It was around seven o'clock in the morning that Ononiru was seen seated in his Obi with Ekwulu. Ononiru brought out a kola nut, gave it to Ekwulu to go and wash it. Ekwulu went to the backyard, washed it and brought it back to Obi. Ononiru brought out kaoline chalk, performed the ritual of the morning, and allowed Ekwulu to do his. After this, Ononiru made his morning decrees and broke the kola nut. They all ate and came into the discussion of the day.
''My father, Ononiru; who is my father?'' Ekwulu asked. This question went so deep into the heart of Ononiru, who wouldn't have given birth to one as young as Ekwulu if not for the twin births that frustrated him and his wife. He could not lay his mind on anything. He quickly lost his breath as some pores of anger were noticed on his body. ''Have I called you anything other than my son?'' he asked, curiously. ''No, papa'' Ekwulu replied, still waiting to hear more.
''Ekwulu, has anybody called you a stranger in my house?'' Ononiru asked further. ''No, nobody has done that'' Ekwulu replied, still trying to wrap his head around the questions. ''If so, why do you ask your father who your father is?'' Ononiru asked, adjusting to face Ekwulu so he could have a complete view of his catty eyes. Ekwulu was dumbfounded because those questions were so clear and direct, and to the best of his knowledge, the replies he gave were in understanding order. So, silence took over what was left of the atmosphere, and in that state, Ekwulu left, leaving Ononiru pondering.
In the evening of the next day, Ekwulu went to Edoro's hut, and found out that she was in the kitchen. He went straight to the kitchen, and sat beside her. ''Nnaa, I thought you said you would visit Emesia today'', Edoro asked. Ekwulu was silent for some seconds before he uttered a word. ''I will meet her tomorrow. I don't have strength today. I need to rest. Maybe I will go tomorrow after my return from the farm'', Ekwulu said.
But there was no denying that the look on the face of Ekwulu was not a bright one. He looked worried. Edoro continued her cooking while trying to unravel the aura Ekwulu visited with, albeit conceitedly. ''Mama, there is something I want to ask, and I need the most honest of truths'' Ekwulu said, boldly and weakly at the same time. This word from Ekwulu had confirmed what Edoro was suspecting. She had earlier observed that Ekwulu looked uneasily calm and worried.
''What is it, my son?'' Edoro asked as she stood erect with all her worried eyes placed into the eyeballs of Ekwulu as he drew closer, closing up the distance between them. She felt concerned about the unknown. After a few seconds of deafening silence, Ekwulu stood in front of her mother, raised his head, and starred into her eyes without a blink. ''Who is my father?'' he asked. This question came to Edoro with a rude shock. She immediately dropped his wooden cooking spoon in her mortar.
''Are you sure you are okay?'' she asked, looking around him to ascertain he was just fine. ''Yes, mama, I am okay. But I want to know'' Ekwulu replied, defiantly. ''Did you have any issue with your father?'' Edoro asked, and drew closer. ''No, mama'' Ekwulu answered, trying to shrug off some invisible doubts off his neck. ''Do you have any issue with anybody?'' Edoro asked, inquisitively. ''No, mama. It is just that I want to know'' Ekwulu answered.
''If you are sure you are fine, you can ask your father any question of your choice. But before that I must say this; you are our son. Your coming into this family has brought us joy and much more. Are you sure you are not having any issue with your father?" Edoro asked, desperately. ''I said no, mama. ''What issue?'' Ekwulu asked, worriedly. ''Then somebody must have angered you. Who was that?'' Edoro asked, calmly, placing her hand on his left shoulder. ''I can only get worried, not angered. Nobody angered me. Well, I need to take my rest now. We will talk much later mama'' Ekwulu said.
Ekwulu had left Edoro's kitchen munching air in his mouth. He entered his wife's hut and met nobody. He went out and went inside his own house, and continued roaming about inside it. Later, he picked up some broken pieces of kola nut and alligator pepper, slid them all into his mouth, and started munching. He appeared restless and worried. Suddenly, he made a dash out to Emesia's house, and there he met his wife and children chatting up with Emesia. They exchanged greetings and pleasantries, and his wife, Nene, stood up and took her leave with her little children.
Within seconds, Uga ran back to stay with his father. ''Emesia, I have come to ask, who is Ekwulu?'' Ekwulu asked, with all the attention in the world. ''What do you mean, Nnaa?'' Emesia asked, conceitedly. ''I said, who is Ekwulu, as long as you know?'' Ekwulu asked, more daringly as Emesia looked around in what looked like a sort of show, or maybe pride. ''Ekwulu bu mmadu- Ekwulu is a human being'' Emesia replied with eyebrows raised up. ''Do not pretend you don't understand my language. Please, who am I?'' Ekwulu asked. ''Nnaa, you are my brother, and you know it. What else are you asking?'' Emesia said, pretentiously. ''I know you and my mother are cousins. That makes me your brother. Please, who is this young man in Isumeh called Ekwulu?'' Ekwulu asked, impatiently.
It appeared the attention Emesia sought for was coming in handy. She beckoned on Ekwulu to sit closer to her on a wooden bench. ''Like I said, Ekwulu is my brother. There was a certain man in Idomma kindred in this Isumeh called Orunoge. Some people fondly call him Oruno. He was the first son of his father, Amadi. Oruno married an Uyom woman called Udobuaku who had a son for him before he died. The son she had for him was named Amobi, who died after a few years his father died. It was during this time that herbs that cure leprosy were not yet discovered. Amobi didn't survive the complications.
''However, Udobuaku disappeared from public view. Nobody knew her whereabouts until the day she came to Ononiru's house and gave him a son to raise, either for him, or for herself. I am not quite sure. What I have learned is she returned with an unstable mentality. She was not mentally sound as of the time. She left again without a trace. But here is a thing: we all know that in our culture, any child born within a time the bride price of the mother is not yet refunded to the groom's family still belongs to the family she was married to. Udobuaku's bride price was not refunded, so her offspring still belong to Oruno and the Amadi family. This son of Udobuaku is Ekwulu. Amadi was my father and Oruno was my junior brother. We were only two from my own mother's side. It was my brother and me, only.
''It is a good thing that the family did not betray Udobuaku. They raised you into an impeccable and outstanding man. But traditionally you belong to somewhere outside Ononiru's house. You are Amadi's.
''I kept mute all this while so they themselves would reveal the truth to you, but it appears they have adopted you as theirs. You know, it took them years to have a singleton. No doubt, your coming has opened a door for them, and has made them parents to many children now. They feel like having you forever, but the truth remains that they know what culture and traditions have for you'' Emesia said, as she had her eyes focused on Ekwulu.
Ekwulu was cut down emotionally, yet battling against confusion. ''Does it mean people know about this?'' he asked curiously. ''Well, it can't be a secret because you arrived when Edoro was neither pregnant nor nursing a baby'' Emesia said, bluntly. The silence that followed this response was cold enough to freeze a heart. ''I have heard you, thank you?'' Ekwulu said, pausing his stomping legs. He courageously stood up, took Uga, his son, by his hand, and they left. Emesia continued looking at their backs until tree branches and forests barricaded her view from seeing them.
In the next two days, when Ekwulu had returned from the farm, he went inside the house of his father, Ononiru, and took permission to have a discussion with him. Ononiru obliged him. And he sat down. ''Papa, it has been hard work for many years to raise me the man that I have become. You never showed me anything less than love, care, attention and affection. You even made plans for my marriage, which has given me my children now. My mother, Edoro, has been nothing less than a good mother to me. She spoiled me with love, softened me and made me human in the real sense of it, although you rescued me, and showed me the ways of men and made me strong. I am one today.
''However, papa, we are no strangers to our culture and tradition. Traditionally, I am from Idomma kindred, and not Uyom kindred'' Ekwulu said. Ononiru was shocked, but chose to listen on. ''Unfortunately, my father had died before I was born, but the bride price was not returned, but it remains what it is. I know how hard it is to face this with our tradition, but we have to do the right thing. Thank God, today, you have a daughter and a son, too. And Oruno of Idomma today has a son and grandchildren through you that raised me as your own child. We own his memory justice.
''Although he is dead, he sees. I have only little memory of my mother, Udobuaku, and my brother, who died. I have made up my mind to visit Oruno's family, familiarize myself with them, and plan when to relocate permanently'' Ekwulu said. Strength had left Ononiru and his appetite for words was lost as all he could do was keep his mouth ajar in consternation. Ekwulu could be seen as heartbroken, yet he seemed to have wheeled his fate with a mind that was made-up. While Ononiru was still riling in heartbreak himself, Ekwulu stood up and left.
Unimaginable had happened in the house of Ononiru. A child he had nurtured into a full-fledged man as his own son had been bought over by people he had yet to identify their faces. Even if he had identified them, were their words not true? Was Ekwulu truly his son? Was he not a child brought to them by a mentally challenged Udobuaku? Was Udobuaku's bride price refunded? Who is Ekwulu? These thoughts and more had captured the breathing space of an old man who was preparing for his last day on earth.
After three days of Ekwulu and Ononiru's frosty tête-à -tête, Ekwulu left the Uyom kindred to spy the kindred of the Amadis. He went with Emesia, who he told not to reveal his identity to the people yet. She kept her promise as she was seen introducing Ekwulu as a different relative of hers. Oruno and Udobuaku were deliberately kept unmentioned.
Emesia's visitation was not a strange one; after all, Igbo daughters married out still had undeniable and unquestionable stakes in their different fathers' houses. They were either respected, or feared. Thus, her homecoming brought no suspicions other than being seen as the homecoming of one of their daughters.
Since Ekwulu left home for Idomma, Ononiru's heart had been filled with pain piercing through the very feelings he had for whom he had nurtured and raised as his. However, the words of Udobuaku during the time she handed over baby Ekwulu to him became track routes of mental journey since he watched an adult Ekwulu leave. Could it be that Ekwulu was a grandchild of Chioma? Chioma was a young woman Ononiru's father, Ajeh, married to bear him a child when he thought that Ononiru was going to die after he fell down from a tree. She did not bear him any child till he died. After Ajeh's death, and immediately after mourning her husband for a year, she left her matrimonial home. Her coming to Ajeh's life was enmeshed in some mysteries. It was said that Ajeh had married Chioma from his friend, Ogbunka, who was, after all, not her true father.
Some also claimed she was adopted, while some others said she was purchased as a slave from a slave market at Ndo village. It was said that the dialect of the Amaide country she spoke while on a group chain attracted the first man from Okanimo who bought her before she was resold to Ogbunka. However, history has it that she was a young lady from Amudani village.
When she left, Isumeh traders that traded through Amudani always saw her. When Ononiru recovered, she expected him to inherit her as a wife after performing some rituals, but Ononiru was not looking her way. There was a lot of internal stir about the person of Ekwulu now running wild in his head.
Could it be that Chioma gave birth to someone who gave birth to Ekwulu, and was handed over to Udobuaku since this happened during the leprosy contagion that saw Udobuaku exporting her medicines to Amudani? But if it were so, what made Udobuaku not make it explicitly clear during the handover? These and more thoughts were running through the mind of Ononiru. Yet, in all of these, losing Ekwulu, who opened the door of fatherhood for him, was a pain Ononiru lacked words to express. He was bottling so much even though Ekwulu had come of age to understand what culture entails.
In the evening of the same day, when Ekwulu returned, it was raining. He had far-sighted Ononiru at the front of his own house as his eyes were already fixated on the entrance of his compound, and now, it seemed those eyes were watching Ekwulu as he was returning, but his mind had gone beyond seeing Ekwulu to losing Ekwulu.
He greeted him, but Ononiru gave no reply. He repeated it many times but got no answer. Ekwulu took for himself one or two conclusions. At least, one was that Ononiru was disappointed in him. However, to Ekwulu, as long as the culture of the republics of the Igbos were concerned, he did no wrong, seeking to reunite with his rightful family, at Idomma kindred, and Ononiru should understand that this quest was not targeted at him, but to do what was culturally right. It was a tradition that lives beyond the emotional flaring of anyone.