//------------------------------//
// Kuwasili 
// Story: Milia ya Samawati 
// by Comrade Bagel Muffin 
//------------------------------//

I woke with a large yawn smacking my lips. I stretched out and yawned again. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the light, or lack there of. I could here the night birds singing their songs and asking their riddles. I didn’t really fill like walking through Savana alone at night, in the middle of the wilderness so instead I just rocked back and forth my hammock. The moon and stars glittering through the leaves above me.
I let my mind wander as I lay there my new life and future just a few days away. Would I miss the Homelands? It was a strange question for all ten years of my life it had been my home, and while many zebras hated me, many were indifferent, and many more looked out after me, making sure I was safe and had food while I rested in their towns and villages. It was strange to be loved and hated by so many just because of my heritage. I guess I could understand it if I were a Star Child; they were evil making pacts and striking hellish deals with the cold and dreadful stars.
Though still it was my home my whole life was spent here good zebra’s gave me many things to be grateful for. Bad zebras had taken away those I loved most. I hated this place it, but still it was my home could I really leave it, could I change that fact? Would I? I sighted and closed my eyes again, with effort I found sleep again, a restless and dreamless sleep.
I awoke with again with the rising of the sun. I quickly got my stuff and got down from the tree. I would have to hurry. I put the wraps back on, and started a light gallop through the dry grass land. Putting my cloak on as I left the shade of the large tree toward the western horizon and the still out of sight great lake.


***


I had made good progress though the early morning hours and was now casually walking through the grass my hood down as I enjoyed the soft breeze blowing in from the west. The wind and the patchy fluffy clouds in the sky were keeping the temperature down and the walk bearable. I was already losing myself to my thoughts again, until a spear struck the ground at my hooves. I cast a quick glance to the north and saw them. A fifteen zebra hunting party, I threw my hood back over my head. I started to run narrowly avoiding another spear which missed me by only a hoof.
I ran as hard and fast as I could. Unfortunately my strides were only half the size as theirs, and I was not moving twice as fast. I looked over my shoulder. They were gaining on me and gaining fast. I turned my focus back on the horizon, and put everything I had into getting to the edge of the sky.
"We have you now Star Child, justice is ours." One of them jumped slamming into me as they landed. The assult wasn't over though, he grabbed, flipped me over and threw me to the ground on my back. I lay there sore and dazed as the others caught up.
"Call off your beast now Star Child and we shall make it quick!" One fo them put his spear to my chest.
"I'm not a Star Child!" I said in desperation I lifted up my head so that the hood came off, revealing my blue strips. "My name is Milia ya Samawati, and I am no Star Child!" I prayed that these zebras would not kill me for my half blood, but at the moment it was all I could do to keep them from killing me period.
"Star above he's a half blood." My heart sank in my chest as one of them lifted there spear. It was the first time I cried since I lost my parents. I was so close so close to Equestria I could taste it, and now I was going to die in the middle of the wilderness. The killing blow never came. The zebra that had pinned me brought his spear around nocking the pointed blade away from me. It drove itself half a hoof into the dirt next to my chest. He wasn't finished though. He spun his spear with a level of experience and grace that I would have thought impossible, and forced all of the other zebras away from me.
"What kind of a fool are you?" he demanded. "To kill in cold blood a brother zebra, under Father Sun and then expect to be shown mercy in our current troubles."
"He's a half blood." the other zebra spat.
"Half brother or full brother. He is no Star Child." The zebra that stood between me and the others put the butt of his spear into the ground. "Mark my words now you foolish zebras and learn this. If you kill this colt in cold blood today, then Nyasi will be erased from all, but the stories by the end of the month." The other zebras stepped back looking between themselves. "No we will not do this thing to him. Am I understood."
"He's half pony they are our enemies." I didn't even see the blur of my guardians movements he was simply seemed to vanish from between me and the hunting party to directly in front of my accuser. His hoof came around and slammed into the zebra's throat. He fell to the ground gasping for breath.
"They were our enemies at one time yes, but the war is over and has been for five raining seasons now, and will never start again. You were not there you have no right to demand recompense of the ponies." My defender's voice was cold and drenched with unspoken threats should the issue be pushed any further. "Now." he said looking over his shoulder to me. "What to do with you?" I gulped. Causing him to laugh. "You need not fear Milia ya Samawati, you will not be harmed. I will pay you back for the harm already done, now why are you out here?"
"I was heading to Maziwa to the great lake that boarders the Homelands from Equestria." I said as he helped me back to my hooves. I absent mindedly threw my hood back up. "I was traveling the road at night and the stars played a nasty trick on me. I got lost in the wilderness and thought myself still on the path until dawn. I've been traveling ever since yesterday, through the grasslands."
"The stars have played a crueler trick on you than you know. If you had stayed on the main road you would have gone to Maji Makuu and avoided Nyasi all together." He sighed "I will take you to our home today. Even though it is under siege you will be better off there than in the wilderness."
"And if I don't go with you?" He sighed and after a moment of thought bowed and offered me his spear. "Then take my spear as payment for the injury I caused you, but mark my words you will not survive the night." I was terrified now. A hunter's spear was like a brother to him or her. It was never lost, broken, or given away.
"What beast were you talking about?"
"I will not speak its name while not safely behind Nyasi's walls." The zebra hunter sounded scared. Which shattered my already shoot nerves.
"I'll go with you." I said getting as close to my protector as I could.
"I can not protect you from what attacks our village but if you survive the night. you can take the road too Maji Makuu. It is a days travel if you make haste and leave at dawn you should arrive at their gates by dusk. The beast does not hunt during the day." I nodded. "It is noon now we will return to Nyasi. We will return to Nyasi and prepare ourselves for tonight." he said to his fellow hunters. They nodded, we began walking south west.
The sun was half way between its zenith and the horizon when we made it to Nyasi. The white washed walls stood a whole three zebras taller than the zebra tall wheat that surrounded the small town. The wooden doors were open and abandoned as we approached. The guards weren't the only things gone the town itself seemed to be devoid of any life. As we approached the gates I thought the city was abandoned. Until an elder came and stood in the middle of the road, and with him were the first two ponies I'd seen in five years.