One moment Dr. Gumatao was in the operating room and the next, he was standing on a grassy hill gently sloping towards a long wooden building. Noel felt a presence to his side. He turned, and saw the tallest woman he had ever seen. She stood a full head over him, and she was wore a multi-hued tunic and brass bangles on her wrists and ankles. On her left she propped up a wooden shield almost as tall as she was. Instinctively he held up his hand with the thing that he gripped there. It was a moment before he realized, with much embarrassment, that it was his scalpel. A tiny scalpel.
The woman flashed a wide toothy smile. “Greetings, Awang, and welcome!”
Awang? He had not been called that since he was a child, and only by Nana, who never accepted his Christian name. “How do you know…?”
“Here you are known by your true name.”
“Where is here? What is this place? Why am I here?”
“Here is Tambaran. In your heart of hearts you know what this place is. You are here because you have been found worthy.”