The woman was seething with anger at Arella's carelessness.
Arella was flabbergasted, but she maintained a calm front. And very receptively, slightly turned her gaze to look at the helpers behind her.
All of them shrugged their shoulders. They too, did not know anything about such a rule.
Finding a little comfort, she sighed a bit. At least, she was not alone. Her helpers were equally unaware of the rule.
"Honey, calm down! She is from the newer generation. Nobody told them about it." The man held the woman's hand tightly and soothingly told her.
"Lady, I apologize on behalf of her. We, the cat clan, treat our forefathers with divine devotion. To disregard their rules is considered a felony." The man tried to smoothen the things in between them.
"Honey, don't be mad. She doesn't know. We can go in and tell her about it. And we also have to thank her for taking care of our son. Be kind to her. She is our benefactor." The man spoke softly to the woman.
"Okay." The woman held her son's hand and walked towards the barrier. And then the man followed. All of them stepped inside the barrier without any inconvenience.
Looking at the smooth entry, the helpers and Arella became alert. They knew that non malignant spirits could cross the barrier. But the barrier still posed some restrictions to the entrants. Such a smooth transition was unprecedented. They didn't even frown! Who were they?
"Don't worry. This barrier was built by my family's ancestors. It doesn't oppose me. Also, thanks to the Lady's invitation, it no longer treats us as threats." The woman was back to normal. It appeared as if the woman who rebuked her and the person who explained things were two different people altogether!
Aerlla was digesting the information. So, if she invited someone in, the barrier won't treat that beast as a threat and thus would allow a swift symbiosis?
"Yes. That is right." The man spoke out of nowhere.
Horrified, Arella looked at the man. Did he just read her thoughts?
"Yes. Sorry for startling you. Can we sit?" The man spoke lightly.
'Yes, yes, please. I mean all of you, please sit down." Arella started acting like a good host. Irrespective of the situation, these were her first guests! She had to treat them nicely.
"Please bring snacks and drinks." She turned back and spoke to the cook.
The table in the grassland was enough to accommodate four people. All of them sat down. The cleaner and the gardener went away but were still in proximity. Their madam was the most important. They couldn't let anything happen to her.
"About that, sorry for intruding in your mind. I am Aaron. Reading minds is my blessing. So, you see, it is a conditioned reflex of mine. I cannot stop that." The man, Aaron, benignly introduced himself.
"She is Lucinda, my wife, and that's Omar, our son." He continued with the introductions.
"Hello. I am Arella. It is nice to meet you all." Arella followed the social conduct.
"Now, Omar," Aaron moved to his son and asked, "Tell us what really happened."
The lazy child was now quiet as a quail.
"That day, father, I wanted to walk a bit. So, I kept on walking and reached the boundary. I wasn't aware of it. But then, something unclean touched me. I ran and heard Scott Uncle's voice. It asked me to go inside the barrier to hide." Omar kept his head lower and recounted his adventure.
"You are grounded for a week." Lucinda stoically spoke.
"But mother.."
"Two weeks." Lucinda cut his words mercilessly.
"Father…"
"Three weeks."
The child lowered his head and stopped pleading. His mother was angry and wouldn't listen to his pleadings. It was better to be quiet for now.
Arella sat quietly, not intervening in the family talks. But her ears caught words like boundary, Scott Uncle, and unclean. She was thinking and then suddenly raised her head and looked at Aaron, 'shit, he could hear her thoughts!'
Aaron, in return, gave an awkward smile.
"Umm, he…Omar was exhausted when he arrived here. His spiritual energy was depleted. You should get him checked." Arella started talking. Anything was better than staying quiet, thinking, and letting a third person read her thoughts!
"He will recover fast. His spiritual energy was absorbed by the barrier." Lucinda explained the cause and effect.
"You said that the barrier was built by your ancestors. Then why did it absorb the energy of your own clansman?" Arella spoke whatever questions came to her mind.
The cook had appeared with the drinks and snacks. She served and then left again.
"Hmm. The spiritual barrier was created by my forefathers. They were spiritual craftsmen. The barrier serves three functions. First, it makes this place invisible to low ranked beasts and animals." Lucinda partaking in the snacks, started divulging the facts.
Normally, all this information should have been passed down by the Scott elders. But considering Adrian's parentless situation, it was better to tell Arella directly. Maybe, she could pass it down to her children.
"Invisible? So, people from inside don't know that this place exists in the middle of the forest?" Arella spoke her mind.
"Yes. They can't perceive it. To them, this part looks like the rest of the forest. But, that is only for the low ranking beasts. High ranking beasts can sense the spiritual vibrations of the barrier." Lucinda didn't mind the interruptions.
"The second purpose it serves is that it can keep all the malignant spirits away, be it in the form of ghosts, beasts, humans, or anything else. No one, who bears harm to the owners, can enter this place." Lucinda continued with her part.
"The third is the most powerful function that it serves. Anybody who forcefully enters it will have to surrender half of its spiritual energy to the barrier." Lucinda had hints of pride in her voice. This was a masterpiece of her clan's marksmanship.
"Oh! It is because of this, Omar lost his spiritual energy." Arella could now understand a bit.
"It won't harm him for life, right?" Arella was a little concerned.
"No, he can develop the spiritual energy with time. For low ranking beasts, it is not a big deal. But to high ranking beasts, losing half of their spiritual energy is fatal." Aaron explained.
"Okay, but shouldn't forcing the barrier to open up be very hard? How could a child do so?" She still had doubts.
"That is because he is from the cat clan. People from the cat clan are more acceptable by the barrier." Aaron spoke this time.
"So, anybody from the cat clan can forcefully enter?" Arella wanted to know how the barrier worked.
"No. The barrier doesn't treat cat clan as threats. It won't harm them. But it still won't allow them to enter. Omar could enter because of a different reason." Aaron clarified.
"And what is that?" Arella was now brimming with curiosity!