Zattar & Dawidi

The story

Zattar was born to be king of the Bapindi. Then the ancestors chose someone not yet born. A denied prince, he decides every throne in the universe should be his, and his son Dawidi's.

In the back of a car surrounded by security, Zattar teaches Dawidi what it means to be a king: lessons from a father who carries his own father's wounds. Zattar is the son of King Zola and Queen Nzinga, and much of his anger was born in his father's house. Now he repeats it, taking his inherited pain out on the ones he loves.

The family travels like royalty because they are: a motorcade, guards around the car, six maids throwing golden petals ahead of them. At the wheel sits Rwagama, the driver with a half gold mask, who has stood close to the throne for a very long time.

Then a rocket strikes the wing of their aircraft. Zattar's first instinct is his son: are you hurt? His second is rage. The ancestors' rejection and the attack on Dawidi become one fury, and Zattar speaks his plan out loud. Dawidi asks one question: is this for both of us, or only for you?

It is a story about the pain that passes from father to son unless someone breaks the cycle, and about being a father as a responsibility, not just having a child. Every scene ends with a line worth remembering, like this one: a king who wears his fear on his face invites every wolf in the territory to test him. The last line is a warning: the Third War of Vegas.