The return home

eneath the Roots of The Family T

x: Beneath

nst the worn stone floor. Each mural they passed told a fragment of the Moyo family's story: a healer tending the sick, childr

iling, dangling like twisted ropes. In the center stood a massive, gnarled root-t

," Lina whispered. "Th

ect under a velvet cloth. Lina's pulse quickened. Th

told Sammy, slidin

old leaf patterns of leaves and vines. Across the top, a

t eagerly. "

ifted

of ebony wood, overlaid with thin filaments of gold tracing veins li

iful," Samm

ld, a soft thunder rolled through the chamber. The root above creaked, and

around them, soft a

Prove yo

d. "What... w

in her mind, clear an

oke it

ithin. The root above glowed, pul

this inheritance?

at his sister

d where we come from. To carry our histo

a warm radiance. The whispers

en past and future. Take the mask and wear it,

ealing a hidden niche behind the altar. Encru

ed it, then looked at

odded.

nt, she saw through her ancestors' eyes: a firelit hut, her great-grandfather carving symbols into the bark of the baobab; a ga

ded, and she was b

o Sammy for safekeeping. "This belon

y, placing the ma

her on the scroll tube, "let's see

rolled it. The scroll was written

e who co

heritance is not

our blood:Remember where you cam

dge to hea

but never let gre

the real treasure. Protect t

n Moyo

d the scroll and held it tight. "He

as if in approval. The chamber stilled, t

ammy said. "Sh

mask into her pack. "Yes. W

th pride as they passed. At the corridor's entrance, Lina pa

u," she w

e baobab's roots looked just like any other-b

Grandma Zawadi wait

it," she s

roll. Zawadi unrolled the parchment and r

cheek. "He always b

er grandmother.

to Lina's hands. "Next... you share. You t

fting the mask. "

e hand on his shoulde

-past, present, and future, united by roots that ran

Chapt

ter Seven: Tra