Vanishing Tides 6 (The Incident At Kaziranga)
Two new warriors, who are they? Red and Almond are getting along well, only Almond is a real bad cook....
THE INCIDENT AT KAAZIRANGA:
Red woke up when Almond came knocking at her door. She answered from inside, "I'll be down in a minute for breakfast." He replied in a low voice, "Could you come to the door?" She went and stood just behind the door. She could see his form, separated from her by the glass piece embedded in the wooden door. He said, "Red it is still early. The others are asleep. Something told me that you should be up by now so I came to call you. Would you care to join me for a morning by the sea?" Red who immediately remembered him in the dimension of souls said, "I'll be there in the balcony in five minutes." She saw him leave and turned towards her bed. As she did her bed covers, a smile played on her lips. She had to ask him many questions. She put on her dressing gown, brushed her hair and looked in the mirror. There was fresh blood on her lips. Disgusted she washed it off and went on to brush her teeth. A mental note was made to purchase some face wash as she was running out of it. Seven minutes later and two minutes late, Red walked into the balcony pushing the sliding doors open effortlessly. A gentle breeze caressed her face. Almond was not there. She remembered the lines - I'm standing on a bridge, I'm waiting in the dark, I thought you'd be here.... Luckily she did not have to wait for long; Almond came in his usual attire - A white shirt with the top few buttons out and a pair of jeans. His hair done tied at a low level with a black satin. 'Mr. Perfect' Red thought of him. His ribbon always happened to match with that of his jeans. He had brought along two glasses of coffee, topped with foam. It looked pretty good. Red smiled as he sat down on the next couch. She asked him, "Do you mean to tell me that Mr. I - am - a - very - bad - cook' has prepared this coffee?" He passed her a lopsided smile and nodded positively. The sun was not yet up to a significant height. So, one could call it late dawn. Red gazed at the sea, the tides lapping at the golden sand. It was so pure, so clean. The two started discussing waves. Red said, "See, the waves brake at different points the same way they originate at different place. But they do look the same, don't they, Al?" Almond still deep into the coffee shook his head to say yes. The sea was turning lighter from the dark blue it had been as the sun beams played on its surface, making the sea shimmer. Almond asked her trying to be casual, "So, how do you feel?" Red understanding the emotions behind the question replied, "Yup I'm fine. Um... I'm sorry." Almond surprised as to why she said sorry asked, "For what?" Red said softly, "For being a cry baby last night. How did you manage to reach the dimension of souls last night? Is that one of your powers?" Almond said, "Not that I know of. Takshak said that you had willed me to come there. Actually at that time I was in the study when I lost control over myself and automatically came to the balcony and according to Takshak held your hand and collapsed. I found it bizarre but anything for you I guess!" They continued looking at the changing sea. It changed every minute, every second. Its color, its shape. The tides took birth in the calm sea and broke on the hard sandy shore. Red went on sipping her coffee earning herself a milky mustache. She wiped it off with the back of her hand. Almond felt good sitting with his best friend. The morning breeze danced in the balcony. In spite of not wanting to leave the balcony, Red and Almond stood up with the coffee glasses and went downstairs to finally meet Cleo and Sherry.
Takshak was downstairs with Cleo looking at a strange gadget. He seemed very interested in it. Cleo looked delighted to be able to impress his lord. Almond straightened a bit in Takshak's presence but Red went and wished him good morning. He smiled at both of them and continued fussing over the thing. Red asked him with a raised eyebrow, "What's that dad?" Cleo smiled and began explaining, "Well you see this gadget helps in operating all doors from the same remote control. So if my lord approves of this gizmo, we can get it installed. Isn't it right Sherry?" He turned around to see a laughing Sherry who said nonchalantly, "There goes another of his inventions." Takshak said encouragingly, "May be we could do some modifications and install it in the front gate and the doors controlling the entrance to the four wings. Modify it in such way that it functions only to lock." Almond smiled and looked at the thing. Red too hungry for all that looked at Sherry. Her blind gaze made Red quiver. Was she looking at her? Was she able to read her? All of a sudden she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Sherry. She had a smile on her face when she said, "Hungry aren't you?" Red was taken by surprise but said, "How'd you come to know?" Sherry led her towards the kitchen and started preparing bread sandwich. "First things first, let me give you a buttered bread to quell that rumbling tummy of yours," Sherry said. She made it sound like she was talking to a ten year old. Red did not say anything. She looked on as Sherry groped for the butter box. Red picked it up and handed it to her. Sherry said in a sad type of tone, "I too was once blessed enough to see the world in the infinite colors." Red asked her a bit surprised, "Forgive my curiosity but how did you lose your eyesight?" Sherry answered her as Red helped her with mashing potatoes and slicing onions, "No, I don't mind. I see the world as a fiery haze. Living things emit yellow flames. Cold blooded animals emit blue flames. Most objects emit different colored glows. But still there are some things I can't see. The irony is I'm still called blind; I'm a blind whose eyes yield only tears and no vision. Only sad smiles never a hearty laugh." Red stood there the silence forcing her to digest the pain in Sherry's voice. She started filling the potato mix in the bread rolls. Sherry could not do much but she knew initiating Red to make sandwiches was enough. Cleo came inside the kitchen. He took Sherry's hand and guided her towards a chair. He received a thank you - smile from her and asked Red, "Hey Red, how are you now?" Red said, "Fine thank you. And I'm terribly sorry for not being there last night." Cleo said, "Almond was worried heck about you. You should have seen the look on his face!" He shook his head and started arranging plates on the counter top. Red placed the cooked sandwiches in the largest plate. Takshak had to attend a phone call. He came to the hall beaming when they were all having breakfast saying, "Within a week we'll have our complete team of specialists. Tonight I will tell you all about our goals, the disadvantages and advantages we have. Ah! Sandwiches!" Takshak was visibly happy. The five of them had a sandwiches and fruit juices with respect to their preferences.
Almond and Red spent the time after breakfast with Sherry and Cleo. Sherry began, "Actually we both are interested in wildlife protection. Our powers help us in that field...."Red interrupted her and asked, "How come you both joined together?" Cleo smiled and said as if talking about a legend, "It was a beautiful day for both of us but it was equally unlucky too, Sherry lost her eyesight that day... forever." A moment of silence prevailed as they all nodded grimly. Sherry said, "Let's look on the bright side of now. After that day we never left each other's side." Cleo said blissfully, "Yup! That's right. It was in Kaaziranga, where we had gone for a wildlife assignment. Sherry had a tiff with one of her friends over a camera. Seems she broke Sherry's camera. We were in the same team. I well... I had a whale of a crush on her. So when I saw her crying I couldn't help going over to console her. She had no other friend there except that girl and me. We had become friends because we both had powers. We were not best friends just the teammate type of people. She confided in me about the camera." Sherry went on gazing somewhere not knowing where or how far. Cleo continued, "We both were awake till late in the night when a strong gust of wind blew away Sherry's tent. There were three people in odd attires asking us to give up and follow them. It was at that time Sherry felt her powers being sucked up. She told me she could not see anything and that everything was a messy haze of colors. The people started pulling out weapons. We understood they had come to kill us considering that we had decided to join Takshak together that very night. Someone must have eavesdropped on us. Sherry and I ran and ran for heaven knows how many hours with those three in hot pursuit. Somehow we managed to reach the highway. It was almost dawn. Sherry by then had lost all sight and strength. Since I had the power of indefatigability, I picked up Sherry and ran to the nearest hospital. It was a small one but had very cooperative doctors and nurses. They immediately attended to our wounds. The doctor told me that Sherry had for idiopathic reasons permanently lost her eyesight. We both were devastated." Cleo paused, hoping Sherry would continue, she did, "I did not know how to face my folks. The colors were gone, the greenery, the sunset, the sky and all of nature was gone with that gust of wind. I knew I had lost everything. It was Cleo who brought me together; he did not let me feel his sadness far less his tears. I knew it would take a week for me to recover from all the injuries. Cleo said he didn't have many so he was discharged. He told me he was leaving and if possible he would come to see me once. I felt good by that gesture but still I felt it would be the loneliest night of my life. Late in the evening my parents came to see me. They were of course shocked by my sudden ailment but they talked me into doing things as normally as I could. I wondered where Cleo was. Later my parents told me that Cleo was the one who had arranged for my treatment and had handled them when my mum broke down in tears. He had called them to the place for me. I'm grateful to you for that Cleo, thank you." Cleo gave her a side hug as she continued, "Well, that was two years ago. Soon after that we started going for wildlife assignments together and then the obvious happened," Sherry blushed and said, "We started dating and then along came this opportunity to fulfill the purpose of us having such great powers." Cleo piped in, "You guys probably don't know what my power is, right? Well it is indefatigability and formation of control of the very ground I stand on." Sherry hugged her knees and said, "Red might know my powers, considering I have entered your dreams once. Almond this is for your knowledge, I can enter anyone's dreams. Most of the time I can feel the presence of the virtual world and I have full control on anybody's and everybody's entry into dimensions. I have many other small gifts that come in handy for me" That afternoon Almond and Cleo were handed the kitchen assisted slightly by Takshak. Unfortunately the bad cook in Almond had shown up and all suffered with extremely salty food. Anyway it was taken as a light moment and in the end everybody got treated by a delicious pudding by Sherry and Red.
The whole afternoon Sherry and Cleo explored the beach together. Sherry often used to say that she saw the world from Cleo's eyes. He could give such amazing descriptions. Red and Almond decided to spend some time understanding high tides and low tides and also a bit of water. After selecting the CDs and the books both assembled in the study. Almond said, "Let's go through the basics first. To tell you the fact I do feel extremely sleepy. What do you say?" Red smiled weakly, "I guess I'll go with your decision. Let's rest for some time and then go for the books." Almond remarked, "Hey! When did I make a decision? When did I say I was going to rest?" Red patted him on the back and said, "Anyway, you are tired from your soul transfer and me from last night's encounter." Almond and Red went to sleep, heads on the table books in their laps. It was as if they had to study for an exam but the tension exhausted them. The whole afternoon both of them slept. Evening was to be spent for cooking dinner and listening to Takshak. Red asked Almond in her sleep, "Hey Al! What do you think Takshak will tell us tonight?" Almond answered her sleepily, "Sleep for now, we'll need to save up energy for listening to your father...." Red smiled and dozed off again.
Red woke up when Almond came knocking at her door. She answered from inside, "I'll be down in a minute for breakfast." He replied in a low voice, "Could you come to the door?" She went and stood just behind the door. She could see his form, separated from her by the glass piece embedded in the wooden door. He said, "Red it is still early. The others are asleep. Something told me that you should be up by now so I came to call you. Would you care to join me for a morning by the sea?" Red who immediately remembered him in the dimension of souls said, "I'll be there in the balcony in five minutes." She saw him leave and turned towards her bed. As she did her bed covers, a smile played on her lips. She had to ask him many questions. She put on her dressing gown, brushed her hair and looked in the mirror. There was fresh blood on her lips. Disgusted she washed it off and went on to brush her teeth. A mental note was made to purchase some face wash as she was running out of it. Seven minutes later and two minutes late, Red walked into the balcony pushing the sliding doors open effortlessly. A gentle breeze caressed her face. Almond was not there. She remembered the lines - I'm standing on a bridge, I'm waiting in the dark, I thought you'd be here.... Luckily she did not have to wait for long; Almond came in his usual attire - A white shirt with the top few buttons out and a pair of jeans. His hair done tied at a low level with a black satin. 'Mr. Perfect' Red thought of him. His ribbon always happened to match with that of his jeans. He had brought along two glasses of coffee, topped with foam. It looked pretty good. Red smiled as he sat down on the next couch. She asked him, "Do you mean to tell me that Mr. I - am - a - very - bad - cook' has prepared this coffee?" He passed her a lopsided smile and nodded positively. The sun was not yet up to a significant height. So, one could call it late dawn. Red gazed at the sea, the tides lapping at the golden sand. It was so pure, so clean. The two started discussing waves. Red said, "See, the waves brake at different points the same way they originate at different place. But they do look the same, don't they, Al?" Almond still deep into the coffee shook his head to say yes. The sea was turning lighter from the dark blue it had been as the sun beams played on its surface, making the sea shimmer. Almond asked her trying to be casual, "So, how do you feel?" Red understanding the emotions behind the question replied, "Yup I'm fine. Um... I'm sorry." Almond surprised as to why she said sorry asked, "For what?" Red said softly, "For being a cry baby last night. How did you manage to reach the dimension of souls last night? Is that one of your powers?" Almond said, "Not that I know of. Takshak said that you had willed me to come there. Actually at that time I was in the study when I lost control over myself and automatically came to the balcony and according to Takshak held your hand and collapsed. I found it bizarre but anything for you I guess!" They continued looking at the changing sea. It changed every minute, every second. Its color, its shape. The tides took birth in the calm sea and broke on the hard sandy shore. Red went on sipping her coffee earning herself a milky mustache. She wiped it off with the back of her hand. Almond felt good sitting with his best friend. The morning breeze danced in the balcony. In spite of not wanting to leave the balcony, Red and Almond stood up with the coffee glasses and went downstairs to finally meet Cleo and Sherry.
Takshak was downstairs with Cleo looking at a strange gadget. He seemed very interested in it. Cleo looked delighted to be able to impress his lord. Almond straightened a bit in Takshak's presence but Red went and wished him good morning. He smiled at both of them and continued fussing over the thing. Red asked him with a raised eyebrow, "What's that dad?" Cleo smiled and began explaining, "Well you see this gadget helps in operating all doors from the same remote control. So if my lord approves of this gizmo, we can get it installed. Isn't it right Sherry?" He turned around to see a laughing Sherry who said nonchalantly, "There goes another of his inventions." Takshak said encouragingly, "May be we could do some modifications and install it in the front gate and the doors controlling the entrance to the four wings. Modify it in such way that it functions only to lock." Almond smiled and looked at the thing. Red too hungry for all that looked at Sherry. Her blind gaze made Red quiver. Was she looking at her? Was she able to read her? All of a sudden she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Sherry. She had a smile on her face when she said, "Hungry aren't you?" Red was taken by surprise but said, "How'd you come to know?" Sherry led her towards the kitchen and started preparing bread sandwich. "First things first, let me give you a buttered bread to quell that rumbling tummy of yours," Sherry said. She made it sound like she was talking to a ten year old. Red did not say anything. She looked on as Sherry groped for the butter box. Red picked it up and handed it to her. Sherry said in a sad type of tone, "I too was once blessed enough to see the world in the infinite colors." Red asked her a bit surprised, "Forgive my curiosity but how did you lose your eyesight?" Sherry answered her as Red helped her with mashing potatoes and slicing onions, "No, I don't mind. I see the world as a fiery haze. Living things emit yellow flames. Cold blooded animals emit blue flames. Most objects emit different colored glows. But still there are some things I can't see. The irony is I'm still called blind; I'm a blind whose eyes yield only tears and no vision. Only sad smiles never a hearty laugh." Red stood there the silence forcing her to digest the pain in Sherry's voice. She started filling the potato mix in the bread rolls. Sherry could not do much but she knew initiating Red to make sandwiches was enough. Cleo came inside the kitchen. He took Sherry's hand and guided her towards a chair. He received a thank you - smile from her and asked Red, "Hey Red, how are you now?" Red said, "Fine thank you. And I'm terribly sorry for not being there last night." Cleo said, "Almond was worried heck about you. You should have seen the look on his face!" He shook his head and started arranging plates on the counter top. Red placed the cooked sandwiches in the largest plate. Takshak had to attend a phone call. He came to the hall beaming when they were all having breakfast saying, "Within a week we'll have our complete team of specialists. Tonight I will tell you all about our goals, the disadvantages and advantages we have. Ah! Sandwiches!" Takshak was visibly happy. The five of them had a sandwiches and fruit juices with respect to their preferences.
Almond and Red spent the time after breakfast with Sherry and Cleo. Sherry began, "Actually we both are interested in wildlife protection. Our powers help us in that field...."Red interrupted her and asked, "How come you both joined together?" Cleo smiled and said as if talking about a legend, "It was a beautiful day for both of us but it was equally unlucky too, Sherry lost her eyesight that day... forever." A moment of silence prevailed as they all nodded grimly. Sherry said, "Let's look on the bright side of now. After that day we never left each other's side." Cleo said blissfully, "Yup! That's right. It was in Kaaziranga, where we had gone for a wildlife assignment. Sherry had a tiff with one of her friends over a camera. Seems she broke Sherry's camera. We were in the same team. I well... I had a whale of a crush on her. So when I saw her crying I couldn't help going over to console her. She had no other friend there except that girl and me. We had become friends because we both had powers. We were not best friends just the teammate type of people. She confided in me about the camera." Sherry went on gazing somewhere not knowing where or how far. Cleo continued, "We both were awake till late in the night when a strong gust of wind blew away Sherry's tent. There were three people in odd attires asking us to give up and follow them. It was at that time Sherry felt her powers being sucked up. She told me she could not see anything and that everything was a messy haze of colors. The people started pulling out weapons. We understood they had come to kill us considering that we had decided to join Takshak together that very night. Someone must have eavesdropped on us. Sherry and I ran and ran for heaven knows how many hours with those three in hot pursuit. Somehow we managed to reach the highway. It was almost dawn. Sherry by then had lost all sight and strength. Since I had the power of indefatigability, I picked up Sherry and ran to the nearest hospital. It was a small one but had very cooperative doctors and nurses. They immediately attended to our wounds. The doctor told me that Sherry had for idiopathic reasons permanently lost her eyesight. We both were devastated." Cleo paused, hoping Sherry would continue, she did, "I did not know how to face my folks. The colors were gone, the greenery, the sunset, the sky and all of nature was gone with that gust of wind. I knew I had lost everything. It was Cleo who brought me together; he did not let me feel his sadness far less his tears. I knew it would take a week for me to recover from all the injuries. Cleo said he didn't have many so he was discharged. He told me he was leaving and if possible he would come to see me once. I felt good by that gesture but still I felt it would be the loneliest night of my life. Late in the evening my parents came to see me. They were of course shocked by my sudden ailment but they talked me into doing things as normally as I could. I wondered where Cleo was. Later my parents told me that Cleo was the one who had arranged for my treatment and had handled them when my mum broke down in tears. He had called them to the place for me. I'm grateful to you for that Cleo, thank you." Cleo gave her a side hug as she continued, "Well, that was two years ago. Soon after that we started going for wildlife assignments together and then the obvious happened," Sherry blushed and said, "We started dating and then along came this opportunity to fulfill the purpose of us having such great powers." Cleo piped in, "You guys probably don't know what my power is, right? Well it is indefatigability and formation of control of the very ground I stand on." Sherry hugged her knees and said, "Red might know my powers, considering I have entered your dreams once. Almond this is for your knowledge, I can enter anyone's dreams. Most of the time I can feel the presence of the virtual world and I have full control on anybody's and everybody's entry into dimensions. I have many other small gifts that come in handy for me" That afternoon Almond and Cleo were handed the kitchen assisted slightly by Takshak. Unfortunately the bad cook in Almond had shown up and all suffered with extremely salty food. Anyway it was taken as a light moment and in the end everybody got treated by a delicious pudding by Sherry and Red.
The whole afternoon Sherry and Cleo explored the beach together. Sherry often used to say that she saw the world from Cleo's eyes. He could give such amazing descriptions. Red and Almond decided to spend some time understanding high tides and low tides and also a bit of water. After selecting the CDs and the books both assembled in the study. Almond said, "Let's go through the basics first. To tell you the fact I do feel extremely sleepy. What do you say?" Red smiled weakly, "I guess I'll go with your decision. Let's rest for some time and then go for the books." Almond remarked, "Hey! When did I make a decision? When did I say I was going to rest?" Red patted him on the back and said, "Anyway, you are tired from your soul transfer and me from last night's encounter." Almond and Red went to sleep, heads on the table books in their laps. It was as if they had to study for an exam but the tension exhausted them. The whole afternoon both of them slept. Evening was to be spent for cooking dinner and listening to Takshak. Red asked Almond in her sleep, "Hey Al! What do you think Takshak will tell us tonight?" Almond answered her sleepily, "Sleep for now, we'll need to save up energy for listening to your father...." Red smiled and dozed off again.
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