nr2 chp7

CHAPTER 7

                  I never knew we had complete control of our connection. Mitiksha told us the techniques. It was really just a question of will power and commandment over one self. She was a very good teacher. We could successfully block and allow each other into our minds, but reading someone’s mind without letting them know our presence was really tough. None of us could do it. On the other hand, Mitiksha was a pro. She said, “We are taught this when we turn twenty years. But your grandparents were taken before that. So they probably are learning it right now.” I hoped what she was saying was true. And that they were safe.

                  There was very little time left for us to practice because the moon was about to set. I was proud of how much I could learn in so little time. The moon-set on Prisma was so much more beautiful than sunsets on earth. I always wanted to watch a sunset with Yen, but now I wished I watched the moon set on Prisma with him. I recalled how he had given me his Audi for my birthday. I wondered how he made his parents agree to it. His dad loved their car. He hadn’t told me what all he had to do for such an amazing gift. Thinking of Yen made me remember of Arya’s feelings about him. It hadn’t really left my mind the entire time, it had only sidetracked. I’d imagined a hundred different jealous girls who would try to take Yen away from me. But I had never considered Arya one of them. He’d told me he wouldn’t give up. I’d have to fight for Yen, well at least not physically. I missed Abhi too. He had always been there for me. Always. He was the best best-friend anyone could ever have.

                  A large thud interrupted my thoughts. It was Mitiksha’s rora again, “Oh God Mitiksha, could you please keep those things far away from us?” Mitiksha scowled and said. But next to it, was another rora. It was Shikhar. The stories of Prisma said that if all the clan members of an orea died, the corresponding rora would become as tiny as a normal eagle. But Shikhar was the same in size. Since it only belonged to grandma, I knew she was alive. It was such a relief! As I walked towards it I saw grandma. “Thank god you’re alive!” I went to hug her when I saw her supporting grandpa. He had blood all over him. Even grandma looked tired. “What happened?” we all gasped. All of them looked towards Shikhar. There was something on its back. We had to stretch our legs to see. It was Tony, dead.

                  “How did all this happen?” “We first need to get Fiddle to Ospea.” Grandma said. Assuming Ospea was something like hospitals, we tagged along. Mitiksha spoke in Pris, but I recognized the word Lusciata. Mitiksha removed that powder like thing. But it was very little. We reached the jungle again. I hadn’t imagined Ospea like this. I don’t know why I was expecting doctors. Grandpa was kept on a golden leaf-bed. Some of the Prismates started searching in the forest and came back with some soil. The soil here was medicinal. Grandpa didn’t show signs of improvement as fast as he’d shown when we used Lusciata. But it was working since I saw grandma calming down.

                  Grandma turned towards us and said, “We were talking to the others and telling them all about what was happening.  That’s when the news of the soil storm reached us. We left to find you’ll immediately. But the jungle had changed completely. The moon was up and tried to connect. We could only hear screams and we felt the connection slowing down. Gradually it faded and left us scared. We searched and searched but couldn’t find any of you. As a battle practice, we were training for connection control. After several hours Shikhar showed up. It showed us what all Tony had done. Mitiksha’s rora had told Shikhar all about it. All the royals connected with us, and started our search. Luckily we hadn’t eaten any of the food. One of the other roras had seen Tony hiding in the jungle. We followed directions and found him, but he put up a good fight. Every time he was hurt, he used Lusciata and became stronger every time. He did this to your grandpa. Eventually the game turned in our hands. He’s dead now.”

                  I wished I was the one who killed Tony. Anyways, at least he was dead. We had hated the roras right from the start, but we were alive today, because of them. I walked towards Shikhar and Mitiksha’s rora. I was closer to them than I ever was, but I still maintained my distance. I noticed how beautiful and thick each of its feathers was. It was hard to believe I was thinking of them beautiful. As a thank you, I did the walking-fingers gesture towards it, like all Prismates had greeted us. Grandma laughed out loud. “This is not how you thank a rora. If you feel gratitude towards it, you look straight in its eyes, let it look at you, and it will show you what it feels. “Show me? As in it’s gonna dance if it accepts my gratitude? Haha!” “No Lune, it has its own way of showing you stuff.” “Huh?” I wasn’t really sure what to interpret when Marsella quickly commented, “You said earlier that rora showed you about Tony. What exactly did you mean?”

                  Grandma looked at us like we were kindergarten students asking her a complex mathematics question. But she answered any way. “When you have a rora, it is assigned to you, but that is not the only relation between you both. You both can communicate.” “So one connects with their rora? When the moon is up?” Arya asked. “No dear. It’s nothing like the connection that we have. Each rora communicates differently with its members. Some roras prefer talking, its nor Pris nor English. It’s a different language altogether. And oh they sound really harsh. Some roras transfer their memory, so you can see everything that the rora has in its memory. Some of them simply make you feel what they want you to know. Shikhar is among the roras who communicate by showing you their memories.” Wow! I was really in a magic fairy tale. [with lot of villains in it!]

                  I did what grandma had told me, I looked intently in Shikhar’s eyes. I waited for it to look at me the same way, but it just turned around and flew away. It rejected me! This was so embarrassing. Everyone was laughing at me! Argh!! I was never gonna look at it the same way again. Shikhar had missed his chance of friendship with me. His loss! In the meantime grandpa started to feel better. We could see him recovering. All of us were so relieved. Before I could step out I saw Marsella crying silently behind a tree. She was missing Abhi, of course. I went and hugged her tightly. She started crying even more loudly now. After some time she gained control of herself and we joined the others.

                  “Hey Lune?” Arya called. “Do you remember I told you that I had seen Mitiksha’s look-alike somewhere?” “Yeah” I replied but Marsella was completely lost. “What?” she kept repeating over and over again. We gave her a quick recap and Arya continued, “I just remembered. Once I heard my dad talking about some riots that were prone to happen. I rushed to that area but the chaos had begun already. There was only one girl left who wasn’t running away. She had no expressions on her face. I went to help her but she only looked at me. I dragged her away and saved her from a roof which was about to fall on her. She looked pretty amused and shocked. I didn’t get it! Without saying a word, she just left from there. She ran away and I couldn’t find her. But this was about a year ago. I swear she looked the same like Mitiksha.”