The Vaticinator

14. Heart-to-Heart

“What is the name of the city, again?” Neal asks, his eyes glued to his laptop. He is sitting cross legged on my bed, in my room, while I am pacing the length of my room.

“Krasnoyarsk.” I mutter. I have never heard of the place before or rather my parents have made sure that I do not hear of it. And now, my father tells me that we all will be traversing to the same place. This place, which has been the home of my elders in the past years. Our realm, the Ninth Realm.

From what father has been able to divulge, the Ninth Realm spreads across Krasnoyarsk Krai and Sakha republic of Russia, both the federations being the largest in Russia, making the Ninth Realm third largest out of all the other realms, following the one in South America and of course, the largest, in United States of America. The First Realm in the USA is the largest for being the first region of generation of our species. South America and Russia have gathered the most therians after that because of the wide amounts of diversity available in those continents. The head council of the Ninth Realm resides at Krasnoyarsk Krai federation. I remember how inquisitive and downright demanding I used to be in my childhood. To know about our realm, the Ninth Realm. How big is it, how people live there and most importantly, where is it located? I used to be hell bent at grasping whatever I could about our realm. My parents, Aunt Rufina and Uncle Terry have always been shady about it. They never revealed anything significant about our realm, not even the reason behind their departure from the same.

And now I am going to visit that same realm.

“Dude,” Neal’s voice cuts through my thoughts, “Krasnoyarsk is like huge, a whole freaking federation. Where the hell are we going?”

I sigh, “There’s a city by the same name within it.” I tell him.

Neal nods in realization, his eyes still glued to his laptop, searching whatever he can about the place we are about to go to.

Upon returning from Neal’s place, father had immediately updated us upon this new development. Upon inquiry, he revealed in his best stoic voice that we are going to ask for ‘help’ from our realm, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.  The hit has been the most hard at Aakir.

Even now, I can hear very light voices of my brother and the elders discussing Aakir’s plight. It had taken me a little while to understand the reason behind Aakir’s anxiousness. But slip of the name ‘Silvia’ and I know why he is suddenly so distressed. He is not happy about leaving his partner behind, without knowing if he would even return or not. Because father has been exceptionally clear in stating that the whole issue may take an undetermined amount of time, which is surely not going to be short.

Neal and I are more worried over leaving our last year of school behind, much to Aakir’s displeasure.

Realizing Aakir’s situation, my own heart has dropped to the pit of my stomach. Partly because I know how enamored Aakir has become with the idea of his partner alone. And partly because I can never imagine myself at his position. With the cruelty unfathomed to me, I feel almost glad that it’s Aakir and not me at his position. And that makes me wonder exactly how strong a bond with your partner is supposed to be. Yes, I know, a partner can provide you the kind of goodwill that you may never receive from anyone else. The kind of pleasantness which if you’ve experienced once, you cannot fathom to live without the sensation. The respite at knowing that there is one person who will be a perfect counterbalance by your side is incomparable to any other tranquility achieved. Not to mention the heightened attraction the aura of your partner holds for you. Those positive affirmations make a person stay by his partner by his own volition. Considering it’s by your own will, upon assessing the positivity, you decide to stay with your partner, I do not expect this situation to be irrevocable. But even the thought of unconsciously not remaining beside my partner sure as hell manages to create an endless pit in my stomach, managing to make me feel pathetically deplorable. I should have really paid to attention to the lessons by my elders regarding ‘partners’ because I definitely am flummoxed at the sudden intensity of emotions regarding the subject. Also confounded at how gay this all is; no pun intended.