Hodge Podge

Before our ancestral garden was sold to a relative, it was more than just a patch of land—it was a living, breathing space of laughter, play, and countless family gatherings. Trees stood like silent witnesses to our childhood adventures, their roots entwined with our memories.

But there was something else rooted in that garden. Something unseen.

I am not exaggerating when I say that, at one point in my childhood, strange things began to happen. And oddly enough, it wasn’t just in our home—these peculiar occurrences seemed to drift from house to house in our neighborhood, as if carried by the wind.

In our own corner of the world, a person claiming to have a third eye told us that beneath our lone coconut tree, a tiny kingdom had formed. Three dwendes—small, unseen beings—had taken residence, weaving their presence into the soil, the roots, the very air.

Stranger still, I had already felt them before I was ever told. There were eyes, always watching. One evening, as the sky deepened into twilight, I was pulling clothes from the line when I felt it—an unmistakable poke at my side, followed by the sound of tiny feet rushing away. I spun around, expecting to see my younger sister playing a trick on me. But there was no one there.

Years later, one of my sister’s friends, gifted with the ability to see beyond the veil, visited our home. She looked around, paused, and said, "You have guardians here. Not dwendes. Something different. They are not just protecting the land—they are protecting you."

This illustration is a reflection of that memory—a vibrant and intricate abstract tapestry where floral designs, mosaic patterns, and geometric shapes intertwine with a prominent face at its center. Much like that garden, it captures the unseen forces that exist between nature, artistry, and human emotion. In its mosaic-like complexity, it tells a story of things we feel but cannot always explain.

Do you believe in such guardians? Do unseen eyes watch over the places we hold dear?