Walking towards my hut, my heart palpitation rose arrhythmically. I have brought girls home before and introduced them to my family. But this time, I wasn't sure if I wanted to kiss the girl or kill her. Her posture screamed superiority, and her words were often blunt, and rude. Nonetheless, I was curious about her.
Why had the bandits kidnapped a lowly peasant like her? What was their intention? What did they need from her? Why was she acting like she was above everyone else? Was she aristocratic? Then why would she lie to me about her standing in the social hierarchy?
A swirl of questions arose as I glanced at her in my arms. She had fallen asleep, but I didn't mind. Most women don't trust men too quickly.
Women are cats; no matter how much milk you feed, they will look at you inquisitively, with some skepticism the next time you feed them. Men, on the other hand, will wag their tails like dogs years after you gained their trust.
This girl was different. I could say that much.
"Dheeran?" Tara, my youngest sister, and the youngest of the house, asked. "What are you doing here so early? Weren't you supposed to come home in the evening?"
I stepped away from the shadows of the trees, revealing the girl in my arms. Tara scrunched her nose. "And who is she?" Her gaze drifted to the clot of blood on Ayra's arm. "Is she okay?"
"Bandits attacked. She's hurt. Can you get ma?"
Tara nodded, and ran to the small garden in the back of the hut. "Ma!" She screamed as she sprinted.
I set the girl down on the veranda of the house, and waited for my mother to come running. As expected, my mother hurried with unwashed hands, her fingers dirty from gardening. She dusted her hands off on her saree, rushing towards the unconscious girl.
"What happened?"
"Bandits attacked." I repeated. "She got hurt."
"Are you alright?" My mother fussed over me, touching my cheeks and examining me for any injuries. I gently pushed her away from me.
"I'm alright. Help her."
She gave me a stink eye, and returned her full attention to Ayra. My mother's gaze fell on her blood-clotted elbow, and she gasped. The dhoti has fallen apart. "Infection." My mother simply said, getting to work. She asked Tara to grab some herbs from our kitchen, and set to work. I watched her with fascination. I've always wanted to be like her; resourceful with whatever she had, and empathetic.
Except, no one could be as patient and quick-thinking like my mother. It was a talent I couldn't clone.
"I think she fainted." She said. I clenched my hand. Her soft pulses; I should've realized earlier that she wasn't sleeping. "Tara, bring some water."
My little sister skipped into the hut, bringing water in a copper jug. My mother splattered the water over Ayra's face, sprinkling it gently. Ayra fluttered her eyes open momentarily, gazing up at us confusedly. "Ayra, this is my ma, the healer I told you about."
Ayra made a O with her mouth, looking at my mother. She tried to sit up, but my mother pushed her back on the hard veranda floor. "Rest. You've gone through much, by the looks of it."
Ayra smiled. "Thank you for helping me. It is very kind of you." She told my mother.
"If I may ask, what happened in the forest?" She was looking at me, when she asked the question, but it was directed at Ayra.
"I was kidnapped. I didn't know what for, but they tied me up in a tree. I heard the men talking about getting back to me after ravaging the village for new recruits and anything of value."
My mother gasped. "Oh, nothing happened to you, right?"
"I was trained— I mean, I know my way with ropes, so I untied myself," Ayra's cheeks reddened, "I fell on top of the man who your son was fighting." She still doesn't know my name.
"Oh, so you saved my brother!" Tara giggled. I squinted my eyes at her, and hit the back of her head for embarrassing me.
"Dheera, What did I say about hitting your sisters?" My mother scolded.
I threw my head back in exasperation, and sighed. "Treat women with respect." I murmured.
"That's right. Now, apologize to Tara." Tara gave me a sly smile. My head automatically turned towards Ayra, Who was watching the interaction with amusement dancing in her eyes.
"I'm sorry." I grit out, clenching my jaw.
My mother's lips quirked up. "You should get back to work. Who knows what the Lord will do when he realizes you skipped!"
"It's useless now, mother. It will be noon by the time I get there, and I will need to come back early to welcome Mithilli's prospective suitor. I'll go to the Lord first thing in the morning and explain everything."
Mother sighed. "Well, I pray that he will understand. With Mithilli's marriage coming up, we can't afford for you to lose your job."
Ayra perked up beside me, lying on her back. I didn't know her true status, but she must know how hard it is to find a job in the fields.
It took me weeks of pacifying Lord Aryan to give me the opportunity to work in his fields. Even then, Madhava and I were begging him for months, until we realized that the work already had a long line of unemployed men and women rooting for it. Finally, through constant pestering, my best friend and I attained the position of dragging the oxen to plow the field. After ploughing, we usually had the pleasure of padding the earth with our bare feet and then re-transplanting the wheat saplings to space them out. It was hard, working in knee-deep manure and mud, but it paid well, and it kept my family fairly well-fed; and that was all I needed.
"I hope he does." I mutter.
"Well, then. You should keep yourself occupied. I'll take care of our guest, and you can tend to the house. Your father and your brothers are carefree, ripping apart the straw as slow as snails. Go supervise them, or they will never finish it in time for the groom's arrival."
I huffed. Why were women always ordering me around? "Fine."
As much as I would love to rest right now, I really wanted the house to look ship-shape by the time Mithilli's suitor got here. It would be very embarrassing if we seemed of lower status than we already were.
I strode towards the garden in the back and found a mess. My father and my brothers were sitting on a pile of dried straw, ripping it apart with nonchalance. They were all laughing, and smiling, unconcerned that the suitor might show up within a few hours. I was more like my mother; we both loved to have fun, but only after our tasks are finished. When we had a job to do, our full attention was casted towards it first.
"You all should be ashamed of yourselves." I joked with a smile on my face. All three of them stopped laughing, and turned their attention towards me. "We don't want to be looking poorer when the groom's side gets here, do we?"
"C'mon!" The twins whined. "You're such a buzz-kill." Charan and Karan were both ten years old, but they were quite clever for their age. I was prideful, that they achieved more at school than I ever managed to do in their age; nonetheless, their immaturity had always scared me. If something happens to me, they will have to take care of the house.
My father had lost his legs in the recent war with the Western kingdom, and mother and I made the income to feed all seven of us. Sometimes, mother had no patients, and it would be harder to buy food. Nonetheless, ma always scolded me that I shouldn't wish someone pain to quench my own thirst.
"You two can play later. Now, let's get to work."
They all gave me pouts and whined some more, but I wasn't paying heed to them. I set to work, instructing with the knotting of the straw and the placement. Once the roof was finished, we set to work on the bottom, layering cow dung on top of the wall. The dung was great insulation during the summer, when the sun stung on our backs with heat. After the dung dried, and the garden was immaculate with well-spaced flowers, herbs, and vegetables, we set out to help the ladies with their cooking.
Tara and Mithilli were already done, and was storing the food in pots that my father had made in his free time. "Well, that gives us some time to play, right?" Karan asked. He was giving me that look, with his big brown eyes and pouty lips, I couldn't resist saying no.
"You still have to clean up." I told them. Their faces fell. "But," I dragged, "Why don't you go to the lake and play with your friends for awhile?" They're smiles returned quickly, bobbing their heads up and down. "You have to promise to come back before sun-down, though. Can you do that?"
They hugged me, and quickly ran out of the house, free of chores for the rest of the day. "You handled them well." Ayra's voice startled me. I turned to see her in a green saree, her face, which was once dull and brown with dirt, was now fairer, but she looked...plain. Like the rest of us. It was quite startling to see another woman in my house.
I was of marrying age, my mother had said. She had asked me if I wanted to marry, but with the house in it's current state, adding one more mouth to feed would be like harboring disaster upon ourselves.
I cleared my throat. "How are you feeling now?" I asked her.
She limped closer towards me, invading my personal space. "I feel nice...now that they washed all that dirt off me."
"My mother helped?" My gaze traveled to her elbow, which now bore a new set of my bandages—my mother's old saree cut up into makeshift gauze.
"She's quite good at nursing, it seems."
"She is." I was already bored of our talk. I had a million things to do, and she was stealing my precious time. "Well, I'll be off now. I have to go get some things from the market."
Ayra smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She felt...fake. I knew she was lying to me through her perfect teeth, but she truly looked like a helpless woman. I couldn't leave her like that in the forest. I'm not heartless to not aid those in need.
"Oh yes." She said. "I must be disrupting you—yet again." She giggled. But what for, I had no clue. What was so funny about what's she had said?
Women are strange creatures.
"Okay then." I said, taking my leave. I ducked under the threshold and met the sun staring right into my eyes. My mother was sitting in the veranda, where Ayra had laid unconscious a few hours ago.
"You said you needed to go to the market. What did you need?" I asked.
"Oh, thank god you reminded me." She said, placing a hand on her forehead. "We need some eggs. And milk. Bargain with them, or they might fool you." She added. She brought me closer to her. "Take Ayra with you."
I scrunched my eyebrows together. "Why?"
"Arey, just do what you're told for once, will you?" When I looked at her with confusion, she sighed. "She's very beautiful. We don't want the groom to be taken with her, do we?"
"Ma, she's as plain as a rock. Don't worry about it. Mithilli is a hundred times more prettier than that girl."
She hit my head. "Never mind. You're either blind, or you must not have confessed her beauty to yourself." Was my mother playing matchmaker? "Just take her with you. She said she doesn't remember anything other than the fact that she comes from the palace. It must be because she fell from that tree; she must've hit her head on the way down. She will be living with us until she retrieves her memory, so buy her the things she needs."
"Living with us?! Ma, we can barely keep up each month with all the expenses, and now you want—
"I know. We need a hand when Mithilli goes to her new house. Trust me, she will be of use. Now, do what you're told and go to the market with Ayra."
I inhaled deeply. I hated to argue with my mother. Plus, it was impossible to win with her.
"Fine." Was my simple reply.
Women are strange creatures, indeed.