aru shah fan fiction

love: f o u r

     "Hey Aiden?" Aru asked. 

     An hour had passed and the two friends were still wandering around the forest, looking for the "wise woman" Hanuman had told them about. 

     Aru had begun to lose hope. The only thing keeping her going was Aiden. His hand still hadn't left her's. She liked the feeling a lot. 

     "What is it?" Aiden replied.

     Aru pointed at a nearby tree. "Am I the only one seeing this?"

     Aiden squinted at said tree. His eyebrows furrowed. 

     In the middle of the tree, the Hindi word for "sacrifice" was etched in the bark.

     "Another illusion?" Aru wondered out loud.

     "That is not an illusion child," a raspy voice stated.

     Aru and Aiden, both to their disliking, let go of each other's hands and grabbed their weapons.  Behind them, an old woman stood with her hands clasped in front of her. She looked extremely frail. Her wrinkly skin looked like a brown paper bag. Her wispy, gray hair tumbled around her shoulders. A red sari hung over her small, skinny frame. She looked like your typical grandmother that shares stories and knits scarves. 

     "Who are you?" Aiden asked.

     "I am the Buddhila of course," the old woman said. "Why have you come to the forest, children?"

     Aru and Aiden exchanged wary glances. Could this be the wise woman Hanuman was talking about? 

     Aru quickly searched her brain for her limited Indian knowledge. She knew Buddha meant wise and hila meant woman. Buddhila. Wise woman. 

     But there's no hut, Aru thought. Hanuman said there would be a hut, right?

     "How come you don't live in a hut?" Aru blurted out. 

     The old woman stared at Aru. "Bah! All this 'hut' nonsense. That is a rumor, child. However, I am not a rumor. I am the wise woman. The Buddhila. So I ask you again, children, why have you come into the forest?"

     Aru and Aiden looked at each other and read each other's eyes, having a silent conversation. It went something like this:

     Aru: Do we tell her?

     Aiden: We should tell her. Hanuman said she might be able to help us. 

     Aru: But what if he was wrong? Hanuman told us there would be a hut, but there is no hut.

     Aiden: Aru, Hanuman said there's a rumor that there is a hut. Rumors aren't exactly reliable, are they? Pay attention Shah.

     Aru: Shut up. And for the record, I was paying attention. 

     Aiden: You're impossible. Just tell her.

     Aru: No, you tell her. It was your idea after all.

     Aiden: *sigh* Why are you like this, Shah?

     Aru:  >:) Stubbornness. 

     Aiden glared at her and turned to the Buddhila. 

     "We came into the forest looking for knowledge," he said. "Our friends have been taken by a monster we have to defeat, but we don't even know what it is. We asked the gods if they knew, but even they didn't know.  One of the gods told us that you might be able to tell us what took them."