The heat of the day was soaking the skin of anyone who sauntered under it. The market of Zaria (modern-day Nigeria) shimmered with the reflective hues of bananas and citrus. The coastal waters of the Swahili coast brought in great prosperity to the region, bringing its citizens the most extravagant of luxuries. And if extravagance had a name, it would be crowned to the female descendents of the African kingdoms. 
   The political landscape of the Swahili city-states was certainly an avant-garde of the era. Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa ruled kin-based networks, typically male heads. In plain English, families governed themselves and their land. There were often chiefs to mitigate neighboring conflicts. With such structure came stability and increased success in commerce. Clans grew wealthy, and some even collaborated with others. In such, certain city-states linked their markets together to proliferate trade, while other elites married into wealthy families. In the case of the girls, their friendships with those of different kinship strengthened political and economic bonds.
   Among the hustle and bustle of the Zaria market illuminated Lami, a descendent of the Mali kingdom. She glowed in her hijab, a testament to her faith, and was a graceful role model to the young women around her. She was exhilarated to share stories to her friends about the prosperity of her homeland under the governance of Mansa Musa, who was a great, loyal man to his state and to Islam. He had used his power correctly, expanding his reach to the Arabs and North Africans with which he traded gold with. Lami’s eyes gleamed as she linked the warmth of her finger to her gold pendant that her family had earned as a result of Mansa Musa’s travels.
   With a squint of her eye, Lami could distinguish her companion, Shoperai. Shoperai’s beady eyes interrogated the market around her. At first, she was intrigued by the architecture of the city. She had grown up in Great Zimbabwe, translating to stone swelling, and spent her life in the stone homes that her land was distinguished by. As she reminisced on the prosperity of her King through Zimbabwe’s gold trade and grazing efforts, she wondered if there was Hausa royalty as well. Her father had instructed her to foster connections with the other kinships and monarchies, as influence was built on more than gold and cattle. With it being her first time away from her land, anxiety proliferated in flames inside of Shoperai. Despite this, she yearned for peace and patience through the teachings of her Shona faith. She knew that her ancestors were blessing her, and their distant presence soothed her tender heart. 
   Both of the girl’s minds flooded with astonishment for the Hausa kinships that surrounded them. Being from different parts of Africa, they had never been in such a swarming Hausa city. The Hausa Kingdoms arose from the Hausa ethnic groups who had formed seven states, each state designated a specialty. The city of Zaria specifically was designated for learning and commerce, an opportunity both girls –or maybe even more, their families– valued. 
   At last, behind the radiance of the Sun appeared Yalina. Yalina had travelled the rifts of Ethiopia, tugging her feet through the steep cliffs of her hand. Her cross pendant followed the luminosity of the Sun, highlighting her silhouette for her peers who were waiting for her. Each step she took resembled the pride of her heritage, who had defended Ethiopian Christianity and established the Axum kingdom. Throughout their reign, the kingdom has established its magnificent architecture. Yalina would parallel her city back home to the infrastructure in Zaria. 
   The girls circled one another as they sat on the wooden stools in the market. They cheered to a tangy orange, uniting their orange peels as a mirror of their congregation. 
   Despite the tangible distance between the girls’, they all revealed similar hobbies. Lami was a connoisseur at weaving cloth while Shoperai could carve similar patterns into stone. Yalina specifically had brought a board game from Ethiopia which all the girls’ resonated with: they all grew up with similar fun and didn’t need an explanation on how to play. 
   As the Sun coalesced with its abode, the girls’ began to head for their accommodations for the night. They had heard that the Hausa kingdoms were rather unstable, lacking the authority that many of their own homelands held. 
   In the midst of their inspection on the security of Zaria, the three eloquent frames shook. A tug from what appeared to be ahead of them stumbled the girls. Merchants jumped out of boats with bright torches, hollering phrases in unidentifiable language. 
   That night, the girls’ would experience something that would test the strength of their bond and the elasticity of their friendship.