The Heir

Chapter 4: Vaazhai

"We don't actually have to pack. We can teleport back and forth right?"

"I didn't think of that, did I? Well, okay then," Ivan said

"Accipe me domum," Maria muttered, then disappeared into the air. Ivan looked at the spot she stood, then back at the forest. He leaned on the outer walls and looked at his feet. He always had that second thought, 'Why am I doing this?'. But the reason was clear. Tyler matched his stance, except he stared into the distance.

Maria popped back into existence with a bag. "I just brought some essential items so we don't have to keep teleporting." Ivan already knew she left something out. "Maria, answer me truthfully. Did you bring a random book?" He said in a formal accent.

Maria smiled sheepishly, informing Ivan of the truth. "This is exaggerated, but, were you dropped on your head as a child?" Ivan frowned. Maria still smiling, "Maybe. but I'm not that sure."

Tyler chuckled "I assume that was a rhetorical question," Maria laughed too, then said, "Anyways, lead us to the exit. It's surely a long journey."

"So teleportation is a long journey. Okay," Tyler joked. "Anyways... Exitus silvae nos cape."

The surroundings melted at once, revealing a completely different place.

Thick vines of devil's ivy accompanied by wood made an elaborate scene. It was an interlocking pattern, without any repeats. "Okay... we're stuck," Ivan muttered. "Hey, don't jump to conclusions yet," proposed Maria. Tyler didn't say anything, stuck in thought.

Then something clicked.

"O spiritus sancti cognitionis, acumen tuum junge et hoc aenigma solve," Tyler recited.

The vines got to work, detangling themselves, accompanied by a few magenta sparks, signifying Tyler's magic. The long vines slipped smoothly beneath each other, detangling enough to create a circular opening. "Here we go," Tyler whispered as he stepped through. Ivan shrugged at Maria and also stepped through. She'd gotten that far, so she continued by jumping through as well.

"I didn't know you're religious," said Maria.

On the other side were plantains, with solemn darkness hanging in the air. According to a sign, the plantation was named Vaazhai-2. There were three banana plantations in total.

"I'm not that religious, but sometimes you need other people to do the job," noted Tyler. He wandered, leading them on the pathways in the dense plantation. His feet were sinking lightly into the ground with each step. He tried to find any routes out through the close-knit cluster. Although, a way out never came into sight. Not without some meandering, at least.

It took around ten minutes before he found a passage. "That way," said Tyler, before taking off to run. Maria raised her hands up in exasperation, yet still ran along-Ivan following too. In no time, they were out from the infinite maze of green with hints of bananas. Although, the sun wasn't blinding as it was when they got out.

"Can't the sun possibly calm down," Ivan looked up in annoyance. Maria turned around to see his utter stupidity. "Well, why are you looking at the sun then, idiot?"

"Okay, how about we ignore the sun for now and try and find my sister," muttered Tyler. Maria, hearing that, looked at him. "Wow, you care about her," said an unimpressed Maria. He rolled his eyes at the comment.

Only Ivan thought of brainstorming. "Why don't you work your "Latin magic" to find her?" They just stared at him. "Yeah," Maria said. Before she started a chant, Tyler interrupted with his own. "Venerabiles spiritus, ostendite mihi situm Terra Maquel, sororis meae."

"So why are you so religious?" she asked. Tyler shook his head, signifying that she would get to know later. He abruptly looked at the ground. The directions to her were written on the ground. "Okay, so we gotta go to the neighbourhood, find a guy named Riben-funny name actually-and Terra's with him," Ivan read out. "Yeah," Maria replied.

Right then a worker at the plantation was passing by. Ivan stopped them to ask.

"Excuse me," Ivan called out to the worker, "Do you happen to know where we can find Riben?"

The worker looked at them quizzically before responding, "Riben? I'm not sure who that is, but if you're looking for someone in this area, you might want to try asking around at the local market. It's just away. Right after the orange trees."

"Thank you," said Tyler, and the three of them started to the market, hoping to find her.

Tyler had to stop himself from taking an orange or two from the trees. After many years of living near the orangefalls, the taste for oranges grew in him. Well, the extent of trees ended with a short walk across.

There were stone walls, opening up to a busy area, with many people busily making their way around. Almost every bit of land was covered with small shops. It looked like slightly bigger stalls were farther from there. This side was mainly for people selling fruit from the orchard.

They stood, looking at the shops. Maria walked forward to approach a vacant fruit seller. "Do you happen to know a nearby residential area?". She pointed at a path between some buildings and walls. "Thanks a lot," Maria said, walking back.

"It's that way," Maria told them before they started off to that narrow path. It was about 15 metres away, where a small building and a wall created the long path. A path to a neighbourhood.

It led to a comparably narrow street, lined with cottages on either side. "Ibi me ducere," Tyler muttered. The same magenta sparks formed a line, only visible to him, leading him to the right place. It extended till the end of the street, then took an abrupt turn to the left.

Tyler ran on, the other two following behind. The line ended at a plain-looking house with the number '3' on the door. "This is the right place, definitely". He knocked on the door. In a few seconds, the door opened. A person with dirt-blond hair, around his age and height, appeared at the door. "Hello?" he said. And surely, Terra popped up from behind him.

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If you can't pronounce the title, follow these steps:
Go to Google Translate
Translate [your language]-Tamil
Type in 'banana'
Click the audio option
(I ran out of ideas so now I'm using my native language)