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| Cardamom: Black and Green Spicy or Sweet? |
It has been months since I have spoken with my sisters but it feels like it has been years. We used to be so close, the troublesome trio, that is what everyone called us. Trina was the youngest, followed by Trista, and I am Trixie. I am the oldest, but only by a year and my youngest sister is a year younger than that. Our parents really got to town when they decided they wanted to start having children!
We had a lot of fun growing up as little girls. Playing hide and go seek was one of our favorite games, especially when it was time for the handmaidens to wash and get us ready for bed! The palace had so many hiding spots, we could stay up past their bedtime for at least an hour. We never, ever hid separately, though. The thought of being apart was too horrifying…and now that’s what we were, apart.
Yes, we are adults but it doesn’t change the pain inside. I love my sisters dearly. When we were tweens’ we would talk about boys. When Trina was 13 she had the biggest crush on a cattle herding boy. He was a nice boy and always very respectful. Often he would bring her flowers from the field. It was all it could be though and we swore to keep it a secret. Our father would have punished her greatly if he knew she was allowing someone of such lowly status to court her.
Trista’s first love was with a boy entering his manhood, about 14 years of age. He was training with a Sage warrior. He was handsome, with dark hair that would fall over his eyes when he practiced his archery skills. She would gaze out the window of our room down into the courtyard and he would always return the attention with a wink or kiss blown on the wind; of course only when Father wasn’t watching. While he wasn’t a cattle herder, he wasn’t of royal blood so he was not worthy of a princess. Father would not have allowed it.
I, on the other hand, hadn’t found anyone to crush on at that time. I was the oldest and felt that I should set an example. It’s not that I didn’t find any boys that were handsome, I didn’t dare look. If our father would never allow it, why even tempt me? Instead, I encouraged us to be ornery. One day we would have to be noble, obedient queens, so why not have a little fun beforehand? We would swap our parents undergarments from his to hers and hers to his or change the green cardamom with the black cardamom spice making a dish very spicy instead of sweet. We always knew not to eat that night! Father would get angry, but then he would laugh. We had joy in our home. Now I lived in a hut in the forest.
My love came around the time I was 19, just a year ago. I fell in love with King Shallow and my sisters wanted to experience the same feeling. We talked our father into holding our swayamvara, but I didn’t tell him I was secretly in love with someone already. There was no need to, my sisters and I got to choose for ourselves. I knew who I was going to pick, it was just a matter of allowing the show to go on as it must, or so I thought. The day of the event my sisters and I were elated! Then disaster struck. That old ass Bee’s Moss stole us from our ceremony, staking his claim on us for his Kingdom! Well, my father knew of Bee’s Moss so he approved of the theft of us. My sisters were excited because Bichi, Bee’s Moss’ half-brother wasn’t awful to look at and he was a King, but I was distraught.
I decided that I should tell Bee’s Moss that I was already in love with another. He understood and provided me with transportation to King Shallow’s land. That jerk said that he wouldn’t marry me because Bee’s Moss had claimed me, he dared to imply I was no longer worthy. He told me that my best solution so that I didn’t end without anywhere was to go marry Bee’s, Moss. When I asked Bee’s to marry me he told me of his “terrible oath”. I told him it didn’t matter, I needed to belong somewhere and because of him, I didn’t so it was his place to correct it. However, he was steadfast and said that he would not change his mind. My sisters pleaded also, but he would not budge. Trina and Trista begged me to marry Bichi instead, but I just couldn’t. I was offered a place in their palace, but I was utterly pissed. I decided to move on and accept that I didn’t belong anywhere.
During this time away from my sisters I have tried to find someone who will kill Bee’s for ruining my life and isolating me from my family, but no one is up to the challenge. I received word that my sisters have been trying to have a baby with Bichi but neither has been successful. They might hate me forever, but I know what I must do. I am going to secretly visit and play the old trick of swapping spices. They know I am a jokester and not to eat dinner. I know they’ll believe me when I say it’s my way of welcoming myself into the palace but in reality, it is so I can poison Bichi. Then there will be no heir to the throne. Bee’s Moss’ efforts will have been in vain and he will either be left to a Kingdom which will be conquered or to break his terrible oath and father children. If I cannot find a way to physically kill him, this will emotionally tear him apart. Either way, I win.
Author’s Note: Ok, so this one is my longest story, so I apologize to whoever reads it if you don’t like it. I had fun writing it and that’s why it is the longest, I think. I think it’s different from my previous styles although it is still in first-person. Pretty sure most of my stories are. I tried to write in third-person, but halfway through accidentally changed, so I had to change the whole thing. Anyway, this is based on Amba’s story in the Mahabharata. It has a twist at the end so hopefully, you read all the way. I decided on the twist because of watching the Epified TV version since it went into a little more detail about what Amba did to get back at Bheesm(as they named him). Also that he gets the wives because he knows the Vichitraveerya is not well, implying he needs to have a son. The epified version also goes into how much Bheesm argues about breaking his oath and I think it would be cool to continue this story from the other sisters sides when they meet Vyas.
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Amber, what a delightful story to read and I like all the details that you provided. Do not ever apologize for writing a long story :)
ReplyDeleteHere are a few notes that I made while reading:
1. Great introduction.
2. Try to stay consistent with your paragraph formatting.
3. 19 should be written out - nineteen.
4. Bee’s Moss - should this be without the apostrophe?
5. I really like your concluding paragraph - it is strong.
Well done and keep up the good writing work!
I really enjoyed reading this story. It was a fresh take on the mahabharata. I saw how long the story was and thought this might take awhile but I was mistaken. It was very entertaining and I sped through it. I have 3 sisters around my age so I related to this even though I was the only brother. We were all super close and now we are split between OU and Osu so I related to the story right away. Good job this week, I look forward to reading more of your stories this semester.
ReplyDeleteHi Amber! This was a wonderful story. I noticed in your author note that you apologized for the length of it...NEVER apologize for your art. :) You are allowed to take up time and space.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your narrator's (a take on Amba, if I'm not mistaken) conviction. My favorite part was the description of her and her sister's "ornery" tendencies. I found her to be very relatable and very intriguing.
Just a few nit-picky things that I have a tendency to point out:
Make sure you double check over your text to include proper punctuation. The proper use of commas can throw some people, but it really helps the flow of the writing.
When describing the age differences between the sisters, you said "was" the youngest. Unless Trina has passed, it would be more appropriate to use "is." (I know, very nit-picky.)
Additionally, I think it would strengthen the sentence if you reformatted "we used to be so close, the troublesome trio, that is what everyone called us," to something along the lines of, "we used to be so close; the troublesome trio: that is what everyone called us," or something like this. Merely a suggestion, so please only take what is helpful to you personally.
Keep up the good work!
I really like this story. Personally, I was able to relate to the three girls and the close knit bond that they have with each other as siblings. It reminded me of my four sisters. We were all really close but were four years a part in age. I like the title of your story. As a reader, you didn't really know what to expect and you used aspects in the story pertaining to spices to tie it back to the meaning of the title. There was great symbolism and first-person dialogue. I think that this point of view was perfect for the story.
ReplyDeleteHi Amber, I really enjoyed reading this story! Personally, my favorite part was when the girls would switch the black cardamom and the green cardamom as children. I liked how you tied it back to the cardamom reference at the end when Trixie is planning her revenge. It would've been great to see some spaces between paragraphs because it all seemed slightly blended together. Overall, great story!
ReplyDelete