Mbeki is an elder of his tribe. He waits in a compound as he mourns the death of his second wife. He reminisces about his first wife, Shukat, who was an unpleasant woman who was, according to Mbeki, unable to give birth due to that unpleasantness. She mysteriously disappeared one day, and no one in the tribe made a fuss. He fell in love with his second wife at first sight. Ariya was twenty-three years younger than him, and barely older than a child. They expended a lot of effort as they tried to conceive. Finally, a woman hands him the infant that Ariya died giving birth to, and Mbeki is filled with joy as he looks at his son.