Masquerade

by O.O. Sangoyomi

It is no one being able to agree on the exact details of the story, but you understand anyway. Because no matter how different their versions are, they all have the same roots. Roots that have been here long before you existed, and roots that will remain long after everything else has turned to dust. Cities have risen, and cities have fallen. Entire empires have been sparked from nothing, flamed, then waned. But this story, this story remains. It has seen its culture deliberately stolen and burned. History has tried to kill it, has tried to bury it under the guise of “lost” or “forgotten.” But now, you know this story. It is a part of you. Great though the world’s animosity may be, the world will never succeed at killing us so long as there are minds and hearts in which our story may live. So, yes, you understand the stories the women tell, confused and whimsical though they may be. For even if the details of other times or spaces mask the stories’ roots, still those roots remain.