Zandi agreed and together they pulled up the old Mosi and set out to get out of the temple, walking among the people prostrate towards them, the three people slowly moved towards the cabin of Mosi.
As soon as they reached the old shed and having closed the fragile door made by straw with twigs of a tree, the old man rested his little daughter on the bed, and he prepared another bed to which it seemed that no one long ago rested the tired body.
--Here, my divinity, I know it's very humble but I have nothing better to offer you – Mosi said with a bow.
--Stop it! I'm not what you think, I'm not a divinity, I'm a normal girl and even if I do not know came here, I assure you that you are wrong, there will be an explanation to everything that at the moment I do not know-- Zandi answered sitting on a kind of stool.
- Oh yes you are, we expected a sign and you are here, even if sometimes everything seems a case it is not completely in this way. I am now old I do not think about myself but about the future of the village and my family --
--But are you only two in this family?-- Zandi asked
-- At this moment yes, but once we were not just two, we were a beautiful happy family, we lived thanks to the fruits of the earth, I cultivated the field with my two sons Oji and Sef the small Efia helped my partner Taja. The village was flourishing and peaceful, there are good people --
-- But where are we? Which is the name of this place? -- the newcomer asked.
--We are at Zabenjo,-- the old man replied.
--I know this, but which is the name of this land, of this zone? –Zandi said.
-- Ah yes, this is called the land of Africa, but not Africa of north, Africa of south, and you will surely come from here because you speak our language, our a dialect is spoken by few people, only in these areas is used.
-- I cannot believe it, I cannot speak any language other than Italian, maybe a little English but surely I do not know any African dialect. How is it possible? I do not come from here, maybe my origin, but I lived for thirteen years in a land far away from here, called Sicily – Zandi finished leaning her elbows on her knees and putting her hands between her hairs.
--See, these powers do not belong to an ordinary man, only a deity possess these gifts -- the old man underlined.
Then Zandi asked:
-- Excuse me, tell me what happened to your family, to your village and why it is in these bad conditions? Maybe there will be a connection, because I saw you, in a kind of vision I had when I was at school, I heard your prayers --
The old man smiled, he sat down beside his resting daughter taking her hand in comfort and he began to tell:
--We lived in peace, when one day some men came to our village talking a strange language, they got out of metal means of transport, they told us they would bring wealth and work, but we already had everything. They began building houses on the mountain sacred for us. We tried to prevent the desecration of sacred places but they did it by force. Even now they are eviscerating our land looking for a yellow metal called gold. They took possession of our happiness, my daughter drank the water rising from the sacred mountain as always, but drinking that water she has fallen ill and now she cannot see anymore and she limps. Now that water has become a bearer of death because they pour from their constructions malodorous liquids, fortunately we use water from the wells that allows us to drink without getting sick. The fields are not as florid as before, the plants died because of the smoke they give off. Since then everything got worse. One day my wife and I went to pick some fruit very far from here where we could find the good one not contaminated for our sick daughter, and we left her to our two children. So when we arrived to a quiet and full of fruits place we began to grasp filling our baskets, my wife heard a voices of a child coming from a crack where there was a kind of hot steam, in an inlet in the ground. She called me and we went to the origin of the voice, we did not see anything but we heard a murmur of a small child, when she leaned out she saw him: he was a little baby of a few weeks, he was naked, it was a mystery. My wife, smaller than me, entered in the crack where there was the baby, I felt something strange but she went instinctively, she arrived to the child, she took him slowly in her arms trying to go out with him, but when she was approaching me a blaze came from the ground jumping me back. Immediately I went back to them, my wife was clinging to a rock near me but she was dying, she barely was able to put the baby next to me, then she looked at me telling me to take care of him, and that she loved us, me and her children, and then she fell into the creek, I stayed with the baby in my arms shouting the name of my wife-. Mosi stopped for a few seconds to wipe away the tears and then he continued:
-- The baby was strangely unharmed, I took him home in desperation, from that moment in my house the happiness disappeared. We did not know what to do with the child, we asked around if someone had lost a child but no one could tell us nothing, so we respected the last wishes of my wife Taja, we took the child with us and we chose together a name that began with the initial letter of my wife Taja: we called him Thiago --
Hearing that name Zandi jumped out of the chair, saying:
--Thiago? Tell me Mosi, had him at his neck a necklace with a pendant similar to mine? -- she extracted from the shirt the pendants with brown and blue stone.
Mosi open his eyes wide.
--Yes, he had one like these, but he had a red stone set in .--
--When How many tome is passed from that fact? – Zandi interview.
--Behh, about eight years ago,-- Mosi said.
- And what did happen to the child and to your children? Tell me- - and the old man continued:
--One day, the men who came usurping our land, arrived with great means and they destroyed half the village, my children defended our people, because they wanted to send us away to build a road for making their vehicles pass carrying the earth. They fought but they did nothing. They pointed a means to our house, out there was the little Thiago who played, his brothers stood before him to save the baby and they disappeared in front of the truck that had not stopped. In a moment there was a kind of deafening whistle and all the means caught fire inexplicably. The bad people ran away to call other men, they arrived here in hundreds with weapons looking for my children, but they escaped to the north telling people to warn me that one day they would come back, since then I have not seen them and never heard of them. At that moment I had gone with Efia to the three wise men looking for help to heal her, as soon as I came back they beat me because they thought I knew where my two children were, but I did not know anything, they destroyed my family -- the old man plunged into a continuous cry, Zandi tried to comfort him, staying close to him, then she said:
--You'll see everything will go better,-- then she added after a brief pause:
-- I thought for a moment Thiago was my brother, but it cannot be 'cause at this time he should be about nineteen years and not eight, but it is strange that he had the medallion, it is strange. – Zandi ended thoughtful.
--Rest, it islate, tomorrow morning with a clear mind we will think about what to do, -- Mosi said with a paternal expression.
--My father's right, tomorrow we'll see,-- Efia added.
--I thought you were sleeping,--Zandi said, laying down.
--Sorry if I'm not so much of company tonight, I'm very weak and the path to the church has tired me a lot, but tomorrow I'll recover a bit of strength to help you—Efia said.
--You're right, Efia, goodnight! -- Zandi said.
--Goodnight,-- the other two answered in unison.
Mosi arranged the last things in his little house, then he closed the door putting him on his bed.
The inhabitants of Zebenjo passed that night with a smile of hope printed on their faces, in fact we could smell a different scent that in recent times, the air of abandonment and distrust had changed, even the stars seemed more bright, those stars Zandi observed through a crack of a small window, in her mind still echoed many questions: why was all this happening and why right to her? From time to time the noise of crickets in the night was overwhelmed by the noise of large trucks, but the questions ended with the arrival of sleep.
In the dream: Zandi fell into the water of the sea, after being oriented she saw from above a great confusion, suddenly she saw other people falling into the water at the bottom where she was, in front of her there was a child, she was herself when she was a child, like a mirror that reflected her in her movements but in another age. The tranquillity of the dream vision was interrupted by a great commotion and by 2 arms that take the image of her bringing her up to the surface. At that confused scene she wakes up.
The morning….
--According to you, which powers can have a deity? -- Zandi's ears heard, while she had her eyes closed at the light of the morning sun.
--SSShhh! Biko, you wake up her, you're always the usual little sensitive boy! -- a sweet female voice interrupted him.
--She's waking up,-- Biko said
--It's true, -- Ima replied turning to Efia.
-- Good morning -- Zandi exclaimed sitting on the bed.
-- Good morning to you – Efia,Ima and Biko replied.
--Zandi, they are my two closest friends, they're called Biko and Ima, they're twins and they're about our age, I hope we did not bother you,-- Efia said.
--No, you did not bother me, I'm glad to meet you,-- Zandi replied.
--The pleasure is ours, dear divinity,--Ima said.
--You will save us from the invader with your powers, I will help you,-- Biko added, interrupting the words of Ima.
--Stop Biko, do not stress her with your speeches, I’m sorry, Zandi, he is impetuous but he is a good boy, sit here at the table among us and drink a bit of infusion that prepares my father with herbs, just in the morning my father came out to collect other ones – Efia ended.
--Apologize him – Ima replied giving a black look to her brother.
