"Are you being serious? That was a joke to you?" Bhavakari didn't seem angry. Maybe underneath she was. She spoke in a closed-up voice as she supported her head with her hand.
"What? You know Makra, he does a lot of things to me, and I just pretended I lost my memory — what's the problem with that?" Viriya said as she was walking away.
"Wait. Then you have the bangle, right?" Bhavakari's voice was clearer than it had been the whole conversation, and her eyes looked hopeful, waiting for the answer.
After pausing and looking at her wrist, Viriya replied, "No, that got stolen. From that I got the idea of memory loss. No memory distortion." She said, giggling slightly. "And Makra fell right into the trap. And Maam Khanti was just — an ant of the disaster."
Bhavakari sat there for a while, then standing up she said, "It wasn't funny, not funny at all. You aren't a kid anymore.
Ahhh...
I know you won't apologize to Makra, so go wake him up. And please tell him the truth yourself."
Viriya was about to say something more but went inside.
After seeing that mother had gone inside, Viriya went upstairs and stood at the door for a little while. After calming herself, and with a somewhat loud sigh, she raised her hand to knock on the door.
Instead of knocking, she stepped back. She came downstairs and outside the house, where Ownad was sitting and Ridhra was in a puddle of water. Watching Viriya come outside, Ownad came near her — Ownad was reaching her lower chest in height.
Where Ownad had been lying down, a chewed rope was laying there. After looking at it with a blank face, Viriya picked it up and came upstairs. Ownad followed her, like it was an everyday thing. Viriya pushed open the door to Makriva's room, where he was still sleeping. The room was lit by sunlight coming through the window.
Ownad was still following her. Viriya slowly told him to sit. After Ownad sat down, Viriya called out in a normal voice, "Makra." Two times.
Seeing that Makriva wasn't waking up, she tied Makriva's leg to the bed frame. Looking over if Makriva actually woke up or not. From flat face she then became cheerful and started to call out,
"Makra, Makriva.
Sleepy sloth! Sleepy sloth!
Hoi, sleepy sloth.
How long are you going to sleep, sleepy sloth?"
Makriva opened his eyes but still looked sleep-deprived.
Seeing that Makriva was at least awake, Viriya went and shook him. "Hoi, sleepy sloth. Ma is calling you, don't just sleep the whole day.
Come down.
I am not waiting for a sleepy sloth."
Makriva looked at Viriya with an amazed face. Seeing that, Viriya said, "Do I need to repeat? Come down, Ma is calling."
Makriva was saying something, but before he could finish, Viriya left the room, and Ownad followed her.
She just heard, "How did you—" followed by a falling sound on the ground.
Viriya didn't wait upstairs. She came down and said to her mother, "Makra is awake now. I am going to Di, to know what exactly happened at the scarred forest."
"Wait, we have to go to university. Did you tell your—" Before Bhavakari could finish,
Makriva came down and asked, "Did she remember everything?"
"There is nothing to remember. Nothing happened to her memory." Bhavakari said with a straight face.
Makriva stood there, not saying a word, not moving at all.
Mother continued, "Yes, of course. Why would the queen say anything to anybody?
She was joking, because apparently you did a lot of things to her."
"What? This whole time? What about the bangle then? The flower? And Maam didn't — What?"
Before Bhavakari could say anything, Viriya continued,
"Well, you fell right into the trap.
The bangle was stolen, but the rest of it — just, yeah..."
And Maam — she didn't catch on either. See how good of an actress I am."
Makriva was speechless. Bhavakari, noticing that, said, "Makriva, come here and help me." She told Viriya not to go now, as she would need her help too, and went inside.
Makriva stood there without saying anything, then asked, "The last days were just a joke to you?
All of it?
Really?"
"Yes, just a payback." Viriya said with little restraint.
Makriva came downstairs rather slowly and, while going into the same room as Mother, said,
"Yes, you are a really good actress. You know what, you should work in a theatre or dance groups.
Really.
The talented Viriya is wasting her time being just an assistant at the university." His voice grew dimmer as he finished his sentence.
"Wait, aren't you happy that I'm okay?
Are you serious?"
Was Viriya confused or just deflecting, she didn't know.
Makriva didn't reply, and Viriya just stood outside with a complex feeling in her that she couldn't determine. She had a flat face now. She'd had a flat face for almost the entire conversation, but now it was different.
___
The road towards the university wasn't that long, but because they had that flower with them they took a carriage. The carriage's sitting area was like an old horse carriage, but it was running on electricity.
Viriya kept looking outside silently, while holding the container with the flower tightly. Before leaving, Bhavakari had told Viriya to replace the container, so it wasn't that broken jar anymore. It was a brass semi spherical container, covered with same brass cage like structure.
In the middle of the road the carriage stopped, and a man with a cane got on. He was shorter than both of them. Inside, no one was talking, so he sat there silently, but he was tapping his cane on the carriage floor in a rhythm, which sounded somewhat off when the road was bumpy.
The man stopped tapping his cane and asked, "What flower is that?"
"Praghava flower," Viriya replied without looking back.
Bhavakari quickly added, "It's for the university."
"Oh, I am going there as well. To meet with Professor Shokre. Do you know him?" the man said with some enthusiasm.
Bhavakari kept looking towards Viriya to say something. But Viriya didn't say anything, so Bhavakari, with a sigh, said, "She is assistant of Professor Shokre." Pointing at Viriya.
"Oh he got assistant?
How is he with his assistant? In letters he is good, but what is he like up close?"
"Yes, he is okay.
And you can meet him at the university.
Are you related to him in any way?" Viriya replied with a flat tone.
"Not exactly related, more like a friend, a letter friend." the man replied with enthusiasm. "Facing him for the first time."
Viriya slightly sarcastically said, "oh greattt..."
Hearing that, Bhavakari just sighed and shook her head looking downwards.
The man replied, "Yes, I talk a little too much, my bad."
Viriya looking at him said, "No, no, I was just joki—"
Bhavakari cutting her off said, "Just— just, stop.."
The ride was mostly silent for a while.
___
On the way, a student wearing a loose, flowy garment on top and pants got on the carriage. The student and the man talked a lot. From what Viriya got to know, her boss and the man, Nrit, their fathers used to know each other. Later they both communicated using letters. Nrit is from Lentin, the southern severed continent, which the student made slight fun of by saying that's just an island.
They reached the university. Not many students were outside then. The students were human looking; some could have been Daityas like her, but couldn't just be said by looking from outside. Some other human looking students had strips like Ridhra on them, some lighter, some darker.
The place was octagonal like Upavana. The middle was an octagonal grass field, but it wasn't muddy somehow, even after the rain yesterday.
The student mixed with a group of students. Nrit went his own way.
And Viriya kept following Bhavakari, until they reached the room of the principal. The room had a desk in the middle and it was piled with old looking books — maybe no one was sure how those were still standing there.
And the principal — he was wearing a loose cloth like the students; the word kimono flashed in Viriya's mind. The garment was thin and had simple patterns. His hair was curly, dropping down to his shoulders, with a little longer tied beard in a braid. And he had a monocle on his left eye.
When they came inside, the principal, looking at them, fixed his monocle. From that, the glint of it was brighter than it should have been in the dim, dark room.
"Thenra, visiting after a long time? And no problem this year?" the principal asked in a slow and deliberate voice.
"Yes, you know, work nowadays.
And yes, no problem this year.
I came with Vira because she did something." Bhavakari pointed at the flower and said.
"Did she? She broke it without any problem? How is she here with it?"
"No, actually a Katayantra broke it and died on the spot. I just sleepwalked and took it." Viriya said somewhat nonchalantly.
"Yes, that's what she is saying at least, and apparently she didn't even trigger the trial." Bhavakari said right after Viriya finished talking.
"Maybe she is...?" the principal trailed off, looking at Viriya.
"No. They still have to do the trial at least." Bhavakari said defensively.
"She didn't have to do the trial at all...
Maybe she is familiar somehow?" the principal said.
"Actually, there was something." Viriya said before Bhavakari could say anything else.
Both were looking at Viriya expectantly.
"There was a gaze of two eyes, and a closed third one, and a crescent moon..." Viriya said.
"Hm? The Guardian. So it's not like there wasn't any trial at all after all." the principal replied.
"Can't you say everything at once? And you sleepwalked — that could be just a weird dream.
And maybe it was just the flower? Not matured?" Bhavakari was visibly agitated saying that.
The principal said, looking at Bhavakari, "That can be talked about later.
Sit down, sit down first, and say why are you here?" It was like he already knew the answer but still wanted to hear.
Bhavakari didn't sit down but she composed herself almost instantly and continued, "The flower is broken prematurely, we can leave the palm near her Breast, so it matures properly.
Anything else you might suggest?"
"Yes, that isn't a bad way to mature this,
but it might have properties of both after maturing." the principal replied, standing up.
"Do I have to leave her here?" Viriya asked in a slightly concerned voice.
"Yes, you could have to. It can be taken after it matures." Bhavakari replied.
The principal added, "It can happen instantly or maybe can take forever."
"But the chance of it happening quickly is higher now, right? That's why I didn't waste any time." Bhavakari asked.
"Yes, good point, it's the last day, maybe one more day, it can happen quickly." the principal said, looking at the flower. "You two go there, someone should be at the entrance to guide you in."
Bhavakari asked the principal if he would go there or not, to which he said, "I was there for the last few days, bit too dark even for me."
Hearing that, Bhavakari came outside saying, "Will meet with you later — again, Sir Vyas."