Chapter #20 (Calm before the storm)
Isra laid awake, staring at the ceiling fan, which was struggling to spin. The last day had been extremely costly for her. She had somehow been lured into attending an impossible quest. And there were other matters that kept her awake as well.
The Sherjan's were struggling financially. They were never really well off, but now both parents had to pitch in, and still they would barely make ends meet. Isra's mother had a really tiring job. She was a seamstress and would sew local clothes. Her small singer machine, despite its crooked appearance and sheer old age, refused to give up like her mother.
Mr.Sherjan was a small business owner; they had a bakery. These days, due to some national crises, the bakery wasn't doing well and would soon go bankrupt. Despite everything, Isra had never seen Mr.Sherjan worried once, her father had taught her a million things, and each one of them was more valuable than any wealth one can accumulate. They were her treasures.
Isra was not an evil person, and neither were Miraaj or Haniya. They were extremely brilliant girls. Their parents loved them. Isra was just mischievous and an introvert. So she did not know when to properly exchange words or what words to use. Hence, she came off as some demon child incapable of emotions.
Outside her bedroom window, the rain was falling heavily on the steel roof of their makeshift greenhouse. As Isra kept staring at the struggling ceiling fan for a bit more, A tear rolled down her cheek. Mr. Sherjan really needed more money. She was seeing it happen. Soon the fan would stop working altogether, and they'd be in trouble again.
She sighed and got up. Isra felt extremely uneasy, and the burden of what would happen tomorrow was weighing on her. as well as other things. She needed to let it out to someone. So she was walking aimlessly around the house. It was her habit by now to stay up late.
Suddenly, her peripherals caught a glimpse of someone sitting on the sofa in the darkness. As she springily turned her neck to look, that someone smiled revealing beautiful set of teeth. Haniya was staring at her for God knows how much time.
"Troubled?" She said
Isra scoffed and kept walking.
"Even if I was, I would never tell you." She mumbled.
To this, Haniya asked her to sit beside her on the sofa, and Isra abided.
She waited for some wisdom-based nonsense or something teasing, but instead she got a hug. Haniya hugged her and kissed her head.
"Whatever it is, you're not alone in this." By this point, Isra had decided to sob instead of weeping silently. She hugged her back. This was an extremely uncalled-for gesture from Haniya. They would usually tease her and never pay her any attention.
As if hearing her thoughts
Haniya said
"It may seem like we tease you a lot, but we pay you a lot of attention. Isra, Miraaj, and I talk about you mostly and all the time. We know what is happening. We know about the bees. About the cat creature"
"How did you--" Haniya interrupted her.
As if slowly strining her thoughts apart Haniya then said
"I know you're worried about money. Don't worry, Isra; we will pull through this as we do every time."
Isra scoffed at her in the hug and asked her to stop quite literally reading her thoughts.
"Hanu, I have to tell you something." And then she told everything. Not omitting a single detail.
"I need to confirm something now, so will you do me a favor, Hanu?" Isra said this after completing her whole story.
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The rain pelted against the sunflower field like countless tiny needles of water. It was ferocious. Among the unrelenting storm stood two figures of yellow and crimson red. Two humans.
"#212!" Isra shouted loudly against the rain.
But the storm roared more loudly.
"#212, I NEED TO CONFIRM SOMETHING."
She knew that bees could not fly under rain, but after the last instance with the bees, She wasn't sure about their abilities anymore. To some extent, the bees of sunflower fields surpassed humans in a lot of ways.
They surely would've figured out something against the rain. And it was the only time to confirm something with #212 that she had forgotten to ask before. Depending on his answer, she would think of pulling out of the mission or not.
Isra kept calling #212, but to her avail, no one showed up. From the outskirts of the sunflower field rose a small white cotton ball. Diffusing slowly under the pelting rain, it sheepishly flew towards the girls.
"Oh, so you must be Qatan," Haniya said, looking at the fluffy cloud kitty.
"Yes, that is me. If you're here to attack the hive amid this heavy rain, I would totally advise against it. Queen Golden may be just, but she is also ruthless. And believe me, no amount of storm can stop that lunatic once she goes mad.
Isra kept looking at Qatan without saying anything.
"What?" Qatan spoke
Haniya answered instead.
"My little sister is too shy to talk to you, Qatan, so I'll do you both the favor and ask, Will there be any money in the quest? Like a lot of diamonds or gold. Things like these?"
Qatan was visibly shaken. He had not expected to hear something like this from them.
"Well.. Yes, the place where we're going In theory, you will attain something more than money. I can't say rest. But if money is your concern, Dont worry about it." He said calmly
"If thats all, I would love for you both to shoo away. Its my time to sleep, and I don't like to be disturbed in my sleep five times a night. Four times are okayish. I dont min-"
The girls had long departed at this point. Qatan realized that he was talking to himself. And he shied. Then he went back to sleep. Tomorrow they were going to go on a quest.