07

TEARS OF A ROYAL BLOOD

07

SOLWAZI 

After spending a few minutes in the throne room, he walked out. He went to find Mkhonto because he heard he was leaving by noon. 

Indeed, he finds them packing. 

Solwazi:So they were right? You're leaving? 

Mkhonto:Eyy I need to be in my house. I'm suffocated here. 

Solwazi:You are aware of what awaits you in a few months right? 

Mkhonto:Please don't sound like my father right now. 

Solwazi:Running away from this will not help you. You will come back and still it will be waiting for you. 

Mkhonto:Wow, I thought you understood me. 

Solwazi:I do understand you, but the circumstances are against you Mkhonto. You knew about this since you were young. You know royal people don't get to choose what they want. You deny that throne, and you are just setting yourself up for a rain of bad luck. 

Mkhonto sighed and sat down. 

Mkhonto:Seeing how our father is a terrible parent because of that throne, I don't think I want it. I don't want my children to grow up hating me like we hate our father. 

Solwazi:It's like I told him, we are supposed to be the better version of our parents. You have to make the change and be different from him. 

He nodded. 

Mkhonto:I hear you. 

He rubbed his hands over his face. 

Solwazi:Now put those clothes back. A man doesn't run away from his problems. You face them and head on. 

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KHETHI 

Having Nomzamo around has been fun. They spent the whole night up yesterday, drinking and chilling. She has the biggest hangover right now. 

Nomzamo:Don't you have any tomatoes here? 

Khethi:I haven't done the grocery yet. 

Nomzamo:Eish okay, let me drink this. 

She says drinking the last wine. 

Nomzamo:I didn't see king bae last night, kanti wasn't he supposed to sleep here? 

Khethi:Only God knows what's happening with that man. I haven't seen him for four days now. 

Nomzamo:Ayy kodwa nawe Makheth, what were you thinking marrying a man who already has two wives? 

Khethi:Girl have you seen how rich this man is? I'm here on a mission and I will milk him dry. 

Nomzamo:Now that's real talk. But don't you think he will chase you out when he finds out you're not royalty? 

Khethi:Don't worry, he will never suspect. My family put up a very good act. He's convinced we are royal. 

Nomzamo laughs. They hear a knock on the door. 

Khethi:I'll get it. 

She goes to open the door, and Ndlovu was at the door. This man just sends shivers down her back. It's almost like he can see through her. 

Khethi:Can I help you baba? 

Ndlovu:I came to warn you. 

Khethi:About what? 

Ndlovu:About your intentions with this family. It won't end well. 

He said and walked away. 

Khethi:Mhhh weird. 

She closed the door and went back to Nomzamo. 

Nomzamo opened the TV and opened the music channel. 

"Super freaky girl" by Nicki minaj was playing and they went crazy. She opened the volume high and they started dancing, twerking and singing along. Bekuwubu santu santu nje into ongayazi. 

They hear the music stop and they stop dancing, only to see Sindiswa looking at them disappointed. 

Sindiswa:Your music can be heard all the way to the gate. Khethi you were told about how to behave yourself but what you are doing now is showing signs of being a hooligan. This is a royal house not a sheeben. What will baba say when he walks in here? 

Khethi looked down embarrassed. 

Khethi:We are sorry mamkhulu. 

Sindiswa:Ziphathe kahle Khethiwe, akubonakale ukuthi uwumuntu wesfazane oshadile(Behave Khethiwe, it must show that you are a married woman). 

Khethi:Yebo mamkhulu. 

Sindiswa shook her head one more time and walked out. 

Nomzamo:Tjoh! I thought you said she is quiet. 

Khethi:I'm also surprised. But she's right. Solwazi also warned us yesterday. Let's just clean up here and have breakfast at the main house. 

Nomzamo:Okay. 

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SINDISWA 

Khethi is behaving like a street girl, and she couldn’t just let her do as she pleases. She went over at her house and politely told her to stop what she's doing. 

Solwazi:Ma Zee says she wants to leave with me. 

Sindiswa:Yes, she told me yesterday. Are you okay with her going with you? 

Solwazi:Yes, I don't mind staying with her. I also think it will do her good. 

Sindiswa:Okay, I will help her pack. When are you leaving? 

Solwazi:I was supposed to leave tomorrow, but things are not going well here. So I'll just drop her off at my house and come back. 

Sindiswa:No Solwazi, she's young. She can't stay alone. 

Solwazi:She's 23 ma. She'll be fine. It's time she gets her independence. We are not going to shield her from the world forever. She's going to meet people some day, maybe she might meet her future husband or wife. 

Sindiswa smiled proudly. Her son just knew the right words to say to anyone. The wisdom he carries is nothing she has seen before. He would have made a great King, only if Kholo didn't do what she did. It still puzzles her why her son is not the heir because she's the first wife, but she doesn't want to turn into a power hungry person. She sees the way Kholo is and she doesn't want to be that person. She's all for peace. And Qhawe knows what he's doing. 

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THEMBEKA 

She is in her room and crying. Crying because she just decided to be stupid. She looks at the two lines on the pregnancy test and she wishes she could just turn back time. Her mother will be so disappointed. 

She still thinks she's a Virgin. But where has she(Kholo) seen a 26 year old Virgin in this time? She was bound to lose it at some time. 

But she'll never hear the end of it, especially with the father being a commoner and he is not that stable financially. 

She takes her phone and calls him. 

Solanda:Sthandwa sami. 

Thembeka:I did the pregnancy test, and I'm pregnant. 

Solanda:You're pregnant? But we were always safe. 

Thembeka:Maybe the condom broke, I don't know. What are we going to do? 

Solanda:Okay, I will try to come to your family and pay damages. I won't deny my baby. 

Thembeka:Are you crazy? You want to embarrass me in front of my mother? 

Solanda:Excuse me!?

Thembeka:I'm aborting this baby Solanda. You have nothing, how will you feed this child? My mother will be so disappointed and I can't do that to her. I'm sorry but I can't keep it. 

She hangs up and looks at the test again. 

"Thembeka why are you locking yourself here?", she hears her mother speaking. She rushes and hides the test. 

She wipes her tears and goes to open the door for her. 

Thembeka:Hey mom. 

Kholo:Why are you locking yourself here? 

Thembeka:I was just changing. What did you need? 

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Narrated 

Qhawe took his sons to one of his meetings so they could see how things are done, especially Mkhonto.

QHAWE:So the issue we have here is, our neighboring kingdom claims that we built our crop farm on their land and they want the profit from our work. Here they are. 

They spot two men coming towards them. 

They stand up to greet and welcome them. 

Qhawe:King Zulu, these are my sons, Mkhonto and Solwazi. They are here to see how we deal with negotiations, I hope you are okay with that. 

Zulu:I'm fine with it, this is my son Velaphi. 

Velaphi:So the issue here is, the Nqoboka Kingdom built their farm on our land and they are making money but we are getting nothing. We want a share. 

Qhawe:Not possible. We didn't know that was your land. It was vacant and we saw an opportunity for business. 

Zulu:Well now we are claiming it. That is our land. 

Velaphi:You have two options here, give us 70% of the profit you get or remove your farm from our land. 

Qhawe:We can't give you 70% of our profit. There are people working on that farm and they have families to feed, so now if we give everything to you, what will be of them? 

Zulu:It's our land, and we have the final say. 

Qhawe looked at Mkhonto for him to add something. He is going to be king soon and he needs to be able to negotiate a deal. 

Mkhonto looked at his father and swallowed. 

Mkhonto:Uhm I think we have to uhm... We need to.... 

Velaphi:We didn't come here to listen to people stuttering! 

He said annoyed. 

Solwazi:Do you have tangible proof that the land is yours? 

Zulu:That's beside the point. That land belongs to us. 

Solwazi:Well then show us proof that it belongs to you or you just wasted your time coming here because we will not be giving you even 2% of the profits we make. You d_

Velaphi:But we_

Solwazi:I'm not finished. Learn to not interrupt me. 

Velaphi nodded. This guy has that authority that just says listen to me. 

Solwazi:Now as I was saying, you don't have proof that land belongs to you. You came here to take chances. Even if it does belong to you, there's nothing we can do because our farm is already there. But, there is a way this can benefit us all. 

Zulu:I'm listening. 

Solwazi:You thrive in corn in one of your farms, and we don't have that. We can just trade from time to time and each of us get something. Instead of just fighting a useless battle. Being a Ruler means you put your people first before everything. Who knows? Maybe the two kingdoms can come together and create more job opportunities for the people.. 

Zulu smiled. He was speaking a lot of sense. 

Zulu:True words son. You're wise. You must be the one in line to take over from your father. 

Mkhonto gulped his saliva. 

QHAWE looked at Solwazi in pride. 

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