I watched her cradle Lia like a mother lion, wounded, and left with a missing tooth. Her agony must have woke the night from its sleep. But it wasn't bitterness alone.

That night, mama made a defense against an age long tradition.

Formerly, female circumcision was a benchmark for maturity in our community. Mother's were proud to bring the sharp razor on their daughter's genitals, but my mama was hell bent on keeping her two daughters uncircumcised.

" You're not the head of this family. You won't give the orders here," I heard father bark from his room.

Lia and I shared a glance and resumed our patient wait for our parent's agreement.

" I will not sacrifice my daughters to satisfy your thirst for validation," mother spoke, maintaining her ground.

I didn't understand why she was dogged. After all, It was the mark of our transition to adulthood.

So, I asked the only person who could answer me without spreading gossips. My grandmother.

" Delia," she said to me, “you have two Aunts you never met, but you know their children.”

That was true. I never met my mother's two older sisters, Elizabeth and Naomi.

" They bled to death during child delivery. Your mother heard the nurse say it was a result of their circumcision.

She never got over it." My grandmother explained.

I went from indifference to a stricken heart. I misunderstood Mama's intention, but there was nothing I could do to help.

Lia was yanked out of her grasp by relatives from my father's side.

They went too far, and Lia paid for their mistake with her life.

I turned from watching mama on the veranda of our home, and snapped at my father.

Words weren't said. But the eyes spoke. Trembling, I raised an accusing finger at him, rage boiling inside me like molten lava.

It wasn't only about Lia's death. 

He was warned.

Mama never left her shadow. She slowly drifted ashore until that shadow became her.

Father tried to win back the young heart he betrayed, but nothing left my lips beyond greetings forced from my grudge.

I couldn't forgive him. He took my sister, deprived me of my mother's care, and made me a woman. Even I, had no say in my fate.

He was one with the culture that took love and life from me.

But mother's defense against female circumcision would lead a movement that would abolish its trace and touch in our community.

There was no other option. We had to fight for the future of the girl child.