The Engkanto Quartet: Voyage to the East

Twenty-first birthday

The third day of the second month of the year.

It was a pleasant day, and the island was getting ready for the party. Rakly was turning twenty-one. The light brown-skinned young man sported long curly black hair at the level of his shoulders that highlighted his almond-shaped brown eyes. He's handsome, athletic, and slim yet muscular. Unlike the rest of young men of Ragua, he was standing about six feet. He was the tallest resident on the island, which made some suspect he was not the son of their beloved chieftain. But the people loved him still as they loved his father, who spent most of his time traveling to other islands, countries, and kingdoms as a merchant and bringing riches to share with the Raguans in return.

Above was the cloudless sky where the island gods believed to have resided, and below was the blue sea, which was also a realm of divinities, drowning the silence with its mild breeze and the sound of the soft rolling waves.

At the sandy beach under the shade of tropical almonds, they set a long makeshift table from freshly cut bamboo. And then, laid round-leaf palms and banana leaves to cover the cracks. Isuk placed the whole roasted pig at the center of the table. The others helped him surround the roasted pig with rice, sweet potatoes, boiled green bananas, spicy crabs cooked in coconut milk, shrimp, seashells, grilled blue marlin, raw tuna with vinegar and spice, squid, tropical fruits, and vegetables.

Friends, town elders, and guests were thanking the gods for the added year to his life with a bounteous celebration. It was not a grand party, but it was merry with plenty of food, drinks, and laughter. They celebrated the young man's birthday the Raguan way.

With the absence of Bubuy and Dyosi, Konradus and the community elders took charge in giving the young man their blessings, dedicating the day to the gods. People in the neighborhood joined the merriment, both the invited and the uninvited and, of course, his girlfriends.

He intended the party only for a few guests and special friends, but words spread quicker than fire and flew faster than time. Before he knew it, Raguans who were loyal to his family had already celebrated, making the beach party the culmination of that week-long festivity. In Ragua, no line separated the public and the private as everything was communal. The people in the neighborhood knew almost every detail of everyone's life in the village. Ragua comprised fifteen villages scattered across the island, with the main township near a cove on the northwestern part that hosted the pier and business establishments. As everyone knew, Rakly stood as a proxy to his father serving as the island's chieftain. So, several well-wishers dropped by his house, which was also the center of government, bringing gifts: fruits, wine, swords, hats, and anything they thought of value to the celebrant. The uninvited had even brought their own food to the party.

It had been a custom on the island for a young man to have as many lovers as he liked. Young people were free to love, but they followed some unwritten rules. For instance, an unmarried man could not marry or take a woman who was a family member, a cousin, or a distant relative as a girlfriend. A married man could not take for a girlfriend another man's wife or lover; only the unmarried ones were free to do so.

Rakly sat on a wooden bench at the other end of the table. On his left was Porsia, and on the right, Berna. There's no jealousy between them as both also had boyfriends other than Rakly. When he's around with friends, they teased him of marrying his girlfriends as soon as he possibly could — and that it would be a grand celebration throughout the island.

After the island's elders performed a ritual, a prayer to the gods and goddesses of the island, they were all seated on the ground, waiting for Rakly to give a short remark.

"To the wise elders of Ragua and everyone present today," the celebrant began. "As we all know the tradition, no one can escape from the island and sail past Utlanan until they are twenty-one. I'm not saying that this island is a prison."

Everybody was chuckling, finding it hilarious to regard the island as a prison for young people. The Raguans believed — or rather, the elders inculcated in the minds of children to protect them — that the ocean would take the lives of young people once they sailed beyond the Isle of Safety.

"By no means, it is," Rakly continued after a pause. "In my case, today marks that day when I can finally set sail to countries and kingdoms in other parts of the world. It's every young man's dream to sail beyond the Isle of Safety. And who would not be excited by that? I'd love to sail with my father on his many voyages. He's not with us today as he's on an expedition to the southern seas, but we know his spirit is with us. So let's celebrate this day. It's not just for me, but it's for all of us.

To serve you is a privilege. Ensuring the island's safety and protection and bringing wealth so that our children could live a good life are my duties as your chieftain on behalf of my father. Once I sail with him, there will be more wealth we could bring to Ragua. May the gods and all the divinities above and below bless us all. And may the spirits of our ancestors protect our beloved island, our home."

Rakly's speech was well-received, and everybody was jubilant.

"The food is ready! Let the real party begin," Isuk proclaimed.

"We have plenty of wine—fifty jars of tuba and ten barrels of a special wine from the Mainland. It's called wine from the vine," said Litoi, who made himself in charge of the drinks.

Everyone was happy with the food. There was laughter, and there was joy. It was a community affair. About a hundred people were celebrating by the seaside and hundreds more in the township's plaza and other public spaces. And even the remote villages from the north to the southern edge — the whole island of three thousand people was celebrating.

Porsia sat on Rakly's lap and whispered to his ears, "Nice speech, I have a reward for you tonight." She was a petite young woman — brown-skinned with long, curly black hair, and she's beautiful in her silver earrings and pearl necklace. She was mesmerizing with her brown eyes and pouty lips. She was standing less than five feet and a half, which was the average height for both men and women on the island.

"Since it's my birthday," Rakly said, "I'd rather have you than anything else. It's not a competition where you reward a winner, but a celebration. I don't accept rewards. You know you're the most valuable gift I got."

"Don't fool us with your sweet words, mister. We know you. Well, what about this? I have a gift," Berna said. And she whispered in his ear.

A chubby woman who fell in love with the young Rakly, Berna was the first woman he slept with at seventeen. She was beautiful with her long straight black hair and sleepy brown eyes. Standing a little over five feet and a quarter, she wore a lovely smile that was captivating. "I smell something's going to happen tonight. You know what I mean," she said.

Rakly smiled.

The party was not a satisfying event in the standard of Ragua without the usual jokes and humorous stories from friends and elders. "If you can't handle the sails of a small boat during a storm, better stay home and drink tuba, let your future wife do the sailing," Konradus declared, and everybody was laughing in chorus.

"How can he do it to the ocean if he's afraid of the waves? Unless one of them goes with him," Isuk said with a hearty laugh. "Just don't bring Litoi with you to the sea, or his wife will kill you."

Everybody laughed because they knew Litoi was a sailor afraid of the ocean when it's dark. Although, he's been to the Mainland and other places many times. Other sailors had plenty of stories about him and his fears. The island's humor could be brutal, but it was what made Ragua special other than its natural beauty.

When it was about the early night, the three disappeared from the party — Rakly, Porsia, and Berna — as most of those in attendance were drunk by dusk.

Meanwhile, Isuk was busy entertaining the guests with his stories, bragging about his fishing and cooking skills. And he's proud of the food he prepared for the party, telling the details on how to roast a pig perfectly or how to cook seafood with coconut milk the right way.

The merriment and drinking had lasted until the late hours of the night when the island was silent and dark.