Rea and the Blood of the Nectar

by Payal Doshi

  “What time is it?” she asked and Xeranther cocked his head to the sky.

  “It’s the second hour past the hour of the sun.”

  “Second hour past the hour of—oh, oh—you mean, it’s two o’clock!” Rea contained herself from jumping up and down. She and Leela had deduced Rohan was in a place not too far away but with a different time zone. It was nighttime in Darjeeling and daytime in Astranthia, and they were only a portal ride away!

  “Have you heard of a boy named Rohan? Rohan Chettri?” Rea asked Xeranther eagerly.

  “Ro-hun... Chey-tree?” The boy shook his head.

  “Shoot, we should have brought along a picture,” Rea said to Leela. “He’s about a few inches taller, hazel eyes, curly hair?”

  Leela tugged on a ring of Rea’s curls to help him understand.

  “I’m afraid I don’t know anyone with such a name or description.”

  “Can we ask around? We need to find him,” said Rea. She felt her senses coming alive—all this was more proof that Rohan was here.

  “Why?” Xeranther asked, openly curious. “Is he your betrothed?”

  “What? No!” retorted Rea, her ears burning red, as Leela dragged her to the side.

  “Are you sure we can trust him? We don’t know anything about this realm.”

  “Leela, this is the place I saw when I blacked out at Mishti Daadi’s.”

  “The place you called whimsical and weird?”

  “Yes! The flowers that pop out of the grass, I saw them in the vision. And then there’s the prophecy, ‘Where day is night and night is day.’”

  Leela flung her hands to her mouth to mute a squeal. “Also, Xeranther knows what copezium is! Oh my gosh, Rea, we solved one riddle!”

  Rea nodded excitedly and Leela ran to Xeranther. “Rohan’s umm... a... a servant boy at the castle and our very good friend,” she said. “We haven’t seen him in days, and we miss hanging out with him and are worried something bad might have happened, so we snuck out to look for him and—”

  “Basically, we need to find him,” Rea said, cutting short Leela’s ramble.

  “Astranthia is a vast land, but in the able hands of Xeranther you must worry not.” He puffed out his scrawny chest. “With a name as remarkable as Roo-hun Chey-tree, he should not be hard to locate. If he’s been around, someone will remember.”

  Rea and Leela high fived each other and turned to do the same with Xeranther. He looked uncomfortably between them and hesitantly raised his hand. The girls laughed, smacking their palms against his. Xeranther chuckled and led the way, providing a running commentary on the sights and scenes they passed.

  “What are those?” Leela pointed towards bulbous structures that looked like gigantic onions scattered over the grassland.

  “They are buds. They are our homes. I bet you have grander buds on the castle grounds.”

  “Uh… of course,” said Rea, staring at the bud-houses. They were an enclosure of panels shaped in the form of petals folded over each other to create a wide bottom and a pointy top.

  “If you climb onto a high branch, the petals coming together at the crown resemble a tansylion bud. It’s quite lovely,” said Xeranther.

  “Do you live here?” asked Leela.

  “Pickle my pudding! No, no.” He looked comically surprised.

  Rea related to that look. She had used it many times when tourists asked if her father owned the Tombu Tea Estate, wondering why else a girl as young as her would be spending her time wandering through the plantations. She, too, would hurriedly say no, chuckling at the absurdity of that idea. Rea was imagining the type of bud Xeranther lived in when he unexpectedly snatched her arm and pulled her to the side.

  “Look out for clumps,” he said, and quickly let go as if her skin were hot metal. Rea gave him a side-eye but he avoided eye contact. “I shouldn’t have touched...er… and grabbed your hand like that. It’s against protocol. I... I apologize.”

  Rea realized the protocol he was referring to might have something to do with a-commoner-not-touching-a-royal protocol.

  “Oh, that’s okay,” she said. “You can hold my hand.” And then she heard herself. “I mean… not that I’m asking you to! Only if you wanted to then it would be okay.” Leela looked at her with big eyes and a smirk ready to erupt into giggles. “WHAT I MEAN IS, you won’t get into trouble if you happen to grab my arm in the event of pulling me away from doing something stupid like walking into someone or something. That’s what I’m trying to say,” she said, running out of breath (what was she even saying?) and wanting to die of embarrassment on the spot. Then something moved.

  Puzzled, Rea looked at the ground as a tuft of grass shook itself awake. Grunting angrily, it revealed its hooded, lime-green eyes, and gave them a dirty look. Tiny legs quickly appeared underneath it and the creature scurried into the bushes, the tuft of grass sticking to its back like camouflage.

  “To think you almost stepped on him!” Xeranther burst into laughter. “Don’t worry, clumps are harmless. Just grouchy. If you get bitten by one, their bite can put you in a bad mood for hours. You might cry, shout, or turn glum. After a while, all is well again.”

  “That’s so adorable,” said Leela, her expression melting into mush. “Do you keep them as pets?”

  “You’d want that as a pet?” Rea asked, shocked. “I was scared half to death watching grass come to life. Didn’t you hear what its bite can do?”

  “Oh, he’s such a cute, angry little thing. I’ve always wanted a pet, but I’m not allowed to have one.”

  Leela grew morose watching the clump hop away. As they continued along their way, several buds lowered their ivory-petal doors. At different heights, they formed verandas, balconies, and porches with elegant bamboo railings. A man sat in one of them reading a parchment, and a few buds down, a trio of children scampered out to play. From a window, their mother shouted warnings to keep clear of her flower beds.

  “At night,” said Xeranther, “the doors are drawn and the buds glow with lantern-light like drops of golden dew.”

  “Why is everything shaped like a flower?” asked Rea. She was tempted to stay put until night-time to watch these houses glow.

  “It’s our way of paying homage to the sacred Som, of course.”

  Leela slipped Rea a look and Rea dipped her head defeatedly. With all the things they needed to learn about, an explanation about the sacred Som was the last thing on her list.

  “Um, Xeranther?” She tapped his shoulder. “Can we ask around for Rohan?”

  “Apologies, Princess,” he said and then bit his lip realizing his gaffe. “Yes, Rea, we must. Forgive me, I got carried away.”

  For the next two hours, Rea, Leela, and Xeranther visited budhoods painted in vibrant colors. They passed empty streets and busy roads. There were no cars, traffic jams, or blaring horns. Rea asked men and women on horses or in horse-drawn carriages if they had seen or heard of a boy named Rohan, and Leela did the same with people walking by. Xeranther knocked on buds and spoke to their inhabitants. No one had the slightest clue who Rohan was.

  When their throats grew hoarse, the three companions rested their tired legs on a bench.

  “The Whispering Walls!” Xeranther cried out suddenly. Rea and Leela looked at him, confused.

  “Truly, what do they teach you in that castle??” He shook his head. “Legend has it that ever since the realm of Astranthia blossomed into existence, the Whispering Walls have lived. It’s a ramshackle bud cast in magic with walls full of secrets.” He leaned closer. “Other people’s secrets. Secrets confessed, secrets spilled, secrets with their fat chewed out.”

  Leela let out an enraptured ‘oh’ and Rea nearly choked on her guffaw.

  “Really, you believe this nonsense?” she whispered and Leela eagerly nodded.

  “The only catch is that the walls whisper all the secrets at once. Only a few have been able to decipher the information they had been seeking. But no one knows how they did it.”

 
; “What are we waiting for?” Leela jumped to her feet. “Let’s go find out.”

  “Hang on,” said Rea. “This sounds like a silly tale.”

  Xeranther looked hurt. “Legends are not silly. They are truths of times past, woven into stories. You may not believe them, but that does not make them untrue. Through legends, ancient wisdom lives. Without them, we would fade into oblivion. As Poppy says, ‘You’d be wise to regard them.’”

  Or I’d be wise to disregard them and continue searching for Rohan, Rea thought. She had half a mind to leave rather than entertain their ridiculous notions. At this rate, she had a better chance of finding Rohan on her own. Pff, walls that whisper. This place was whimsical but not out of a fantasy book.

  “Look, I don’t mean to offend you,” she said to Xeranther. “But I don’t have time to waste talking to walls that whisper.”

  She heard a buzzing in her ear and swatted at what she assumed was a large fly.

  “How rude,” came a voice, tinny and angry.

  Rea whipped her head around. Floating in front of her was a fairy-like being the size of Rea’s palm. A lustrous white dress in the shape of a tulip draped her willowy body and snowy hair fell below her shoulders. On her feet twinkled the tiniest of white shoes.

  “Oh my g-god. I’m so sorry. I thought you were a—a—what are—?” Rea tripped over her words.

  “Flula!” Xeranther slapped his forehead. “I promised to help the princesses and forgot we were to meet.”

  “Princesses?” She glided towards the girls. “My, my, isn’t this a day of rare sightings.”

  Rea threw Xeranther an uneasy look.

  “Oh, Floo is my friend. You can trust her. She won’t tell a soul.”

  Flula clapped her paisley-shaped wings together, casting a shower of rainbow-colored glitter. Her eyes shimmered purple and her lips turned into a mischievous smile.

  Rea squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, the fairy was still there. Never had Rea cared for fairy tales or ‘girly’ books and here she was talking to a flying fairy. There were many strange things she had witnessed today. This by far was the strangest of all.

  The fairy tugged on Xeranther’s hair. “Introduce me!”

  “Rea and Leela, meet Flula, a Pillywiggin pari.”

  Flula twirled in the air and landed on a plant with scarlet and turquoise flowers. Instantly, her body turned red and Rea blinked several times to find her. Enjoying the show she was putting on, Flula hopped from blossom to blossom, turning from blue to red and red to blue. By the time Xeranther finished filling her in on Rea and Leela’s hunt for a lost servant boy, she had returned to her normal self. Speckles of glitter fell to the ground around her.

  “You poor petals. Have you no idea where he might be? Lost things have a terrible habit of staying hidden.”

  “No... we don’t know where Rohan is,” Rea answered and glanced at Leela who was staring at Flula in shock.

  “I’m taking them to the Whispering Walls,” said Xeranther. “They might hear something about the boy there.”

  “What a sweet-scented idea. I have to go by the Whispers as it is.” She turned to the girls with a scowl on her face. “I’m a foliage reporter, you see, and my winter reports are due and I’m nowhere close to being done.”

  “So, it’s true?” Leela burst forth. “Paries live in forests and it’s their job to protect the plants and trees.”

  Flula nodded in amusement. “Us Pillywiggin paries, are in charge of reporting on the spread of invasive species, the health of flora and the rate of blossom withering and blooming as well as tending to the change-of-season foliage. This time from autumn to winter. That’s why I’m on prairie duty today.”

  “Unbelievable.” Leela fan-girled, bouncing on her toes. “I’ve read so much about fairies and paries, I can’t believe I’m actually talking to one!”

  “Oh, that’s sweet as nectar! Humans, especially Astranthian ones, rarely appreciate all the good work we pari-folk do,” she chuckled, looking at Xeranther. Then she swiveled towards Rea’s dumbfounded face. “I know what you’re thinking. I should have finished my reports, but you won’t believe what I heard through the ivystem!” She somersaulted in the air and gold specks shimmied out of her. “There’s been a Ceffyldwer spotting!

  “A Ceffyldwer?” Xeranther gasped like he’d heard something terrible. “The last one was seen during the Shadow Wars, a thousand years ago.”

  “Times are a-changing,” Flula said.

  Xeranther grew serious. “Indeed, they are,” he said.

  Flula sailed ahead, glowing like a firefly. Luckily, the sight of three children hurrying after a pari didn’t seem to raise any eyebrows. In fact, people dodged out of the way and some even tipped their hats with a grin. A short while later, they cut through the prairie, which had begun to grow wild. The blossoms on the grass—flowergrass, as Rea learned they were called—swayed in their direction.

  “Do you think it’s getting late?” she asked Leela and glanced at the weakening sun. It had certainly been a few hours since they had portaled and they didn’t have long before the sun rose in Meruk and Amma found her missing.

  “Need to get back to the castle, eh?” said Xeranther.

  “No, to the portal,” Rea said.

  “Once I receive my payment, I shall take you right back,” he teased, jingling his trinkets.

  Rea cringed, remembering her lie about buying his jewelry. Never mind that she had no money on her, rupees would be worthless in this land anyway. She needed to come up with a plan to get out of paying him. A sneaking suspicion told her Leela would not be happy about duping him. Oh well, I’ll deal with it after Xeranther is done helping us.

  “Aren’t there other portals closer to the Whispering Walls?” asked Leela. “That way we can get back home—er—I mean to the castle, faster.”

  As much as Leela was mesmerized by this land, Rea could tell she feared spending a minute longer than she had to in a place where they could be stuck forever. She had the same fear, too. Astranthia was no Kolkata—there were no trains, buses, or taxis to give them a ride home. Just a terrifying, unpredictable magical tree.

  “We don’t know of any other portals except the Doda Alda Mara and the one inside the castle you portaled from,” said Xeranther. “If there’s anyone who would know of others, it’s you princesses.”

  “Right, of course,” said Rea. He believed she and Leela had portaled from the castle. “How far are these talking walls from here? If we can’t make it to the castle in time, we’ll come back tomorrow.”

  “Will there be guards with you?”

  “Um... no…”

  Xeranther turned to Flula, who pursed her lips as if to say, ‘Don’t look at me.’

  “Princesses, I understand it is difficult to live with the Queen, but if you sneak out of the castle tomorrow, I cannot risk helping you again. As an Astranthian, I am sworn to protect those who bleed the sacred nectar and it is my duty to report those lost and without the protection of guards. As a matter of fact, to save my head, I must hand you both to the first guards we see once we return from the Whispering Walls.”

  “You will do no such thing,” declared Rea. “All we ask is for you to take us back to the portal. If you’re not willing to help us, we’ll figure it out ourselves.”

  Leela drew Rea to the side.

  “Rea, we need them. We have no idea how to get back. Let’s tell them everything. We’re tangled in too many lies, and I don’t want to be handed to the guards or get Xeranther and Flula in trouble. Besides, there’s a good chance they’ll help us if they know we’re not princesses and have no connection to this Queen.”

  Rea bit the inside of her cheek. “But the truth is such a long story and who knows what’s happening to Rohan right now? Mishti Daadi said he’s ‘alive and kicking, screaming and shouting,’ and that he’s rebelling against someone. The prophecy said, ‘Of strength and courage, he does boast.’ How long would your courage last if you were in his plac
e? Please Leela, we’ll waste whatever little time we have left to save him.”

  “We’re already wasting time...”

  Frustration mounted in Rea’s chest. Leela wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t make this any easier. Rohan was out there, suffering, and she had no idea how long it would take to find him. But Rea had no better ideas. And she was all out of choices. Argh! Rea walked back to Xeranther and Flula. “There’s something we need to tell you.”

  Standing in a huddle, she told them the truth about their identities, the story of Rohan’s disappearance, the nightmare, the banyan, and the creepy roots that brought them to Astranthia—a place nobody back home knew existed.

  “Leaping leprechauns, you two are Earthlings! Elder Pari, our Mother Leader, spoke of meeting Earthlings centuries ago. And now, here I am flying in front of two!” The flecks of violet in Flula’s eyes shimmered and she fluttered so close, Rea suppressed the urge to swat her away.

  “No one’s called us that but yes, we’re Earthlings,” she said.

  “If you truly are Earthlings from this other world, how did you portal through the Doda Alda Mara? Only those of royal or nectral Astranthian blood can,” questioned Xeranther.

  “All I know is the moment I held the roots, they grew over me and we were pulled into the tree and thrown out the other end, landing here,” said Rea.

  Xeranther paused a beat and his eyes turned wild. “I was stupid to have trusted you. You’ve tricked me!”

  He stabbed the air with a fallen twig and Rea could see his legs were shaking. Flula raised her arms to calm him, but in vain.

  “Please believe us, Xeranther—” began Leela.

  “Stay away from me. I know this is one of the Queen’s tests. No matter that you look like, girls, I will fight you! I say, reveal yourselves at once!”

  With his spare hand, he rummaged through the pouches on his belt and pulled out a marble-sized bottle filled with a brownish-teal liquid. He dashed some on the twig and it vibrated, sprouting limbs. Leela blanched.

  “Will you please stop?” Rea snatched the growing twig from his trembling hands and flung it to the side. She had no idea where she got the courage to touch the creepy twig-creature-thing, but she had spent enough time talking and chatting and not looking for Rohan. The twig deflated like a balloon and Flula doubled over with giggles.