Beauty and the Beast

13

That form. It made her restless. His beautiful eyes that seemed like lotus petals. The eyes which almost tore through all the walls around her and grabbed that very vulnerable part of her and walked away with him.

Even as Nara-Mruga, he had an unexplainable beauty in him. Fearsome but still beautiful. The coarse mane, the silence, the dark skin, the jewellery and the intelligence shining through those animal eyes.

A yoga-patta around his legs, his eyes closed, deep within his meditation, his hands rested over his knees. Odd kind of serenity within his animalistic temperamental.

Who was the man that tormented her dreams? Who was this Nara-Mruga to her? Why did she always end up reaching him even when she isn't needed? Chenchita would never leave the safety of her Penta at this hour in the night. Especially alone. Just to see this one specific person. She hadn't been like that.

Even though deep within his meditation, he could tell that she was restless. Her mind was a mess. She remembers hints of him but doesn't really understand why she has that attachment.

A leaf was thrown at her, she looked around and found that person who tormented his dreams. Bright yellow dhoti, dark skin, expensive jewellery, a large gold crown on his head and peacock feathers adorning the top part of the crown. He was casually sitting on a tree branch. His one foot dangling down the branch in the air and the other casually resting on the branch.

The same form she saw sitting on the forest floor, dirtying his dhoti a little bit, playing a flute, his eyes intensely looking at her building up goosebumps all over her flesh.

The same form, seemed to be floating the air without any support. As if was covering all of the sky.

Sitting over the modest structure's roof. Standing by the hills edge and over looking the entire place with a mace in his hands as if he was guarding the whole place.

Him by the little bird nest on top of the tree as if he was looking out for that sleeping bird which was clueless to his presence.

"Wh..." The presence of the same person in so many places at the same time confounded her. Was this some sort of Maya? Or was it a dream? Chenchita couldn't tell.

The tree suddenly turned to look like him. The large rocky hill disappear and seemed like him lying down over the large expanse. The rock became him.

Chenchita stumbled slightly and almost fell down but was caught by Narayana. Just as she saw him holding her, an identical form brought some water for her.

"H...how is this ev...even p... possible? Y...you seem to be everywhere at the same time..." She stuttered, slightly scared. But the way he flashed her a smile, all the fear was gone.

"You just need the right mindset to look, Chenchita. I'm everywhere. Here. There. Everywhere. Even inside you. The way you reside in here..." He placed his hand over his heart, "I reside in there too. You just have to look."

"I..."

He sat down before her on the ground. His one hand holding her chin as he adored her with his loving gaze. "All you need to see me is love. Because that love is inside you, I'll be everywhere your eyes see. I'll be in the tree there, I'll be in the rock, I'll be in the anklets your wear, I'll be there in waters you see your reflection in."

This man who sat before her, almost seeming like a young boy deeply in love, suddenly looked like his skin was made up of the vast expanse of the sky. It was like he covered himself with the whole universe but still it fell short of being able to cover him properly and he had to suffice with dark empty space where things simply stopped existing. The earth and several similar planets seemed like they made up his jewellery. His eyes looked like a group of several suns and stars.