by Iram Dana
“Heart, where’s Destiny?” said Rain in low tones. “Subodh isn’t here, either. They shouldn’t have left Earth like this, all alone and vulnerable.”
Heart’s brow furrowed with confusion. “But she isn’t alone and vulnerable. Brother Angel is here with her.”
“That’s exactly what I meant.”
“Oh …”
Heart’s eyes widened as comprehension dawned and he gave a cough that served as a poor camouflage for the laughter he was trying to hide. Rain didn’t bother to look at his friend. He had other things to worry about right now. Bigger things.
“We caught fish today!” Rain announced loudly as they walked into the clearing.
On hearing his voice Earth gave a little start and color briefly flooded her cheeks. Her reaction did not go unnoticed by Rain, who wondered what this meant. Was that an ‘oh no, he’s back again’ reaction, or a ‘gosh, he’s finally here!’ reaction?
She stood up as they came nearer and Rain marveled at how amazing she looked even though she was dressed so simply. Then again, she would probably look amazing even if she wasn’t wearing anything. A silly, lopsided grin appeared on Rain’s face.
If she wasn’t wearing anything …
There was a clap of thunder overhead and it started to Rain. Three voices shouted out together in exasperation;
“RAIN!”
His ears went red and Rain turned quickly towards Heart and began talking nonsense to hide his guilty face. Heart kept his gaze fixed resolutely on the fishes he was removing from their net and Rain couldn’t help wondering if the reason Heart wouldn’t meet his eyes was because he had sensed the direction of Rain’s thoughts and was laughing at him again. The possibility was highly likely and furthermore embarrassing.
Rain decided that a walk alone in the forest with his Geeya would do him some good. Destiny walked into the camp just then, providing some much needed distraction for Rain, who turned and quickly jogged out of the clearing.
*****
Much later, when Angel had finished cleaning and gutting the fish and handed the meat over to Earth to be cooked, Earth walked up to their designated cooking site and began to light the firewood. She turned her body a tiny fraction, just enough to be able to peek at Rain through the cover of her hair. She hoped he didn’t plan to disrupt her cooking today the way he had done yesterday.
She needn’t have worried. Rain was nowhere to be seen.
Earth scanned the clearing. Where was he? Had he left? When? She scanned the clearing once again and much more thoroughly, pausing at the dark corners to look properly and in places where bushes might be hiding him from her view. He really wasn’t there.
Did that mean he was actually not going to irritate her today?
Earth’s spirits fell.
He had listened to her. He was going to let her cook in peace today.
But … why?!
*****
Rain found a suitably shady spot under a large tree with no snails, moths, or anthills around it and lay down on the soft, green grass. He pulled out a long blade and began to chew on it thoughtfully.
He needed to sort some things out … like why he seemed to lose control of his powers around Earth. He had worked hard over the last three years to master his ability to control the rain and now, with one look, Earth could make him forget everything he had learnt. This fact wouldn’t have worried him half as much if it weren’t so damn embarrassing!
Every time his hormones went wild –which was pretty much all the time around Earth – the heavens would open up reveal what he was feeling.
Rain blew out an exasperated breath.
It wasn’t really his fault. He was only human. And a human, even at their best, could only handle so many things at one time.
And Earth … she was so many wonderful things all at the same time. She was delicate, yet strong. Vulnerable, yet spirited. She possessed strength of character, a pleasant demeanor. She had charm and wit. Long hair and longer legs. Rosy cheeks and an indulgent smile. Soft, soft skin positively asking to be touched …
Dark clouds began to gather above him and Rain pulled in his thoughts sharply. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to clear his mind. The clouds dispersed just as soon as they had come.
Rain sighed. Obviously, this needed some working on.
*****
CHAPTER 25
“Wake up, Rain. It’s our turn to go hunting today.” boomed Angel.
Rain stirred and turned to his side, and then promptly fell asleep again. Angel turned to Heart.
“This is the fifth time I’ve tried t wake him up, now.” he complained. “Is he always this difficult to wake?”
“Not really. He usually wakes up after the millionth effort.” joked Heart.
“What kind of sleep is this guy blessed with?” mused Angel, “If we had an earthquake, he’d probably think he was being rocked to sleep!”
Heart nodded in agreement.
“Brother Rain never goes to sleep, he goes straight into coma.”
Rain was being especially difficult to awaken today because he had hardly slept last night. He kept tossing around restlessly and waking up periodically to stare at the tent. It’s presence irked him. He wanted Earth to sleep outside, where he could see her until he fell asleep. His irritation might have kept him awake for long but now, Angel was suffering the consequences of his sleepless night.
“There’s only one way to wake him up.” said Heart.
“What’s that?”
Heart directed a meaningful glance towards the tent. Angel pursed his lips and fingered his chin thoughtfully.
“Figures.” he muttered under his breath, as he walked away from Rain.
Sometime later, Earth’s distraught voice floated through Rain’s drugged senses.
“Rain … Rain! Could you help me, please?”
Rain’s eyes were closed, but his ears pricked up. Was that really Earth calling out to him?
“Rain, I need your help!”
There it was again. Rain’s eyes snapped open and he sat up on his sleeping bag.
“Where? What? Earth?” said Rain, looking drowsily around himself.
“Over here!” called Earth.
She was cowering behind a large bush, with only her face and bare shoulders visible.
“Earth!?” Rain exclaimed.
Earth threw her hands into the air and began to wail.
“Oh, Rain! I have nothing to wear! My entire backpack got lost when the witches trapped me and now … oh, I must be clothed, I simply must!”
She started to get up.
“No, no! Stay down!” cried Rain, flapping his hands up and down frantically. “Where’s Angel? Didn’t he give you some clothes from his belt?”
Earth looked down forlornly.
“I washed them and they are still wet. He said he won’t lend anymore to me unless you wake up.”
Fury boiled in Rain’s veins. “Why, that sick ass! Wait till I get my hands on …” he turned to Earth. “Wait there! Don’t move, okay? I’ll get you something to put on. And then …”
Rain clenched his fist and ground his teeth. Angel was going to pay for making Earth go through this. He raced to his backpack and removed a fresh shirt from within. He picked up a pair of pants but put them back inside. They would never fit her.
He turned around and ran back to the bush.
“I’m back, Earth. Here, put this …”
There was no one behind the bush. “Earth?” called Rain, confused.
He heard the sound of muffled giggles coming from behind the bush. His suspicions now fully aroused, Rain walked around the bush and peeped behind it. Angel and Heart were lying on the ground, trying hard to contain their laughter. As soon as their cover was blown they let loose, rolling on the floor, pounding it with their fists and howling with amusement.
Rain gritted his teeth together as the pieces of the puzzle fell together. Angel had been playing mind tricks with him again, using his
ability to create life-like illusions in a bid to wake him up. Rain saw no humor in their plan. He drenched the two of them, of course, but they had been expecting it and therefore, continued to laugh despite it.
*****
The hunt that day was predictably unpleasant for both Rain and Angel. But it was far worse for Angel, who had to spend that entire duration shadowed by a shower cloud that rained on him constantly. Since Angel had been the perpetrator of Rain’s bad mood, he bore the consequences of his actions with grim acceptance and didn’t retaliate in order to avoid worsening the situation. Once they got back, however, Rain’s mood improved considerably because Earth was once again roaming around before his eyes, looking lovely as ever, and the shower cloud finally deserted Angel.
“What are we having today?” Rain asked Earth.
“Grilled meat.” she replied.
“I want to have some vegetables, too. I’m tired of having just meat all the time.”
“Well, then get some vegetables, and I’ll grill them for you.” said Earth.
“Angel, pull out some vegetables from your belt, dude.” ordered Rain.
“Negative.” said Angel, who was still dripping wet and in no mood to pander to Rain’s whims. “The belt only works for needs, not wants. And you want vegetables.”
“All right you guys, stop arguing.” said Earth, holding up her hands. “Rain, tell me what vegetables you want.”
“I want potatoes, peas, tomatoes, beetroots and …”
“Okay, okay! That’s enough!” laughed Earth.
She walked over to an empty patch of ground and drew two large squares with a stick, then she turned to Rain.
“Rain, would you please make it rain over these two patches?”
“Sure.” said Rain, confusion flashing on his face but moving along to do as she asked all the same.
Once the soil was suitably moist, Earth crouched down and dug her fingers into the ground. The earth started to turn over, ploughing itself on its own. When the patches were ploughed, small saplings began to sprout forth from the ground in neat lines and continued to grow rapidly. There were four distinct types of plant patches growing. Minutes later, the plants had grown, budded, flowered and now bore vegetables.
“There!” said Earth, getting to her feet. “Potatoes, peas, tomatoes, and beetroots. Hope I didn’t miss any?”
She turned around to find the entire group staring at her with their jaws slightly open.
“Amazing!” breathed Heart.
“My sentiments exactly.” said Destiny.
“Holy crap!” said Angel, letting out an appreciative whistle.
“A useful child, indeed.” said Subodh.
Earth took a peek at Rain. Why wouldn’t he say anything? After all, she had done this for him.
Rain was sitting in his place with his lips curled into the silliest grin Earth had ever seen.
“A girl who not only knows how to cook food, but can literally make it.” he sighed.
Earth laughed softly. “You’re crazy, you know that, Rain?”
About you, thought Rain.
*****
That night after dinner, Earth settled down to a game of chess with Subodh on a board that she had made herself, earlier that day. Rain was sitting beside the camp-fire along with Destiny, Heart and Angel. The four of them were engaged in conversation but the only one among them who had no clue what the conversation was about, despite appearing to be actively involved in it, was Rain. All of his senses and attentions were focused solely on Earth, who had just taken out another of Subodh’s pawns and was now cheering for herself.
Rain smiled to himself. He liked seeing her happy.
She leaned forward slightly then and took a quick peek at him out of the corner of her eye. She saw him looking at her and instantly pulled her gaze back.
Rain watched a pleasant tint color her cheeks as she self-consciously tossed her hair behind and sat up straighter. If she was the one feeling embarrassed at being caught looking, then why was his heart racing?
Earth wiped her palms several times on her thighs. Rain continued to notice every little nuance of her’s. Was he making her nervous? He hoped so. Earth took another tiny peek at him. This time, Rain smiled at her. She hastily jerked her gaze back again. For some unfathomable reason, his smiling seemed to make her blush even more.
The truth was, Earth was feeling doubly embarrassed at being caught peeking twice. She swore not to let her treacherous gaze do her in again. She stared down at the chess board, boring holes into it with her eyes.
Subodh knocked her queen off with his next move.
“Checkmate!” said Subodh with a veiled smile.
“Huh? Checkmate?” repeated Earth, surprised at this sudden development. “But how?”
She considered the board from every angle, wondering how she hadn’t seen it coming. Some distance away, Rain decided to stop pretending to be involved in the conversation taking place around him, and decided to take his body over to where his mind was.
He approached Earth from behind, and crouched down next to her. Earth heard him approach, but didn’t react. For the moment, the fact that she was in imminent danger of losing the game had taken up all her attention.
Peering over her shoulder, Rain quickly assessed the situation and Earth’s predicament.
“Psst … I can help.” he whispered behind her.
“Shh … don’t bother me now. I need to think.” said Earth, brushing him off.
“But I can help.” insisted Rain.
Earth shook her head. If he really wanted to help her, then he should move from his perch behind her, because he was making it difficult for her to breathe and concentrate.
“Not now, okay? I want to do this on my own.” insisted Earth, without once turning to look at him.
“Look, just move your knight …”
“Rain, Please! Stop bothering me!”
There was silence for a while and Earth concentrated hard on her next move. Ten minutes later, she had made no headway, having worried about everything from the way her hair looked to the way she smelled. Everything, other than what move to make next in order to save her game. It was no use. Rain had short circuited all the connections in her brain.
“I guess I’ll just have to call it quits.” sighed Earth, throwing her hands up.
Rain couldn’t contain himself any longer.
“No, Earth, you just move …”
Earth had had enough.
“What’s your prob…!”
She swung around to confront him, and ended up slamming her lips onto his in the process.
She hadn’t realized he was this close!
Earth jerked her body back and jumped five paces away, sitting in a crouch, ready to attack at the slightest instance and glaring at him furiously.
All around the camp an ominous silence descended as everyone waited with bated breath to see what would happen next. Did this qualify as a kiss? Did this qualify as an act of mating? Would Rain and Earth be pulled into the ground?
Rain stayed where he was, not moving a muscle. He only looked at Earth, keeping his face carefully neutral. This had entirely been an accident and not his doing. He knew Earth was searching for the answer to this very question on his face, and he needed to let her know.
After several cautious moments, Subodh finally broke the crackling tension in the air with a cough and a casual wave of his hand.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about. If something had to happen, it would have happened by now.”
Rain got up slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements because Earth still had her angry gaze pinned to him, and walked out of the clearing without another word. Once he was sure that he was alone and nobody was following him, he stopped and leaned back against a tree.
Now, alone in the privacy of the forest, he closed his eyes and sank to the ground, reliving the memory of the short, almost-kiss with a smile on his lips.
*****
By
the time he returned to the camp, the atmosphere had normalized once more. Everyone, except Subodh, was collected around the campfire, laughing and joking among themselves.
Rain walked over to the group and sat down beside Heart. Nobody said or did anything to make him feel he was in any way unwelcome. Apparently, they had all come to the conclusion that he was not guilty. Good, thought Rain, because he wasn’t. He was just really lucky.
“What are you guys doing?” asked Rain.
“Talking.” replied Heart.
“Want to play a game?”
“What did you have in mind, brother Rain?”
“Truth or dare!”
“Um, I don’t think so …” said Destiny.
“If you don’t want to, then we won’t.” said Heart.
“Oh, come on, guys.” protested Rain. “It’ll be fun!”
“It’s just a childish game.” echoed Angel.
Rain shrugged his shoulders. “Fine. Whatever you guys say.”
“Actually, I think it’s a good idea.” said Earth, surprising Rain.
“If you say so, baby.” said Angel at once, shifting a little closer to Earth and then looking at Rain to see if it was irritating him. Rain met Angel’s gaze with a smug look on his face.
I’m the one she just kissed, loser!
If you can call that a kiss. Angel returned Rain’s look.
Rain frowned as Angel turned his attentions back to Earth.
“ I’ll spin this pen.” said Rain, placing a pen on a flat stone, “Whoever the nib points to, gets to dare the person facing the other end of the pen.”
Everyone gathered around the stone to sit in a circle. Heart convinced Destiny to join the game, too. Rain spun the pen. It stopped with its tip towards Heart.
“Heart, you get to go first. Angel, you’re the lucky guy who gets challenged.”
“Yeah, lucky me.” murmured Angel.
“Brother Angel, truth or dare?”
Angel looked at Earth. “Truth or dare, baby?”
