Imani wandered into the room with Ma, Pa, Laila, and some of the other Dins. Like everyone else, she was wearing formal attire. Also like everyone else, she was surprised when Altair declared each and every one of her siblings to be either a prince or a princess.
Amusement set in when she caught her brothers immediately being accosted by various women, to which her Ma responded with an expression that was an even mix of fretful and delighted. "Grandbabies!" She almost hear the thought in her mind. Not wanting to end up the victim of yet another "when will you settle down and have kids?" lecture, Imani quickly dipped and headed toward the new king of Eiatu.
"I bring a gift for the king," Imani declared, a twinge of amusement in the back of her voice as she presented an envelope to Altair, wrapped in a thick brown paper and tied with a tweed ribbon.
If he unwrapped the thick brown paper right then, he would find nothing of monetary value. Instead, he would lay his eyes upon something maybe a bit unexpected: a photograph.
In the center of the photo was a stack of haybales - a familiar sight to the both of them - stacked much higher than they would usually go, with bales piled haphazardly on top. Khalid, Jabari, Altair, and Kasim were all present in the photo, with all but Altair trying their best to scramble their way atop the haybale mountain. A young Altair stood atop the pile, teetering on the edge of an unstable bale, with his hands thrown up in the air and his mouth wide as if he were in the middle of a triumph shout. Kasim was still struggling up the first few bales while Jabari and Khalid fought each other for second place. Imani had taken the photo years and years ago, but only recently uncovered it collecting dust in one of Ma's various photo albums. It was a happy memory.
"You four were playin' king of the haybale," Imani noted with a smile, extending her finger to point to where Kasim was struggling to wiggle his way up onto even the first bale. "You were only a few years older than Kasim here, but you still beat both Bari n' Kahlid up, 'member? You were so stoked!"
King of the Haybale, her baby brother had once shouted with glee. Now he was sitting on a real throne. He'd come so far from little Tai, or from the teenage boy with the messy dorm room and falling grades.
"I know it's not much," she admitted after a moment. Altair was likely to receive many priceless and expensive gifts from his friends and the various noble families here tonight. "But I found this a few weeks ago, and when I heard you were going to be crowned king... it just seemed right."
"I'm proud of you, Tai. King Tai," she smile, then added with a chuckle. "An' just in case they forget to tell you with all this excitement, Ma n' Pa are real proud of you too. I don't think I've ever seen em prouder."
With that, Imani would give her brother a proud smile, then make her way back down to the festivities before he was inevitably accosted by noble women left and right like his brothers.
tag: @Sreeya
Amusement set in when she caught her brothers immediately being accosted by various women, to which her Ma responded with an expression that was an even mix of fretful and delighted. "Grandbabies!" She almost hear the thought in her mind. Not wanting to end up the victim of yet another "when will you settle down and have kids?" lecture, Imani quickly dipped and headed toward the new king of Eiatu.
"I bring a gift for the king," Imani declared, a twinge of amusement in the back of her voice as she presented an envelope to Altair, wrapped in a thick brown paper and tied with a tweed ribbon.
If he unwrapped the thick brown paper right then, he would find nothing of monetary value. Instead, he would lay his eyes upon something maybe a bit unexpected: a photograph.
In the center of the photo was a stack of haybales - a familiar sight to the both of them - stacked much higher than they would usually go, with bales piled haphazardly on top. Khalid, Jabari, Altair, and Kasim were all present in the photo, with all but Altair trying their best to scramble their way atop the haybale mountain. A young Altair stood atop the pile, teetering on the edge of an unstable bale, with his hands thrown up in the air and his mouth wide as if he were in the middle of a triumph shout. Kasim was still struggling up the first few bales while Jabari and Khalid fought each other for second place. Imani had taken the photo years and years ago, but only recently uncovered it collecting dust in one of Ma's various photo albums. It was a happy memory.
"You four were playin' king of the haybale," Imani noted with a smile, extending her finger to point to where Kasim was struggling to wiggle his way up onto even the first bale. "You were only a few years older than Kasim here, but you still beat both Bari n' Kahlid up, 'member? You were so stoked!"
King of the Haybale, her baby brother had once shouted with glee. Now he was sitting on a real throne. He'd come so far from little Tai, or from the teenage boy with the messy dorm room and falling grades.
"I know it's not much," she admitted after a moment. Altair was likely to receive many priceless and expensive gifts from his friends and the various noble families here tonight. "But I found this a few weeks ago, and when I heard you were going to be crowned king... it just seemed right."
"I'm proud of you, Tai. King Tai," she smile, then added with a chuckle. "An' just in case they forget to tell you with all this excitement, Ma n' Pa are real proud of you too. I don't think I've ever seen em prouder."
With that, Imani would give her brother a proud smile, then make her way back down to the festivities before he was inevitably accosted by noble women left and right like his brothers.
tag: @Sreeya