Chapter One Fate and caves

Call it fate, call it destiny but coincidence? ... No! Never. Uremma Agubogu, as enthusiastic as she may be would have never imagined nor fantasize about what would soon change the course of her life. At eighteen she was unusually mature, I guess it came with mom disappearing, or the fact that we still don't know where we're from, or who our relatives are. It's been a year and eleven months now, our mother had left for work as a tour guide and didn't return. Ure had just turned sixteen, and I had to assume responsibility for both of us. At twenty-six all I knew of our origin was that we were Igbo, and of royal blood. All we had from our place of birth was a piece of necklace made of wood and engraved with ancient languages, mom said it read" the beauty of the gods "on Ure's and the "grace of the gods" on mine.

Uremma my sister had thick black hair, I always wondered why mine wasn't as thick or as dark as hers, anyways let's keep the spotlight on my sister, taller than most people her age and unusually smart, I think her interest in photography had to be because of her flawless eyes! So deep yet so glossy ,there was always a glow in them, the type that makes you want to sit under her stare and not move, her arms ,long and graceful with fingers you wouldn't mind grabbing your life. Ure probably had the curviest waist I have ever seen, and to think she's never on a diet...my sister was really the beauty of the gods!

It was her birthday that Friday! I had promised to take her to the caves where our mother was last seen. She had always chirped about taking pictures there ,I think she believes we would find our mother, coincidentally, or so we thought...our mother had disappeared on this day too. She thinks she'll be able to capture something extraordinary. It makes me happy that she can still dream, she has been through a lot this past years, all I wanted was to make her happy.

I had just graduated law school when mom disappeared, I was to serve at Abuja , but leaving Ure by herself was not an option. I wasn't called to bar so I don't practice law, I teach history at the national museum. I also paint when the emotions are rowdy, but nobody understands my art, not even the painter. They say it's probably a combination of all the wavy experiences I've had through my life. Enough about me ,my head was in a haze when we pulled up at the reserve where the caves lay, but no way was I going to let Ure see. I parked, paid our fares and as soon as we stepped into the area where the caves were located it hit us! As heavy as the storm Noah navigated, well maybe I'm just exaggerating , but it felt like that.

The caves were interlocked, with a passage to the later in each ,seven of them, my mom was spotted here last, I wondered which one of them she was in , which walls she had touched .

It made me smile thinking I was in the same place, Ure was busy taking pictures, she probably didn't see the tears or bewilderment in my eyes, I wondered what she'll do if she did so I wiped my face and picked up my pace. We had to get home before dark, and knowing Lagos traffic, it was impossible at this point.

We had just stepped into the sixth cave when we noticed the fall at the end of the seventh, the guide we had didn't say there was a fall in any of the caves, however we were warned to stay away from the seventh cave since it was raining. We were soaked anyways and Ure wanted to take pictures of the fall so badly that I had to oblige. At that point I'm sure we were both thinking only of our mother. We had to get through the water to see the end of the caves ,so hand in hand and thoughts alike we stepped through the silver lining.

What we saw might have been a sight from an epic movie in history because it definitely wasn't 21st Century's view. Amazed and confused we stared totally awestruck. To add to our bewilderment it was quite sunny in this part of the cave absolutely no sign of rain or moisture.

We had turned to return through the caves but just like our mother it had disappeared.

Fear, confusion and a whole new level of leg melting anxiety engulfed me, where were we? Why were we here ? I wondered.

"How would we get home?" I kept wondering.

At that point I'd have given anything to be stuck in Lagos traffic on our way home with my little sister next to me.

Awele!, Awele!....it took me a few minutes to notice Ure's fear and anxiety , she had been calling to me nonstop for a while, by the way Awele! That's my name. I wouldn't describe myself as pretty , I am beautiful though. My hair may not be s thick and as dark as my sister's, nor my legs Long , my arms are equally not as gracious or feminine, I'm what you would call a handsome woman. Maybe that's why everyone wants to lean on me all the time , I've spent most of my days supporting others and getting little or no reciprocation. We'd talk about my depressing relationship with people, but I don't feel so talkative today.

Ure had been tugging at my arm and screaming questions I should know the answers to but I had no idea what was going on. I had only one thought echoing in my head, and I'm sure she was thinking it too, mom! Mom is here! I could feel her, maybe even smell her.

Ure was crying at this point and just as I was about to take charge and console her, another leg wobbling experience ensued.

I had seen my fair share of glorious looking men for someone my age, considering I work directly with artists. But nothing absolutely nothing prepared me for the heart throb was experiencing right now.

For a second we both forgot what was going on and focused on the epically dressed warrior like man walking towards us, with graceful strides I can't compare to a lion's because it was way better. Sorry, better doesn't justify it enough! I can't even begin to talk about his hair, locked in bold dreads falling to the sides of his face and adorned with cowries. His bare chest! Damn! I've seen a lot of nude men in my life time but nothing I had seen could compare to this mass of masculine excellence in front of me . I could already picture his 6 ft 10 body spread across my canvas, his barely clothed torso hiding little if the massive pleasures beneath. If I wasn't raised to be modest, I'd have taken my jacket off so he could see I was female, otherwise he probably thinks I'm a weirdly dressed guy.

He reached a stop right in front of me and it took every ounce of home training in me to keep my eyes on his face alone, then he spoke! Voice roaring , sounded like Amadioha had come down to converse. He spoke thick unadulterated Igbo, the type you'd have to squint to understand, he spoke with the grace of age long mastery .

"Aham bu Obiamarachi, kedu ndi unu bu? Kekwanu ebe unu si?" He asked in his Igbotic dialect.

(My name is Obiamarachi (the graceful heart of the gods, who are you? And where are you from?)

Awestruck! I kept staring, and so did Ure, she didn't really speak or understand Igbo properly, so when he repeated his question and didn't say it in English I knew we had to either be on a movie set or we had gone back in time, I would really have preferred the former, but every indication pointed towards the later. I might have been optimistic about art and history but I sure as hell didn't imagine this would happen.

Snapping out of my haze I said "Aham bu Awele, onyea bu nwannem Uremma, Anyi si Ikeja Bata ebea,anyi Amaro ebe anyi nno biko ee nweike ituru anyi aka uzo anyi ga esilohachi history reserve?"

(My name is Awele, this is my sister Uremma, we came here from Ikeja, we don't know where we are can you please point us towards history reserve?)

He stared at me for a bit, and said "ebea bu obodochi, amarom ebea ikporo aha, soso obodo di nso m Mara bu Amaeze, na Alaudo. Mana ha tere aka,kedu ihe bu ihea unu yI na ahu?"

(This is Obodochi (the land of the gods),I don't know this place you mentioned ,the only close towns are Amaze (the place of kings) and Alaudo (land of peace ). But what kind of clothes are these?)

I don't know if it was the husk in his voice, or the way his eyes twitched when he spoke, or the slight downward curve his lips did as he spoke that almost stopped my heart's beating. Maybe it was the sudden realization that this was no movie set, we had really gone back in time and there was no going home, at least not today. I think Ure realized it at the same time too cause she had a look of horror in her eyes, my sister's cheerful face had a sadness in it that I didn't know what to do, the glow had left her eyes and was replaced with a moist I could well relate to. One second the massive representation of beauty before me makes my insides turn with happy expectations and excitement , I could handle the whole thought of having walked through a time portal into historic times but ,my younger sister looked petrified. She finally spoke after a long time.

"Awele...do you think mom is here?" Ure asked.

Then it struck me!

Mom!

Obiamarachi offered to take us to his obi, and not having any other option we followed him, walking down the path to his compound, we went with searching eyes. People stared at us as you would at a naked celebrity walking down the streets of Udumota. We got to his compound and didn't need much to tell us that we wouldn't be sleeping this night. It was dark already, and Obi being a bachelor didn't have provisions for female visitors , his hut did have an extra room, making me question epic movies and stories . This place looked nothing like the movies we've seen, the architecture was very impressive almost breath taking. Almost?....I didn't breathe for a bit when we arrived. After a long moment of silence he spoke.

"Gi na nwanegi ga arahu nime ulom ka m nodi na iro, echi ruo kanyiCota ihe anyi ga eme Maka unu, anyi were ike ee ga na obi nzuzu di Ndu obodochi,kanyi maru iheanyi ga eme. Unu gaeche ka m ruo anu m gbutere n'oku kanyi rie nri were naba. "

(You and your sister can sleep in my room, I'll stay out here. Tomorrow we'll figure out what to do, we may go to the council of the leaders of Obodochi, so we can find out what to do. You'll give me time so I can roast this meat so we can eat)

I explained everything he said to Uremma and the she showed her appreciation the best way she could, she took a picture of him.

The flash from the camera put him in a total frenzy. He jumped and moved away from us his massive hands hit the torch by the passage way. Bringing my attention back to the architecture of the hut. It was square unlike the ones in the movies, it was as large as a five bedroom bungalow, the entrance had railings made of wood and decorated with fabrics of different colors, loosely woven but perfect still. From the entrance you can see the yard, spread across a measurable square feet, with long wooden torches on each corner, illuminating the whole place, you could compare it to the glow of ten industrial energy bulbs, except the rays are yellow.

The rooms were spacious but not lacking in beauty, the bed, 2 ft high and covered with the most colorful soft looking mat I've ever seen, I originally had worries about sleeping on hard bare mat but this exceeded my expectations and drew my attention to my tired bones, I rested on the bed half expecting it to be hard as mahogany, but the softness baffled me. Slightly I lifted the cover mats to find layers of fabric underneath, as you can imagine it's as soft as the regular water bed you know, maybe even softer.

The fireplace, a little too organized for a bachelor's home. The carvings on the wall showed he was just as much a foodie as I, made me smile everywhere and he must have noticed because he smiled at me , and oh! Did my soul just leave my body from between my legs!

The sound of plates woke me from my memory search, He looked me straight in the eyes as if he was looking for something and said "nne, bia nu rie nri ka unu rahuo ura"

(My dear, come and eat so you can sleep )

"Dalu." I told him.

("Thanks." I told him.)

The first bite of the roasted meat I put in my mouth was heavenly, I already didn't know what meat it was, but the spice in it was of different layers and flavors , in my twenty-six years of experimentally eating everything I could find, I had never tasted anything this beautiful ...never! Ure obviously felt the same way because for the first time since we walked through the fall, she smiled!

And in that moment of shear happiness, I knew we'd be fine.

Not long after we ate, he came up with cups of water and I was surprised as to how clean and cold they were.

Then he spoke again, and I couldn't help the cold shudders his voice gave me, this time shivered visibly and he held my shoulders and smiled at me.

"Ee ga dii mma." he said to us.

("You'll be fine")

I had no idea where I was or why I was there, but in that moment I knew I wanted to stay, I wanted to stay here.

Here with this man, this man that makes my heart beat faster than a speed car on the race track.

I wanted to stay here, with his large palm on my shoulder blades and his eyes searching my soul.

I wanted to stay.