Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two)

by Iram Dana

  “Who is he?” interrupted Rain.

  “He is Subodh, the Senile Sadhu.”

  “The what?!” laughed Rain, despite himself. He winced lightly, though it was more of a reflex to expected pain rather an actual pain causing it. In fact, he felt no pain now, just a pleasant numbness all over his body.

  “Oh, he is an old healer who roams the forest.” said his Geeya. “Found you at the right time, too. When you were mere hours away from death. Since your wounds were festering badly, he needed to get you to this hut, where he had medicines prepared. But you were too big for him to lift or drag … ” she trailed off.

  Rain realized she wasn’t going to say more and this piqued his curiosity. “So? What did he do then?”

  “He didn’t do anything. I carried you.”

  “You what …!” said Rain in disbelief, not daring to believe his ears.

  “Don’t look so surprised, it’s possible. A Geeya protects her sequestor when he is not on a Quest.”

  Rain didn’t know how he should feel about being carried by a ‘laydee’, so he moved on to other questions.

  “I don’t understand. I am not currently on a Quest?”

  “No. You are in Quniverse, on your journey to complete your Quest. But currently, you are not actively engaged in one of your mini-Quests.”

  “Okay, I get that … And my backpack?”

  “It’s here.”

  “Did you carry that, too?” asked Rain, looking down at the floor.

  “No, Subodh dragged it here.”

  Rain sighed in relief.

  “But how are we on a beach now? We were in a forest …”

  “I told you earlier, Quniverse is everything within everything. Mountians, valleys, forests, beaches … Subodh led the way and I followed.”

  “How could he see you?”

  “He couldn’t see me. But he knew I was there because of the Geeya mark on your wrist. He is not only aware of sequestors but as a healer, he heals badly injured ones regularly. He instructed me on what to do, and I did as I was told.”

  “I …” began Rain and then shook his head as if to clear it. “Oh what does it matter? Thank you for saving my life.”

  “You are welcome. You should thank Subodh, though. He’s the one who’s been looking after you all this while.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Three days now.”

  “Three! Oh darn! …” he groaned. He remembered something important that he had been meaning to ask his Geeya.

  “I wanted to ask you something.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “I know others cannot see or hear you, but they can see and hear me. So what’s the point of this anonymity? It’s not like it’s helping me. Even when we were at Miti’s lair I could barely ask you anything for fear that she would overhear.”

  His Geeya looked at him intently for a minute and then answered;

  “You do not need to talk to me vocally. We are connected in more ways than one. You can speak to me directly through your mind.”

  She projected the last sentence directly into his head and Rain almost jumped with the shock of the unexpected invasion.

  “You just spoke in my head!” he exclaimed.

  “Yes. And you can speak directly into mine.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” demanded Rain, looking agitated.

  “You never asked.” she replied nonchalantly.

  He brooded over that for a second, and then tried to project his voice directly into her thoughts.

  Testing …testing 1, 2, 3 … captain, can you hear me?

  Clearly. She replied in his head, and he gave another little jump.

  Could this really be true? If it was, then it was wonderful. He could communicate with his Geeya directly during sticky situations -or whenever he pleased, with no one the wiser! And he could, and he could …

  His thoughts came to a screeching halt as a horrifying possibility occurred to him.

  “If you can speak directly into my head …”

  “Yes?”

  “Then that means you can hear my thoughts, too. Have you heard what all I have been thinking all these days without my knowledge?! If you can, and you have …”

  His expression was a comical mix of tense anticipation, righteous indignation, and embarrassment. She laughed gaily, understanding his fears perfectly.

  “Don’t worry, Rain. A Geeya can only speak into her sequestors head. Not hear every thought that passes through it, and vice versa.”

  He looked at her half hopefully, half skeptically.

  She burst into more giggles.

  “Look, if that were truly possible, what would be the use of summoning a Geeya? You would be able to access the pool of knowledge directly through my thoughts, since every Geeya is connected to it. You wouldn’t need to ask me anything and you could keep me retired the whole time. Besides, I’m sure there have been thoughts through your head which have the potential to make a Geeya blush. That’s what you’re really worried about, isn’t it?”

  Rain looked away guiltily.

  “Relax, Rain. I can only hear that which you want me to hear. And you can only hear that which I wish for you to, and no more.” she asserted.

  Rain looked at her, feeling somewhat pacified and much relieved.

  “Over how much distance does this connection remain active?”

  “Let’s just say, you could be in Australia and I could be in America, and you could still communicate with me clearly. There’s no limit. Our connection lies here.” she said, pointing to his Geeya mark.

  “Cool.”

  He rubbed his Geeya mark absently, looking around himself.

  “Searching for something?” asked his Geeya.

  “Yes. Subodh. I need some more soup, I’m still hungry.”

  He saw Subodh then, hurrying towards him holding a bunch of freshly cut herbs. Rain asked the old healer for more soup, which Subodh gave, and Rain drank gratefully. When he was finished, he put the bowl aside and looked at the face that had seemed alien and unfriendly to him only minutes ago.

  “Thank-you, Subodh. I’m Rain, by the way.” he said solemnly.

  “Thanks? What for?” rasped Subodh, not looking the least bit surprised that Rain knew his name even though he had not told him. Smart guy, thought Rain, he had obviously figured out that Rain’s Geeya had by now informed him of everything that had taken place since he had lost consciousness, including revealing his-Subodh’s- identity to him.

  “For this …” said Rain, pointing to the bowl, then at his bandaged body, “and this, and … well, everything. Thank –you for saving my life.”

  The old man regarded Rain in silence for a while, coal black eyes burning with intensity. Then he got up, grabbed a thick walking stick leaning against one side of a makeshift hut, and thwacked Rain on the head with it.

  “Ow!” yelled Rain. “What was that for?”

  “That,” said Subodh, calmly keeping the stick back in its place, “was to let you know that you are welcome. Now do not thank me again, for the next time, I will make you feel more than welcome.”

  Must be where the senile part of his name comes from, thought Rain, rubbing the back of his head in annoyance and lying down again. Minutes later, he had dozed off.

  *****

  CHAPTER 5

  It took Rain almost a month to recover fully from the wounds inflicted on him by Miti. Mostly because of the delay in receiving treatment and because the infection had spread. Subodh had turned out to be an excellent caretaker, though, and made Rain do no work during this time, allowing him to rest and recover fully. He tended to Rain’s wounds and needs alike with great concern, never tiring of him or complaining even when he fixed all meals for both of them. Before long, strength and life had returned to Rain’s previously numbed muscles and he was feeling good as new.

  A month later, Subodh removed the bandages wrapped around Rain’s body. The gashes and wounds had healed, but slight scars like s
cratch marks had remained. Rain wasn’t overly worried about these and hoped that with time, these would go, too. What worried him were the places where Miti’s teeth had cut into his flesh and her digestive enzymes had dissolved portions of his flesh. The gaps were closed, but the skin in those places was lumpy and a funny yellow shade now.

  “Will these go?” he asked Subodh, fingering the pale yellow marks on his right shoulder.

  “I doubt it. The rest of the marks will leave, though.” replied Subodh, piling the used bandages into a small heap on the floor.

  “Setting fire to those?” asked Rain, pointing towards the pile of used bandages.

  Subodh nodded.

  “I’ll do it.” offered Rain, taking the log of burning wood away from Subodh’s hands and moving forward.

  Now that he had recovered, Rain made it a point to help Subodh in whichever way he could, since the latter would not allow Rain to thank him for saving his life. He began accompanying the old healer on all his trips to the forest to collect herbs and other items needed to make medicines. Now, just as Subodh had been to him previously, Rain proved to be a blessing for the old man who could not undertake much strenuous activity because of his age and frail body. Rain was young and athletic, and he would climb trees, or reach into high ledges or crevices of rock without much effort to remove rare fungii or the occasional honeycomb that Subodh managed to find. For his part, Subodh healed everything that he had the power to heal. With Rain by his side, they would sometimes carry large wounded animals back to the hut and treat them, too, until they were all right again. What delighted Rain more than the healing was when he saw these same animals that had been treated by them return later with small tokens of appreciation for him and Subodh. A doe once left a small pouch of musk outside their hut. At other times, they would find small piles of firewood or rare medicinal items placed inconspicuously towards one side of the makeshift hut that Rain now shared with Subodh.

  “That is how you express gratitude.” said Subodh once, indicating the small pile of wood left outside the hut by a recently healed monkey. He was standing on big stone, trying to fix a hole in the roof of the hut.

  “Learn from nature, boy. It teaches you how to do things gently, kindly. Humans with their over civilization have become too rough to be of any good to anybody.” he grumbled, patching up the hole.

  The hut was just a large sheet of tarpaulin tied over four bamboo poles dug deep into the soil. It served as a shelter for the night only. They did most of their cooking outside, where Subodh had placed a few rocks into a circle and dug a hole in the centre, filling it with coals. This served as their stove where they would roast meats and do their cooking.

  During his free hours, Rain would run on the beach, or do push-ups and other forms of physical activity on the sand in order to keep his fitness levels up and regain his former strength. After the experience with Miti, he had begun to recite in earnest every wisdom that he could possibly remember, in the hopes of hitting on the right one by accident or luck. One sunny morning, he was doing just that, while messing around in the surf.

  “An apple a day keeps the doctor away …” he said, cupping a small mound of wet sand, shaping it into a ball, and then placing it alongside six others that he had arranged into a neat, winding curve.

  “Never leave until tomorrow, what you can do today …” he continued, making another ball of sand and placing it into position. He looked at the chain on his neck hopefully.

  Nothing.

  He made another ball. “A fool and his money are soon parted…”

  His Geeya floated over to him.

  “What are you doing, Rain?” she said in her soft, balmy voice. Rain looked up at the smiling face of his Geeya.

  “Trying to guess a wisdom.” he replied, returning her smile.

  “Is that a caterpillar?” she asked, pointing to the curving line made of balls of sand.

  “Yup.” said Rain, placing another ball of sand at the end of the ever-growing train of sand balls.

  “Look before you leap…” he continued.

  “You’ve been at this for the last five months now …” said his Geeya softly, placing a translucent, scarlet colored palm on his shoulder. “It’s not that simple. You should know by now. Don’t you remember what your first wisdom was like?”

  Rain stopped making the sand balls with a sigh and looked at her.

  “How can I forget?” he asked.

  In all this time, he had acquired a deep tan and lots of sun bleached gold streaks were visible in his blond hair, which he maintained at shoulder length since the encounter with Miti. He began to recite the wisdom Miti had given him.

  “Real courage doesn’t mean you’re not afraid. It means you’re terrified, but go ahead and face the situation anyway.” he said, throwing a large shell into the sea.

  “Exactly. See how different it is from what all you have been reciting? What you have been doing all this while is simply parroting all that has been taught to you. But real knowledge, real wisdom, comes from experience. And as you have seen, experience is gained after some difficulty.”

  “The understatement of the year.” Rain muttered under his breath.

  “I agree.” said his Geeya. “But no sense fearing the inevitable. Sooner or later you will have to face another situation and gain another wisdom. Don’t look so forlorn. I am sure they will not all be Miti-like situations.”

  “I guess you’re right. I’m just being a prick about his whole thing. But I was thinking … this changes the definition of a coward too, don’t you think? A coward isn’t a person who’s afraid. A coward is simply a person who never tried.” he said. Then, inspiration struck, and he quickly made a rhyme out of it.

  “Coward’s not the boy who cried; coward’s the one who never tried.”

  His Geeya nodded appreciatively.

  “That’s more like it. Learn your own lessons. They’ll stay with you forever.”

  Rain glanced down at his chain … just in case. His Geeya rolled her eyes, something that she had picked up from him during their many interactions.

  “Rain …” she said in mock exasperation.

  He flashed her an impish grin and got to his feet, bending to dust himself off and put on his shoes.

  “Let’s go for a walk into the forest.” he suggested, kicking the caterpillar he had been constructing, reducing it to a shapeless mass of wet sand before leaving.

  “I’m right beside you.” she said, floating along next to him. They walked along in companionable silence for a while.

  “It’s been month’s since you discovered your first wisdom…” she began tentatively, “how come you’re not restless to get on with the rest of them? I remember you were fairly impatient when the first Quest took a month to present itself.”

  “I was, wasn’t I?” said Rain with a wry smile. “Well, you live and learn, I guess.”

  He stole another quick, hopeful look at his chain, something that earned him another eye-roll from his Geeya.

  “Actually, after seeing what that first task was, I’m not feeling quite as impatient for the next one.” explained Rain.

  There was the sound of a loud crack and Rain jumped back in alarm looking for the source of the sound.

  “Oh no, not again!” he groaned, looking at the tiny crab that he had just crushed under his foot.

  “His unlucky day, I suppose.” said his Geeya, pouring a handful of sand over the crab’s crushed body. They were moving out of the beach and into the forest now.

  “Tell me something more about my Quest.” demanded Rain.

  He broke a thin branch from a tree, intending to clear away slugs and snails from his path with it.

  “What would you like to know?” asked his Geeya, floating straight into a thick tree trunk and emerging on the other side of the tree in one piece, like a ghost.

  That’s how a companion should be, thought Rain, someone who’s there when you need them; who listens when spoken to; speaks only as much is ne
cessary, and never tries to force their opinions you.

  “I was wondering if there are any rules that I should be aware of.”

  “Yes. The Quest has rules too. There are three rules. The first of them you already know. You only get one chance to go for your Quest … At the age of eighteen.”

  “Hmm … then I think I know the second one, too.”

  “Do you? Once you enter, you cannot leave until you have completed your Quest.” said his Geeya.

  “Right. Knew that. And the third rule?” he asked, shoving a snail out of his way with the branch.

  “No mating.”

  Rain came to an abrupt halt. His Geeya, who was floating one step behind him, would have bumped right into him had she not been what she was. Instead, she simply dispersed upon contact and reformed a foot in front of him.

  “No whaat?!” he exclaimed, not sure he had heard right.

  “You heard it right the first time … no mating.” she said, emphasizing the vowels.

  “What the …! No way… but what’s the…” Rain stopped, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. “Isn’t it here that a sequestor will meet their soulmate?” said Rain, finally.

  “Yes.” replied his Geeya, smiling broadly, having already guessed his next question.

  “Well, what’s the point of the meeting, when there isn’t going to be any mating?!” exclaimed Rain.

  “Let me put it this way,” said his Geeya, circling around him slowly in a wide arc, “The Quest is like an exam … and Quniverse is like an exam hall. When you appear for an exam in the real world, no matter how long, are you allowed to mate there?”

  Rain laughed at the comic image that brought to his mind.

  “No, I guess not.” he agreed, shaking his head. “But still … it could take me years to finish my Quest. I’m more than six months into it already and all I have to my credit is one wisdom. And I’ve got to collect eleven!” he said, throwing up his hands in frustration. I can’t believe I’ll have to …that I can’t …”