"Ulni, binti yangu, ambapo ni wewe?" (Ulni, my daughter, where are you?)
"Mimi niko hapa, mama!" (I'm here, mama!" Ulni replied, running into the hut with a bucket of water. The fourteen year old lyc had been gathering water from the stream that ran just outside for her mother. "Mama, ni nini?" (Mama, what is it?) she asked fearfully.286Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVa65HvvLV8
Ulni's mother let out a long and course cough. She had been racked with illness since Ulni's baby brother had been stillborn. "Kucheza kitu kwa ajili yangu, Ulni," (Play something for me, Ulni,) she breathed. Her voice was raspy and difficult to understand, and didn't sound any better as Ulni gave her sick mother some water to drink.
The young lioness nodded sadly, and grabbed her flute, and started playing a soft yet beautiful tune. The tune was that of a healing prayer, and as she started to get into it, her mother's coughing made her pause. Ulni started to play something different, for she knew what the blood coming up from her mother's mouth meant. Her tune was now sad and sorrowful, as she started to cry.
Her mother was gone, and Ulni was now alone in the world. The strange world she would have to come to know if she wanted to survive. She would have to do so much more than just survive. If only she knew when her mother had passed that she'd be destined for greatness.
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