Aisha is lost in thought and does not hear Royston's approach. Royston softly calls out, not wanting to spook her.
"Aminah?"
Aisha does not respond. Royston quickly corrects himself and calls her by her right name and not by his late wife's name. "Lady Aisha?"
At this, Aisha turns towards the voice that had called her name. "Lady... Aisha?" she asks, before laughing.
"I have never been called Lady Aisha before," she jokingly adds, "here in the Maldives, they call me Rani or Kamba Aisha."
Royston is embarrassed at the gaffe. "I am so sorry. I did not mean any disrespect," he quickly apologises.
Aisha quickly quells his embarrassment. "Please, there is nothing to be sorry about. If it is not too much of an imposition, may I ask you a question?"
"Yes, please do," Royston replies.
"Have we ever met before?"
Royston is silent, unsure of how to answer, his throat welling up from the emotions he was trying to hide.
It took a moment before he replied, "No, we have never met before today, Kamba Aisha."
"Ah, perhaps it was someone else who looked like you whom I saw in passing when I was last in Male during the Portuguese invasion."
"Perhaps. People say I have one of those common faces."
Aisha takes a moment to study Royston face. "You do not have a common face, Mr Ellis. Not at all," she responds, trailing at the last word before continuing, "I am getting a bit tired. Goodnight."
Aisha gets up from the swing and leaves. Royston takes her place on the swing and looks on into the darkness in front of him.
Mohd soon joins him, the sound of the compound awash with laughter, as he perches himself on the swing. Mohd is silent for a bit, letting his new friend find peace in the silence.
Royston is the first to break the silence. "She looks exactly like Aminah, except she isn't Aminah, is she?
Mohd takes a moment to answer, "No, they are definitely not the same person, at least not the person you knew."
A hint of foreshadowing tinges Mohd's words, but Royston is oblivious to it, caught up in his own turmoil.
Mohd goes to stand up. "Come, my firend, it is time to rest for we have a long day ahead of us. We have to prepare to leave for India."
YOU ARE READING
Freeing Maldives - A Hero in Time
AdventureBased on the novel written by Royston Ellis, my interpretation tells the tale of how a mourning Englishman gets swept back in time to a period when the Portuguese had invaded the nation of Maldives, culminating in the historic guerilla battle, that...
