The dawn came quietly that morning, the way that dawns come when the world is holding its breath, when the light that spreads across the sky is soft and tentative, as if it is not sure whether it is welcome, whether the people who are waking to it are ready to see what it will show them. But beneath the quiet of the morning, the land was filled with the noise of many thoughts, the thoughts of the people who had been watching the fire, who had heard the prophecy, who had seen the daughter of the king stand in the place where the spirits spoke and be revealed as the one who had been chosen. The land of Magodo had become something it had never been before, had been placed under the skill of the prophecy of fire, and the words of Nyamunhu had begun to speak in the dreams of many people, had begun to shape the way they saw the world, had begun to make them choose which story they would believe, which path they would walk, which side they would stand on when the time came for the things that had been promised to be fulfilled. Some said that Mukunda was the savior, the one who had been sent to protect the land, the one who would carry the fire and use it to light the way for the people who had been waiting for someone to show them where to go. Others said that she was the sign of death, the one who had been sent to destroy, the one whose fire would burn the things that had been built and leave nothing but ash and memory, the one who would be the end of the kingdom that had been protected for generations.

Mukunda woke that morning feeling the spirit that was in the wind, the spirit that had been moving through this land since before the first people came, the spirit that had been waiting for this moment, for this time, for the one who would carry what it had been waiting to give. Her eyes looked at the sky that was still carrying the smoke of the fire that had burned the night before, the fire that had spoken, the fire that had shown the people who she was and what she had been given to carry. On the other side of the room, her mother was praying, wearing the white cloth that was clean and bright, the cloth that had been worn by the women of their family when they were protecting their spirits from the things that could harm them, when they were asking the ancestors to watch over the ones they loved, when they were standing in the place between what was and what would be and asking for the strength to carry what was being given to them.

"My child," her mother said, and there was a heaviness in her voice, a heaviness that came from knowing that the fire that had been given to her daughter was not a fire that could be controlled, not a fire that would burn only the things that should be burned, not a fire that would do only what the one who carried it wanted it to do. "The fire is not easy to control, is not easy to hold, is not something that will do only what you want it to do. If you do not hold it carefully, if you do not learn to carry it the way it needs to be carried, it will burn everything that you love, everything that you have been given to protect, everything that you have been carrying since the day you were born."

Mukunda looked down at the ground, her fingers touching the earth that had been walked on by generations of feet, the earth that had been tended by generations of hands, the earth that had been given to her to protect, to carry, to hold for the ones who would come after. She told her mother that she was not giving the fire to burn, that she was giving it to be light, to be the thing that would show the people where to go, to be the thing that would guide them through the darkness that was coming, the darkness that had been waiting for this moment, for this time, for the thing that would either save them or destroy them. She told her mother that if the spirit had chosen her, if the fire had been given to her, if the prophecy that had been waiting since before she was born was being fulfilled through her, then she would work with it until the end, would carry it until she could carry it no longer, would be the one who stood in the place where the fire burned and did not let it destroy the things that had been given to her to protect.

They looked at each other in the silence that followed, the silence that comes when a mother and a daughter have said the things that need to be said, have spoken the words that have been waiting to be spoken, have stood in the place where the path that has been walked for so long meets the path that is just beginning. It was the measure of the respect that exists between a mother and a child who carries the inheritance of strength, the respect that comes when the one who has been carrying something for so long sees that the one who will carry it next is ready, is willing, is standing in the place where the weight will be passed and is not running away, is not hiding, is not pretending that she does not see what is being asked of her.

The palace was full of people that day, more people than I had ever seen gathered in one place, the counselors and the elders and the leaders of the warriors and the wives of the king and the people who had come from the villages and the fields to hear what would be said, to see what would happen, to know what the prophecy meant for the land that they had been given to protect. King Magodo had not slept, had been sitting on his throne through the night, watching the fire that had been burning in the court, listening to the words that the spirits were speaking, waiting for the morning when he would have to stand before his people and tell them what the prophecy meant, what was being asked of them, what they would have to do to save the land that had been passed down from his father and his father's father and the fathers who had come before. The counselors were talking among themselves, the way that counselors talk when there is something that needs to be decided, when there is a thing that has been given to them that they are not sure how to carry, when the path that is opening before them is a path that they have not walked before and they are not sure which way to go. They were speaking about how the prophecy could be used to strengthen the kingdom, to make the people believe that the spirits were with them, to show the enemies who were watching from the hills that the fire that had been given to the daughter of the king was a fire that would protect the land that had been given to her to carry. But they were also speaking about how it could destroy the kingdom, how the fire that had been given could burn the things that had been built, how the prophecy that was meant to save could be the thing that ended everything that had been protected for generations, how the daughter who had been chosen could be the one who was the end of the line that had been running through the blood of the kings since the first king sat on this throne.

"King," the elder Vengai said, the elder who had been carrying the old ways since before I was born, the elder who had been speaking to the spirits since he was young enough to hear them, the elder who had been watching the fire that had been burning since the day I was born, waiting for the time when it would speak, waiting for the time when the prophecy would be fulfilled, waiting for the time when the one who had been chosen would be revealed. "The spirit of fire cannot be controlled, cannot be told what to do, cannot be made to burn only the things that should be burned and leave the things that should be saved. But Mukunda can be taught to join with the other three spirits, the spirit of water, the spirit of wind, the spirit of stone. If they are joined, if the fire that she is carrying finds the things that it needs to find, the strength that is created will be enough to protect the land from the war that is coming, from the enemies who have been watching, from the ones who have been waiting for the moment when we are weak enough to be taken."

My father was quiet for a moment, turning his short spear in his hands, the spear that had been carried by his father and his father's father, the spear that had been held in the battles that the stories still told, the spear that had been the thing that protected the land when the enemies came and the borders were threatened and the people who had been given this land to protect were called to stand and fight for what had been given to them. He asked about the war, about who wanted to fight against them, about who had been watching from the hills, waiting for the moment when the prophecy would be spoken and the land would be weak and the fire that had been given to the daughter of the king would be the thing that burned the kingdom instead of the thing that saved it.

"The King of Zungunde," the leader of the warriors said, the man who had been carrying the weight of protecting the borders since before I was born, the man who had seen the enemies come and go, the man who had been watching the hills and the passes and the places where the land could be entered by those who did not belong, "has been gathering his forces at the border, has been waiting for this moment, has been watching the fire that has been burning in our land and telling his people that it is the sign of the end of Magodo, that the prophecy that has been spoken is the thing that will be the end of the kingdom that has been standing since before his people came to this land."

In that moment, they all looked at each other, the counselors and the elders and the leaders of the warriors and the wives of the king, the people who had been watching and waiting and hoping that the prophecy would be something else, that the fire would mean something else, that the daughter who had been chosen would be something else. My father stood, the way that a king stands when the thing that he has been waiting for, the thing that he has been hoping for, the thing that he has been afraid of, is finally here, is finally in front of him, is finally something that he has to face. He stood strong, the way that a man who has been carrying the weight of a kingdom for as long as I had been alive stands when the thing that he has been carrying is about to be passed to someone else, when the time that he has been waiting for is finally here, when the thing that he has been preparing for since the day he was given the staff is finally happening.

"If that is what they believe, then it is known that this fire, the fire that has been given to my daughter, the fire that has been burning since the prophecy was first spoken, will be our weapon, will be the thing that protects us, will be the thing that shows them that the spirits are with us and that the land that has been given to us to protect will not be taken by anyone who comes from outside. We will make Mukunda the symbol of our faith, the sign that we believe, the thing that will be the light that guides us through the darkness that is coming, not the thing that we fear, not the thing that we run from, not the thing that we let destroy us before the enemy even has a chance to reach our borders."

But one of the counselors, one of the men who had been sitting in this court since before I was born, one of the men who had been watching the kings come and go, who had been carrying the weight of advising the ones who sat on the throne, stood up and spoke with a voice that was heavy with the things that he had seen, the things that he had carried, the things that he was afraid would happen if the path that was being chosen was the wrong path. He said that the daughter of the king carried the blood of a woman, that her spirit could change with her feelings, that if she was hurt, if she loved too much, if she was not careful, the strength that had been given to her could become a danger, could turn on the people she was trying to protect, could be the thing that destroyed the kingdom instead of the thing that saved it.

My father was quiet again, the way that a king is quiet when the thing that is being said is something that he knows is true, something that he has been carrying in his heart since the day his daughter was born, something that he has been hoping would not be said, would not be spoken, would not be the thing that the people who were watching would hear. He looked up at the sky, at the clouds that were moving across the face of the sun, covering it and uncovering it, covering it and uncovering it, the way that the things that are hidden are covered and uncovered, covered and uncovered, until the time comes when they can no longer be hidden at all. He spoke softly, the way that a man speaks when he is saying something that he has been holding for a long time, something that he is not sure he should say, something that he is saying because the time has come to say it, because the people who are watching need to hear it, because the thing that is being asked of his daughter is something that cannot be carried by someone who does not understand what it means to love.

"If it is about love, we will see, we will watch, we will wait, and we will know whether the fire that has been given to her is the fire that saves or the fire that destroys."

Taru had become a great worker of the warriors, had been trained in the ways of the spear, had learned to stand where the warriors stood, to fight where the warriors fought, to carry the weight that the warriors carried. But with each day that passed, her love for Mukunda was growing deeper, was becoming something that she had not expected, something that she was not sure she knew how to carry, something that was changing her in ways that she did not fully understand. She was a person who smiled, the way that people smile when they have learned to carry the weight that has been given to them without letting it show, when they have learned to be in the world without letting the world see what they are carrying, when they have learned to be the thing that other people need them to be even when they are not sure what they need to be for themselves. But her eyes, her eyes were the eyes of someone who knows more than they are saying, who has seen things that they are not ready to share, who has been watching the things that are happening and has been waiting for the moment when the things that she knows will be the things that need to be known.

One day, when they were sitting on the hills of the place where the sky falls, the hills that looked out over the land that had been given to them to protect, the hills where the wind was always moving, always carrying the voices of the spirits, always telling the people who sat there that there was something more, something larger, something that was waiting for them to see it, they sat on the stones that had been there since before the first people came, looking at the sky that was filled with the small clouds that were moving across the face of the sun, covering it and uncovering it, covering it and uncovering it, the way that the things that are hidden are covered and uncovered, covered and uncovered, until the time comes when they can no longer be hidden at all.

"Taru," Mukunda said softly, the way that a person speaks when they are asking a question that they are not sure they want to know the answer to, when they are standing on the edge of something that they are not sure they are ready to step into, when the thing that they are about to say is the thing that has been waiting to be said since they were children, since the first time they sat by the river and let the wind carry away the things that were too heavy to hold. "If the spirit of the prophecy tells me that I must kill someone I love, that I must let the fire burn the thing that I have been carrying in my heart since I was old enough to know what it means to carry something, so that the land can live, so that the people can be saved, so that the kingdom that has been given to me to protect can stand against the war that is coming, what would I do? What would I be? What would I become if the thing that was asked of me was the thing that would take from me the only thing that has ever made the weight that I am carrying feel like something I could hold?"

Taru was quiet for a long time, the way that a person is quiet when the question that has been asked is the question that they have been carrying in their own heart, the question that they have been waiting to be asked, the question that they have been afraid to answer because they are not sure what the answer is, because they are not sure that they want to know what the answer is, because the thing that is being asked is the thing that will change everything, that will make them into something that they are not sure they know how to be. She held her spear, the spear that had been carried by her father, the spear that had been given to her when he was taken, the spear that had been the thing that she held when the world was too heavy and she was not sure she could carry the weight that had been given to her. She spoke softly, the way that a person speaks when they are saying something that they have been holding for a long time, something that they are not sure they should say, something that they are saying because the time has come to say it, because the person who is asking is the person who needs to hear it, because the thing that is being asked is the thing that will be the path that they walk, whether they are ready to walk it or not.

"It would be better to die loving than to live cursing our spirit, than to live knowing that we let the fear of what we would lose stop us from being the thing that we were meant to be, than to live in a world that was saved by our fear instead of our courage, by our running instead of our standing, by our letting go of the thing that mattered most because we were afraid that holding it would cost us everything."

Her words made Mukunda feel like her spirit had been joined with something that she had not known was missing, something that had been waiting for this moment, for this time, for the thing that was being said, for the thing that was being asked, for the thing that was being given. She felt the blood of joy and fear moving through her, the joy of knowing that the person who was sitting beside her was the person who would stand beside her when the fire was burning and the path was dark and the thing that was coming was something that neither of them understood, and the fear of knowing that the thing that was being asked was the thing that would cost them everything, would ask them to give more than they had ever given, would be the thing that would make them into something that they were not sure they knew how to be.

They looked at each other, the way that people look at each other when they have said the thing that has been waiting to be said, when they have spoken the words that have been waiting to be spoken, when they have stood in the place where the path that they have been walking alone meets the path that they will walk together. The wind moved between them, moving their hair, moving the cloth that they were wearing, moving the dust that was on the ground, and in the wind, there was a sound, the sound of the spirits dancing around them, the sound of the ancestors watching them, the sound of the thing that had been waiting for this moment, for this time, for the thing that was happening, finally happening, finally being seen, finally being known.

In that moment, the earth beneath them was filled with a small light, a light that was like drops of fire, but the fire was not hot, was not burning, was not doing anything except being there, being light, being the thing that was showing them that something was beginning, that the thing that had been waiting was finally happening, that the fire that had been given to Mukunda was finding the thing that it needed to find, was joining with the thing that it needed to join with, was becoming the thing that it was meant to become.

"It is beginning," Mukunda said softly, her voice carrying the wonder of the thing that she was seeing, the thing that she was feeling, the thing that she had been waiting for since the fire first spoke, since the prophecy was first told, since the night when she heard the voice of Nyamunhu and knew that she was the one who had been chosen. "This is the sign of the joining of the fire and the water, the thing that the spirit said would be the beginning, the thing that would be the path that we would walk, the thing that would be the love that would save the land or the love that would destroy it."

Taru took her hand, the way that a person takes the hand of someone they love when they are standing on the edge of something, when the path that is opening before them is a path that they have not walked before, when the thing that is being asked is the thing that will change everything, that will make them into something that they are not sure they know how to be. She told Mukunda that if this meant that they were beginning this time together, that they were walking this path together, that they were standing in this place together, then she was giving herself fully, was giving everything, was giving the thing that she had been holding since the day they sat by the river and let the wind carry away the things that were too heavy to hold.

As they held hands, the light that had been in the earth moved between them, became like the smoke of a spear that was shining, that was bright, that was the thing that was joining them, that was the thing that was making them into something that they had not been before, that was the thing that was the beginning of the love that would be the thing that saved the land or the thing that destroyed it. The light rose into the sky, rose to the place where the clouds were moving, rose to the place where the spirits were watching, rose to the place where the ancestors who had been waiting for this moment, for this time, for the thing that was happening, were finally seeing what they had been waiting to see.

The elder Vengai, who had been standing far away, who had been watching from the palace, who had been waiting for the sign that the prophecy was moving, that the thing that had been promised was happening, that the time that had been waiting was finally here, saw this light from the place where he was standing, saw it rise into the sky, saw it become the thing that he had been waiting to see since the fire first spoke, since the prophecy was first told, since the night when Nyamunhu appeared in the flames and told them that a daughter would come who would carry the fire that would save the land or destroy it. He stood up and called to the other elders, the ones who had been waiting with him, the ones who had been watching the sky, the ones who had been listening for the sign that the thing that had been promised was finally happening.

"The second spirit has joined, the spirit of water has joined with the spirit of fire, the love that has been growing between them, the love that has been waiting for this moment, for this time, for the thing that is happening, has begun to be moved by blood, has become the thing that will be the path that they walk, has become the thing that will not be changed, will not be turned, will not be stopped by anything that comes from outside, by any fear that lives in their hearts, by any enemy that tries to destroy what they are building."

But in the lands that were far away, in the lands beyond the mountains, in the lands where the enemies who had been watching were waiting for the moment when the prophecy would make the kingdom weak, the King of Zungunde, the man who had been gathering his forces at the border, the man who had been waiting for this moment, the man who had been watching the fire that had been burning in the land of Magodo and telling his people that it was the sign of the end of the kingdom that had been standing since before his people came to this land, was smiling as he heard the news of what was happening. He said that the daughter of the king had joined with love, that this was the thing that destroyed the families of the spirit, that if they could raise the spirit of the stone from the place where the river runs, the fire that was burning in the land of Magodo would become a wilderness, would become a place where nothing grew, would become the thing that would be the end of the kingdom that he had been waiting to take.

He brought out a thing that was light, a thing that was a black stone, a thing that was shining with a darkness that was not the darkness of the night but the darkness of something that had been waiting, something that had been held, something that had been kept for this moment, for this time, for the thing that was happening. He said that this stone was the thing that held the strength of the third spirit, that if it was broken, the kingdom of Magodo would fall, would be under them, would be the thing that they had been waiting to take since before the prophecy was spoken, since before the fire was lit, since before the daughter who carried the fire was born.

His elders knelt and told him that they were under him, that the spirits of the west would be with him, that the thing that he was planning, the thing that he had been waiting for, the thing that he had been preparing for since the first fire was lit in the land of Magodo, would be the thing that would make him the king of the land that had been standing since before his people came.

The King of Zungunde laughed, the laugh of a man who has been waiting for something, who has been watching for something, who has been preparing for something, and who sees that the thing that he has been waiting for is finally happening, that the thing that he has been watching for is finally here, that the thing that he has been preparing for is finally in front of him. He said that when the fire is burning, when the fire is doing what fire does, when the fire is being the thing that it was meant to be, the stones must be broken, must be crushed, must be made into the thing that will be the end of the kingdom that has been standing since before his people came to this land.

That night, Mukunda dreamed a dream that was not like the dreams that she had dreamed before, a dream that was filled with things that she did not understand, a dream that was the spirit showing her something, telling her something, preparing her for something that was coming. She saw herself in a field that was filled with the wounds of fire, with the marks that the fire had left, with the places where the fire had burned and the things that had been burned were still smoking, still burning, still being consumed by the fire that had been given to her to carry. Water was falling from the sky, was covering the field, was touching the places where the fire was burning, but the water was not putting out the fire, was not stopping the burning, was not doing anything except being water, falling from the sky, covering the field, touching the fire that was burning and not putting it out.

In the middle of this field, in the middle of the fire and the water, in the middle of the thing that she was seeing and the thing that she was feeling, she heard a voice, a voice that was deep, a voice that was the voice of the spirit that had been watching her, that had been waiting for her, that had been speaking to her since the night when the fire first spoke and she knew that she was the one who had been chosen. The voice told her that her love would save the land if it was clean, if it was pure, if it was the thing that the spirits had been waiting for, but that if it was tricked, if it was taken, if it was made into something that it was not meant to be, it would destroy everything, would burn everything, would be the thing that was the end of the land that she had been given to protect.

She woke up, her heart beating hard, her body shaking, her mind still filled with the images that the dream had given her, the images that the spirit had shown her, the images that were telling her something that she was only beginning to understand. Taru was sleeping at the edge of the court, the way that she slept when she was watching over Mukunda, when she was being the keeper that she had promised to be, when she was holding the spear that had been given to her by her father and waiting for the thing that was coming.

"Taru," she called out, her voice carrying the question that the dream had given her, the question that the spirit had asked her, the question that she was not sure she wanted to know the answer to but that she knew she had to ask, that she had to speak, that she had to put into words so that she could carry it, so that she could hold it, so that she could be the one who walked the path that was opening before her. "Can love truly become blood? Can the thing that has been growing in my heart, the thing that has been carrying me through the days when the weight was heavy and the path was dark, the thing that has been the only light that I could see when the fire was burning and I was not sure I could carry it, become the thing that is the blood that is spilled, the thing that is the offering that is given, the thing that is the price that is paid for the land that I have been given to protect?"

Taru looked at her with eyes that were filled with the thing that she had been carrying, the thing that she had been holding, the thing that she had been waiting to give, the thing that she had been waiting to receive, the thing that had been growing between them since they were children, since the first time they sat by the river and let the wind carry away the things that were too heavy to hold. She told Mukunda that if the love came from the spirit, from the place where the spirit lives, from the thing that the spirit has been waiting to give, then yes, it could become blood, it could become the thing that is spilled, it could become the thing that is given, it could become the thing that is the price that is paid. But she told her that blood remembers, that blood carries the things that have been given to it, that blood does not forget the love that it has carried, that blood does not become something else just because it has been spilled, that blood is the thing that carries the love from the place where it was given to the place where it will be received, and that it will carry it for as long as the land remembers, for as long as the spirits watch, for as long as the people who come after remember the ones who came before.

In that moment, they felt the earth beneath them shake, a trembling that came from far away, a trembling that was the earth crying, the earth speaking, the earth telling them that something was happening, something was moving, something was coming. Mukunda stood up, holding her spear, the spear that carried the sign of the fire, the spear that had been given to her by her father, the spear that was the thing that she would hold when the enemy came and the land was threatened and the thing that she had been given to protect was in danger of being taken.

"It is known," she said, her voice carrying the strength that had been given to her, the strength that had been growing in her since the fire first spoke, since the prophecy was first told, since the night when she heard the voice of Nyamunhu and knew that she was the one who had been chosen. "The spirit of the stone has begun to move, has begun to do what it was meant to do, has begun to be the thing that the enemy has been waiting for, the thing that will be the war that is coming, the thing that will be the test that the prophecy has been waiting for."

Taru looked at her, the way that a person looks at someone when they are standing on the edge of something, when the thing that they have been waiting for is finally here, when the path that has been opening before them is finally the path that they are walking. She spoke softly, the way that a person speaks when they are saying something that they have been holding for a long time, something that they are not sure they should say, something that they are saying because the time has come to say it, because the person who is standing beside them is the person who needs to hear it, because the thing that is happening is the thing that will be the thing that they remember when the land is saved or destroyed, when the fire has burned or the light has come, when the love that they have been carrying has become the thing that saves or the thing that destroys.

"It means that the prophecy is moving, that the thing that has been waiting is happening, that the time that was promised is here. And it means that our love has become blood, has become the thing that will be carried, has become the thing that will be remembered, has become the thing that will be the light that guides us through the darkness that is coming or the fire that burns the things that we have been given to protect."

The next morning, the king announced a great court, a gathering of all the people who had been waiting, who had been watching, who had been hoping that the prophecy would be something else, that the fire would mean something else, that the daughter who had been chosen would be something else. He told them that the war was coming, that the enemy who had been watching from the hills was finally moving, was finally doing what he had been waiting to do, was finally bringing the thing that he had been preparing since the fire first spoke, since the prophecy was first told, since the daughter who carried the fire was born. He told them that his daughter, Mukunda, would lead their warriors, would stand at the front of their army, would carry the fire that had been given to her and use it to protect the land that had been given to her to protect, and that her keeper, Taru, the one who had promised to stand beside her, the one who had promised to be the one who would make sure that the fire did not burn the things that should not be burned, would stand beside her, would fight beside her, would be the one who would carry the weight when the weight was too heavy and the path was too dark and the thing that was coming was something that neither of them understood.

The elder Vengai knelt, the way that an elder kneels when the thing that he has been waiting for, the thing that he has been watching for, the thing that he has been hoping for, is finally happening, is finally being done, is finally the thing that the people who have been waiting will see and know that the prophecy is moving, that the time is coming, that the thing that was promised is being fulfilled. He told the king that if they did not receive that spirit, if they did not find the thing that the fire needed, if they did not join with the spirit of the stone before the enemy reached them, the stones would break, the fire would spread through the villages, and the land would become sand, would become a place where nothing grew, would become the thing that the enemy had been waiting for since the fire first spoke and the prophecy was first told.

Mukunda stood up, the way that a daughter stands when her father has spoken, when the weight that has been given to her is the weight that she has been carrying since the day she was born, when the thing that is being asked of her is the thing that she has been preparing for since the fire first spoke and she knew that she was the one who had been chosen. She told him that she would fight for her land until the last spirit, until the fire had done what it was meant to do, until the thing that had been promised was fulfilled, until the land that had been given to her to protect was safe, was protected, was the thing that she would pass to the ones who came after, the ones who would remember her, the ones who would tell her story, the ones who would know that the daughter who had been born when the kingdom was waiting for a son was the one who saved them, was the one who carried the fire, was the one who was Mukunda, the child who was freed by the Spirit, the one who had been chosen, the one who would carry what had been waiting, the one who would be the fire that saved the land that had been given to her to protect.

Her father looked at her for a long time, the way that a father looks at a daughter when he sees that the thing that he has been carrying, the thing that he has been holding, the thing that he has been waiting for her to become, is finally happening, is finally being seen, is finally the thing that he knew she would be, that he hoped she would be, that he was afraid she would be, because the thing that she was becoming was the thing that would take her away from him, would take her to the place where the fire was burning, would take her to the place where the enemy was waiting, would take her to the place where the prophecy would be fulfilled and she would be the one who saved the land or the one who destroyed it, the one who lived or the one who died, the one who carried the fire or the one who was consumed by it. He told her that his blood was in her, that she was his daughter, that she carried the thing that he had been carrying since he was given the staff and told to protect the land that had been passed down from his father. But he told her to remember that love is not always alone in the fire, that love must learn to protect the one it loves, or to burn with it, to stand beside it, to be the thing that carries it when the weight is too heavy and the path is too dark and the thing that is coming is something that neither of them understands.

Her mother held her, the way that a mother holds a daughter when she is standing on the edge of something, when the path that is opening before her is a path that her mother cannot walk with her, when the thing that is being asked of her is the thing that her mother has been waiting for her to do since the day she was born, since the fire was lit, since the prophecy was spoken, since the night when the voice of Nyamunhu came and told them that a daughter would come who would carry the fire that would save the land or destroy it. She told Mukunda that when she returned, the land would be new, would be the thing that it was meant to be, would be the thing that they had been waiting for since the first fire was lit, since the first prophecy was spoken, since the