After the funeral, a brother was seen still bent on looking for his sister. Dreams and counter dreams kept coming. The dream was Udobuaku staying at Ama while thanking Chime for the befitting funeral rite he gave their father, Izondu, and this was followed by the next one, which was Udobuaku telling Chime to see her off from their father's house. It did not stop there because Chime's family started having different dreams about Udobuaku.
Early one morning, he woke up, and made a little journey to afa- divination, a place within Isumeh. Ochake, an afa priest, said that ''Udobuaku, you know, is no longer in the world, but Udobuaku is in the world.'' This message got Chime confused the more. And every attempt Ochake made to make the message clearer and more understandable proved abortive. Chime was disappointed, just like Ochake. The difference was, Ochake had learned the art of following the Gods as they so wished. So he had no ill feelings about the unclear revelation because he knew, like an egg before the sun, it would be cracked open, or it would crack itself open in due time. It was a pregnant message for Chime, who was desperate to get the word clear enough about the whereabouts of his sister.
Chime took his exit and made a stopover at Ojaike's house. Ojaike was renowned for afa messages. Before he even came closer to Ojaike's shrine, Ojaike had shouted it out to his hearing. ''Take it as you were told. She is neither here nor there yet'' he said. The words made Chime stunned as he pondered deeply on them.
The message had come to him like a slap on his spared cheek. ''I am on my way to Okanimo, no need to delay the message. I was told to wait for you; that was the reason why you still met me here. This is my keg of palm wine I am taking to Okanimo'' Ojaike said. His message was one message too many for a young man who was eager to know if his sister was alive or had died, like their father, and his little nephew, Amobi. He was seen going back home like a hunter who had lost his hunting dog to a defiant prey.
No doubt, the sky over the head of Chime had chosen to be hazy and cloudier now that Isumeh was expected to host their kith and kin from all over the world for the Isumeh new yam festival. It was a moment for family re-union. It was really turning into a sad date since it appeared that Udobuaku would not be around to warm up her father's house with her lovely presence.
Suddenly, Chime had evidently become the only surviving child of Izondu. It was dawned on him that for four days the festivities would last, Udobuaku would be somewhere having a hover over the imaginations of her beloved family.
Two days into the New Yam festival proper, Chime lost his appetite for food. Not even his favorite Onugbu soup with pounded cocoyam could turn him on. To him, the greatest festival one could gift him with would be the return of Udobuaku. However, he made food and everything needed for the festivities ready for his household and would-be visitors. But for him, the sorrow in his heart had made a rough walk in his stomach. His anger had now become a meal that consumes hunger.
On the first day of the New Yam festival, in the early morning, exactly half past five o'clock, Isumeh had woken up on this special day since the days of their first generation. It was a festival that had brought old foes to a round table, a festival that had resolved many disagreements in the land, and a festival where rivalry stood as stranger for four days. Yes, today, what woke them up earlier was the sound of joy heard from Ononiru's compound.
It was women that used to gift men that sound, but today, Ononiru has unconsciously chosen to make the roar himself. There is no lucidity against joy greater than one conceived in the heart of he who can't resist the urge. History has been made. A jinx had been broken. Edoro had seen a light, the type her people chose to share by holding its face. Ononiru was struggling with his hoarse tone, which had been exacerbated by a voice defect, but only a sadist could not understand that such a struggle to express happiness cannot be defeated.
A child was born of a woman whose humanity had made a vow that almost made her childless. She has given birth to a child who had a chance to live. For the first time in Edoro's life, an announcement was made about her successful child delivery.
The news of the birth of Ononiru's daughter went wild in the village of a man whose handcrafts had made very popular among his contemporaries. He deserved no less joy during this new yam festival. His Gods and his ancestors had settled his case in such a manner that the new yam festivities looked exactly like the celebration of the birth of Ekwulu's sister, if they had known it exactly that way.
Ekwulu had suddenly developed a new hobby. Nothing in the world interests him like standing. Yet standing tall was not enough for him since the arrival of his sibling. He was still stretching out his neck like a giraffe anytime opportunity presented itself. What would he have asked for if not to be allowed to stand beside the bamboo bed of Edoro to make his routine stare at the face of his sister? Truly, loneliness is an ugly idol that comes in phases. And each of us is in a better position to say how lonely we are, even when surrounded by a mass of humanity. Ekwulu had been there. The death of his twin brother, Orji, exposed him to unprecedented loneliness because there is nothing as sweet as the beautiful nothing only children understand, especially siblings.
Although he survived the lonely scene the death of his brother created for him in the jungle, his new home had exposed him to a sort he had not seen before now, even though attention was all over him.
Fact is, Udobuaku unto him like a mother, a father and a visible God, and he had taken her more than these. She also became his only sibling in the jungle, especially since he had severed his relationship with household pets after the death of his brother. Her absence from Ononiru's house had made his new loneliness more defined since he was thrown into a family that was struggling to make him adapt to his new home that was theirs.
For these, his little sister had become just about anything escape for him. He was now at home. Indeed, the young Ekwulu was truly coming closer to his home. The presence of his sibling had made everything beautiful again. In her, he found Udobuaku beside him. It appears that there is no scent as sweet as friendship that comes without a price. Same way, nothing smells so good as having a friend whose only price is brotherhood. Sure, Ekwulu had been gifted with one.
People had gathered around Ononiru's house to celebrate. Of course, anyone that was coming knew what had happened, partly. They all knew that Edoro was pregnant and such a loud bang of shouting meant successful delivery of a singleton, and not twins as it used to be for her. What they never knew yet was whether it was a girl or a boy. Yet there was no need to speculate because in a few minutes the true announcement would be made by a woman. But whatever gender it was, the people of Isumeh were only interested in hearing the voice of the mother, just as they had been graced already with the cries that accompany the arrival of a new birth.
Less than twenty minutes after they had cleaned Edoro and her baby up, Ijelenwanyi came out of Edoro's hut and joyfully announced the successful arrival of a new mother and her daughter. The awaiting people thronged in badges into the hut of Edoro to welcome them home. In Igbo republics, pregnancy means a journey embarked on by a woman into the land of the unknown, ruled by the forces that belong to the Gods and their ancestors. At delivery, the woman is seen as one who has completed a journey and is favored enough to return to the world to gift the world with the gift of what she has been given. Thus, the mother receives welcoming messages and pleasantries just about the same way the baby receives them from visitors. After all, it was mostly always the return of one of their forebears, or their deceased.
''I am Udobuaku. Nna m, babysit, and feed me'' these were the words of Udobuaku that Ononiru heard same night in his dream. Udobuaku had visited Ononiru's house with all the features of hers that Ononiru was aware of, except this time she came as a baby, called her name, and pleaded to be babysat and be fed by her father, Ononiru. He woke up and made a hasty entry into Ononiru's hut, took a watch on the face of the one who had chosen his family as hers.
Early in the morning, he strolled to Izondu's house to brief Chime. ''Stop the search. Udobuaku has died, but she is back already. She is in my house now'' were his words as he came closer to meeting Chime as he was seated at the front of his house. They hugged, they cried, and they chatted, before Chime followed him back to his house to see his sister, Udouaku, in a younger frame of body.
Immediately when they entered Ononiru's compound, the person who followed behind them was Ezenwanyi, the Priestess of Aji, one of their deities, as she shone with boldness. ''Udobuaku chose to make this visit herself. She did not want to beg anybody to come on her behalf. She came so that you might believe her words. She chose not to be far from Ekwulu. The bond they share is deeper than ordinary. Raise your children well'' Ezenwanyi said.
After turning like a peacock, she faced Chime. ''And you, the son of Izondu, search no more. There are so many ways we can leave this world. She is telling me now that you are her junior brother. Don't be far from her. You know that her parents are much older now. Stay close to your sister. This is the message'' she continued. Like a whirlwind, she went into the hut of Edoro, welcomed her and her baby. ''Udobuaku, I have delivered the message you sent me'' she said further before she left.
Ononiru did not have to think about any other name to name his daughter. Like some do among the Igbos, Ononiru had named his daughter after the woman who first made him a father, Udobuaku; whose words had been settled permanently in his house like a divination uttered by a gifted diviner. Yes, the baby was named after a woman who had revealed herself as the same person who had come to start life all over again as a daughter of Ononirus, and that was still, Udobuaku.
The question was, how deeply did they understand what had happened? However, whether they knew what had happened or not, Ononiru had named his daughter Udobuaku-alota, which means Udobuaku had returned. Now her heroism was still hidden in the secrecy that has an open record only in the heart of the same spirit she has become.
It took just two years for Ononiru and Edoro to father yet another child. It was a boy. Young Ekwulu begged his father to name his little brother Orji. Ononiru accepted to honor the request. Nothing gladdened the heart of young Ekwulu when hearing his brother's name, Orji, coming out of his mouth again as his brother.
One thing so amazing was that Orji in the house was growing up, possessing all the features of the first Orji who died and was buried in the Evil Forest. Only Ekwulu was privy to this. Although blurred in the memory of a little child.
But before this time, Ononiru had been struck with the hardest of divination since his life. It was when he went to Ojaike the priest to inquire about the person who had re-incarnated into his son. ''You now, have a son; this makes it two sons and a daughter. Expect no more. The brother of Ekwulu, your son, had come back to him. He is Orji by name'' Ojaike, the priest said. This got Ononiru confused, as he started doubting his message in silence.
''I don't understand your message, Ojaike,'' Ononiru said. ''This is deeper than me talking about. Things I hear now in my other ear are too loud for me to say. All my attempts to say it had proven abortive. It then means I am not allowed to say them. It could cause me my own life if I follow it too fast without instructions. But our people say, 'Anywhere a child comes into the world from doesn't matter, but let him live' and it sounds right, too.
''Ononiru, as there are no strangers in the world, so there are also no strangers in your house. Your first son is Ekwulu. I can swear with my life. You think he is going anywhere? Well, unless this message is not from the Gods of our ancestors. I can't tell here if you had an affair with a certain woman who had a mental challenge, who was formerly married to an Idomma Isumeh man, or if he is from Uyom kindred, or not. I am finding it difficult to uncoil this heap load of roots before my eyes here.
''But your blood swims in the blood of Ekwulu. He is your first son with his full rights and roots undivided. But there is something about your son that is so deep beyond us'' Ojaike said.