Maahir was pushing the scooty as hard as possible, with his tongue out and dregs of perspiration falling relentlessly on the black leather seat. A few inches behind these drops was seated a black, furry dog, also with it's tongue out and clearly enjoying the slow ride on his bike. Beside the scooty was a girl in her very early twenties whistling and sauntering cheerfully with no care in the world.
"Janvi?" said he, for the second time and yet got no reply.
"Janvi!" cried he this time.
She started and looked at him.
"What?"
"Don't what me. Why the fuck is your dog riding on my scooty?!"
"Oh, that" replied she in a matter-of-fact tone, "He got tired of waking under mid sun for such a long time. So, I let him ride on your backseat. It was free anyway. And don't call him dog. He has got a name."
"If I had known that dog was going to come with us, I wouldn't have brought my scooty in the first place. If he can't walk a few kilometers, you should have left him in the beach."
"No, I can't!" said she and hugged it melodramatically, troubling his balance, "Quiroshi is like my brother."
"It looks more like you are his sister. Now, you got only two choices. Either get him down or push the scooty yourself."
She made a face and got Quiroshi down. He let out a melancholic whine like he was suffering.
"Don't act you stupid dog! You should have no problem walking since you got double the legs I have!"
Janvi muttered something to herself and started walking. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived in front of a large grey gate. The watchman opened it after Maahir showed his ID. It looked like a colony. He parked his scooty beside the cars in front and pocketed the key. Janvi patted Quiroshi, ordered him to guard the scooty till they returned and followed Maahir.
The houses looked normal and the inside of the colony was amazingly calm and silent, in contrast to the busy main road outside. The only sound that echoed belonged to the kids playing at the far end. The entire sides were filled with herbs and trees. Maahir turned at the second street.
"What is this place?" asked she.
"Government quarters," said he, unlatching the bolt of a particular gate, "Reserved for Trixy. Even though Trixy is fundamentally a non governmental organization, we do missions for the government. We don't directly serve them but get benefitted by doing certain tasks for them. This quarters is one such benefit."
"This is your house?," asked she, climbing the stairs to the second floor.
"No, my colleague's. I live in Shenma with my parents."
He rang the bell and shouted, "Nancy! It's me! Open the door already."
The door opened just a few inches, with the chain still tethered. A pair of brown eyes popped up and scanned them. Then abruptly the door flew open and a girl sprang at Maahir, hugging him like a teddy bear. She was short, highing only up to his shoulders and appeared like a doll, fair toned with bronze hair and bright round eyes.
"Maahir!" she cried, leaving him.
"Is she your colleague?" asked Janvi, rather shocked.
"No, my colleague's sister. She is doing a degree in Dandiar University."
"Who is this?" asked Nancy, focusing Janvi, "Oh, crap! Come inside first. Let's talk later."
"She is a friend of mine," said he as Janvi bolted the door behind them.
"Hello," said Nancy.
"Hello."
"Let me get coffee for you both. Sit on the sofa."
The house wasn't conspicuous, even by Janvi's standards. The living room had been furnished only with a television and a sofa set. It opened into three other rooms on the three sides, a bedroom, kitchen and a toilet.
The wall had been embellished with just two photos. One had two kids standing beside a tree, who looked like siblings. The brother was putting her arms around his younger sister but looked funnily shy with that and was staring at the other side. The other photo had the same siblings but both had grown up and were grinning like idiots in a beach. A real house felt surreal to Janvi, who hadn't entered a home for years. The air felt full of them.
Maahir pulled a pouch of chocolates and gave it to Nancy, who seemed to receive them modestly since Janvi was there.
"Thanks," said Janvi, getting the cup from Nancy. She was trembling vigorously. A calm uneasiness was gripping her.
"Stop trembling and sit down, Jane," said Maahir, "An earthquake is the last thing that Vinpur wants."
She stopped shivering and smile weakly, sitting on the sofa. Nancy took her eyes off her as soon as she realized she had been staring at her.
"Yeah," said Nancy, signing to the muted television, "Vinpur has got enough problems on it's own."
The news channel was running a flash news about a murder on the Hill road the previous night. A college student had been decapacitated while riding home in his bike.
"Don't pay any heed to that," said Maahir, sipping his coffee, "Crimes are common here as you should already know. It's actually rare for a day to pass without some sort of crime happening. With great powers do come greater problems."
He placed the empty cup on the table. "I have a favour to ask, Nancy."
She raised her brows and eyed Janvi for a second, "That's odd of you."
"Yeah, but you see, I'm planning to recruit her into Trixy."
Nancy spattered the tea and tapped her head vehemently. Janvi, turned scarlet in embarrassment and her fervour shiver started once again.
"What's her atrial ability?" asked Nancy, regaining her composure.
"That's where I thought you would help us out," said he, winking at Jane, "Nancy is doing a bachelors degree in Atrial Sciences, you know. She basically knows a lot of stuff we commoners don't. A living library, she is."
"Enough flattering. But you don't know her ability and yet want to recruit her?"
"Apparently, she can talk to animals."
That one sentence caused dramatic change in Nancy's demeanour.
"An Anima!" cried she, visibly turning bright and her eyes twinkling like stars. She bent forward and cupped Janvi's face before stretching her cheeks and advancing to examine her all parts of body. "I can't believe I'm seeing a live Anima. They are incredibly rare. What is your name?"
"Ja-anvi," said she, definitely not liking getting her armpits poked.
"Stop that, Nancy. Don't scare her."
"Oops, sorry," said she, getting back to her seat.
"So, that's her ability, after all, huh?" said he, rubbing his brows, "I thought it would be a side effect of something else."
"No, as far as I know, that's all. What were you doing before, Janvi?"
Janvi blinked vaguely.
"I mean, for a livelihood."
"She was a beach vendor," answered Maahir, "She had not had any secondary education but knows how to read and write. She doesn't even know what a third eye is. Believe me, I am going to have a hard time to convince Chief to even consider her."
She chuckled. "Anima can talk with organisms that lack the sixth sense but are often highly specific. What kind of animals can you talk to?"
"Mmm.. It's not like I have experimented or anything. Pretty much anything that can walk, I guess."
"Whoa! That's awesome. You have a much broader spectrum. I should use you as a specimen for one of my projects."
"I thought you already possessed more than enough specimens, Nancy."
"She could be the specimen for the third term of my sixth year."
"But your course is for four years."
"Oops, I forgot," said she, patting the back of her head, "Looks like you'll have give up on being my specimen in this life, Janvi."
"Hmm.. Thanks."
"You are supposed to say 'No thanks' there. Well, it's not your fault you didn't learn English thoroughly," said she, taking all the cups and saucers to the kitchen.
"I'm pretty sure she meant thanks. Anyway, can you atleast lend your bath and some of your clothes."
"Oh, sure," said she, nearly toppling the saucers, "Let's take a bath together, Janvi."
Quarter an hour later, the two damsels had entered the waters naked, one humming cheerfully and the other trembling vigorously. Nancy turned open the shower and began massaging her head.
"You can use the bath," said she, "Don't feel shy."
Jane went slowly into the bathtub, rather reluctantly at first and positioned herself like a buddhivista underwater.
"Nancy?"
"Yeah, that's my name," said she and viewed her from a corner.
"Is it really not funny to have this – this what you call ability?"
"Atrial abilities? No, though it's not as common as in the west, it has ceased to be considered strange. In Uthagai, four out of ten have awakened their third eye. And other countries in the east mostly have a lower rate than us. But not all atrial abilities end up in military. Some are really trivial."
"So, what about mine?"
She opened her eyes and jumped into the bath, splashing the water.
"That is not something I could say. It's rarity is legendary but I don't think it will be of much use in combat. Still it should have got it's own advantages and uses. There must be things only you can do. Exploring it will be your job. You are the one who can learn about you completely. But it looks like Maahir has already got some plans for you, though I doubt you will get recruited into Trixy so easily."
"But I don't clearly understand what this Trixy is."
"Let's see," dragged she looking at the ceiling, "Trixy is like a magical guild where people go on adventures."
Janvi went dubious. Just what in the world was this Trixy?
"But Maahir told me Trixy is a police like organization that functions independent of the government."
"Did he now? Maybe it looks like that to him. Tell me what it looks like to you, after you join too, okay?"
"Err…Okay."
Nancy started humming again as Janvi immersed herself more into the hot water.
"Um, Nancy?"
"What?"
"What is your atrial ability?"
Nancy chuckled.
"Did I ask something one shouldn't?"
"More like one doesn't, especially in your line of work."
"My line of work?"
"Yeah. While working at Trixy, you might face battles. In atrial battles, identification of the opponent's atrial ability often becomes the key factor for victory. So, people tend to keep it secret."
"Oh."
"But mine is not suited for combat, so no problem. That doesn't mean I'm going to give up. I am gonna join Trixy, no matter what."
Janvi looked surprised. "You too want to join Trixy?"
"Yep," said she, showing a V sign and grinning, "Wait and see. I'm going to become the analyst of Squad 5."
"We will be waiting!" yelled a voice from outside.
"Oops, I shouted," said Nancy and clicked her tongue.
Jane too laughed.
"You see, my atrial ability allows me to have inhuman brain speed. My neurons of brain work way faster than normal and as a result I sometimes look like a mini computer."
"Mini computer?"
"Like I can tell what is nineteen thousand four fifty five multiplied into sixteen thousands six twenty four in a matter of seconds."
"And what-"
"It's 323419920."
"Wow, that's awesome. I can't even add them in that time. You will easily get into Trixy, I say."