The emblem of the Ranti clan was engraved at the base of the handle of the hand mirror. There's no mistake that the mirror was from her mother. The goddess that asked for Noraya's mother's help is no other than queen Alteya, her mother.
The question was, what did she do to the human world? Why did she ask for human help? Noraya mentioned earlier about a medicine, what was the drug for?
She hid the excitement that made her heart beats faster from Noraya.
"See, there's nothing extraordinary about it. I am not even sure if this was made of gold." Noraya snapped her back from her thinking.
"What do you mean? This is not gold?" she asked Noraya with a puzzled look on her face. She was confident that the handle and the frame were made of gold.
"I tried selling it to Aunt Medina, but she did not want to buy it. She said it's fake, and it is not rare." Noraya pouted and sighed. She set the mirror on the bedside table and laid down to her bed.
Her brows creased. Aunt Medina refused to take the mirror? But why? The piece was made of pure gold. Same as the gold that was used on her bangle that she willingly paid for one hundred thousand! Something was not right; she can strongly feel it.
She looked at Noraya, who's already lying down on her bed. "Did this goddess never mentioned her name?"
Noraya rolled her eyes again. "Here comes this too many questions again!" she sighed. "I can not really remember it anymore. Now, go to sleep." She shooed her away and turned her back to her.
She sighed. "That's sad." She sadly whispered, intentionally letting Noraya hear her disappointed tone.
"Okay, I will try to remember." Noraya lazily said to her and closed her eyes. She does not know why she has to do it when she heard the sad tone in Macrena's voice. This woman was making her fall for her charms.
She smiled. She just realized that Noraya could be easily swayed if she acts childish around her. She slowly climbed down her bed and went to her bed.
Now she was sure that her dream was right; she must know what the reason was. She couldn't think of anyone who might be able to answer her questions except Lord Mokabe. Besides, Lord Mokabe was also there in her dream.
She made a long sigh and decided that when Noraya is in a good mood, she will tell her the truth. She might be able to remember something from her mother's story about what kind of medicine or what kind of help did queen Alteya asked Kandela. Noraya might remember something from her mother's story.
One more question that was bothering her was the refusal of Aunt Medina to buy the mirror. Why did she told Noraya that the piece was fake? Did she saw the emblem in the mirror? Now that she thinks about it, she asked her what's the meaning of the symbol in her bangle. Does she know something? And also, the jadeite jewelry she saw in her store, it really looked familiar to her.
She did not notice how long did she let her questions float on her head before she finally fell asleep.
-----
It's been a week since they had a conversation about the goddess who visited Noraya's mother and the mirror. The shop was lucky enough that during the whole week, it received clients. Noraya was so ecstatic entertaining her clients, some are old, and some are new ones. She did not want to interrupt Noraya, especially that she was in a good mood the whole week, so she did not bring up the topic.
The whole week passed, but Macrena was always bothered about her mother's visit to the human world and the mirror. She also feels anxious about how to communicate with Lord Mokabe. She has been in the human world for three weeks.
That Friday, they were expecting a client. According to Noraya, the client belongs to a prominent family in the city. She was a regular client of her mother before. It was only now that the client is coming back to the shop after her mother died.
She can tell that Noraya was feeling nervous about this client. She was pacing back and forth in the small back room.
"Noraya, can you please calm down. You're making me dizzy." She tried to calm her, who was still making circles around the room.
Noraya grabbed a cushion from the sofa and flopped her body. "I am just worried that I might not meet her expectations of me. I am not my mother, you know." She lamented.
"We do not know what she needed yet. Besides, you're good at your job." She consoled her. She learned that it was her first time to see a regular of her late mother.
When her mother died, none of her regular clients come back to the shop. Noraya was feeling the pressure to keep up with her mother now that an old regular came back.
"You will be good." She assured her. "I will help if you want to." She volunteered. Since she can read minds, she might be able to tell Noraya about the concern of the woman beforehand.
She has been helping Noraya in the shop. Prepares the room and initial consultation before Noraya sees the clients. By then, she already figured what their needs and what are their concerns. So far, their teamwork was doing well and attracted few new clients over the week.
The door in the receiving area opened. They immediately stood up and went to the receiving area. A woman in her mid-sixties, dressed in an elegant branded dress, was standing in the middle of the room.
"Hello, Mrs. Harvey, how are you?" Noraya nervously greeted the older woman who was busily looking around the room.
The woman looked at Noraya and smiled. "So, you are Kandela's daughter?"
Contrary to what they were expecting, the older woman was pleasant towards them. She returned their greetings and answered them thoroughly. She even agreed for her to stay with them in the consultation room as Noraya's apprentice.
"I am here to ask for your help with my second son."
"What about your son?" Noraya asked while she shuffles the tarot card in her hands.
She was seated a little behind Noraya, observing the woman across the table.
Mrs. Harvey was looking for her son, who has been missing for the past two months already.
"He was on a hunting trip with his friends in Kenora District. The police were still clueless about what happened to him." Mrs. Harvey's teary-eyed story.
Macrena suddenly felt a familiarity with the story of Mrs. Harvey's story. She can not pinpoint it to herself, but she had the feeling that what happened to Mrs. Harvey's son was connected to what had happened to her before in the forest of fireflies in Akijam. The very reason why she was sitting there now in the human world.
"Your son is alive," Noraya said when she flipped the last card Mrs. Harvey picked.
"Alive?!" shocked by what she heard, Mrs. Harvey held Noraya's hand.
Noraya nodded. "My senses were telling me that he is alive, even the cards says, he is alive."
"But where is he?"
"I really do not know what happened to him, but one thing is for sure, he is still alive," Noraya concluded. Even Noraya could not read on her cards what exactly happened, but her reading does not indicate that the man has died.
Macrena, who was listening to Noraya's reading, could not believe her ears. If Mrs. Harvey's son happens to be the man that she accidentally hit with her magic, according to Noraya's reading, he is alive. Then there is no reason for her to be punished. Unless someone who intended for her to be punished.
She couldn't hold her curiosity anymore. "Excuse me, Mrs. Harvey," she softly asked, making the two women looked at her.
Noraya looked at her eyes with questioning eyes. She ignored her and looked at Mrs. Harvey. "Do you happen to have a photo of your son?"
Mrs. Harvey creased her eyebrows for a moment, but she took out her phone and started scrolling on her photo gallery. "This is him." She showed a photo of a man in his mid-thirties wearing a white medical gown.
Macrena gasp for air when she saw the photo of the man. Her pulse doubled in rate. 'This is the man!' her mind was screaming that this was the man she hit with her magic!
With the two women looking at her, she controlled herself and calmed her breathing. "And his body was not found around the area?" she calmly asked.
She noticed how Noraya looked at her with suspicion.
Mrs. Harvey nodded in response to her question waiting for her to say something.
Before she spoke again, she looked at Noraya. Noraya's eyes were wider than the usual and trying to relay to her 'what the hell are doing?' question.
"Do you know the place where he last visited before he went missing?"
Mrs. Harvey nodded again.
"Mrs. Harvey, can you please give the address of the place. I would like to visit it."
Noraya's mouth fell open. Her eyes went bigger, threatening to jump out of its socket. She kicked Macrena's foot underneath the table. 'What the hell is she doing?'
Macrena was fully aware of Noraya's action. She can clearly hear her mind swearing at her, but she ignored it and took the paper where Mrs. Harvey wrote the address of the place she asked.
"We will find out what really happened to him, and if we are lucky, we'll be able to see him too," she told Mrs. Harvey, who's mood was already lightened up by her words.
The older woman gave them a considerable tip before she left the shop.
"What the hell was that?!" Noraya snapped the moment she closed the door after Mrs. Harvey. She couldn't believe that Macrena will just interrupt at her session and made an unnecessary promise about finding out what happened to Mrs. Harvey's son. She couldn't help but feel a little angry at her.
She calmly looked at her. Her heart was calmer than earlier now. The moment she was sure that Mrs. Harvey's son was the man she accidentally hit with her magic, she decided to tell everything to Noraya and determined to find what really happened to the man. Her instinct was telling her that something was not right about the situation on that day. Her magic hit the man but was not able to kill him.
She knew Noraya was upset at her, but her determination was making her brave to tell her about the truth now. Besides, she can not find any excuse to say to her about what she just said to Mrs. Harvey.
"If you calm down a little, I would be glad to tell you everything you need to know." She looked at her in the eyes, matching her accusing eyes with calmness.
Noraya was startled at Macrena's words and reaction towards her. She thought Macrena would back down at her when she saw her getting angry like she usually does, but this time she boldly looked straight to her eyes and spoke as cold as ice.
She had never seen Macrena interfered with her work for the past week. This is the first time. She felt annoyed when she suddenly interrupted her session with Mrs. Harvey. That was the first time she felt like this towards her.
"I apologize if you felt that you were interrupted in your session with Mrs. Harvey. I have my reasons. If you are ready to hear them." Reading Noraya's mind, she softly spoke. She was aware that she went overboard, but she needed to confirm if her intuition was right about Mrs. Harvey's son.
Her action might result in her getting kicked out from Noraya's place, but she will have to think about it later. For now, she hoped that Noraya would listen to her and believe what she will have to say.
Noraya sat at the sofa, letting out a long sigh. Macrena can clearly read her mind. "Alright, tell me everything that I need to know."
Macrena sat down across Noraya, "Ask me."