India's Royal

7 - Village Troop

  The two step into the tunnel. It's totally dark. But suddenly, Advika feels like she's flying in the tunnel, the tunnel's path is bright and light. Another memory! She looks up. There are four holes, straight line-shaped. They form the shape of a stroke of square on the tunnel's ceilings.
She suddenly find her back in the dark tunnel. Exactly!
She gazes up, holding the ceiling and trying to find the square button.
Finally, she manages to find it. With her fingers, she presses the button.

The lanterns hanging on the side of the tunnels light up as she presses the button. Then, they recognize thst they aren't alone down in the tunnel. Right in front of them is...
"Aaraj!" Aarav jumps and hug his dearest tiger.
"How... can he exactly get here?" Advika wonders.
"Sweetie, he once smelled your blood a mile away from the village. Of course he shall remember to smell my presence from miles away," His hug on his tiger tightens.

  Interrupting the hug scene, Advika coughs.
"Is the hug festival over yet?" She asks, yet sarcastically.
Then, without waiting for an answer, she walks to the front of them both, leading the way.
"Come on, we shall not waste a minute." She says, with Aarav and his pet tiger who managed to follow them following her steps behind her.

- - -

"Hmm... your bride? Sleepover in your room?" The quiet shocked king inspects his son.
"Yeah. That's what she said to me." Faarooq answers stammeredly.
"Oh, I expect you allow me to see her for just once, just checking her conditions right about now," He asks as he grins cunningly. Faarooq gets a little frightened. How can he summon Advika when she's gone far away already?
"Uh, yeah... about that, well... she's probably taking a bath right now, and I don't think it's appropriate to barge in and drag her away half-naked." He jokes nervously.

"Oh, by the seven seas, of course it isn't!" His father walks away in grief and disgusted expression, imagining the horrifying scene if his son really barge into the bathroom and drag the bathing girl out of the room into his father's view.

"Good. Now, I bet it's time for dinner already. Shouldn't we go upstairs and forget all these problems for a very while? Once we get done with our supper, we can later discuss about this again. I think she's going to be delighted to meet us after dinner's over, dad." Faarooq 'begs' his father to quickly call the servants and summon dinner for them both.

His father nods, a sign of agreement. But Faarooq isn't fully relieved yet. What should he say in order to deny his promise to present Advika in front of his father after dinner? Wait, reminding of the daring journey she had to take before she reached here... He's got an idea.

- - -

"So, are you trying to explain to me that the kingdom's guards had maybe almost find our village through this tunnel?" Aarav asks the lady beside him. Advika nods.

"But I think they will never make it to the end of this long, long tunnel without being blinded by darkness. Besides, this tunnel leads to a dense forest. There are still more chances of them to get trapped in the forest rather than spotting our isolated village. It's also a long distance from the forest where this tunnel leads to to our village." She answers.

Aarav nods repeatedly.
"It's funny to remember they have no idea about that traditional light switch." He says. Advika nods.
They continue their long journey, hoping that the end of the underground path is near already.

- - -

After dinner is done...

"Alright. Take the lady out now!" The thin-looking king orders his son as the servants lift their plates and eating cutleries to wash at the kitchen.
"Let me see, father." Faarooq answers, as he gets into his chamber and into his bedroom, setting up a fake proof in carrying out his plan.
He goes out again, going to his father empty-handed.
"She's slept already. I suppose she feels tired after a long exhausting journey to our kingdom today. Let's not wake her up; it's inappropriate." Faarooq tries to persuade, stopping his father from looking forward to how Advika's going.