Translation/pronounciation note
Loung Por (pronounced Loo-ng Pah) means heavenly father. A term used when to address monks respectfully.
Chapter 15
Pranee couldn't help but stare at the strange bowl that Shashi had been toying with all morning. It had a thick purple-looking liquid and the bowl was heavily decorated with foreign symbols.
"What's that for?" She asked wearily.
"To solve our door issue hopefully. Anyways, sorry about the interruption. We should be good to go now."
Pranee eyed the staff. Shashi was reusing the cloth bags they had received at the market and had filled it with the banana leaf packages. The bags barely contained the items and Pranee could tell a few would spill out the moment they began flying.
"Are you sure that it'll be okay?"
"The bags are held in place by magic so the food should stay in place by extension. If it was just a flying stick, I don't think we would stay on that thing."
"It's not just a flying stick?"
"Shut up and get on."
She couldn't help but giggle and she stepped on the staff to stand behind Shashi. Shashi stiffened and turn their head to look at her.
"You're riding in the back today?"
"The first two times I didn't have a choice. I want to see if riding this way is better or not." Pranee wrapped her arms around Shashi as usual, making sure she was holding on tight.
"Okay?" Shashi seemed confused but ultimately let it go.
It probably didn't make a difference to them on where Pranee stood. She didn't want to worry about her hair constantly while she rode in the front. She could just hold her head against Shashi's shoulder and fix her hair quickly once she got off.
They took off into the air and this time Pranee allowed herself to take in the view. The world seemed so small from where they were. The animals and trees looked so small that it reminded her of miniature figures she would see her brother make when they were younger.
What really caught her attention was a pristine white building surrounded by clear water and solid white statues. She couldn't make out the details from the sky but she couldn't take her eyes away from it.
"Ohooooo," Pranee exclaimed. "That's so beautiful."
"We'll have to land now and walk there ourselves."
"Huh? We can't land near there?"
"No. Temples have their own magic. If we get too close, my magic would be nullified and we'll find ourselves falling to our deaths."
"Ah okay."
"That means we'll have to carry the bags as well."
"That's fine."
"You may have to be carrying more than me."
"Ahh... it won't take too long right?" Pranee asked nervously.
"It shouldn't be."
"I'll do my best then."
They landed away from the temple and on a deserted road. There weren't many people in the area and there was only a lonely building. It looked like it was a restaurant. Pranee could barely read the faded words on the wooden plank that hung in front of the entrance.
"Come on, we're pretty close and I don't want the food to spoil. It's especially hot today."
"Okay, okay."
Shashi was able to get the bags to be evenly divided on both ends of their staff to be easily carried. Pranee hesitated before carefully lifting the staff and putting it on her shoulders. She made sure to grip the staff with both hands to prevent it from falling. Shashi seemed to have been able to expand their bag to carry more items than usual. It looked lighter than what Pranee had to carry but she wasn't complaining.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," Pranee gasped. "Let's get going."
By the time they reached the temple, Pranee's back was aching and she could barely walk another step.
"We're here. Do you think you'll be able to carry it to the main hall?"
"I-I don't know."
"We can take a rest here. There's a sitting area near here."
Pranee nodded and took a few steps towards the nearby bench. She collapsed on it and Shashi followed her lead. She laid the staff beside them and was gasping for breath. She was hunched over with her arms on her legs and she could only stare at the ground.
"I'll go see if there's water around here. Just stay here and rest, alright?"
Pranee nodded and Shashi left to find water. After some time, she lifted her head and her breath was taken away again. The temple was way more beautiful than what she had seen from afar. Words couldn't even describe the beauty of the temple. The designs of flames that usually decorated temples were more intricate and detailed, lined with silver. There were two statues of giants standing in front of the bridge with what seemed to be decorative elephant tusks on each side. Pranee wondered how often they had to clean the temple to keep it so white.
But then she looked down.
There was a shallow pit underneath the bridge area where white statues of hands reached for the sky. Almost as if they were trying to crawl and escape from the depths. There were even some statues with begging bowls in their hands.
The hands looked so realistic. It was almost scary.
"Pranee."
Shashi stood there with a brass bowl balanced on their head with water. Pranee's eyes went wide and she stared at them wordlessly.
"A little help, please? The monk just put the bowl on my head and I don't know how to put it down."
Pranee got to her feet and carefully took the bowl off their head. They exhaled.
"How did you come all this way like this?"
"This is not the first time he did this."
"You know the monk here?"
Shashi sighed and tilted their head to the side. "You could say that."
"Oh? What's this? My child brought home a girlfriend?"
Pranee turned her head towards the new voice and saw an older man dressed in orange-beige robes and his head was cleanly shaved. He had gold eyes that were just as piercing as Shashi's but his facial features were gentler and rounder than theirs.
"Pa, please. We're only here to pay our respects." Shashi said as they dropped to a kneel.
Pranee looked between the two of them with wide eyes before following Shashi's lead and kneeling. She pressed her hands together and bowed her head.
"Luang Por, Shashi is your child?"
The monk chuckled. "Yes, but we can talk more in the main area. It's not good to kneel here."
He turned to leave and Pranee looked over to Shashi who was averting their gaze from hers. She waited for them to explain but they didn't give any indication that they wanted to explain.
"We should take the food with us too."
"O-oh. Okay."
It seemed that Pranee will be the only one talking to the monk today.
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A/N: Here's an image of the white temple in Thailand from when I visited my family in Thailand a few years ago. I took it as inspiration for the temple in this story and hope you find it just as beautiful as I did. (Also it was packed with tourists so I, unfortunately, couldn't get a shot without people.)