CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: INAN

As drums announce his coronation audience, Inan, steadied by Nehanda and Ojore, prepares to prove himself to Lagos’s people and the royal council. Ojore returns a bronze coin tied to Zélie, grounding Inan before he enters a packed throne room. Facing General Jokôye and diminished nobles, Inan pledges to end the Iyika threat and restore peace.

Confronted by famine caused by blocked roads and a destroyed marketplace, Inan orders palace reserves divided into civilian rations and a mobile distribution center established, despite Jokôye’s protests about military sustainment. He then mobilizes work crews to collect bodies, shelters the displaced in nobles’ homes, and secures limited tîtán volunteers for Nehanda’s forces, feeling his authority solidify through decisive decrees.

Strategic debate follows: Jokôye reports scouts cannot locate the Iyika and that leaving Lagos would dismantle the city’s only defenses. Inan’s proposals for scouting or assault falter under her objections, exposing the regime’s strategic paralysis.

An alarm interrupts as guards seize a young Iyika thief, Raifa. Jokôye moves to execute her, but Inan intervenes, returns her stolen bread, and declares that Iyika defectors who aid reconstruction will receive double rations. He orders Ojore to escort Raifa safely back to the forest to spread the offer, triggering outrage from nobles, soldiers, and a shaken Nehanda.

Inan defends the decree as a path to break the cycle of violence, arguing the maji have been given only persecution or war. He asserts that peace requires both sides to disarm, promising harsh retaliation against those who refuse. Jokôye withholds assent but does not defy him, leaving Inan isolated yet resolute in a strategy mixing mercy with threatened force.