After the burial, the night became a memorial moment for Udobuaku with a palm cake candle before her and skin, like the light of Ekwulu on her laps. There were no more black eyes that were moderating the pussycat look-alike eyes of the white-looking Ekwulu. No doubt, the absence of Orji has created another name for loneliness. In the jungle of the Evil Forest now, there were two humans, but between them lied a chilling lacuna which the demise of baby Orji had created. They now go to sleep earlier, and nights looked longer than when Orji was around.
Four weeks after Orji died and was buried, Ekwulu, his twin brother, fell sick. His sickness defiled all the malaria medicines her mother in the Evil Forest, Udobuaku, could sort out for in the jungle. She had become frustrated already. She was about losing all she had which Ekwulu now represented. The coming of these twin brothers had made her think less of her late child, Amobi. But now, all looked as though they were lined up to die before her watch.
One early morning, Udobuaku woke up restless. She did some walking, carrying Ekwulu around the forest. His body temperature was too high. It was while she was wandering in the forest that Ekwulu spotted a wild fruit they called utu. He pointed his hand toward it, and that directed the attention of Udobuaku to it. She took some, tasted it, and gave Ekwulu some. It took less than an hour to notice that his body temperature had normalized. She took her back to their tent, and gave him a warm bath. In less than twenty minutes little Ekwulu slept off. It was this time that she had her own bath, and slept off too.
Something happened. It felt like a trance, about seven minutes into her sleep. That was the voice of her late husband, Oruno, but the face of Ononiru. ''Please, I thank you so much. Bring home my son, this should be morning'' the voice said. Udobuaku woke up, and still saw Ekwulu innocently sleeping like a creature whose bone left for a journey. She fell back to sleep again. Less than an hour later, there came the same voice, and the same face. ''Chukwu said I should wait for him, please bring him home before they close my father's house'' the same voice said. It was a state of confusion for Udobuaku. Unlike her recently, she was able to maintain some level of sanity since she took the utu wild fruit with Ekwulu. Her dance with no drummer was reduced. Her wild laughter had diminished. She had taken a decision that would redefine a road her knowledge of her humanity had not traveled on.
When she woke up the next day, she fed her child and bathed him. He took him on a journey that would forever make an impression nobody was mindful of its details. It was in the morning of Afor Isumeh, Ononiru had brought out his basketware, and was helping Edoro, his wife, to bring out her pottery products for the market. Voom seemed to be the sound of the sudden appearance of Udobuaku in Ononiru's compound. To Udobuaku, it was so surprising to notice that they did not take to their heels.
They exchanged greetings and pleasantries. ''Wao, what happened?'' Udobuaku asked. ''What's it?'' Ononiru eagerly asked back. ''I was expecting everybody to run away as I was coming, but none did; what has changed?'' Udobuaku questioned. The couple looked at each other, and laughed out loud. ''No, the fear of leprosy is gone. Medicine for it is everywhere in Amudani. They even go house to house giving people medicine, with or without payment'' Ononiru replied, cheerfully.
The testimony birthed in Udobuaku, a feeling of a mixture of so many things. She was sad and at the same time happy. Although she looked sickly and worn-out, when Edoro hugged her, what came out of her two eyes was enough to give a child as old as Ekwulu a morning bath when added up to that of Ekwulu, who was known for always crying whenever he sees Udobuaku cry. Ononiru used his hand-towel to clean up her face, and compelled her to sit down and have some rest.
''What do we offer you, Udo?'' Edoro asked. ''Nothing, but everything'', Udobuaku said. Ononiru and Edoro were shocked. ''What do you mean?'' Edoro asked inquisitively. ''Please, sit down'', Udobuaku pleaded. The couple sat down and focused on Udobuaku, and what she had for them early that morning. ''I bring you this child. He is mine, and more of yours. He is a son of this land, and closer to this family. People spend money to have children to bear their names. But I have not seen you get one. People, through marriages, adopt sons and daughters from near and far places, but I have not seen you do that.
''My father always spoke well about you. He once told me what happened the last time you attempted to come and welcome him. Only you tried to do that in the whole of Isumeh. Thank you for remembering the past. The Gods of our land have chosen to reward you. This is your Child, Ononiru and Edoro. You did not purchase him on the market. The Gods of our ancestors have brought you this one. Nobody in this world is losing a son because of this boy. Rather, a family is taking over their own. Nobody's child is stolen to make you a father and a mother. My head recently has been in turmoil. I have passed through a lot. But I want this child to be raised by a family where she was born to belong. You might not understand it today, but if leprosy could come and create so much pain in this land, especially for my family, and still find a way to go, maybe one day, things that kept Ekwulu in the forest with me for years may also go.
''Ononiru and Edoro, if this child is your child, before the next ten months, let him have a sister born in this house, and let it be said Udobuaku had come back to face less trouble. Nothing can separate me from him. I see my time has come to an end. My body tells me so. After today, you shall see me no more. But if by mistake you see me, don't bother offering a greeting. Let me go and rest. There is no doubt, my journey has been a torturous one. And please, locate Chime, my brother. Tell him to be strong. We are coming back'' Udobuaku said.
It was silence that seemed to be assimilating what she had just said, as mouths were thrown open. She stood up, caressed the head of her foster child, Ekwulu. ''You are not dying now'' Edoro, who was dumbfounded alongside her husband, managed to say. ''No, Edo, this is not time to pity me. I have fulfilled a purpose. If it is evil, then everything is evil'' Udobuaku said.
Ononiru was speechless as he intermittently looked at Udobuaku and the child she had brought. ''Raise him like you would raise your own child. He also stayed in your womb like others. Yes, we are all mothers. He has red blood running in his veins. He is a human being'' Udobuaku said, somberly.
''I don't know what to say'' Ononiru said, keeping his hands akimbo. ''Say nothing, but do more to raise your child and your daughter coming'' Udobuaku replied. ''We will'' Edoro responded, enthusiastically. ''Ekwulu, Ekwulu, if it is the wish of the Gods that you be the first, let your name stay'' Udobuaku said, while handing him over to Ononiru. Helplessly, Ekwulu let out a yell as he watched an angel, and a million times a mother whose stars had graced him for years in the jungle.
Udobuaku was last seen in Isumeh when she was leaving Ononiru's house. Nobody ever set his or her eyes on her again, after. It took another one year and a few months to see Chime, her brother, again in Isumeh. He had returned and the grave site of Izondu had changed the landscape that used to be Izondus as he knew it. His father had died. Nobody told him this. But the position of the grave had told him already. That very place was where his father would have been buried and should be buried.
Unlike his father, he saw people who were eager to welcome him back with a mixture of laughter, regrets and remorse. Some that cared enough to cry, the place they directed their eyes to while doing that, had already confirmed to Chime that that mound that was yet to flatten up was housing the remains of Izondu, his father, and no other place.
His ability to man-up looked as though he had returned home prepared to do burial funeral for his titled father. However, he had to look for her sister. And with little clue about the last place she was spotted, Udobuaku was searched everywhere, but nobody saw her. They spent several days in the Evil Forest, with Nwadi leading the search team, but Udobuaku and what became of her eluded all.
Chime later proceeded with the funeral rite planning and, lastly, he had his father traditionally accorded his rites as one of their late titled men. Like other funerals, eight days were observed for it. For the first time in the history of Isumeh, four rainmakers assembled themselves and made a vow that rain should not be allowed to drop on Isumeh during the funeral. And it happened as they decreed. Rain was only seen in Isumeh on the ninth day. And that was eight days after the funeral had officially ended.