Ijeoma

She was a woman of many gifts, one which made her different.

She led a secluded life like an outcast, for not many wanted to interact with her until they needed her to foretell their future, for she had eyes, way beyond normal humans could see. That amongst many other gifts.

Some said she could see and communicate with spirits, others said her healing prowess was not ordinary and to those who came to seek her services from faraway lands, she was a blessing to their generation – or how else can they explain the fact that one human was so gifted?

The saying that a man’s gifts make a way for him was a true testament to the life of Ijeoma for she was a wealthy young lady. Wealthier than even the kings of her time that they came to her to borrow cowries, clothes and even seedlings during planting seasons. People who sort to use her gift to their advantage did so by bringing an enormous amount of money, jewellery, and expensive clothing amongst other things to appease her. But as wealth increased, so did her generosity – to people who did not see her as a curse, she gave cheerfully. To those who came to borrow from her, she gave without interest – as long as you stick to her one rule, pay on the agreed time.

In all of these, Ijeoma lacked human companionship. She didn’t have friends or family as her parents passed away at a rather tender age. Tales have it that they had to give up their lives to bring her forth because she was too powerful. Little wonder she was sent to the evil forest to waste away and no one expected her to have survived and returned to the community as a powerful and beautiful woman.

She had often asked the gods when her own time would come each time young maidens came to her to help them inquire of the gods which suitor is best for them as they have more than one seeking for their hands in marriage. And for each time she asked, she got the same response, “He is here already” and that left her more confused than ever because she doesn’t even have a male friend much more one who had asked for her hand. Ijeoma would argue that she was almost invisible to everyone in this community except for when they sort after her gifts, so, what do the gods mean when they say “He is here already?”

She was jerked back to reality from her thoughts by the noise from outside – a group of people wailing or are her ears deceiving her?

She stepped outside in her white robe, glowing like the morning sun, one whose beauty radiates from afar that even the blind could see it and then she saw him – the chief servant to the dying prince from the neighbouring kingdom, and immediately, she knew that he was the one. He looked upon her as though he had seen the goddess of beauty herself in human form – for he had heard tales of her beauty but the tales fall short in comparison to the woman standing before his very eyes. She was exactly as he had dreamt of, the same demeanour as she had every time she came to him in his dreams, bowing to him as a sign of giving herself to him.

It is known to everyone that Ijeoma bows to no mortal except the gods, not even kings who come to seek her service but tales have it that she is permitted to kneel before only one human, the man she’ll call her husband – for that was the sign to show that she had not just met him but also accepted him. So, when Ijeoma saw Chike, and they both knew what they had been seeing in their dreams as visions leading to this day, she went before him and fell to her knees, with her head bowed down.

This left him and everyone else presents shocked because he hadn’t even said a word to her. As it was customary, the king who he served, who was present gave him a nod of approval and he lifted her up, as an acceptance to her gesture and he spoke for the first time, asking her to please heal the prince who had been struck with a strange illness, for he was almost dead. Ijeoma smiled and said the prince was well, that he only needed to be ill so that he can bring them here for this event.

She walked up to the prince who laid down almost lifeless and placed her right hand on his chest for a few seconds, recounted some inaudible enchantments and then called him by his name to which he responded as though he had just been woken up by a tap from an evening nap.