The Lost Dynasty

Chapter 6

"AND THEN SHE SAID I'M UNWORTHY!"

Kyda's voice cracked as she stormed back and forth across Dr Adil's office, her frustration palpable in the air. She was a whirlwind of energy, her hands flying through the air as she spoke, face flushed with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "She's just as bad as the aunties back home!" she muttered under her breath; her words sharp with bitterness.

Dr Adil didn't look up from his books. He was lost in their pages, flicking through them with tired, mechanical movements, his mind trying desperately to find a solution that would get Kyda back home. But in that moment, he wasn't just a scholar, he was her reluctant caregiver, caught in a situation he never asked for.

"I don't know how things work where your from," he finally said, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "But the Empress, if she manages to convince the Emperor... well, she's persuasive enough. And if she does, Kyda..." His voice trailed off, the weight of his words hanging in the air. "She could have you executed."

The finality of it hit her like a brick.

Kyda was beyond frustrated, caught in the swirling chaos of her emotions, yet she knew she was powerless to change anything. With a heavy sigh, she slumped into the chair across from Dr Adil, as though surrendering to the inevitable. "I don't know why this is such a big deal to me," she muttered, absently picking a grape from the bowl in the centre of the table. Tossing it in the air, she caught it in her mouth, trying to distract herself from the tension in the room. When she glanced up, she caught Dr Adil staring at her, wide-eyed. "What?" she asked, her voice sharp, a hint of irritation in her tone.

"How did you do that?"

"Did what?"

"The grape trick"

Kyda burst out laughing "I just caught it in my mouth, nothing else". Amita soon came in with a tray with 3 cups of chai (tea). The elderly man smiled "You always had great timing, Amita".
The scent resembled to warm vanilla and cinnamon with an underlying tone of something with a zing...

Lemons?

No, no, it's soothing on the throat, ginger, accompanied with cardamom.

The scent danced around Kyda nose as it lured her to the tray "I wish that was a Yankee candle". Amita faced the Dr in curiosity, what was a Yankee candle. The Dr rolled his eyes at Kyda and faced Amita to give her a slight nod of a no to not even bother asking.

Kyda sipped her chai and of course it was piping hot, she hissed as she placed the cup onto the desk as her tastebud was low-key being burnt alive. Unlike the Dr, he drunk his chai without any trouble and so did Amita.

Kyda propped her elbow on the desk, studying Dr. Adil with a mixture of curiosity and awe. "Dr. Adil, how long have you been a doctor?" she asked, genuinely intrigued. Without a second thought, he glanced at her, still sipping his chai, and answered casually, "Fifty-three years." Kyda and Amita exchanged wide-eyed glances, both taken aback by his response. "Are you planning to retire soon?" Kyda asked, almost playfully, as she popped another grape into her mouth, trying to cool the dryness in her throat.

Dr. Adil set his teacup down with a knowing smile, his tone serious yet calm. "Retire? Why do you ask?" His confidence, his quiet mastery of his craft, made Kyda feel like she was still fumbling through life, barely beginning her twenties while he had been set on his path for decades. Kyda glanced at Amita while she kept herself occupied with her teacup.

Kyda face slowly rotated back to the Dr and met his gaze filled with suspicion "Should you have a mentee for... just in case?".

The Dr scoffed "Just in case of what?" he sat up straight from his books "Many scholars came far and wide for me to be their mentor, they were just incapable". Kyda nodded to his statement, and she decided to make the move.

"How about Amita?"

The Dr froze midway as his arm was extending to grab his chai again. Whereas Amita used both of her hands to hold her teacup to prevent the liquid from spilling from her semi shaking hand.

"As a wet nurse?" The Dr attempted to correct her.

Kyda ogled at him as if he made it up "Wet nurse? don't you mean midwife? ... no not as a wet nurse, I mean as a Dr like you". Dr Adil glanced at Amita then back at her "She a woman" Kyda nodded at the true statement "Yes, well spotted, you wise one... so when does she start?".

━━━━━━༻✧༺━━━━━━

"I can't believe he said yes"

Amita squealed with joy as they walked down the marble hallway with symmetrical square patterns with large carved archway and white unstained pillars holding up the floral painted ceiling.