AISHA: The Cursed Name

Chapter -20 Out Of Sight

Out Of Sight

Siddharth sat on the rooftop of his building, looking down. He leaned over the railings, wondering only about Aisha and her eyes.
'What could be the reason that the priest just got so scared as I presented the question to him? Is it true that he didn't know anything, or did he just refuse to tell me, trying to hide something?'

Far off, he noticed Bani sitting with Swara and Namrata on the top of the Pavan Maya building. They were talking lowly to each other when he felt curious to hear them. He created a little spark of fire and instructed it to go close to them so that he could hear them through the other one hovering near him. He created a signal between the two. The light ascended towards them and slyly took position behind them.

..........

Namrata- "Swara, I don't think that the priest was uncomfortable because of Aisha, he seemed to look ill. Probably he wasn't well."

Swara- "No! It's not that. If you saw him, he was shocked. He looked scared. The priest cannot be ill. He is the master of such strength. How can you even think about this? There is nothing like us Mayavi being ill on a day-to-day basis. We are not humans, Namrata. And the priest, he's even ahead of us. He was surely scared."

Bani- "Why will he be scared?"

Swara- "That I don't know... But I am sure he knows something about Aisha; he is keeping to himself. Or there is definitely a thing that is keeping him from saying anything."

Namrata- "You are overthinking! Why will he do that? He is a sage."

Swara- "It's no use explaining to you, Nam! You are way too straight to see the difference between a behaviour to be called unwell and a behaviour to be called weird.
He wronged her, I saw in his eyes. He had the answer to Aisha's question, which he didn't want to answer. And for that, he insulted her, he gave her pain. Didn't you see that regret every time he took his eyes off her face?
He was incapable of even looking at her. All I saw in him was the will to somehow get rid of her presence around him. He wanted to send her out, away from him. For what? "

Namrata- "So you mean he did it intentionally?"

Swara- "Yes, he did. Okay, think for yourself, have you ever seen the priest speaking loudly, in fact, he was barking at her. He didn't have that calm in him; he always abides by it. Never, never has he stolen his eyes during a conversation. He looks into the eyes of even the king while talking. Then, why was he behaving that way with Aisha?
For once, we believe that Aisha is not a Mayavi, then? She is a human who, by chance, ended up here. He knows very well that no one can break into Maya Lok by any means. But then, too, there was no reason to behave like that. If Aisha has no powers, she is definitely not a threat, isn't she?"

Bani- "Swara has a point, Nam. The priest is very powerful and he has never been watched the way he was behaving today. He very well knows that he is more than enough to defeat anyone or even an army all by himself.
He was avoiding us; he was avoiding looking at her. He was scared of her."

Swara- "Exactly! He looked horrified the moment he saw her."

Bani- "Did you people also see that? When Aisha stopped Ishita."

Namrata- "And since then, she has been sitting in her room. She didn't show up for the dinner even; however, Aisha also stayed back. It was bizarre the way she relaxed her."

Bani- "I saw Ishita leaving Aisha's room. She was looking angry. Very angry. I suppose they had a bad argument. And knowing Ishita, this time she might not have been good. I guess."

Swara- "What are you talking about? Why will she?"

Bani- "See, don't take me wrong, but I shouldn't keep this from you guys. I heard them. I should not have done that, yet, I overheard them... Their argument! It was bad. Really... Really bad. Ishita accused Aisha of charming her in the temple. She said Aisha's eyes glowed golden, and then, suddenly, Ishita lost control of herself. The thing we observed. But the curious fact was about the twinkle in her eyes. Golden glitter."