Yunamata

The Yunamata are a Vinkus tribe encountered by the Grasstrail Train during its passage through Kumbricia's Pass. Their arrival in the middle of the night terrifies the travelers more than an attack would have, for they bring gifts of dried fruit and sing tribal songs, making those who would dance get up and dance. The travelers are more frightened by this hospitality than by the violence they had anticipated.

Identity and Character

As Elphaba observes them, the Yunamata seem soft, compliant folk, only as fearful and fearless as schoolgirls—at least that is all they show. They are cavorting and opinionated, and they remind her of the Quadlings with whom she grew up. She wonders if they are ethnically distant cousins, noting their long lashes, narrow elbows, babylike supple wrists, oblong heads, and thin concentrated lips. Even with their foreign tongue, they make her feel at home.

Encounter and Departure

The Yunamata leave in the morning, complaining rudely about the runniness of the breakfast eggs. The rafiqi then announces that the Yunamata will make no further trouble. Even he seems disappointed, as if his employment had not been required. There is no word about the cook, who disappeared during the night; the Yunamata do not seem to know anything about him. Later, a Yunamata messenger arrives on swift leathery feet, sharing news that a body has been found at the base of a cliff—perhaps the cook, though the corpse is too swollen with lesions for the particulars to be identified.