ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

THE ATN MORNING

I woke up at eight in the morning, and freshened up. I looked through the window. The day was sunny, but I could not have believed how beautiful the mountains would look during the daytime. I got my yoga mat out, and did five asanas: tadasana, vrikshasana, adho mukho svanasana, bhujangasana, and shavasana. 

Now, I am no fitness freak. But my Dad does yoga every morning. He compelled me to start it too. I did, thinking, 'what harm would it cause?' I only did five asanas, and wasn't regular. But I figured that if I needed to train today, it'll keep my mind and body fresh and full of energy. That's what yoga does, according to Dad.

Anyway, after I was done, I folded my mat, kept it in the cupboard, and took a bath. I put on an FC Barcelona T-shirt, and a pair of dark grey trousers. I looked at the time in my phone: nine am. Two hours to the ceremony. I got out of my room, and stood there by the corridor. A cool breeze was blowing. The mountains around looked really good, sun-bathed. The trees rustled. I got lost in thought again. Me and my cousins left my Gurgaon house thinking that we were going on a trip. A trip to relax for a week. But reality hit hard, and we got to know about our origin, and that were supposed to stay here to survive. Its not that Atlantis was bad, or the people here were. Everything here was nice, until now. But it was still not easy to take in. Our long lost parents, who we knew to be dead, were immortals, gods. I had no idea what we were supposed to do. We knew we had powers, but we had no idea how to use them. I had a book written by Mom for me, but I hadn't opened it. However, though I had no idea what would happen in the ceremony, I couldn't say I wasn't excited. Plus, I had my cousins with me in this. We were together, and as I said before, we made a great team.

I was thinking all this, and enjoying the breeze, when someone put a strong arm on my shoulder. I turned and found Dadai, with Abhro trotting behind him. "The brain still won't put on, huh?" Dadai asked.

"Its doing better. I had a long conversation with Tina last night." I said. By then, my sisters had also arrived. "Morning!" Riya said. She looked happy. If I had not known her, I would have thought she was taking this way better than I was. But I knew, if anything was troubling her, putting on a smile and enjoying the trouble was her favorite weapon, even more than creating waves.

Dadai was wearing a green-white checked shirt today, with jeans. Abhro was wearing the same thing as me (Uncle Sankalp had gifted us these merchandises on our birthdays). Riya was wearing a grey T-shirt, and jeans. Hiya was wearing black pants and a blue T-shirt. She looked to be in better condition than she was last night. Perhaps, she had tried to get her head around all the pandemonium. Abhro had been taking this well. He didn't feel bad about his Mom, perhaps, the most beautiful female known to mankind, leaving his Dad out of nowhere. He seemed to take things pretty well. He was living a childhood fantasy in real life.

Dadai looked at me with a surprise when he heard about my conversation with Tina last night. So, I had to tell the four about everything. I told them about Atlantis's history, Tina's desire to make friends, and, definitely, my dreams. They looked worried at the last part, but not much. "I seem to like this Tina. She seems helpful." Riya said. 

"We hope she stays that way. Who else do we know here?" Dadai said, "Iris? She's a goddess. And I don't exactly trust a god. The Queen, we barely know her. Neo, the satyr, seems too unimportant here. There might be more like him here."

And just then, Tina appeared out of the corner. I had played every single Tomb Raider game, from TR I to Shadow of the TR. And for a second there, I thought I had seen Lara Croft herself. Tina wore a sea-green T-shirt, the same metallic belt she wore last day when we met her for the first time, black finger-less gloves, and black shorts. Her hair was tied in a ponytail. She looked at us, smiled enthusiastically, and said, "Good morning, Chatterjee family."

"Morning, Tina." I said. My cousins repeated the same.

"You guys ready?" Tina asked, "Breakfast time in the palace is nine thirty."

"Yeah." Dadai said, "Lets go."

So, we followed our future trainer towards the royal dining hall.

The dining hall was another big hall. A huge table was placed in the middle of the hall, with almost fifty chairs around it. Here was the first time, I and my cousins saw the other demigods. At nine thirty, all of them came in the dining hall. They looked at us surprisingly, and were confused. Two of them gave Tina a questioning look. Tina mouthed to them, 'You'll know.' Soon, the Queen entered with Iris. She wore a crimson gown, her hair just as I had seen last night, her reddish skin shining. The goddess of rainbows was the one that raised my eyebrows. She had tied her hair into a ponytail, was wearing a green T-shirt and jeans. After we all took positions behind a chair, Iris sat first, followed by the Queen. Then, we all sat down to eat.

Breakfast contained French toast, and some fruits I hated. Tina had made me sit beside her. So, I was sitting between her and Dadai. I whispered to her, "Do we need to eat all of this?"

"No." she said, "You don't. The Queen hates these fruits herself."

"Is it the same dish everyday?" Dadai asked.

"No, no." Tina answered, "Dishes change in breakfast and lunch. At dinner, you are provided with the magic plates."

"What?" Dadai asked, wide eyed.

"All you need to do is say the name of the dish you want to eat." Tina smiled.

I was relieved at this. I mean, food is an integral part of my life. If you take it away, I don't know what I was born for in this world. Dad and I made so many experiments with cooking that it had improved my taste bud a lot, but still, the food needed to taste good. And, of course, I would like to have my favorite dishes from time to time, which were Italian, Mexican, Spanish, Indian, Chinese, basically from any part of the world.

And finally, at eleven am, the weirdest moment arrived. We were getting ready for the receiving ceremony.