A.T: A Big shoutout to Pinkdoughnuts and Anonymous for reviewing! YOUR REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY...SHOW A GIRL SOME LOVE.
Saw Deadpool today. Needless to say... Freaking A.
Check it out as soon as possible! Possibly right now.
Damnit, I'm sleepy.
Don't own Hetalia. If you ever thought I did for a second...I don't know. Think about what you are if you did think that.
gamle mænd - Dan - Old men
Maya Orjena - Head Priest
Dy - Bel - Yes.
Chapter 15
"You drive well, Shree."
"Thank you, Matt," Shree grinned to Mathew, and turned back on the road.
Alfred, who was sitting next to Matt in the shotgun seat, turned from staring into the wilderness to staring at Shree. "How the hell did the two of you become best friends?"
"What do you mean?" Shree singsoned.
"Exactly my point. You sing for everything, you're perpetually cheerful, and the only time I've seen you relatively angry is when that demon came charging in and tried to get one on your best friend," Alfred said dryly. "You literally possess all the qualities which seem to irritate your friend if it were coming from anyone else, but not you. So...how?"
"Well, to tell you the truth," Shree said, "I wasn't like this when I met her. When we met, I was really shy."
"No kidding?" Alfred asked, surprised.
"Yeah. I used to hide behind Raj all the time, and never used to talk. Nat got me talking, actually," Shree admitted, "And her confidence about certain things is infectious. Stay around her long enough, and you'll develop enough self-confidence to know what it is that you want."
The two of them turned to Natalya, who was sleeping on Elizabeta's shoulder, who herself was balancing Gilbert's sleeping head on her other shoulder and sleeping through it all. Nat, it seemed, felt sleepy if she was in a moving vehicle - unless she was driving, she would sleep through entire journeys. Gilbert and Eliza had been studying the books they had gotten from the Shankha Mandira the entire night, and they'd been sleepy even through breakfast, their last meal on the ship that had ferried them from the island to the mainland.
"What kind of a person is the head of the House of Bell?" Matt asked.
"He's nice," Shree mouthed conspiratorially, and laughed softly. "He's a nice guy. He's a bit loud and has a tendency to be a very hard worker when it suits him. But he's very knowledgeable, being the Head of an academic House" -
"What's the difference?"
"Hmm?" Shree darted a look at Alfred.
"What's the difference? Between an academic House and a warrior House? You guys seem to know all these incantations already. What difference does it make?"
Shree thought for a while, then smiled. "Well, it does seem that way, doesn't it? I'll just assume this is based on your interactions with Nat and me, and people associated to us, like Om and Raj to me, and Katyusha to her."
"Even that gun toting trigger happy priest"-
Shree laughed loudly. "You've met Basch and Lili? Wonderful. It makes sense now. Okay, so, because your introduction into our world is through Nat, it would seem that there isn't much difference between the Houses. But you must remember that Nat is a Deputy, and therefore you would get to meet people of her rank, or of higher ranks than her, if I'm not wrong, like the Head of the House. If the ranking system of the Houses were to be applied to us at the Shankha Mandira, then I guess I, too would be a Deputy."
Shree took a turn around the bend, and after ascertaining the road ahead was mostly a straight path, turned her attention to them. "Okay, so, from what I understand, you've only spoken properly to people of Nat's rank, or of ranks higher than Nat - well, actually, there's only one rank higher than hers, and that's the Head of the House. Then there's Om, but that's a long story. Anyways, you haven't really spoken to anyone below Nat's rank - there are quite a number of ranks below hers, and then there are the students. That's because what the members of the House are usually taught is different from what the topmost three ranks are taught - that's the House Head, the Deputy and the Deputy's student. Exclude these three ranks from whatever I say next.
"In Warrior Disciplines, they are taught how to fight, the kind of weapons to make to fight beings from other Realms, and the part of the scriptures concerned with offense and defense. Sometimes, where weapons cannot work, such incantations work.
"In case of Academic Houses...okay, before that, I have to tell you about our Scriptures. It is a set of connected works, which used to be previously passed down orally, but were finally compiled. It contained the information about the worlds before this one...basically, it's a huge deal. The sages who received this work during their intense meditation became the founders of a new order, now which we call as the Shankha Mandira.
"As time went on, the works were compiled, and to make the Scriptures simpler to understand, eight sages wrote commentaries on the Scriptures, and taught the Scriptures to the people through these commentaries. These commentaries were about the same thing, but approached the Scriptures in eight different ways. The eight sages gained disciples, and thus, the eight Houses were born.
"The Scripture divides itself into three parts - two parts dealing with rituals and one part dealing with the knowledge of the world, Realms and of ourselves. Uniformly, the third part is taught to all Houses. The difference is in which ritualistic part they take.
"One deals with dealing with activities in the other Realm through physical means - that is, by going to other Realms in flesh. This ritualistic part is taught in Warrior Houses. In Academic Houses, the second ritualistic part is taught, where their impact on other Realms is not physical, but through their spiritual powers. More importantly, in Academic Houses, they also deal with day-to-day situations, and they are also trained as to what to do if there are situations within the Realm itself. For example, if there is a birthing of a child, you call a priest from an Academic House. If there is need for an exorcism, you call a priest from a Warrior House. If there's a marriage, you approach the Academic House. And if someone dies, you call both Houses - the Warrior House will do the rituals necessary for the moda's safe passage into the next birth, and the Academic House will do the rituals necessary for keeping the moda of the deceased at rest and for helping the family members cope with sorrow. Do you follow me till now?"
Matt nodded. "I read about this in one of the books you gave me."
Alfred frowned. "I kinda follow you, but it'll take me a while to process. Still, continue."
"Okay. The difference between the first three ranks I told you about and the rest of the House is that all members of these three ranks from all Houses are taught the entire Scripture, regardless of which House they're from. There is a certain amount of preference given to the specific rituals of their House, of course, but for the most part, they're all taught the entire Scripture. The future House Heads and the Students of Deputies all take part in a five year course in an institution called the...well, translated, it's called the Academy. And it is usually always on one of the islands of the Shankha Mandira. That's where Nat and I became roommates, during her course as a Student of Deputy, and mine as Om's extension into the world."
Both Matt and Alfred opened their mouths into 'o's, and nodded to each other in understanding. "Makes sense now," Alfred said.
"So the three ranks you mentioned know as much as you do," Matt said.
"We're all brought to the same level in five years. After that, what we do with that knowledge depends on our circumstances," Shree said. "Is it a right or a left, further ahead?"
Matt peered into the map. "Left," he said.
Shree smiled. "And here we go," she singsoned as she made the turn. "Can you see the temple from here?"
Alfred stuck his head out of the window. "Yeah. Another ten minutes."
"Any unpleasantness you may witness," Shree warned them as Alfred took his head back in, "do not be a part of it. Trust me, you'll get sucked into something you don't even want to know."
Shree drove on. As the three of them watched, a huge wall came into view, almost thirty feet into the air, built of stone having a metallic sheen. The doors were enormous, with gold trims and chocolate-brown paneling, but the door wasn't the same height as the wall - instead, it came up to around twenty feet, and above it was a hole in the wall, separated from the door by a layer of stone. And in that hole stood a huge, majestic bell.
"Quite an elaborate doorbell," Alfred commented, and Shree laughed. "It's their sign. They take a lot of pride in it, and they consider the bell to be their messenger to God. Plus, it's made of a special kind of bronze - its ring is supposed to have healing properties. I, personally, have seen it happen," Shree said, and stopped the car in front of the door. Matt and Alfred peered at it through the windshield, and found the familiar marks that seemed to adorn every inch of space of the temples they'd been to by then.
At an oddly familiar sound, they turned to see Shree blowing into a huge, rather elaborate conch. The sound was...soothing, oddly. Behind them, the three asleep stirred, Nat waking up first.
The bell rung, and Alfred and Matt looked at each other in surprise. The sound...it was surreal. Alfred felt his heartbeat through the sound of the bell, and felt his blood pressure drop. Matt, on the other hand, felt his heart quicken at the sound of the bell.
Shree lowered the counch from her mouth, and fixed it at her hip. The doors before them swung slowly inwards, opening out a large courtyard. Shree drove into the temple, and stopped in the middle of the courtyard. "You guys get down here. I'll join you in a bit."
All of them climbed out of the car, and watched Shree drive away. Gilbert stretched and yawned. "An awesome nap for an awesome me."
"Yeah, if a nap is six hours long," Alfred said. "You didn't even get up when we stopped for a break."
"You guys stopped?" Eliza asked, and chuckled sheepishly. "I guess I was out cold."
Nat looked around distastefully, and grimaced, not paying any attention to them.
"Hey, priestess, don't look so sour," Alfred called out. Nat just snarled at him, and went back to grimacing at everything she saw.
"Okay," Alfred said, and shrugged to Matt. "Oh look, someone's coming," he muttered, and only Matt heard. He turned, and saw a man walking towards them, with purple eyes and platinum blond hair. He wore a brown overcoat which reached his knees, and the rest of his legs were covered in brown pants. He wore black slippers which were made of a material Matt couldn't identify, and the cuff of his red shirt peeked out from the top of his coat.
"Is that a male Natalya?" Alfred whispered, and Matt chuckled. "Idiot," he whispered, and moved aside when a hand brushed his arm. Natalya walked past him, and they watched the silver haired man smile at Nat. "Welcome, Priestess Arlovskaya."
"There's no need to be so formal," Nat said back, and they could sense the smile in her voice as well.
"Hello, Natalya. How was your trip?"
"I have no idea," she replied. "I slept through the whole trip. How are you, Emil?"
"I am fine. It's been too long, Natalya."
Nat nodded. "It has. Emil, these are my friends," she said, and turned around to include the rest of them. "This is" -
"Hey. I'm Alfred Williams," Alfred said. "How do you do?"
"Hello. I'm Mathew Williams. Thank you for having us here," Matt said.
"I'm Elizabeta Herdevary," Eliza said, bowing slightly. "And this is"-
"The awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt!" Gilbert yelled, and dodged Eliza's pan before it connected with his skull. He jumped right back up and yelled louder, "The awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt!"
"How does someone manage to be louder than Mathias?" a voice came from behind them, and they turned to see another man, with blond hair shorter than Emil and an inverted cross pinning a portion of his hair away from his face. He wore the same clothes as Emil, but was much taller than him, and wore a cap over his head.
"You're just in time to meet such people. How are you, Lukas?"
"Oh, Natalya. Hello," the young man said, thinly veiled astonishment in his voice.
"Surprised to see her? Hey, Luke," Shree said popping up from behind Nat.
Luke smiled at the sight of Shree. Emil had come and stood next to Shree, and he was grinning as well. "Shree! How long it has been!" he said, moving forward and clasping Shree's hands.
"You look well, Luke. You too, Emil," Shree smiled at both of them.
"Why do I smell a demon in the air?"
Alfred's hackles rose without warning, and all of them turned to a tall man with spiky blond hair, who was casually ambling towards them. "Never thought the day would come when I'd see you in the House of Bell, Natalya. Not that I'm complaining, of course," the man continued, "but I can't keep quiet when you get a demon along with you into my home."
"The only demon here is you, you mudak," Nat said in quiet contempt.
"Nat, easy," Shree said softly, and turned to the man, who was easily two heads taller than herself, and almost the same height as Alfred. "Hello, Mathias. Or do I have to use your formal name?"
"I'm always Mathias to you, Shree," the man said, his blue eyes twinkling. "And I'm always Mathias to you, too, Natalya. You look well."
Nat just turned her face away, to which Shree said warningly, "Nat..."
"You look well, too," Nat snapped off bitterly.
"Well, that wasn't so hard now, right?" Mathias said cheerfully. "And who do we have here?"
"How about we discuss that in private?" Shree responded equally cheerfully.
"Not until I know why I feel a demon in my presence."
"Maybe you're finally showing your true colours," Nat muttered.
"Nat," Shree chided, and Nat sighed. "We're here for a night's rest. We leave tomorrow morning. We need to reach Sendurst. The rest of it is in here," she said, pulling out a letter from the bag over her shoulder. "Now would you mind extending the courtesy you pride yourself over?"
"Don't be difficult, Natalya. I would hope we've left the past in the past," Mathias said as he went over the contents of the letter Nat had given him. "And as usual, Katyusha is...informative - oh, look, a post script from Duruni," Mathias said, surprised. He frowned as he read the contents, and scanned them again. He tapped the letter twice, closed his eyes and lowered it. When he opened his eyes, they were cheerful again.
"I guess we can accommodate them in To-your room, Natalya," he said, regret and sorrow instantly filling his eyes. "I'm really sorry for your loss."
Nat just nodded, the venom from her face gone. "We've left the past...in the past, Køhler," the words shuddered out of Nat. "I shall give a full report, but in private...like Shree said."
"Well, then, why don't we head to the quarters, then? Where's your luggage?"
Nat looked up, suddenly remembering their luggage. Shree rested her hand reassuringly on Nat's shoulder. "I had someone take care of it."
"Well, I guess I must introduce myself, then," Mathias said, and turned to the troop. "Good evening, all of you. I am Mathias Køhler, Head Priest of the House of Bell. These are my deputies, Emil Steinsson and Lukas Bondevik, brothers by blood and and by choosing. Welcome to this humble temple."
"How are there two Deputies here? I mean, I don't know all that well about how things go here, but..." Eliza asked, growing shy under Mathias's gaze. Wow, he was handsome - what with that wild blond hair and drooping blue eyes...if he wasn't a priest, there were a lot of things Eliza could think of him being, all of which weren't too far away from what was considered as sin in her religion.
He smiled lazily at her, and she had a feeling he knew what kind of effect he had on people. "Well, you are right. It's an exception - they both are equals, and they both qualified to be Deputies. So..." he said, and turned to Shree. "You've really grown since the last time I saw you. Especially your hair."
Shree laughed. "Yeah. Decided that I should really stop looking like...Alfred, what's the word?"
"Which word?"
"The word you used for that teenager on the ship."
"Oh. Punk."
"A punk," Shree chuckled, and turned to see Nat walking away with everyone except the two of them, Emil and Lukas.
"Natalya has...grown," Emil noted quietly as he reached Shree's side, and Lukas reached Mathais's.
"I didn't recognize her when I first saw her, truth be told," Shree confessed sheepishly. "She's given up whatever remnants of child-like innocence she had after...you know."
"He died a year ago, Shree," Mathias said matter-of-factly. "I know it isn't long enough to lessen the pain she has, but it is long enough for her to accept it, and for us to do so, too. We can't keep skirting around the subject just to pacify her - we're babying her if nothing else, and there's no sense in doing so."
"It's not like she'll not talk about it, Mathias," Shree interjected, "it's just that...see, whenever the topic comes, her face just...falls. And I don't know about others, but when that happens in front of me, I don't have the heart to tell her anything more or ask her anything more."
"That does make sense," Mathias said, and kept quiet for a while. "Does that demon have anything to do with what he was doing before he died?"
"He isn't a demon, firstly," Shree corrected, "and the demon's stuck inside him. Neither of them asked for it, really. But it so happens that the demon was what drew the previous Deputy to Fitzgerald, and Nat just picked up from where he...left off."
"Fitzgerald," Lukas mused. "So that's what was nagging me. They're his sons."
"Yes. They're lovely people, Alfred and Matt," Shree said, looking at their receding backs. Feeling Mathias's intense gaze on her, she looked up and asked, "What?"
"Who's got your interest?"
"Heh?" Shree asked.
"Never mind," Mathias said, looking back up. "I think I know."
"Tell me! What do you mean?" Shree whined, grabbing hold of Mathias's arm.
"I'm not telling you, but I think you'll understand soon enough," Mathias said, and winked at her.
Shree pushed him away, and mock-pouted. "I don't like you very much."
"Oh, Shree," Mathias said, sticking his hands into his pocket, "You love me and I know it."
"So that's how it is," Mathias mused. His two Deputies were by his side, and the six of them sat before him. "It's rather complicated, if you ask me," he said, chuckling sheepishly. "Seems like trouble comes finding you, Natalya."
Nat didn't respond, and looked pointedly away from him.
"But, Nat, you're really lucky that it's me you have to deal with. If it was any of the gamle mænd, they would have kicked you out long" -
"I don't think the House of Bell can risk enraging the House of Wheel" -
"Not if they're defending themselves from a demon" -
"Don't say that again, mudak," Nat growled. He is not a demon."
"You're not in a position to order maya orjena around, Natalya," Lukas said quietly.
"I prefer ordering around than making idle threats," Nat replied just as quietly.
"I know from experience that none of her threats are empty ones," Mathias said smiling. "But why are you so defensive of him not being a demon?" he asked with seeming casualness, but Nat and Shree weren't fooled at all.
"Natalya..." Emil began, "you have been with these people for a very long time, so your senses might have gotten accustomed to them. But if you remind yourself of the feeling you got on the first day you met Mr Alfred, you may - no, will - understand how we're feeling right now."
Nat kept herself from snarling at Emil just because she knew he was right. Emil was always the voice of reason - she and Mathias had clashed multiple times, and while Lukas was always defending Mathias, Emil was best at putting things into perspective. It was one of the many reasons she respected Emil and found it in her to be courteous to him.
And she saw what Emil meant - Alfred's aura to a spiritually tuned person presented not only danger, but also highly powerful demonic energy. What Emil wasn't correct about was her getting used to Alfred's energy - she could sense him the easiest in a room full of people, and he was the first person she would spot in any crowd.
Nat, however, had a feeling that those things had nothing to do with Alfred's demonic presence at all. Instead...
She refused to think about it. Whatever it was, she got the point Emil was trying to make.
The first day she met Alfred...how many months had it been? Six? Seven? She had no freaking clue. And sometimes, if she closed her eyes, she could fool herself into forgetting why she was here and what she was doing with these people. But it would never last long enough.
"Where are you going next?" Mathias asked.
"I told you" -
"I mean after Sendurst," Mathias interrupted.
"Chalasky," Nat said.
"To install an idol again?"
"Dy," Nat replied.
"I have a suggestion to make. You may take it or leave it, as you wish."
Nat had a biting reply at the tip of her tongue with regards to what he could do with his suggestion, but she felt Shree's gaze on her, and sighed.
"What is it?" Mathias asked her with a gentleness she knew he was capable of.
"It's easy to forget my present position when I'm surrounded by faces of the past," Nat said, and looked up at him. "What is your suggestion?"
"Stay here a while longer" -
"I cannot do that" -
"Natalya! Do not show disrespect!" Lukas warned.
"You've got a problem with me, Bondevik?" Nat growled dangerously.
"Ooh! A fight!" Mathias yelled excitedly, forgetting his position there altogether.
"Nat! Luke!" Shree yelled at them pleadingly, but Nat's hand was already over the butt of her gun, and Lukas's hand was gripping the end of his sword.
"Fight! Fight!" Mathias chanted happily, banging his fists to his knees, and watched curiously, his chanting reducing in decibels as Alfred rose and walked towards Nat. He stopped at her side in such a way that while she could still see Lukas and he in now way blocked her vision, his face was right next to her, facing hers.
"Natalya," he whispered. "I don't know what your beef is with them, but I'll tell you this. And you won't be able to stop me once I've started, even if you stop just to do that."
His words shocked Nat right out of her belligerence. Her eyes slowly moved over her friends - except for the silent plea in Shree's eyes, the rest of them all looked ready to attack whoever Natalya took a strike at.
Nat's own words reverberated in her head - It's easy to forget my present position when I'm surrounded by faces of the past. But Nat hadn't the luxury to forget her present position.
She was no longer in the Academy, where all of them were on an equal standing, where all of them were students. Now, they were out of the Academy, and Nat was no longer a Deputy's Student, under the protection of a Deputy. She was a Deputy now, and Mathias Køhler, for all her animosity towards him, was the Head Priest of a House, and there was a code of conduct that needed to be followed.
And she would be damned to hell before she let her behaviour reflect on the people who brought her up and made her who she was.
Nat relaxed, and looked at Alfred. If he wasn't there...she looked into those brilliant blue eyes. He might have been locked away from the world for many years, but he had a wisdom that Nat sometimes felt she didn't have, or she would never have. And somehow...he was always there. They all were.
And it had been a very long time since she felt that thought cross her mind.
She looked into his eyes, and he seemed to understand. With a slight tilt of the head to acknowledge her decision, he turned and sat back down in his place.
Nat sat down, and felt her companions relax. She turned to Mathias. "I'm being very unprofessional, aren't I?" she said, a slight smile on her lips. "I'm very sorry to both the Deputies and Orya marjena for my inexcusable beha" -
"Hey, hey, Natalya. No need to be like that," Mathias reassured.
"Honestly, you need to do something about those mood swings of yours," Lukas grinned, sitting back in his seat.
"Drop it, Luke," Shree warned. "Accept graciousness graciously."
Lukas just shook his head as if to say 'Whatever', and said nothing.
"You were saying something about a suggestion?" Shree reminded Mathias, who had clearly been trying to recollect what he had been talking about.
"Yes! My suggestion. Thank you, Shree," he said. "Okay. I have two suggestions. First, stay a bit longer. Why you should is mostly connected to my second suggestion. So, I would mostly say it is one suggestion. Shree, you were trying to communicate with the demon within this young man?"
Shree ignored Alfred grumbling about how they must have been of the same age, and looked at Mathias. "Yes. I am teaching Alfred how to communicate with the demon as well."
"Good. Then find out which Realm the demon is from. Why that is" -
- "is connected to your second suggestion. Which is?" Nat asked, her characteristic dryness entering her voice.
"Visit a certain Warrior House on your way to Chalasky. If you stay here for a while, Shree can concentrate on teaching Mr Alfred to communicate with his demon, and I can send a letter to the temple. By then, I'm sure Shree can find out which Realm the demon is from. Since it's a warrior House, they will have records of the different Realms and you can figure out what the best plan of action is then on, with some help from the members of the temple. Otherwise, you could always go ahead with installing the idols in the manner Duruni has told you" -
"Which House is this?" Nat said.
"It's a temple, around fifty miles from Chalasky" -
"Which. House. Is. It?" Nat gritted between her teeth.
"This might make you slightly nostalgic" -
"Mathias," Nat ground out.
"Alright, Alright. I'm talking about the House of Flame."
The rest of them watched as both Shree and Nat snapped to attention.
"Ther temple is affiliated to the House of flame. It's rather small, but you can stay there for a while before you move to Chalasky. And if you stay here for a while, I can send the letter to get the right man to help you with...this."
"And who is that?" Nat asked, tense.
"Ivan Braginsky."
A.T.: *Drum roll*
Finally, we're at this part.
I was really planning to get a little bit PruHun into this, since I've been neglecting it for far too long, but right now, I'm at the stage where the plot isn't moving at a fast enough pace for me, but I don't want to miss out on the details. So, PruHun, and the history between Mathias and Nat next chappie. And you may get to see Ivan Braginsky, aka Russia (you never know *wink wink*)
It's been quite a week. I realised commuting from home to college is not going to happen, and I'll have to stay in the Hostel itself. It's been quite hectic, and I'm glad I'm on my one-chapter-a-week routine.
And I plan to spice things up next chappie, but not the pairing you think. I'll let you guess out that one.
All of you who haven't seen Psycho Pass or Nodmane Cantabile - GO WATCH IT. It's awesome.
I can't keep my eyes anymore. I'm going to upload this, and hit the sack.
All my love,
R. K. Iris.
P.S.: I'm sorry about the chapters getting smaller and smaller. I'll do something about it, I promise.