Amir and Jishan

It was the summer of Amir’s fourteenth year. He was indeed a top student among his peers in his gurukul days, but there was someone who never lost to him, not once. In fact, the entire gurukul knew that they were each other’s rival and also best friends. Jishan and Amir were basically inseparable and had no care of anyone else except maybe for Jishan’s little treasured sister, Amina. They lived alone in an abandoned hut since their parents had long passed away. Jishan wasn’t allowed in the royal grounds always except for his training time, so they would spend most of the time in Jishan’s small yet comfortable place.

Amina was still around only five years old then and Jishan had to take her complete responsibility. So whenever he was out training for the royal security, Amina would be with their neighbour till he came back. He would often bring street delicacies while returning for her, seeing which her eyes would always lit up but when he would bring Amir with him her eyes shone bright like stars. Afterall, he was her second brother as she had named him.

During the break of his training, the two friends would go sit on the high walls of the royal palace and talk away. One such day, Jishan seemed quite silent, so Amir was getting curious if there was anything wrong but he only smiled. He added, “On this day, two years ago, I got a little sister.” He quietly smiled to himself. Amir was suddenly dumbfounded. He couldn’t match his equations so he asked quickly, “Isn’t she six years old this year?” Seeing the obvious confusion in the crown prince’s eyes, he chuckled and said very mockingly, “Yes your highness but I met her for the first time two years ago.”

“So…she is..,” Amir could not complete and was cut off in between, “Nope, she isn’t my own sister but she might be even more precious to me.” He added the last bit quite proudly and Amir could see that he was probably even getting emotional. So he had to ask how they met. The answer came as something quite unexpected and now he knows why on earth why she was so special to him.

“That year I had lost my parents in the carriage accident and was having a lot of trouble adjusting by myself. It was one of those days when I was coming back from the gurukul. On my way back I found that a little girl not taller than my knees was crying, as silently as she could,” he added mischievously and giggled a bit, “So I couldn’t stop myself from going there . Honestly I thought she might be a lost child and couldn’t find her parents. I just thought that I could help. It’s so embarrassing but I even said, “This big brother will help you find your parents.” He covered his eyes with one of his palms out of shame and didn’t even look at Amir’s expression. “Surprisingly, she didn’t answer any of my questions and kept sobbing with that silent tone of hers. So I thought it might be better for me to leave but just when I turned I thought something was obstructing me. After a little tug, I turned around to find that little child clasping the end of my clothes as tightly as she could.” He couldn’t stop smiling as he narrated that part.

Amir was smiling as well as he added, “Oh boy! You got yourself a baby fan.”

“Oh sure I did, but the funniest thing was I haven’t even done anything. She just kept following me the entire way with my hem of the clothes in her hand.”

“How could you be so heartless? Didn’t you feed anything to that poor little soul who grabbed onto you for help?” Amir made a funny disgusted face which only made Jishan half roll his eyes before he continued, “Of course I did, so I bought her some food and thought that she would let me go. Do you know what she did?....

She offered me the first bite.” Seeing Amir make the “oh-my-so-cute” face, he stifled a small laugh and said, “Yes, I was stunned. How could something like that come into the mind of a three year old hungry child? So I took a tiny bit of her offer and decided to take her home for the day. She seemed happy but still didn’t say a thing….” His voice suddenly became quieter as he said, “But I forgot one thing, my house was not a safe place either.

As soon as we came near the vicinity, I saw goons were standing, at least 20 to 30 of them. For a moment I had forgotten that I had been neglecting the rent of the place that my father used to take care of before. I desperately wanted to be a member of the royal guards so I never stopped training only to work for a living.

… And that day was the day I was supposed to reap my actions.”

Amir looked deeply dejected by the fact that all along, even if had called Jishan his best friend, he has not been able to help him in any way a best friend should have, nor was he aware of any of those situations that he had to go through. He knew Jishan wasn’t the type to come forward and take advantage of the fact that he was good friends with the royal crown prince so he should have himself looked into these. Jishan realised the meaning behind that face of his and quickly patted his back, “Don’t worry, those days are long gone and maybe without them I would have never gotten Amina.”

“What happened after that?”

“Well, now since they saw me coming in and thankfully didn’t notice the small kid behind me went straight for me and drew out a dagger near my throat. I was able to dodge the first attack out of pure luck and reflex. But then Amina suddenly came forward in the middle of the commotion and stood in front of me like a mini steel shield with her hands and legs open apart making her body as wide as possible.

“You don’t touch my big brother,” she said for the first time when I heard her speaking. Something about that made me stand there like a statue for some time. The fact that none of the people or the bystanders who kept watching from a distance or even people of the community would dare say a word but this little fellow acted as if she could save me from them.

That fact alone made me laugh like an idiot for a while. And I am sure, they thought I was a lost cause, Amina too since I burst out laughing amidst that situation. Just the thought of the world being that pathetic made me laugh out loud.” Though Jishan kept giggling when he narrated this part, Amir could only feel bad and guilty towards him. But Amir was also aware of the fact that pity was the last thing he wanted, so he quickly fixed his expression before his friend could notice and waited eagerly for the next part.

“Look at you watching me talk like you are in love with me.” Jishan said to tease him to which Amir replied, “Of course, can’t you see those hearts in my eyes and since I am the crown prince of the Hearts kingdom, I have two big hearts in my eyes. See ,see..” He started shoving his face with his broadened eyes towards Jishan as a reaction of which both started laughing together.

After Amir’s nagging, Jishan continued, “I was actually doing pretty good getting back at those goons. Maybe that’s why it never bothered me that this could be a nuisance later but I somehow failed to see a knife coming at me and took a direct hit near the stomach. Surprisingly they didn’t go for Amina so I guess I became a little too relieved. Two royal guards had arrived shouting and the goons left in a hurry. I dragged myself inside the hut with the wound and still saw none of the villagers come forward. That was a bit upsetting but it soon vanished.” His little smile was again emerging and Amir could guess what was coming.

“Due to the effect of the wound I fell asleep on the floor itself and when I woke up some two hours later maybe, I found the little girl almost curled up beside me still holding onto my hem and a very messy white patch on my wound and a wet towel on my head.” He almost became emotional and added, “I would have died if not for her… Later I came to know she went around asking every villager in front of her about saving me, but as expected she had to do it alone.

I decided to leave that village and ended up in a town where I found our present house, abandoned, purely out of luck. Honestly till today she hasn’t told me why she was there that day and what happened to her parents but I have a feeling she doesn’t know the word ‘parents’ and I couldn’t help her with that either.” There was quite a silence there. Then Amir said, “I am sure, her family, her parents, her brother, everything is you.”

“It goes both ways,” Jishan had said back then and today when they face each other again and Amir wanted an explanation the same Jishan said, “You took everything away from me and yet…,” his look went beyond disgust and Amir was forced to remember the horrendous incident that had taken place that year.