The Partham Chronicles

Part 11 - Caved in

"Wait," Vysna removed her blindfold.
" How are we planning to do this, exactly? What are you planning Aaden?"

" Use our strengths, it's obvious Vy," Aaden said trying not to touch his blindfold.

" We are not supposed to help each other remember?" Tashvin chimed in.

" We are not supposed to physically help each other, but we can plan together, right? He didn't specify anything on that," Vysna said grinning at how funny they looked talking to each other blindfolded.

"Aye, you right," Tash said and immediately sent a small wave.

" Tash, was that you?" Aaden asked.

" Hey, I felt that too," Vysna said.

"Yep," Tashvin was happy.

Vysna sent a wave." Did anyone feel that?"

" No," both replied.

Vysna sat down defeated.

An idea struck Aaden. He put his hands on the ground and sent a wave. He got a faint map of the cave. It was not a clear picture but at least he had something to start with. " Use your strength fellas." He said out loud.

He sent one more and started walking right ahead till he reached a narrow entrance. He placed his hands on the wall of the cave and sent another wave and saw that the narrow opening led to a dead end. He kept moving in different directions and placed his hand on the wall, each time sending small frequencies and navigated towards a much larger entrance. Then he placed both his hands on the floor of the entrance and sent a large wave. This helped him see the entire way through the entrance. He saw that the opening bifurcated after a certain distance. And each bifurcation led in different directions.

He decided to go to the right first then to the left. He started doing the same drill he had followed sending small frequencies every time to know whether he was on the right track. When he reached the bifurcation he entered the right side and started walking steadily and carefully. He was enjoying this weird task. The idea of being blindfolded but being able to see through his powers gave him a different sense of pride.

Tashvin sent a wave and found two openings at his right. And he kept on doing it till he reached the entrance of one of them. This seemed to be too easy for him. Having air as his element was an advantage for him. 'Air is everywhere' is the line he remembered from his grade one textbook.

Echolocation, that's what he was doing. Every wave he sent he received it back, which bounced on the surfaces it hit. He was easily able to navigate through the cave, one diversion at a time. He was the first to reach a flag at one of the dead ends. He took off his blindfold and checked for the colour, and luckily it was orange. He grabbed the small flag and put it in his pocket, put his blindfold back on and started to move in another direction. The only problem he faced was remembering which way he had already looked, resulting in him getting lost several times.

There was no light as he walked deeper into the cave. He wondered what the point of having a blindfold, was if they had to find the flags solely by using their powers. But shrugged at the thought and kept on with the task at hand.

Vysna called out for her brothers but it seemed that they had started with their tasks and they didn't answer. She put on her blindfold and tried sending waves but none of them were good enough for her to get a picture of the cave or even a faint map. She pondered on how easily she was able to do this when she was underwater. How she could become one with the environment under it. She was disheartened. She sat there in silence.

All she could hear was a low hum of wind and the dripping of water droplets from the roof of the cave. Then it struck her that the cave was dripping wet due to the rains. She had water all around her, even if the quantity was scarce she could at least try. She got up and concentrated on the dripping sounds that she heard. She was familiarised with its rhythm. When she was sure that she understood she sent a wave good enough to extend to the ends of the tunnels ahead of her. It was a very faint picture that she got. But at least it was a start. She did it again but increased the intensity of the wave, the picture was not clear but the wave travelled much farther than she expected.