Framing Shards

4. Unexpected Interruptions -1

He instinctively looked down in the direction of his chest. The blue gleam of the technical wonder he housed in the center of his chest had been the cause of several oft unwanted stares oscillating between curiosity and wariness or sometimes amalgamating both. But he had taken care to contain its luminous glow in the opacity of a thick fabric underneath his t-shirt. He had long figured that contrary to the usual, he lacked the upper hand here and had therefore locked away most of his ostentatious, arrogant ways under 'precautionary measures' aimed at his survival in the strange place he was stranded in for the time being.

"Excuse me?" he asked as politely as possible, raising an enquiring eyebrow, his bewildered gaze following her as she half sprinted to the door, looking out and calling for someone before turning back but not stepping away from her spot near the door.

"What made you think you can even come here, let alone eat those?"

He was glad she finally spoke something, albeit the anger colouring her words was far from comforting. He nervously tapped at the small,portable translation device tucked behind his ear. The sleek, little silver thing had acquired almost the same place as the pacemaker in his chest, keeping him alive.

Sliding his hands inside his pockets, he cocked his head, a smirk tugging at his lips, "Well I was asked by my host to feel at home. I didn't know there were restrictions at home."

"You just don't enter private places and start eating the first thing you set your eyes on!" came a flabbergasted response, "Those laddoss were meant to be offered to the Gods for my morning prayer and you started eating them."

Tony casually smiled at her, the most polite thing he could bring himself to do with his ebbing energy levels and his primal need for food eclipsing his all other good senses. He stood up for effect but his legs seemed to give away almost immediately, making him sit back on the chair rather ungraciously. A diplomatic cough preceded his next words, deliberate conscious attempts to cover up for the slight predicament on his part.

"Yeah! I don't see anything here mentioning this to be a private place. How am I supposed to know? Also don't you guys have guards stationed at every place? If you're right, shouldn't a private place be extra guarded?"

"You have some nerves to utter those words" Niriksha said, her rational mind making room for some relaxation upon seeing the unexpected 'guest' in her kitchen stumble a little, "You talked back to the Maharaja (king) in court the other day, I would have attributed that to the shock of the sudden change in environments but now I can conclude differently."

"Finally realised that I am just naturally charismatic and smart?" Tony's smirk widened letting his hand once again saunter to the plate of sweets.

A silly grin spread across his face as he held the view of the unwavering shock that marked her facial features, but he could not revel in this newly found pastime for long as the sound of quick footsteps closing in registered in his ears. Before long, he found his company had expanded from the shy looking lady to a more imposing woman flanked by a taller, well built guard.

"Hey, what is the meaning of all this?" he asked quickly, weakly slapping his hands on the table in a defensive gesture, "You people say make yourself at home and whatever and now you do not even let me eat in peace!"

"The servants' gossips about your attitude are not baseless I see" Eenchara spoke up keeping her voice low but threatening enough, "You never ever make an appearance in the royal court when you are asked to and now have the audacity to come to the residential wings. Who helped you-?"

"Is it not evident that I am trying to eat?" he interrupted, proceeding to add some more sarcastic comments, "That I do get hungry unlike what everyone might presume and then I need-"

"Hold on"

The command although given softly instantly inundated the kitchen in silence, all attention falling back on its giver.