Latty walked slowly into the wedding venue. The drums were still beating, but not as loudly as before. One by one, heads began to turn. Conversations stopped halfway. People stared openly. Some whispered. Others simply watched in silence.
Latty’s beauty caught everyone by surprise. Her long dark hair rested on her back, shining under the sun. Her face was calm, but her heart was beating very fast. She looked around carefully. Nobody spoke to her. Even the drummers slowed their hands as their eyes followed her movement. The dancers paused, forgetting their steps.
Eba, who had been sitting quietly, raised his head and stared at her with deep admiration. He could not look away.
Latty pretended she was only a guest. She smiled gently at those staring at her, though her smile hid fear and nervousness. She moved slowly through the crowd, careful with every step, careful with every breath. Inside her mind, Rona’s voice echoed again and again: Do not let anyone know who you are yet.
Latty held on tightly to that warning. She did not come to expose herself now. She came to see. She came to understand. Most importantly, she came to find her mother.
As Latty walked deeper into the venue, she scanned every face carefully—happy faces, laughing faces, faces full of food and celebration—but none of them were the face she was looking for.
Then she saw her, sitting a little far away from the crowd under a tree, alone. Latty’s mother sat quietly, her back slightly bent, her eyes fixed on the ground. She was not smiling. She was not dancing. She looked lost, like someone whose heart was somewhere else entirely.
The sight broke Latty’s heart.
Pain rushed into her chest so suddenly that she almost stopped walking.
