A/N: So. No one answered my question, so I will pose it again. How do you picture me?! I mean, if you think of me as a faceless, writing robot, that's not very flattering, but whatever floats you boat, I guess. Anywho. I'm updating within three months, I believe, and the next chapter should be coming out soon. Ish. You never know with me :). Things get more exciting here, so I totally need your feedback! R&R! PLEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAASEEEEEEEEE!
As we walk through the hall, Ren and Kishan occasionally make sharp turns, following the scent that only they can detect. Nilima, Sunil, and I follow in silence, keeping an eye out for any surprises. Eventually, we reach the end, at which there is an enormous door. There seems to be a handprint for me, but Ren is against me opening the door.
"Kells, we have no idea what is behind that door," he protests.
"Yes, we do. It is the way to our son, whose safety places high above mine. He has no defenses. I can take care of myself," I reply.
"But Kells-"
"No," I say finally. "I'm opening the door."
As I cross to the door, my palm begins to tingle, as if Phet's magic can sense something important is close. I take a deep breath and fit my hand in the impression. The door shimmers and slowly slides open, and all us can only stare.
~TR~
The room is large, glittering, and intimidating. Of course, it is most likely intimidating as there is a man-sized monkey sitting in an enormous golden throne at one end and there are several other monkeys placed around the room, like servants. The monkey on the throne is a light blonde color with streaks of white twisting around the crown of his head and down through his whole body. He is wearing a jade colored sherwani coat, like Ren's at our wedding. The throne was heavily coated in gold, and there are hundreds of tendrils rising from the back of the throne that curl around the seat and arms, giving the impression that the throne was grown right out of the ground. Hanuman slowly turns his head around toward us, and Ren stiffens beside me. The monkey, Hanuman, I assume, slowly stalks toward us and looks Ren and Kishan up and down.
He says something in Hindi, and I curse myself for not having Ren teach me more.
"I would appreciate it if we could converse in English," Ren says coolly.
"And why might that be?" Hanuman says in lilting English.
"My wife," Ren says as he pulls me into his side, "isn't quite fluent in Hindi and I would prefer it if she were able to understand us."
Hanuman suddenly takes an interest in me. "Yes," he says slowly. "I've heard much about you, Kelsey Hayes Rajaram. Although, I must admit, I was expecting you to be Indian, or at least Asian. Like Ms. Nilima here."
I swallow thickly. "I thought the same thing when I was told of my role in the brothers' lives. But I do believe that I did my best with the tasks and we broke the curse, so I fulfilled my duties."
Hanuman smiles. "And yet here you are again. But I'm being rude. I am Hanuman, and this is my kingdom! I was given an item by the Goddess herself to protect until the right people came along, she said, and she gave me the rules to find the right people. The first test was one of love and loyalty. When the drawbridge dropped, Dhiren pushed Kelsey out of the way. I was told that all the men in the group will do anything for their partner, and Dhiren proved that. The second test was that of cunning. You found the way to break the drawbridge. The only thing in any dimension that can break it is the gada, so kudos to you in that regard. You also found the door. The third test was one of power. It was simply Kelsey's ability to open the door with the Henna tattoo. These were not difficult," he says, voicing my thoughts.
"It is the fourth test that will call for forethought and strength. One of you must fight me, and win. You may choose your representative, but you shall only get one chance. If I win, you must turn and leave, failing your quest for the Book."
"Wait!" I shout, the cry torn from my lips. "I want my son."
Hanuman's lip curls cruelly. "Ah, yes. The child. Nik, you call him? That shall be your incentive. He is no longer here-" he says, and Ren's face contorts into fury.
"No. That is unacceptable. We will get our son back before we agree to anything else."
Hanuman growls. "You dare to question me? So be it. You shall be my opponent."
"No!" I cry.
"Silence!" Hanuman barks. "Your insolence has cost you your choices. Your son has been sent to the Silivanae," here I relax, "but he will not be returned to you unless you win my game," he says with an evil glint in his eye as my heart breaks.
"Please," I beg. "We have already lost one child. My son is not even a year old yet. He needs his parents."
Hanuman turns away. "You have one day to prepare. I shall station a servant outside your quarters in case you have need of anything from food to weapons to the battle. Atani!" he calls across the throne room. A chestnut colored monkey clothed in a purple dress clips across the throne room and comes to a stop about three feet from the "monkey king".
"Take these five to the guest wing," he says. "Stay at the door of the wing and follow their every command, save escaping, accessing my collections, and retrieving their son," Hanuman orders.
Atani shrieked and motioned for us to follow her. Hanuman nodded at Kishan's questioning glance. "She will understand any language, but she does not have the capability to speak."
Sunil, holding Nilima's hand, follows Atani. I look at Ren, and even though I can tell he is furious, he takes my hand and follows them anyways. Kishan falls in line behind us, and we steam to our rooms.
~TR~
The rooms were beautiful, but we couldn't enjoy them, for obvious reasons. Ren is lounging on the bed that could fit two full sized vans parked on top of it, and I am curled into his side. Kishan is pacing across the floor in front of us, and Sunil and Nilima are quietly talking in the other room.
"Alright," Kishan says. "From what I remember, Hanuman is a kung fu master, and proficient enough in other styles, but I would bet my life that you are better at wushu."
I smile, thinking of the Oregon wushu studio, and quickly sober, recalling the cause of the conversation.
"Well, I'm not sure I would go that far," Ren says seriously, though he appears to be asleep. "He is a god, after all."
"Mortals have things wrong," Kishan says, still pacing. "We immortals are portrayed as all-knowing and infinitely powerful beings, but we are really more like most-knowing and very powerful beings. Sure, we can outlast most mortals in a fight, but Lokesh was 'very powerful' and look where he is. And Ren isn't 'most mortals'. He could overpower nearly anyone on Earth, especially if he uses the tiger. If he uses a combination of wushu and the tiger, he should beat Hanuman relatively easily. Especially with Ren's added incentive," he finishes.
"I'm not letting anyone take my son," Ren says sternly, even though he still looks asleep.
"What are you doing Ren?" I ask curiously. "You don't seem furious at all."
"I'm meditating," he answers shortly.
"Oh," I say, quickly scooting away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you."
"No," Ren says, his hand darting out to capture my waist. "You help me focus. Just stay still," he asks.
I rest my head on his chest. "Alright. Is this okay?"
"That's perfect," he says, and I feel his heart beating into a steady rhythm, lulling me into sleep.
~TR~
When I wake up, Kishan has a simple breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon set out, so I prepare myself a plate, and then look around for Ren.
"Where is he?" I ask Kishan. "And Sunil and Nilima, for that matter."
"Ren is looking at weapons, to see if there is anything he thinks could give him an advantage. Sunil and Nilima are looking around this wing for any surprises." Then, seeing the look on my face, he says, "Kells, Nilima is probably a better fighter than you are when you don't have the Gifts, and Sunil was a general in an army. I'm sure they can handle themselves."
"I know, I know. I just worry because she hasn't been as exposed to this as we have. Sunil too, for that matter. It's irrational, but I like to think I deal with it better than Ren does," I say with a wry smile.
"What do you do better than I do?" Ren asks as he comes through the door.
"Deal with irrational worry," I say as I reach up on my tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. "Did you find anything interesting?"
"Not particularly. But I thought about using the Fruit and Scarf. That isn't against the rules, is it?" he suggests.
"Not that I know of," Kishan say thoughtfully. "What do we have to lose?"
"My son," Ren says, the deadly fury that I know and don't really love coming into his voice.
"Well, technically, he won't ever die. And the Silvanae will take care of him," Kishan says.
"But he is ours," Ren says, voicing my thoughts. "I don't know what you think of your children, but I will do whatever it takes to get him back."
Kishan backtracks very quickly. "That's not what I meant. I just meant that even if you lose, Nik will be fine, so it isn't worth the risk to do anything to bring on Hanuman's temper, because if anything is constant with the gods, it is a terrible temper," he explains.
"Kishan, I agree with Ren. We do whatever it takes to get our son back," I say seriously. "And I mean whatever. Even if it requires our interference. I can use the amulet to distract Hanuman, and Ren can do his best," I decide.
"No way. No way, no way, no way," Kishan says decisively. "I know we have to get Nik back. I know. But it will do him no good to have his parents definitely die instead of a fifty-fifty chance of being reunited with his parents or staying with a group of people who will love him as their own. As long as we play by the rules, Nik will be fine. So we play by the rules and do our best to get him back," Kishan says. "We have another few hours to prepare, so I will go train with Ren."
"Alright," I say dubiously. "Ren?"
"I don't like it. But I won't risk Anik's life, obviously. I suppose this is our best shot," he says. "Come on, Kishan. I'm sure there's a training room here somewhere."
"I'll go with you. I can fight, too, you know," I say.
Ren smiles. "Rajkumari, I know you can, but you aren't as good as Kishan, and I can't fight you. We figured that out in Oregon," he says, softly touching my cheek.
"Fine," I say, melted by his charm. "But I still want to watch."
"That's fine. Bring the gifts, though."
"Okay," I say, bringing his head down to mine to kiss him gently. "Wait for me."
As I walk away, I can hear Kishan teasing Ren, and I realize how glad I am that Kishan has returned. Even through the arguing, I can tell the Ren is thrilled to have his brother back, and that he would be much more stressed if Kishan wasn't here. Of course, Ren would be much more stressed if we weren't married with a son and Kishan was here, but Ren is more secure in our relationship now, as am I.
I wind the Scarf and Rope together and tie them around my waist. The Scarf turns to an iridescent cobalt blue and gold. I smile at our family's colors, and brush my fingers over the lotus on my necklace that Ren gave me at our wedding as I fasten the Necklace around my neck. I cup the warm, leathery, golden flesh of the Fruit and I recall the tension between my Ren and I during the first quest.
As I walk back to half of my boys, I realize how easily we could slip back into existing with our world existing of only the three of us. We would all miss Mr. Kadam, but those memories have lost their sadness and have left their sweet remembrance. And Ren and I would miss Nik... and suddenly, I can't breathe. I hadn't thought of losing Nik as a concrete possibility, and I now know that I would never be able to function if I lost him. My breaths come in shaky gasps and I kneel down on the ground.
"Kelsey!" I hear Ren shout. The sobs come out gasping and trembling, and Ren strokes my back, on his knees next to me. "Iadala, what's wrong?"
"Nik," I choke out. "We might never see him again," I manage to stammer.
"Shh, priyatama," he soothes, rocking me back and forth. "I will get him back. I promise you, sundari."
"But Ren," I moan. "We already lost one child. "How can we be asked to lose another, on that we have cared for for nearly a year. It's not fair!" I sob into his shirt.
"When have these ever been fair, Kelsey? I know that it is unfair. I know that we lost so much the first four times, and I think we need o get used to the idea of not being treated fairly for the rest of our lives. We could be called into duty at any point, apparently, by Durga, and I don't think you will ever say no," Ren says, softly kissing my head. "I will do everything in my power to get our son back, you know that."
"I know," I say, my sobs starting to subside a little. "It just... hit me. I was thinking about how easily we slipped back into our group of three, and I thought that we could go back to that and that if we lost Nik, I would eventually remember him fondly instead of crying every time I think of him, and then I realized... I wouldn't. I would think of him every day, and it would never get easier, just like if I... lost you. I will cry every time I think of him, and I will think of him with every breath I take. It will never go away," I cry, the tears coming back.
"Kelsey," Ren says softly. I can't look at him. "Kelsey," he says more forcefully. I look at him, and he cups my face in his hands, trying to shelter me from unimaginable harm, but I know that that is impossible. "We have not lost him yet. I will get our son back. You know that. The love I have for him is only comparable to the love I have for you, and you know how far I will go for you. Let me fight for our family."
I sniff, and turn my head to kiss his palm. "I know," I say as I smile weakly. "I will."
"Good," he says as he kisses my nose softly. "Now let me train with Kishan. I don't want to lose to a monkey," he says lightly, though the humor doesn't penetrate the sea of loss in his eyes.