her curiosity made her try to create numerical letters and mysterious objects to study the sky. Her name was Nayiaka Ng’inga. Meaning silent and curious.

”As ages passed, however, and the four wives gave birth to sons and daughters, Taliga’s misfortune began. The children loved what their mothers loved, and none took after him.”

”That is sad, Nana.” This time, it was a round-eyed girl with hair that defied gravity who spoke. She was adorned with tribal beads in her hair, her hands, and her forehead. Her round eyes showed sadness.

”Now now, young one,” grandmother laughed with her old lungs, making it sound more like a whizz than a laugh.

”Taliga, of course, was sad, dear, but he was happy to have been blessed with four wives. The problem, however, grew when the children grew, and they couldn’t play together because they loved different things. They found each other’s interests boring. The first wives’ children found the second wives’ children’s love for making medicine boring. The third wife’s children found the fourth wife’s children loud and uncultured, and so enmity broke out within his family

”Taliga couldn’t take it anymore, and so to keep the peace, he had to make a decision that could break his heart. He sent the first wife and her children to the north, where grasslands lay, so she could be a warrior and protect the north. He sent the second wife east, where many herbs lay, so she could exercise her love for medicinal herbs and the growing of plants. He sent his fourth wife west, where many wild beasts lay, so she could travel freely and tame the beasts. The third wife hated change, and so she remained in the central lands to study the stars and the earth.

”Taliga couldn’t live with only one wife or choose one because that would be inequality. So he moved south on his own and made all his wives swear not to follow him. And so Taliga moved south, and none of his wives followed him as they had promised. With the first wife moving north, the second moving east, the third remaining in the central lands, and the fourth moving west, Taliga went south behind the sea, and no one heard of him again.”

”But won’t Taliga be lonely?” another kid asked Nana this time, wiping a tear like all the other children who now had moist eyes. It was a sad story indeed, and all our hearts had been broken and shattered into pieces. Why couldn’t they just stick together and have a happy ending?

”What happened to Taliga?” Another round-eyed eyed now teary-eyed cousin asked.

”Of course, he was lonely,” Nana answered the question. ”But sometimes hard decisions have to be made to keep the peace and keep everyone happy.”

Happy? The young kids couldn’t understand how the decision Taliga made could make anyone happy. It was just a sad ending. That was all it was.

”It is said that in the south, beyond the desert, Taliga found a wicked woman with white hair that could turn red at night and grey in the morning. Her eyes were the colour of the sun, and she emerged from the sand in the desert. She bewitched Taliga, and he followed after her for the rest of his life, never to return from the south. That is why no one dares to go beyond the desert in the south.”

’Poor Taliga,’ the round-eyed boy thought, ’bewitched by a wicked woman.’ What a miserable end for Taliga.

”Even now, the descendants of the wicked woman roam the earth. If you look them in the eyes, you won’t be able to look away, and you will follow them without a thought and be their slave for the rest of your lives. That is, if they don’t eat you first.” Nana said the last part with a slow and scary tone, making the youngins scream in terror and hold onto each other.”

That is the tale of how the tribes came to be. The children of Taga further separated into more tribes, and that is how tribes came to be. That is also how the four dialects came to be. The tribes of the north, besides their mother tongue, spoke a northern dialect, stolen from each tribe, and so is the east, and so is the west, and the central regions. Every child born speaks two languages and an additional national language created by borrowing words from the four tongues of the north, east, west, and central.

The tribes came together again, not many years ago, however, forming the United Tribes. They now abided under one ruler, the Supreme Mandra. Under him were four Great Chiefs from every region. They hold the title of ’The Grand Zorath’. Each one presides over the four parliaments. The Kaya is the traditional parliament of every region. The eastern tribes, the western tribes, the northern tribes, and the central tribes all have a parliament. Each tribe is ruled by a chief who has a permanent seat in the Kaya. Tagayia has two parliaments, the Kaya, which is presided over by the Grand Zorath, and the Kal’Sika, which is presided over by the Supreme Mandra.