PEREGRINATE

CHAPTER 17

The next morning I thoughtlessly wandered through the garden, mind still stuck at last night's meeting. It was quite an unexpected move on Inder's part. Sure he had been friendly towards me but you did not give your friends midnight rendezvous. If I was in the present I could very well have said that I had just been on my first date.

Though unplanned, the night of Diwali was no less of a date. I parted ways with him with memories I would cherish forever. That night, with great regret, I had taken out the flowers from my hair. I did not throw them though. Instead, I had them pressed between the pages of a book I took from the library.

I could very much feel that I was on my way to get dangerously attached to Inder. I could put an annoyed front all I wanted and yet it did nothing to suppress the pesky feelings. Only something held me back from covering too much of the path. I was bound to return to my time sooner or later. I needed to focus on that.

But as I saw Inder striding towards me and then hopping over the low fence of the kitchen garden, all resistance vanished temporarily. Heck, what was the worst that could happen if I got attached? I have lost friends before, even family. I would feel a dull ache that might be ever-present and then flaring once in a while, but in time there would be fewer chances of remembering him. I would successfully move on while cherishing our shared moments. Why not accept all the friendships while I can?

In my haste to greet Inder, I had missed Isha who was rushing behind me. Panting she reaches me first.

"Woah where is the fire? Breathe then talk." She struggled to let her words out between the gasps. By this time Inder had reached us too. Isha and the others had grown less rigid around him. He was present amongst us most of the time and would repeatedly insist that they need not be so formal when it was just us. I liked that about him. He gave respect based on the person's character rather than social stature. He had enough sense to assign the right priorities and I admired him for that.

While the others just straight out ate from his hand. Nani had begun to cook all the delicacies that he enjoyed when he was younger and not a meal went by when he did not dole out gratitude and compliments to render her a tittering mess. It was amusing to watch. And Laksh was content with running around Inder so much that I feared that he would end up tripping upon him one of these days.

"Your lordship Senapati  Veer is to arrive by next morning. Word has reached that he has been spotted at the edges of the village" New addition to the household. She turned to me, "We need to reach the village market by noon today. The house needs to be prepared."

My eyes shifted towards Inder to see if he would be joining us but his face was shuttered closed. He had the unnaturally blank expression that would often be seen on the paintings that hung on the hallways. I was yet to see such an expression on him. I wanted to poke him and learn more about his troubles. As I opened my mouth, Inder took an about turn and walked away briskly. It was the first time that he had left without a farewell.

I saw him again as we were leaving for the marketplace. Though he appeared recovered, I still could detect that he was holding himself back. He was troubled. He might have been present physically but his mind roamed somewhere else. Maybe towards the boundaries of the castle as his eyes frequently scanned the horizon, as if expecting someone's arrival.

I wished we were alone so that I could speak to him about it. However, with everyone around we could not get a chance and he assisted me onto the cart with a pained smile. Something must have happened on the way to the marketplace as Inder was missing when we reached there.

I stood on my toes trying to find him in the crowd. He had a good amount of height on him so it should not have been that difficult to spot. Maybe he had forgotten something back at the castle and had to retrace his steps back. There were so many of us here that it could hardly not be possible for anyone else to fetch his lost thing.