The Quest for Normania #1: The Door of Andrios

31. The Winter is Here

The look on Eura Ansari's face when he saw his daughter was nothing like Norin Zura had ever even dreamt of.

He remembered the day he and his little sister got lost in the woods on the Ashisa island. His mother had been so distraught over a husband and another son she had lost the previous year, that she hadn't even noticed that her remaining family had gone missing. It was Mithra and her father who had noted the absence and instantly began searching for them.

When they were found at last and returned, Mithra's father had been expecting Norin's mother to be delighted to have found them again, but all the emotions she showed were sorrow.

"Sumita," Mithra's father had said gently, "they got lost in the forest and Mithra realised they were nowhere to be found when she came to play. Did you realise that?"

Even though it was a question, Norin somehow knew that the man was expecting a 'yes'. When Norin's mother turned up a blank face and shooken her head, he had got angry and yelled at his best friend for her negligence. Norin didn't remember a lot of what the man spoke, not that he completely understood, but one thing stuck in his little head:

"Your husband is gone. Your precious little son is gone. But your other son and daughter are very much alive! – do not make them leave you, as well! Sumita, you're going over to dangerous territory and once you're over the edge, there is no coming back! Remember that! It's been a year since you lost two people whom you love and I respect that. The whole village respects that! – hell, the whole island does! But you're hardly alone in this world! You've got two amazing children your husband left to take care of you and you don't even care! What a selfish woman you are!"

At first, Norin and his sister, Nora, had been shocked at first, but they soon told themselves that Mithra's father was her mother's best friend and so, he couldn't very well mean what he said in his anger. But now, witnessing the joyful reunion of a man and his only daughter his first wife had left him, the full force of Mithra's father's words sunk into his head. He felt a hand snaking around his own and squeezed it. He smiled; he didn't have to turn around to know it was Mithra.

"My father did a number on your mother's heart that day," she told him through her thoughts. "I remember that day very well, too. Nora was like my sister and you were like my brother. When I realised you were nowhere to be found and that your mother wasn't responding to anything I said, I knew I had to fetch my father. The way he yelled at her later that day, I regretted getting my father involved, but now... I'm glad I did. Your mother really turned around for the better ever since and took such good care of you both."

He sniffed. 'You're right. Nora is still a little girl and too young to leave home. But I often heard from her when I was at the shinto.'

"I'm sure they're doing just fine."

'Thanks, Mithra. I love you so much.' They exchanged reassuring smiles. 

But that day was not to be a happy one, it seemed.

For, just as father and daughter embraced affectionately in the courtroom and forgave each other for what the other thought and did, there came a loud clap of thunder that shook the entire ground that the Viseral Palace stood on. Norin and Mithra, as one, grabbed the hands of the people nearest to them. When the shaking continued, the rest in the room followed.

An alarm blared noisily from somewhere.

Eura Ansari at once shoved his daughter behind him and looked around, both holding one-another for support. "Someone rang the danger alarm! Quick, everybody, get down to the ground!" He hurled himself onto the ground and the others followed.