Upon reaching the settlement, Ani welcomed me with open arms. She embraced me and I caught a whiff of her fragrance emitting from her skin and from her hair. I was taken aback from her actions since this shouldn"t be the way a younger sister to act with her elder brother. Taking nothing was amiss from her, I returned her with a quick hug to avoid any suspicions coming from her."Abang, did you bring some mussels for me to cook dinner afterward?" she asked in a meek manner. "Nah, here"s a few pieces left that we baked at the beach earlier for lunch," I said while pushing her the small basket that contains about five to six pieces of mussels that was as long as my palm. "I will cook "ginataan" later for our dinner okay?" she smiled while taking the basket in her hand and hurried back home to soak the mussels in brine water at the back of the "dirty kitchen".
I watched her back as she sashayed her hips, soon disappeared behind the house where the "dirty kitchen" was situated. I went along with the brothers to the granary that Ani was in charge of the inventory and storage of all the perishable goods. A few moments later Ani appeared at the granary and was wiping her wet hands on the edge of her "sarong". At this moment I can"t refer her "sarong" that she was wearing but rather a wrap around skirt that covered the top of her ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s to her knees.
The brothers were busying themselves to sort out the items in the baskets into a circular woven tray that Ani would be held responsible to distribute evenly amongst the residents of the settlement as well as to set aside for the maids of the Chief Village to later come and gather it for their use.
Since there were eleven households altogether there; twelve woven trays were also displayed on the wooden table; one belonging to the Chief"s; for even distribution of an a.s.sortment of food. Stacks of sacks of raw grains placed aside on wooden pallets that would be pounded and sifted by the other women in the courtyard as well as another stack of readied pounded grains to be made into bread.
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"Let"s discuss the matter just now once you"re done," said Cheng as he made eye contact with me and gesturing his head towards the port. "Okay," I replied curtly and helped Ani to finish up the work at hand before saying to Anu that I would be going to the port with the guys to discuss something. She nodded in agreement as she continued her work in distributing the food on each individual woven tray.
I made my way to the clothesline at the side of the house, picked up the "sarong" that was meant to be used as a shower cloth and towel and went straight to the "port". I sat myself down on the tatami mat under the canopy of the tree and eyed them with antic.i.p.ation. "So..... What do you want to know about the Guardian Spirit?" asked Cheng while he casually took some tobacco and place them into the dried ears of the corn before rolling it up; placing it to his lips and used a smoking end of a burning stick to light it.
Soon the sweet scent of tobacco wafted through the air and Cheng blew the smoke out from the sides of his mouth. The others also rolled the tobacco and smoked.
"I"m not sure if I had brought this subject up before but I wanted to know about the Guardian Spirit that you mentioned before, also about how and why was it called a Guardian Spirit and is it so secretive that it couldn"t be discussed outside of this place?"I started off with carefully chosen words so as not to raise suspicions among them.
Ding pulled long on his rolled tobacco and blew the smoke upright into the air with confidence before he spoke in a low voice," The Guardian Spirit protects the settlement and this settlement only. It protects the settlement from any harm or danger it may come about to its residents here, just like you and me." he replied while explaining the reason in detail.
"The Guardian Spirit is of no known whereabouts and it only comes out when it sensed danger or when the moon is full just like last night," said Eun. "Other residents from other settlements did report some missing babies from their cradles in the middle of the night but then it was regarded as rumors with no ground to prove," said Ding while spreading his hands.
"Some said that the Guardian Spirit was once a human that was cursed by a witch a long time ago but no one knows whether it"s the truth or not and the shadows would only be seen by people having the third eye," said Cheng while he took a long pull from his rolled-up cigarette.
" Having a third eye?", I queried to Cheng." Yes, a third eye is meant for someone who had unveiled an unseeing eye on his or her second chakra point." explained Cheng while looking at me with an interesting look. "You don"t seem to accidentally awaken your third eye, do you?" asked Eun to me.
"E... Errrr third eye? Second chakra point?" I asked them in bewilderment as I had no known knowledge of these matters mentioned by them. "A third eye enables one to see things that we humans don"t normally be able to see. Chakra points are circular vortexes that are placed in different points of the body that are possible to disturb the life energy such as your Qi," explained Cheng slowly to ensure that I understand these points.
" If your parents are still alive, they could tell you more about the chakra and the third eye. However, you should know that your late parents were the pioneers in mastering and channeling their Qi energies when they first settled here." said Ding as he mentioned of my "late parents" slight but noticeable part of his memory.
" Only when a person has the third eye and Opening Qi would he be able to communicate with the Guardian Spirit," explained Cheng while he stubbed his rolled tobacco into the ground beside him.
"Enough of this educational talk eh? I want to go and wash up... Who wants to join me?" remarked Eun as he began to raise himself up.
"Wait up..... Me too," replied Cheng and Ding while they too stood up and walks along Eun. "Aren"t you coming along?" asked Cheng as he adjusted his "sarong" and walked towards the common well.
"Yeah..... Coming....." I replied as I too stood up, carried my "sarong" for showering and hurriedly walked along with them.
I wondered to myself whether I would be able to see the Guardian Spirit later tonight..."