Ikpti

Illustrated by Mica Ellah Tambalong

Purple Root: The Miracle of Love

    Ikapati did not know what she had signed up for when she decided to take the first human twins under her wing. Tuwana and Tuwono were delightful—they were hardworking children, refusing to leave the fields until every single seed in the sack was planted. On the other hand these kids were  a naughty bundle.

  “Ikapati, I finished today’s batch!” Tuwana announced with a grin on her face, happily skipping towards the goddess who was standing at the edge of the field, looking over the farmers. 

    The goddess smiled and waved, “That’s wonderful–” she praised, but got cut off by another voice booming from behind. Recognition sparked in her mind, and deduced that it must be Tuwono.

   “What do you mean you’re finished? There was still a bald patch of land on the west plantation. Get back here!” Tuwono bellowed. 

    Tuwana and Ikapati look at each other, both displaying confusion in the dip of their brows. “West?” Tuwana repeated calmly, she had always been more cool-headed. “Were you not supposed to work in the west fields today? I had worked in the North and South.” 

   “But I had covered your fields the other week, I think it is only right that you return the favor.” Tuwono argued, arms crossed in front of his chest. 

    “Then you could have told me earlier—” 

    “You woke up earlier than I did, I had not gotten the chance to speak to you—”

    Ikapati felt her patience wearing thin as she watched the exchange. Dian Masalanta warned her that the two had the tendency to quarrel often, a habit that had manifested even when they were still mere voices in their mother’s womb. 

     “That is not my problem anymore is it?” 

     “This is unfair, I had worked twice as hard and you just—”

     “Tuwono, I am exhausted—” 

     “Tuwana, I am even more exhausted—” 

     “Enough.” Ikapati said sternly.

     The twins were silenced immediately. They knew what was going to happen.

   Ikapati stared at the two of them, disappointment was evident in her eyes. “Tuwono, you will continue working in the West fields. Tuwana, you shall go with your brother.” She ordered. “You will not return until that sack is empty, do you understand?” Ikapati says, pointing to the seed sack on Tuwono’s shoulders.

   Tuwana and Tuwono lifted their heads and nodded with pouts on their faces. “We understand Ikapati.” and the two began to trudge heavily in the opposite direction of the hut behind Ikapati where they had eagerly wished to rest in. 

    Ikapati expected the two would not argue anymore, but alas, she was proven wrong as she overheard their rows every single day following the first one. 

     “You work dirty.”

     “Tuwono, we work in the fields.”  

    “Look at the mud on your face- hey!”  

    “There, now you have mud on yours too.” 

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    “Why are you leaving?”
    “I am through with my responsibilities.” 

    “Your sack is not even empty.” 

    “There is no soil left in the field.”

    “Then plant them in my field.”

    “And why would I do that?”

   “I told you, if the potatoes had been planted earlier in the season they would not have been this small.” 

     “I told you, the potatoes would not have been this small if you did not harvest them this early.”   

    “Oh, who granted you this much knowledge about potatoes, o wise one?” 

“Ikapati, frankly–” 

   Fed up, Ikapati hiked to find solace on the edge of a cliff. There, she felt relieved as the quiet embraced her. Tuwana and Tuwono have been going back and forth, and her kind and understanding nature is being tested. Something had to be done. 

    When night fell, quiet as a mouse, Ikapati tiptoed into Tuwana and Tuwono’s sleeping chambers. The siblings were fast asleep on their flower beds, snoring softly every once in a while. 

    Ikapati wasted no time and placed her palms above the twins’ chest, hovering over their hearts. “May all their anger be vanquished, and be replaced with love.” 

   As she uttered these words, a haze of blue light began to come out from Tuwana’s chest, and in the same manner, red arose from Tuwono’s. The two colors illuminated the space, and Ikapati tugged harder to capture the light inside her palms. After doing so, Ikapati smiled at the two children before fleeing the vicinity. 

    Ikapati weaved through the tall grass and searched for a clear patch of land. The goddess kneeled and began to dig through the soil, creating a hollow space in the ground. Ikapati gently held the two orbs of blue and red light in her hands and poured them into the cavity. Before getting up on her feet, she whispered a short prayer to Bathala, wishing her plan would work. 

    The following morning, Tuwana and Tuwono worked together in peace. Not a single snarky remark went past their lips, and all that resounded in the fields were the happy melodies they hummed as they harvested vegetables. 

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    “Tuwana, look!” Tuwono exclaimed, pointing at a foreign stem emerging from a piece of land they previously thought was vacant. 

    “Yes brother?” Tuwana stretched her arms out, almost numb from crouching down for a long time.           “What seems to be the matter- oh!” 

   Tuwono had already dug through the ground of the plant, and in his grip was a long chunky root.  Tuwana rushed to his side, “Open it brother!” 

    Tuwono split the root in half, and their mouths had fallen open in awe. 

    “Woah!” 

    “Do you see that color?” 

    “Purple! We rarely get purple crops!” 

    “This does not look familiar at all, what could it be?” 

   Ikapati watched from a distance and chuckled. That should keep them occupied. She thought. Similar to potatoes, Ube also grew from underground. Cooked over a fire, it will be sweet, an imitation of the love that would eventually be nurtured between the two siblings when they grow older. It was one of Ikapati’s many miracles, always willing to turn something ugly into something beautiful.

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