ArHi FF:1: The BEASTS and the BLEEDING ROSES - Page 9

The preference among the two images for my FF Cover Page had been a difficult debate in the minds of all who were asked to vote. Though, at first, votes were equal on both sides, the Second image started gaining the majority by far. However, I had a dear set of voters who picked out the key features in Picture One that made it significant to the story and also the key features in Picture Two that made it vital to the tale, and hence they were in a dilemma, as I was, in not knowing which image to choose. But considering their judgment, I have understood that I need what is there in both pictures and hence until I find time to create an image that includes the best highlights of both the images, I leave them as they are, the vote called off and the rest of tale to be narrated now…..

But foremost, to my dear readers of the last update:

Areeba, lostlove, purplelove, angeldream, Artemis678, rashgirl, masaf, Sanjana: I am immensely glad to have readers as eager and caring as you all….

Vidya, Fazila, Asma: Thank you for your dear dear words….If words are dear, so are those hearts that spoke them….

The_breeze: your words have touched me and I am so happy to have found out that you felt the depths of my tale. Thanks for visiting me, dear!

Sam: you always make it a point to tell me your lovely thought on my tale…thanks for being there for me!

MsRaizada101: You are starting to be one of my favourite readers! Your encouragement is precious!

Music1: hello dear!! So glad you loved my creation. What I write comes to its fullest success when readers like you tell me that there is something about my tale that quenches one reading thirst…Thanks so much dear for your dear words!

And Siaa: I was wondering where you'd gone but I know you'd come back. You were the first one to come on this thread of my FF, and you were with me from when I created my Prologue. I am so happy to see you haven't abandoned me and that you were merely caught up in life. And what a comment you have given me. You must have eroded your patience in sitting and writing the details for me. They were immensely helpful for you capsuled all that I had written in those few chapters quite well!! And reading them I fell in love with my tale all over again! Glad to see you again dear!

Chapter Ten: At the Festival

The evening sky enveloping the village was a concoction of a lot of noise and light and colour everywhere. Tents or stalls were set up to stock and sell the various fruits and harvest that the villagers had been blessed with that year. And all these tents were set around the vast expanse of ground around the abandoned Greek Temple. Well, it didn't look quite abandoned then.

Decorated with candles and flowers, the silent desolate Temple seemed to smile like a new-born Paradise. People entered it and conducted the rites of the first day.

Payal and Kushi were excited and speechless at all the sights awaiting them. They separated from their parents and went exploring the place together. There was so much to see, so much to touch, so much to like…

Kushi had been admiring the bottles of honey and gazing through the golden fluid, when Payal returned from her little exploration and exclaimed, "You have to come to the Temple."

"Why? What's happening there?" asked Kushi causally, still looking through the honey.

Payal pulled at her sister's arm and Kushi looked up, "Yes, I'm listening. What is happening at the Temple?"

"A 'wish' ceremony," said Payal.

Kushi frowned, "A wish? As in what we dream for?"

Payal nodded vigorously, her eyes shining with eager elation.

Kushi's eyes lit up too and her smile was divine, "Then what are we waiting for!!"

Ambling through the crowds, laughing and holding hands, both the sisters found themselves flowing with a sea of 'wish' makers. They were soon lost in that crowd heading for the Temple that was situated on the little grassy mound in the near distance.

Meanwhile, a carriage had come to stop at the dark outskirts of the festivity and the coachman opened the door for the tall man within to disembark. He stood in the dark and watched the hill and its horde from afar.

"Wait here," was the curt command he threw over his shoulder as he strode deftly towards the crowd and lights. In the course of his passing, people stopped in their festive and jollity to look up and would freeze and stare or bow their heads as he passed. But not everyone noticed him that night. Some were too caught up in the celebration. And those who froze would unfreeze and go about their work and fun as soon as his shadow had surpassed their vision.

Soon, in quick long gaits, he found himself facing the crowd heading for the Temple. He stopped and calculated. The crowd was too thick and pressing here and he wanted space and respectful distance from everyone. So he decided to change his direction, circle the mound and enter the Temple through its rear archway.

As he had been contemplating this decision to enter through the rear way, his stern eyes fixed on the reborn structure, and the crowds pushing in from all sides, he candidly muttered under his breath, "Cursed Temple."

Just then an angry wind blew over the place and the bells in the Temple rang aloud. All around while some people struggled to keep steady their tables and their contents from being blown away, the rest held onto their coats and hats and mufflers as they stood against the sudden wind. No one knew why the wind had blown so suddenly and the only one least bothered with it was Lord Arnav himself. He just stared piercingly at the Temple and walked on, unaffected by the wind, as if proving by his presence that the wind could only play around his coat flaps and not harm him in any way. He feared nothing. And he established it suitably.

Kushi and Payal were also caught up in the mysteries of the wind but Payal was more concerned in dragging Kushi who had stood rooted to the spot and staring at the sky as if the staring would provide her some answers.

"Come along, Kushi," Payal called over the roar of the wind, pulling her sister's arm.

Kushi didn't look at Payal but silently let her sister drag her, with her eyes still on the darkening sky. Was that a sign for a storm she saw there?

"Watch your scarf, you careless girl," said a passing lady, and Kushi looked down suddenly to realize that the order and the "careless" title had been applied to herself.

"My scarf?" asked Kushi, her hands reaching to the thin white scarf that was tied around her neck intended to fight the cold. Her mother had insisted on it and she had worn it for it was the longest and the only scarf that matched her white gown. Her feet trudging through, she tried to keep up with Payal's pace while fighting the wind and she was trying also to not let her scarf pay a visit into other people's faces like it had done on that woman's face. Kushi didn't want any more accusations levied upon her on behalf of her fidgety scarf.

"I told Amma I didn't want a scarf," mumbled Kushi as she waded through the crowds, led by Payal.

"Payal could you slow down?" called out Kushi but over the wind and over the noise of the crowd. Payal had not heard it and kept racing onwards with Kushi right behind her, trapped like a tail of empty cans tied to a cat's tail. "Payal, could you-," she began and then stopped, sensing something strange.

It was like the wind meant to tell her of something she had to know. Of someone or some presence she had to be aware of. But she was too confused and her head too muddled up with all the noise around her that she didn't pause to consider if she wasn't imagining the wind as having a consciousness.

It was precisely at this time that Lord Arnav had walked up, halted and decided to take the different route up to the Temple. It was at this time, when he stood and decided, that Kushi was thinking about the strange effects the wind was having on her mind. And it was at this precise time, that Payal pulled her through the mass of people, oblivious of the tall evil man of her and her sister's past standing right where she was leading Kushi on. Payal passed the man, and Kushi passed him too, but the silly girl's mind was on the wind and for a moment her fingers were lax and the scarf took the thieving chance to flutter freely into the space it was permitted. It is inquisitive as to what the scarf should have felt, had it a mind, to have discovered its fluttering space consisting of a man's face. And this man's face, was not a passing one. Since the man stood rooted to a spot, the scarf was forced to explore his hard countenance along its full white fluttery length, and the scarf should have shivered at the anger born out the man's irritation in being impeded by a white shawl. But for the first time, Lord Arnav did not snarl at a disturber. For the first time, he let his anger pause where it had risen. For the first time, Lord Arnav felt a strange emotion come over him. It was because of the shawl. The texture smooth as skin, the smell delicate and innocent as the flowers in his garden…he closed his eyes and absorbed the long caress of the scarf wordlessly. He stood and lost himself in memories of his sister who loved to decorate her room with his flowers. Then he suddenly remembered that he had come here to make a wish for her and opened his eyes. The coldness in the eyes returned, the warmth of a few seconds forgotten, but there was no sign of the scarf or of its owner for him to shower his wrath upon. Clenching his fists, he decided against wasting his time in hunting down the victim and made his way towards the rear archway of the Temple. It was then that he realized that the wind had died down. Everyone seemed to be relieved of the sudden respite of the wind and it had been an eerie visitor for showing up so suddenly and departing as suddenly as its appearance had been.

Chapter Eleven: Wishes

Kushi gaped as she climbed the white stone steps of the Greek Temple and entered under its archway with the villagers. There was enough space for the entire village to stand stuffed within it, encircled by twelve pillars. In the center was a huge fountain which had, as its centerpiece, not a sculpture of a god or goddess, but an immense tree whose circumference had a span of the outstretched arms of a minimum of three people. Instead of leaves, the tree had long and short green strings hanging from its many barren branches, and dangling by these green strings were hundreds of solitary locks. How did such a big tree find itself in the center of a Temple? Was the Temple built around it? Or did they build the Temple first and plant the tree later? Kushi's mind was busy as always as she stared up at it and in the meantime, Payal had gathered information and instruments required for the "Wish" ceremony.

When Payal returned, she handed Kushi one of the pairs she had bought. Kushi stared at the coin in her right hand and then at the lock and key in her other hand.

"What do I do with these?" asked Kushi, displaying the things before Payal's eyes.

Payal demonstrated with her articles, "You need to first touch the coin to the key, like this, and say, I bind my wish to the heart of this lock."

Kushi closed her eyes, though no one told her to close her eyes, and touching the coin in her hand to the key in the lock, she whispered, I bind my wish to the heart of this lock….

On the other side of the fountain, though the crowd was the same all around the fountain, there was a detectable space provided around the tiny periphery where Lord Arnav stood. People didn't mind him standing there, but they wisely chose to ignore him rather than near him or even accidently brush their shoulders against him.

He grunted as he stared at the coin his sister had handed him into which she had whispered her wish from home. He touched it to the key in the lock he had bought. It's your wish, Di. And I bind it to the heart of this lock….

"Then what?" asked Kushi, eager to proceed, and Payal led her sister closer to the fountain which was already surrounded by so many villagers.

"With your back to the fountain," said Payal, as both the sisters, stood there, facing away from the fountain and the tree, "Holding the coin in you right hand, make a wish, kiss the coin to seal the wish and flip it over your shoulder and don't turn around until you hear it fall into the water."

Kushi closed her eyes again, pressed the coin in her right hand and frowned. Here was the hard part: what would she wish for? There were so many things she wanted to wish for….her parents came to her mind. And then her sister….Can she make two wishes? She wanted a wish for Payal which was different from the wish for her parents…while one was for a happy marriage, the other was for happy long life….She could try and combine them together, such that they would sound like one wish. She apologized initially to the Divine Force behind the wish, I am not cheating but this is my desperate attempt to include all of my family in the first wish I make in this Temple. Please forgive me and gratefully accept my humble wish. And then she wished: I want Jiji to get a wonderful husband who will keep her and our parents happy throughout their life….

With eyes still closed, she brought the coin to her lips, kissed it, heartily threw the coin over her shoulder and smiled when the expected 'plop' of the coin reached her ears from the murmur of the many 'plops' around her. She could distinctly pick out 'her' plop among the lot….a gentle childlike plop.

With his back to the fountain, and his eyes on the darkening skies, Lord Arnav clenched the coin in his right hand and then closed his eyes. Your wish, Di…

As if by some intuition, Lady Anjali looked up from her knitting beside the huge window that overlooked the expanse of land before her. She caught the faint glimmer of lights on the faraway hill where the Temple was presumably situated. She smiled, "A wish I make every year, unchanging it remains: for you, a wife, my Little One, I pray…to heal you and teach you to love again."

Lord Arnav carelessly but with estimated approximation of his throw's extent, flicked the coin over his shoulder and the 'plop' of the coin was soon heard. A hard 'plop' that was sad and heavy with patient waiting….and the wish sank once again like it sank every year, into the depths of the mystical waters.

The lock was tied to a green string already and Kushi only had to fasten the string to a branch of the tree. As instructed by Payal and watching the example of others around her, Kushi stepped up onto the brim of the fountain ring, and insecurely standing on her toes, she began tying the lock to the branch by the green string. When finished, it hung like a pendulum and Kushi turned the key in the lock, "Remain here, my wish, until Destiny fulfills you…." And with that she took the key out and slipped it into the pocket in her gown.

Lord Arnav, with one swift motion, was standing on the fountain edge and with people not too close to him, he had wide angle left to decide where to hang the green string from. Hurriedly choosing a spot in the earnest need to get out from the detested place, he tied the string to the branch and locked it with the key, "Remain here, wish, until Destiny fulfills you…." His half-hearted recital was owing to the fact that he had a slight inclination that his Di had probably wished for him. Something for his future well-being, he was certain. And he did not want any "well" beings in his future.

Briskly stepping down, he walked out of the Temple and headed downhill. Kushi and Payal followed a little later with the crowd having exited from the other archway.

"It was fun, wasn't it, Jiji?" asked Kushi, excitedly, "Tell me, what did you wish for?"

Payal looked at her as if she had said something terribly sinful, "We must not tell our locked up wishes to anyone, Kushi. It will lose its fortification."

"Will it?" asked Kushi but she was not focusing on what she had heard. Her eyes had fallen upon a stall where a villager was selling hot peanuts.

"Oh, Oh," Kushi began jumping and pointing at the stall for Payal's attention, "Peanuts! Hot ones, too! Let's buy some, Jiji? Please?"

Payal frowned at Kushi but as Kushi's pleading eyes looked into her unceasingly, her frown laxed and a smile appeared, "Oh alright, but wait here, let me go get some coins from Babuji."

"I'll come with you," said Kushi eyeing the stall hungrily as they passed it and headed for where Babuji and Amma would be. They searched a lot but saw him no where until they decided he must be where their cart was stationed. The cart had been left a little away from the crowded hill so it would take some time to reach the place. Nevertheless, the sisters had lifted the fringe of their skirts and were soon skittering towards their decided destination that was near the forest.

Chapter Twelve: Words and Reactions

"Is it the wheel?" asked Garima, leaning over her husband as he crouched before their cart inspecting something.

Babuji tapped his sturdy hand against the wheel, "Yes, it's slightly loose. I knew something was wrong when we came down here; it was too wobbly."

"Can you fix it soon enough?" she asked, anxious to return home with the night waning and the girls still in the Festival grounds. She cast a look over the hill yonder where lights and colors still flashed about.

"Yes," puffed Babuji as he pulled at a poke, "There is a hammer in the box at the back. Can you get it for me?"

Garima was already moving to the rear of the cart and fumbling through the materials there. Babuji checked the wheel in the meantime as he waited for the hammer to arrive, and the sound of footsteps approaching him made him look up, expecting to see his wife. Instead, it was a tall richly dressed man taking long strides past him and heading for the forest. Babuji would have looked away and minded his own business, had he not recognized the passing man as Lord Raizada himself. Without thinking, Babuji was on his feet and he called out amiably, "Good evening, Lord Raizada."

The man's swift strides stopped. His back rigid, he turned around and faced the elderly man. Babuji was slightly bowed down in respect as he smiled up at the First Lord.

"Who are you?" was the curt reply, and the man's eyes were cold as it inspected the villager before him.

"I am Shashi Gupta, sire. I own the cocoa mill in the village."

"So? Is it of any use to me to be acquainted with you?" The man was clearly irritated with having been interrupted on his passage.

Babuji's smiled dropped, "Pardon me, sire, I did not mean to disturb you. I only wanted to wish you-"

"I want no wishes from lowly people like you," said Lord Raizada, his head held high as he looked at the man distastefully, "Next time, be cautious. I may not be as forgiving as I am now."

And with that he turned around and was walking away, and Garima who had hid herself out of fear and listened to the entire conversation, emerged from behind the cart, with the hammer in her hand and a shocked expression on her face.

Just at that moment, Kushi and Payal arrived at the place, puffing from the run.

"Babuji," announced Kushi, "we need-"

But she was interrupted by her mother, "What a cold man he is! It is true what the villagers say then!"

"Hush, Amma," said Babuji sternly, "Everyman has his way. We have no right to blame him for who he has become."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Kushi. She and Payal had been trying to catch their breath while listening to their parents talk.

But her question was once again unheard, as her mother continued, "For who he has become? Are you referring to his richness or to his arrogance?"

Babuji sighed, "Amma, whatever he is, does not have to bother us. We have no relation or comradeship with him as of yet, especially since he wishes it not. So let us leave it here." He noticed the girls and asked what they had asked him.

Payal answered him, "We thought of buying some hot peanuts, Babuji."

"That is a good idea," said Babuji and he fished some coins from his pocket and handed it to her. During this time, Kushi had been impatiently waiting and was moving her feet about restlessly when her sandal snubbed on something in the ground. Pausing, she peered down and saw something glint under the moonlight. Reaching down, she picked it up and held it before her for examination. It was a key. Like the ones they gave for the locks in the Temple.

"Is this yours, Babuji? Did you come for the wish ritual at the Temple?" asked Kushi, lifting the key for her father to see.

It was Amma who answered her, "We went for no Ritual, Kushi." She eyed the key suspiciously and said, "No one passed this way except for that arrogant man. It must have fallen from his pocket. "

"Amma," warned Babuji, at the tone his wife was using when referring to their cold visitor.

"Which arrogant man?" asked Kushi, eyeing the key, while contemplating whether to drop it or to keep it. Dropping it was not a sacred act but keeping it was not right either for the key belonged to someone else.

"That Lord Raizada!" exclaimed Amma, and Kushi looked up, eyes wide with shock. The key trembled in her hand. Payal also looked shaken but she was worried about Kushi and stole a glance at her sister. Kushi had turned pale, staring into the blank space, and Payal wondered what was going on in her mind.

"Now now, Amma," said Babuji, "He is to be respected."

"For having coldly accused my husband of being lowly and interfering when all you were trying to do was offer a greeting? You even bowed! You shouldn't have!" Amma was distraught as she looked at her husband and said this.

Kushi's cheeks colored again and she looked to her Amma, her eyes suddenly thoughtful, "He accused Babuji?"

"Yes," said Amma, not paying attention to her daughter and handed Babuji the hammer, "I have had enough of tonight. Fix the wheel and let's go home."

Babuji wordlessly crouched down and began on the wheel, while Payal neared Kushi and pulled her arm, "Come Kushi, let's go and buy the peanuts."

"No, wait," said Amma, "Kushi stay here with you father. I need to buy some yarn as well, so I will go with Payal. And mind you Kushi, don't get into any mischief."

Payal looked at Kushi and Kushi nodded. She watched as her sister and mother walked away and then returned her attention to Babuji, "Was he cruel in his words, Babuji?"

"No," said Babuji, "he was just not in a good mood."

"I believe he never is in a good mood," said Kushi.

"How do you know?" asked Babuji, still busy at the wheel, "Have you ever met him?"

A scene flashed in her mind and the sound of cloth tearing echoed in her memory. Kushi closed her eyes and shook her head, "No, I have not met him. But I know."

"Uh-huh," it was certain Babuji was too focused on the wheel that he wasn't paying attention.

Kushi looked at the key in her hand. A strange light came upon her eyes, and she asked, "Which way did he go, Babuji?"

"Towards the Forest I think, why?"

There was no answer and Babuji looked up from the wheel and glanced towards where Kushi had been standing just a few moments back. He saw her running at top speed towards towards the forest, "Kushi!" he called out, "Kushi bitiya! Come back! If it's the key you are wanting to return, I'll hand it to him tomorrow myself."

But Kushi had already covered a vast distance and hadn't probably heard her father.

Babuji shook his head, "Hope that man will be kind to her considering she is only approaching him to return his key. Dear, dear….will that headstrong daughter of mine remember to bow to the Lord? She better!" He chuckled and then resumed his hammering on the wheel.

Chapter Thirteen: Second Meeting

A few long strides was all Lord Arnav needed to reach his carriage but he was delayed not just by that villager trying to be soft with him with his 'good evening' but also by the fact that his coachman was no where to be found. Lord Arnav was almost red with rage on seeing the carriage and horses alone and was deciding on whether to drive the carriage home himself or wait for the pesky coachman of his to show up, take him home and then get fired, when the sound of footsteps running towards him resounded in the still night air.

Clenching his fists, he turned to shower his cold words upon the coachman he was expecting to see, only to have his voice halt at his throat on seeing the approacher. It was the girl whom he had found snooping in his garden last day. And she was heading straight for him, straight for his wrath to unleash.

"You!!" he growled at her disgustedly.

She neared to a stop a little away from him and without looking at his face, opened out her palm before him, "I believe….This…is yours." She was puffin heavily from the running.

He frowned at her, the way she avoided looking into his eyes as if he was some filth not to be looked at and then his eyes fell on the key in her hand. Unconsciously, his hand touched his pocket which was now without the faint bulging impression of the key he had thought had been put there. His gaze swept towards the girl again and he said in a low hard voice, "I have no need for it, Throw it away." He couldn't possibly lower himself to take something from her, especially since she so proudly held it. Taking it from her would mean she was winning and he was losing. That he could not let happen.

The girl looked up at him as if he had blasphemed, "Throw a key obtained from a Temple Ritual? You are as soulless as you are heartless!"

That was the last stroke, and his fury rose within him and he stepped towards her, "How dare you back-answer me! You filthy beggar!!"

The girl backed away consequently, "Beggar or not, I think I am better off than you and your arrogance. After all the wealth and fame the Divine Forces have given you, it is shocking how ungratefully ignorant you are of His power and blessings."

Lord Arnav stopped walking and spoke in a colder voice, "All that I am is what I have made myself. I shall not permit any unseen force to take up credit for the pain and blood I have shed to make all that I have created."

The girl gasped and stood still, "You do not even acknowledge his existence?"

"He does not exist for me," he said coldly. "If he did, the world would know no pain or darkness."

"If Divinity gives pain, he provides the panacea to the pain as well," said Kushi, "No wonder you are so cold: where there is no God, there is no warmth."

"Are you lecturing me, beggar?" roared Lord Arnav and stepped towards her.

"There is no use lecturing a haughty man like you," said Kushi and stepped away from his adavnces, "A stone-hearted man can never change by words."

"Beware beggar!" warned Lord Arnav, "Stones are hard and can cause a lot of damage to a weak person like you."

"I am not scared of you," said Kushi, her hands and legs trembling as he approached her faster than she was backing away. He was almost upon her when a shuffling of feet sounded from behind him and he paused to look over his shoulder. It was his coachman.

"Where were you?" demanded Lord Arnav, and the coachman looked like he wound faint with that look from his Master.

"Mercy Master! My stomach was not well and I had gone a little into the forest depths to relieve myself, sire," said the coachmen, his head bowed so low that it almost looked like it will come off from his neck and roll down to his Master's feet.

"Do you know how long I have been waiting here!! And to make maters worse, I had this beggar-"

He turned his fiery gaze towards the girl whom he had left petrified and standing there and Kushi felt her gathered-up courage slipping away. His anger had redoubled all thanks to the inconsiderate coachman and now the accumulated wrath was burning into her heart from the way he gazed at her.

She decided it was best to flee and was thinking if she should throw him a last statement when he rushed at her. Not thinking another second, she yelped, turned on her feet and was scampering away faster than she had ever run before. Her heart was beating so loudly in her ears that she couldn't pick out if there was the sound of chasing feet behind her. After she had run a long way, she looked over her shoulder and suddenly stopped, falling onto the ground flat on her face with the sudden impact of her brake.

Sitting on the ground, she stared at the edge of the forest where he stood glaring at her. He hadn't come chasing after her but he had watched her run till she had stopped. Now that she saw him, he decided to leave, having only wanted to give her the message that he will make her pay for this.

Turning around, he barked an order at his coachman who frantically ran to climb onto his bench and as soon as his Master was in the carriage, the coachman had pulled at the reins and the horses were swiftly carrying the fuming Lord Raizada for the Castle.

From the distance, Kushi watched the carriage until it had disappeared from view and no sign of its wheels or horse hoofs could be heard. She breathed in deeply and realized that her heartbeat and calmed down during the wait. She stood up to head for Babuji's cart, and in the process something fell from the folds of her skirt. Bending down and picking it up, she realized it was his key. She and forgotten to give it him. No wait, he and told her to throw it away. She clenched her fist and was about to throw it to the ground when she thought against it. Though he didn't believe in it, she did. And whether his wish was an evil one or not, it was a wish alright, made and sealed in the Temple, and it and its own importance. So, she decided to keep it and pocketed the key in her gown along with the key of her own wish and ambled back towards the cart waiting to head for the safety of home.

Chapter Fourteen: The Plan

The carriage came to a stop and the coachman announced, "Master, we have arrived."

Lord Arnav looked through the window of the carriage, "Go tell that dog I'm waiting."

"Yes, Master," said the coachman hastily and leapt out of his place behind the horses, almost stumbling in the process of descent, but not waiting to stop, scampered up the lawn and up the stairs and right up to the door. Hastily, he knocked on the door and waited anxiously. It seemed like hours had passed though it had only been a few seconds, until the door was opened and a middle-aged man's head peeped out with the accompanying question. "Who's there? Disturbing me in the middle of the night…"

The man was in his nightgown with a long floppy nightcap on his head, and a lantern in his hand and looked more or less like Uncle Scrooge from the Christmas Carol. Only 'looked', mind you.

"The Master calls you," said the coachman hastily. Since the coachman is not a hero, we may have no need to remember his name as an essential, but for your sake, his brothers called him Om.

"What Master?" the man yawned, apparently not thinking clearly.

"Hush!" Om said hastily, afraid that the all-hearing one may have heard it, but realizing that the carriage was not stationed at hearing-distance, proceeded to put enlightenment into the man's head, in a low voice, "The Master, you idiot! Lord Raizada!"

It was as if thunder had struck the man's yawn, for he coughed and gasped all at once, making it sound odd and his eyes bulged out with fear, and Om was afraid if he would have to post his hands before the man's face to catch the eyeballs if they fell off their sockets.

"The….Lord….Raizada?" The man had barely any voice when he voiced these words. He gulped.

"Yes," hissed Om, impatiently, "Now get down here quick, he's probably grown angry with waiting I suppose."

The man floundered where he stood, "Let me go change first, I am not fit to be seen by great eyes…"

"No time to change," said Om, and pulled at the man's wrist.

"Is he come to kill me?" he asked.

"Why so?" asked Om.

"He doesn't need reason to kill, does he?" asked the man, still not giving into stepping out from behind his door frame.

"He might get good reason to kill you if you keep stalling like this," said Om, and tugged hard.

That dialogue did it. The man leapt out of his house and dragging the surprised Om with him, flew down the steps, through the lawn and right up to the dark carriage. The curtain at the carriage window was drawn already but the inside was dark. However, the man felt cold shivers run down his spine owing to the strange awareness that he was being watched closely by a hidden pair of burning eyes.

He curtsied with a very low bow, his lantern clinking, "Master, you called?"

Just then a cold breeze blew and the lantern was snuffed. The ghastly smoke of the dead candle flame wisped and rose into the night air as Lord Arnav's voice echoed, "There is something I need you to do."

Alright this is a hastily made update, for I am still not quite settled in the show after my vacation. But I will update my FF every weekend while life and time permit. Take care, my dear friends!

"He doesn't need reason to kill, does he?" asked the man, still not giving into stepping out from behind his door frame.

okay first of all, FIVE UPDATES at a time???????!!!!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!! 🤗 I decided to comment chapter wise this time so here goes:

CH 10: I was amazed at how you took an actual scene from the show and described it sooo differently yet similarly, the analogy of the Greek temple to the Dargah, from Arnav going to make a wish for her sister to the mannat which took place on tv & & & best of all the dupatta to the scarf (white again!!! ). The scarf caressing his face, his unusual reaction to it initially then the return of the cold man were aptly portrayed to the hilt. The wind blowing, Khushi sensing his presence but not yet knowing it was him was so amazingly described that "RABBA VEY" started playing in my head LOL!!!! 😆Well I know they are gonna meet but how you depict that is what I am looking forward too…..

CH 11: Woman, you have left me in gobsmacked 😲…. Never ever did I expect the "Mannat ki Chabi" to make an appearance in this FF!!!! Well well well you certainly have blended the fanciful with the actual in an awsum way dear…. After reading this chapter I am convinced that I can never be prepared for what happens in the land of Arhiasia!!!! Also Arnav's thoughts regarding Anjali's wish were spot on and evoked a feeling of loneliness but determined will to not need anything from divinity…. That was so in sync with ASR… Now I can't stay away more so off to read chapter 12!!! 😉

CH 12: I SO wished that Garima smacked Arnav with that hammer she went to find 😡…. Sigh,, he was being a complete idiot… No matter how pissed off I am at his behavior, I am quite curious to know what happened to the Raizadas, really want some sort of background on them so I can try to understand Arnav better rather than thinking of doing him some bodily harm… LOL 🤣…. Shashi was quite understanding of the whole episode whereas Garima took the right route I'd say… Ah Khushi (shaking head), this girl is only gonna end up digging a hole for herself….

CH 13: All I can think of at the moment is how beautifully you have blended in the actual traits of the characters in this fantasy based story… The conversation between Arnav and Khushi was reminiscent of the atheist v/s the believer, the rich v/s the poor debate that has been an integral part of the story… It is an absolute pleasure to read all this in a totally different worded way…..

👏

CH 14: Oh wow, this was simply unexpected!!! And yaayyy the Prakash brother s have made an entry in the form of OM (M hoping it's om prakash)!! ""Just then a cold breeze blew and the lantern was snuffed. The ghastly smoke of the dead candle flame wisped and rose into the night air as Lord Arnav's voice echoed, "There is something I need you to do." ""

This line really made me sit up straight and widen my eyes, heart thudding in anticipation of what he would ask the man ( is it Shashi??? ) to do, and what do I find, the chapter has ended :O you have left us at such a crucial point gurl, it's sheer torture 😈…. And OMG the lantern snuffing out, the smoke rising up and Arnav's voice, brrr, this description was spooky!!!! ☢️

lastly, yooohhhooo you are gonna update regularly now (does a happy dance!!!!) BEAUTIFUL UPDATES DEAR!!!! LOVED each and everyone of them!!

take care! thnx for the pm!! ⭐️