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The Price of Remembering(REMAKE) · KofiTable - Mystery Box stories

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Press the blue bead to her lips the clay still
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: warm against her palm the pulse beneath her fingertips had
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: faded too a whisper but it was there steady patient
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: waiting she closed her eyes and saw her mother's face
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: not as she'd last seen her dissolving into the stone
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: but as she'd been in life laughing her dope bright
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: against the pseudo sky We can't wait for first light,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Numusa said, rising. Her legs ached from kneeling on the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: crack stones, but she ignored it. The hunger learns. Every
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: hour we waste, it gets smarter. Thabo looked up from
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: where he'd been checking the supplies in his pack. You
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: heard what Mazdalu said. The mountain tasks it takes. Walking
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: into the Drakensberg in the dark is suicide. Luthen, we
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: don't go to the Drakensberg. Not yet. Numusa turned to Mazdalu.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: who stood at the crawl's edge, her staff planted in
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the red earth. He said, there's third way. My mother
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: said to find the one who remembers. Where do we start?
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Mazulu's sharp eyes narrow. There is village, east of here,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: past the hills, Massasane. The people there keep the old ways.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: They remember what the mountains forget. She paused and something
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: flickered in her expression. Fear or maybe respect. Um, but
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the road is not kind you'll pass through land that
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: doesn't belong to the living who we faced worse less
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: said he said she was still pale, her hands trembling slightly,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: but her voice was steady. She'd pulled herself up against the.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: And now she stood testing her weight on her injured leg.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I can walk or Andrea stepped forward, her tablet clutched
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: to her chest. I've mapped the terrain there's path old,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: barely visible. that cuts through the hills. If we leave now,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: we can reach the village by midday tomorrow. She hesitated. Oh,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: but my sensors are picking up something strange. Distortion about
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: halfway there. It's like the air itself is folded. And
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Nimisa nodded. Oh, then we go now. Mazulu, will you
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: guide us? Oh, the old woman was silent for a
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: long moment. And she turned and began walking toward the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: foreign bushes that swallowed the crawl's entrance. But I will
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: take you as far as the river. Beyond that, you're
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: on your own. The people of Massa saying don't trust outsiders.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: You'll need to prove yourselves. They gathered what they could carry.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Thabo shouldered the heaviest pack, his knife strapped to his belt.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Less that he took, the clay pot that had held
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the bead, tucking it into her satchel. Andrea adjusted her tablet, straps,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: and pulled small flashlight from her pocket. Nimusa pocketed the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: blue bead, its warmth constant reminder of her mother's voice.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: They left the old crawl as the last light blent
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: from the sky. The thorn bushes scratched at their arms
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and legs, and the ground was uneven, pocked with stones
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and dry gullies. Mazalou moved ahead, her staff clicking against
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: the earth, her pace steady despite her age. She didn't
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: look back. They walked for hours. The moon rose, fat
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and yellow, casting long shadows across the hills. The air
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: grew cooler, and the silence was broken only by the
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: crunch of their footsteps and the distant cry of Nightbird.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Namuza kept her hand in her pocket, her fingers wrapped
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: around the bead. She could feel it pulsing, faint but
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: insistent like second heartbeat. Near midnight, they reached ridge that
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: overlooked wide valley. Below, river snake through the darkness, its
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: surface glinting like polished metal. On the far bank, Namusa
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: could see the outline of village, small huddle that's houses dark.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: No fires, no lights, just the shape of roofs against
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the sky. Umasasen Mazulu said, she pointed with her staff,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: across the river, and you'll be in their land, but
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the bridge is gone. You'll have to ford it. She
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: turned to face them, her expression unreadable. I'll leave you here.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: The rest of the journey is yours. Sabo stepped forward. Oh, wait,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: you said the road passes through that doesn't belong to
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the living. What did you mean? Amazulu's eyes glinted in
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the moonlight. The river is a boundary. On this side,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the ancestors watch. On the other, something else does. The
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: people of Massasane made pact long ago. They gave up
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: something to keep the hunger from their doors. You'll see
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: she reached into her satchel and pulled out small pouch,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: pressing it into Nimuse's hand. Dry them, Fipo. Burn it
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: if the air starts to feel wrong. And whatever you do,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: don't accept their hospitality. Not until you know what they
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: want in return. She turned and walked back the way
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: that her figure shrinking into the darkness. Nomusa watched her go,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: then looked at the pouch in her hand. It was
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: heavy with seeds and it smelled of smoke and something older.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Something like regret. She's not coming with us, Lesedi said.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: It wasn't questioned. And though Nomusa tucked the pouch into
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: her pocket next to the bead, we're on our own.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: They descended into the valley. The river was shallow but cold,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the water numbing their ankles as they waded across. On
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the far bank, ground was softer, almost spongy, and the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: air smelled different. Sweet like overripe fruit. Numusa felt prickle
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: at the back of her neck, the same sensation she
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: got when spirit was near. Do you feel that? Andrea whispered.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: She'd stopped walking, her tablet held up. The screen flickered,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: then went dark. My equipment's dead. All of it. Thabo
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: drew his knife. stay close but they moved forward into
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: the village the houses were made of mud and thatch
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: their doors closed their windows shuttered no dogs barked no
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: children cried the silence was absolute pressing down on them
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: like physical weight then door opened a woman stepped out
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: tall and thin her face hidden in shadow she wore
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: dress the color of dried blood and her feet were
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: bare she didn't speak she just stood there watching Nemusa's
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: hand went to the bead It was pulsing faster, now urgent.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: She thought of her mother's voice. Find the one who remembers.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Before the hunger learns to lie, we're looking for someone.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Numisa said her voice steady. Someone who remembers the old ways.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Can you help us? The woman tilted her head. When
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: she spoke, her voice was soft, almost a whisper. Oh,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: we remember everything here. That's the price. But remembering isn't free.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: What will you give? Namusa felt the weight of the
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: bead in her pocket, the warmth of her mother's memory.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: She thought of the hunger waiting in the stone learning.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: She thought of the third way, the one her mother
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: had promised. Everything, she said, if it means saving her.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: The woman smiled. It was not. A kind smile. A
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: then come in. We've been expecting you. Namusa stepped through
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the doorway first, the blue bead burning cold against her collarbone.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: The woman in the blood-red dress had already turned her back,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: gliding deeper into the house, and the three of them
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: had no choice but to follow. Behind them, the door
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: swung shut on its own, sealing out the moon and
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the spongy, sweet-smelling mass of sane. The interior was one
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: long room, its walls packed mud and its ceiling thatched
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: blackened by decades of smoke. Fire burned in central hearth,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: though no one had fed it. Around the flame sat
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: seven women, each one older than the last, their faces
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: carved into stillness. None of them looked up when Nemusa entered.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: They were stitching something. Long, pale cloth that pulled across
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: their laps like second river. Sit, said the woman in red.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: She gestured to read Matnir. Fire, if you said you
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: would give everything. We will see if you mend it.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Nemusa remained standing. She felt Lisseti and Thabo close behind her.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Their breathing shallow. Andrea had already pulled out her tablet,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: but the screen stayed dark. We're looking for someone who
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: remembers the old ways, Nemusa said, of someone who knows
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: about the hunger in the stone. At the word hunger,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: every needle stopped. The seven women lifted their heads in unison,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: and Nemusa saw that their eyes were the same milky white,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: like stones left too long in a river. The hunger,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the woman in red repeated, and he speak of it
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: as if it were a stranger, but it has been here.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: It has eaten here. We know its name. She stepped closer,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: and Nemusa caught the scent of her dried blood, and
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: something floral like flowers left on grave. My name is
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Emimi Eishaba. I am the keeper of this village, and you, Sangoma,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: carry something that belongs to us. Namusa's hand went to
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: her pocket. The bead? This was my mother's. It was
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: ours before it was hers. Emimi Eishaba held out, palm,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: give it to me, and I will tell you what
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: you need to know. Oh no, the word came out
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: before Namusa could think. My mother gave her life for this.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: I'm not handing it over to stranger. Emimi Eishaba smiled,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and it was the same not-kind smile from the doorway.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: then you will pay different price, the hunger you speak of.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: It was bound here long ago by pact. Every generation
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: we feed it memory, one of our own. We give
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: it name, face life, and it sleeps, but the binding
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: is weakening. Last month it took child, boy named Tishipo.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: His mother no longer remembers she had son, lest that
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: he made small sound like breath punched out of her.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: That's what happened to Ampho. To Lerato, the shadow took
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: her memory of her own sister. Yes, Amime Shaba said,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: the hunger is not just in the Drakensberg. It is everywhere.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Old packs were made, and it is learning. It no
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: longer waits for the offering it takes. She looked at Namusa.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Your mother knew this. She came here once before you
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: were born. She asked for the same thing you are asking.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: And she paid with memory of her own. The memory
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: of her firstborn child, Nemusa's blood, went cold. I don't
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: have sibling. You did, brother. He died before you were born.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Your mother gave the memory of him to the hunger,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and in return, it taught her the third way. A
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: way to unbind it without feeding it again. Thabo stepped forward,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: his hand on his knife. Then tell us the third way.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: That's why we're here. Emime Shaba turned to him, and
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: for a moment, her milky eyes flickered with something like, pity,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: of the third way requires a guardian. Someone who will
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: carry the hunger's memory. Not feed it, but hold it.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Living vessel. The last guardian died 200 years ago. Since then,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: we have been feeding the hunger scraps, hoping it would
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: not notice the absence. But when now it has, Andrea
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: said quietly, she had moved to the wall where the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: pale cloth the women were stitching enfolds. She touched it
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and her fingers came away wet. This isn't cloth. It's skin,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Lemime Shaba said. The skin of every guardian who has
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: ever held the hunger. We keep them here so they
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: do not forget. So we do not forget. Namusa felt
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the beat pulse hard against her chest, rhythm-like, second heartbeat.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: She thought of her mother laughing under the Soweto sky.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: She thought of the brother she never knew. She thought
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: of the hunger, patient, impatient, and waiting in the stone.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I'll do it, she said. I'll be the guardian. Oh, no.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Lasedi grabbed her arm. You don't even know what it means.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: It could kill you. It will, Amimish Java said. Eventually,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the hunger always consumes its keeper. But not today. Not
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: if you are strong enough. She reached into the folds
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: of her dress and pulled out small clay pot identical
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: to the one Lasedi carried. This is the last memory
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: of the last guardians. Her name was Noma Langa. It
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: was your mother's grandmother, your ancestor. Numusa took the pot.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: It was warm like the beet, like her mother's hand.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: She looked at Lesity, at Thabo, at Andrea. They were
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: all watching her waiting. If I do this, Numusa said,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: you have to promise me something. You have to find
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a way to free the others. Empho, Lurado, all of them.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: The hunger doesn't get to keep them. Amime Shaba nodded slowly.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: That is the third way. Unmind the hunger and every
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: memory it has taken returns. but the guardian must survive
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the unbinding. No one ever has. Numusa closed her eyes.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: She felt a beat pulsing, her mother's voice whispering somewhere deep.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Find the one who remembers. She opened her eyes. Then
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I'll be the first.