Isla slumped onto her bed and immediately fell into a catatonic sleep; the travel, tears, and surprise had all taken their toll. Karabo watched Isla’s back move with her breathing and slouched onto the bed next to her. Anathi unzipped her bag and grabbed her toiletries before stepping into the bathroom. Karabo knew her mother liked to stand in the shower for ages after travelling. Karabo was finally alone.

Slowly she stood up. The air-conditioning was cold, and she wanted to lose herself in that bushveld smell she had tasted earlier. She carefully stepped out of the sliding door that opened onto the African bush. Thick buffalo grass crawled over the ground, and a forest of widely-spaced thorn trees led towards the dense uncut grass in the distance. The lawn was cut into the veld, pushing the untamed bush back a few metres, away from the lodge rooms.

In the distance, a curious mongoose poked its head out of the tall grass and came slinking over the cut grass towards the hotel. Karabo stood still, waiting to see what it was planning on doing, but it spotted her first and stood up on its hind legs, swaying its little body, looking at her with curiosity and caution. Deciding she wasn’t going to eat him, the mongoose came back down onto all fours and made his way over to the pool, further down the embankment. Karabo walked to the nearest bright green fever tree, leaned against it and then slid down to the ground. She dug her fingers through the short thick grass blades, feeling the red soil on her fingertips. She loved the feel of this red earth.

As she sat under the dappled afternoon light of the fever tree, her mind wandered to something her mom had said, which was now bothering her. Anathi had told them that she had saved Cedric from entering into a deal with someone who wanted more than he was due. Something seemed so familiar about that situation, but she couldn’t quite place it, or connect it. She sighed and rested her head back against the tree. Closing her eyes, feeling the heat and smell of the bush overtake her, she let herself relax.

She was in the sangoma’s hut again. The air was thick with the smoke.

‘You have come back’ the sangoma said. ‘Why am I here?’ Karabo heard herself ask.

‘You know why you are here, stop fighting your gift you foolish child. You waste your time trying to be like everyone else, when you are so much more. Harness your power and seek your truth!’ spat the harsh voice of the sangoma through the smoke.

Why am I here, why am I here? Karabo asked herself as she wandered through the haze, disorientated. The images of the pirates, William’s people, appeared and she pushed them aside. The images of the Matabele warriors appeared, running towards their deaths. She turned away from them, not wanting to see their bodies fall again, under the guns of the colonialists and William’s ancestors. She walked on. Mzi was also here, in the smoke, sitting down. He was looking at his hand. A small replica of an elephant sat in his palm, and he was staring at it. Karabo moved towards him to ask him what it was, but the smoke moved suddenly and the elephant began to grow. Mzi had disappeared and the elephant began to move, waving its trunk, its ears flapping in anger. Now it was the size of a full-grown male elephant. It waved its trunk at Karabo and in fear she stepped back from the fierce beast. But the elephant was cross with her, and out of the corner of her eye she saw them: a group of men, William’s father amongst them, running towards the elephant, waving their guns. She tried to scream at the elephant, to tell it to run, to go, but it wouldn’t. The men kept coming, firing their guns. Karabo jumped in front of the elephant.

Her eyes shot open. She gasped for breath, sitting upright, putting her hands over her heart to try and slow the thumping in her chest down. Looking around her she noticed it had gotten darker but she was still sitting on the ground, next to the tree.

Everything was fine. She looked around. Everything was just as it had been before she closed her eyes.

‘Karabz, I’m done with the shower, angel. Do you want to clean up before we go to dinner?’ sang Anathi’s voice through the curtains of their room.

‘Yes Mom,’ Karabo called, slowly standing up. Confused by her vision, she leaned against the tree and shook her head to clear it. When her heartbeat had returned back to normal, she walked inside.

Anathi decided to meet Cedric and his wife for a drink at the bar before dinner. She was ready before the girls and seemed eager to leave the miserable Isla.