A Series of Aru Shah Oneshots

In the Chakora Forest

A/N So yeah, some more Aiden angst I wrote on a whim. It's set--you guessed it--in the chakora forest, when the Potatoes are paying for their moonlight translation in secrets. Enjoy!

The chakora birds turned their beady eyes on Aru. "Now your turn..."

Aiden noticed a change come over Aru. Her eyes widened and she wrapped her arms around herself. Suddenly she looked smaller, like she was shrinking into herself. She was afraid, he realized. It was strange, seeing Aru look so scared, so helpless, when normally she was as vivid as the sun.

The moment passed and Aru turned to Rudy, desperation snaking through her voice. "Give me the jewel you took from the eagle's beak."

"What?" his cousin said, bewildered.

"Now," Aru snapped, her eyes brittle like ice shards--able to break at any moment. Aiden wished there was some way he could help her, something he could say.

Rudy immediately pulled the tiny blue stone from his messenger's bag and handed it to her. She tossed it in front of the chakora elders. The moment the jewel hit the ground, the Sleeper's secret blasted across the grove.

Aiden found his gaze sliding to Aru. She'd turned away, hiding her face from the others. He knew the pain she was in; he'd felt it before. Why couldn't his dad care about him? Why had he left his mom? Was it Aiden's fault? He shook his head and watched the silver dust turn into a pile on the ground. The blue jewel floated back to Aru, who popped it into her pendant.

"Sneaky," he said, attempting to make the mood lighter.

"You know me," Aru said. But her voice was strangely toneless as she stared at her pendant.

"Surely we've paid for the translation by now," said Mini.

"I have no idea who Shirley is," sniffed one of the elder birds, "but I assure you I am not her."

"And yes," said another bird slowly. "Your secret was sufficient."

"Then tell us the clue," said Aru.

A greedy sheen came over the beady black eyes of the highest chakora. Its feathers fanned out, and it hopped down from its moonbeam. "I find it very curious," it said, pausing for dramatic effect, "that you are the secret another mortal used before."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think you know well, Arundhati."

How did this bird know Aru's name? He stole at a glance at her. She looked similarly confused.

The head chakora hopped over to its boulder and began pecking something Aiden hadn't noticed before--a nest full of shiny objects. "Arundhati, Arundhati," it sang. "Ah, yes! Here we are!"

It picked up a bright pebble with its beak, flung it out of the nest, and a new vision leaped up before the group.

The Sleeper flickered to life in front of them, walking through the chakora forest. He looked the same age, but his shoulders were hunched and his mismatched eyes looked haunted. His clothes seemed more frayed. He seemed exhausted, yet taut as a drawn bowstring.

"If you wish to pass through our lands and continue your search, you must give us a secret," chanted the birds in the vision.

"I've given enough," the Sleeper said hoarsely.

"But you've given nothing to us," said the birds.

The Sleeper inhaled, as though gathering his strength. "A secret..." He placed his hand over his heart and said, "My wife said I could pick our daughter's name, and I've found something I hope will suit her. I will name her Arundhati. For the morning star. So that my daughter will always be a light in the dark."

The vision faded.

"This secret belongs more to you than us, Arundhati."

The head chakora bird nudged the pebble into a splinter of moonlight, which lifted it from the ground and carried it over to Aru, lodging itself into the second hollow on her pendant. She looked utterly shaken. Her hands opened and closed at her sides as she closed her eyes.

Aiden looked at the ground. He had to say something. Aru was not alone in this, and she never would be. It made sense that she had been named for the morning star--she'd guided them through the darkest skies. She shone brilliantly for all of them. And what had he ever done for her except brush her off? He found himself moving closer to her.

"It's just a name, Shah."

She jerked and opened her eyes, looking slightly startled to see him there.

"I was named Aiden because my parents couldn't decide and picked something from the Internet."

"I got mine from my grandmother," Mini chimed in.

"Mine was chosen for its auspiciousness," said Rudy loftily.

Brynne grunted. "Well, my name literally means hill, and my mom chose it because I turned out to be a girl and she couldn't use the name Brian."

Aru looked up sharply, a trace of her old smirk tugging at her lips. "Brian? You would've been Brian?"

Aru laughed. "It's just a name," she said, mostly to herself. But Aiden noticed her shoulders were still tense. When he looked at the chakora birds again, anger rooted in his chest. They'd hurt Aru, quenched her fire. He would not forgive them for that. He was angry at himself, too, angry that he might have made her feel undervalued by brushing her off.

As Aiden looked at her again he could see where her name came from. Even in dark times, she shone brightly. She was pulling herself together for their sake, guiding them through every obstacle they faced. Aiden admired so much about her. But he wasn't sure how to communicate that to her. And where would he even begin? Maybe it's better to wait, he thought disconsolately. But he wasn't sure even he believed that anymore.