Short Story Review: Descendants of Balance by Rafeeat Aliyu
Descendants of Balance, a speculative short story by Rafeeat Aliyu coming soon from ZimaShort, is a story reimagining important Yourba mythogly, exploring sisterhood, the supernatural.
Oronsen, who is the last and favorite wife to a warrior, is half human and half supernatural. This causes the other wives to be riddled with jealousy, and their plan is to get rid of her. Descendants of Balance by Rafeeat Aliyu, opens with Oronsen poisoned by one of the wives, but, because of the supernormal powers she manifests, she is able to draw out the toxin, saving her life, as well as that of her unborn baby. But that is not the only situation that happens that night. A creature of the Forest called an Iwin, which becomes a central subject as the story progresses, is somewhere in the compound, calling desperately for Oronsen.
In this story, Iwins are manipulative and cunning, using petty tricks to lure their victims—this is why Oronsen does not help, even after she figures out its location. But after its death, she regrets the decision, leading her to a string of events, not singular but connected to the other wives, and the activities of her warrior husband, and other warriors, that prompt her to make a final decision to return to the forest.
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Rafeeat Aliyu rewrites Nigerian myths and legends about supernatural beings whose presence often blessed their household, with strict conditions that always end up being violated by jealous characters. In Descendants of Balance, Aliyu does not focus on the conspiracy of the wives, instead she chooses to paint a picture of how the children of the world and children of the forest lived in harmony, until the greed of man overshadows it, forcing separation.
The setting of the story is in the Great Benin Kingdom, which is now Edo State in Nigeria. Historical records and evidence talk about the great walls of this kingdom, as well as several guarded gates designating entry and exit points across the city. An important thing to note is that Oronsen, and the characters involved are Yoruba and not Benin. There have been several arguments between indigenes of both tribes, specifically those who originate from Ile-Ife, which also was a great kingdom next to the Kingdom of Benin, about their connections. According to the introductory note by the author, she wanted to explore the “intersection” between the two kingdoms, thereby making Oronsen live in Edo, while being a Yoruba figure.
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The story also includes the fact that the supernatural walk among men in secret, with the character of Lakange, also a mythical character and an important figure in Yoruba stories, who shares the same spiritual abilities as Oronsen. Rafeeat Aliyu uses the relationship between the two women, Oronsen and Lakange, to paint a picture of sisterhood and friendship, using a different lens to portray a world that would often make female characters enemies of themselves for the attention of a man.
Descendants of Balance is a beautiful short story, borrowing from popular Yoruba mythology and reimagining these stories in ways that honor them.
Descendants of Balance releases June 1st, 2026. Get your copy from ZamaShort.
Synopsis
Oronsen, daughter of the World and the Forest, brought into being when a hunter’s arrow met with a duiker’s heart, not quite human, not quite spirit. Newly married to a warrior and member of the royal council and his most favoured wife, she is ensconced in the royal household rife with political tensions and jealousy. But Oronsen is like no other there, and together with her sister Lakange, she becomes aware that something is drastically wrong in this new human world she finds herself in, something that could destroy all the beings of the Forest she knows and loves. ‘Descendants of Balance’ is the wonderful origin story to larger works and world rooted in Yoruba myth, legend, and wider Nigerian history, that Rafeeat has published and is working on further.
About Rafeeat Aliyu
Rafeeat Aliyu was born and raised in Nigeria. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from North Carolina State University. Her work has been long listed for the Writivism Short Story Prize, Nommo Awards and the Island Prize for Debut Fiction. She received the Norwescon Scholarship to attend the Clarion West Workshop for science fiction and fantasy writers in 2018 and benefitted from the AKO Caine Prize Online with Vimbai mentorship program. Rafeeat is a 2023 Morland Writing Scholar. Her writing has been supported by La Napoule Art Foundation International Residency and La Maison Baldwin. Her works have been widely published in anthologies such as the Caine Prize: A Mind to Silence and Other Stories, Dominion, Africanfuturism, and AfroSF, and in the magazines Omenana, Fiyah, Lolwe, Stange Horizons, and Nightmare, to name a few.
