Whispers of Magic

A year has passed since then. Netri's magic practice took a backseat. But, she never gave up hope and tried to improvise to learn by practicing it secretly. Since her husband is away she has more time to herself as there are dozens of servants to look after the housework. Netri was left all alone in her chambers where she started to practice her magic arts again but with great caution. She mostly practiced them at night when the mansion sleeps. She almost forgot about her dream with the love and attention her husband was bestowing on her. Gradually, she started to remember how she set off a psychic blast just before getting married and started to realize the power inside her, and under inevitable circumstances of life, the only wise thing she could do was to accept her fate while trying to fulfill her dream. She never paid particular attention to what connotation this might have on her status of being a married Mistress of a household even forgetting it for the time being. By this time Netri had become very proficient in magic knowledge but her practice had shown no results yet. One afternoon like this the sky turned into a shade of deep slate and within an hour the storm came lashing down. The day turned almost into a night. The maids, therefore, came to light up the candles in her chamber. They knocked on the door before they came in and Netri quickly hid her scriptures.

"Just bolt the windows and close the door before you all leave. I want to rest for a while. And make sure no one disturbs me for some time"

Netri ordered them, pretending to have a headache. The maids bowed, did as told, and left. She bolted the door from inside and resumed her studies. She kept trying her magic skills again and again by uttering the spells in vain. She started to grow impatient and then she lost it and in a fit of frustration as she slammed her fist on the table. Suddenly, the candle lights started to flicker wildly. Netri started to feel a surge within her body. A surge that felt like something gushing through the veins till the core of her bones, her very soul seemed to start a stir up in the process. Coincidently, she flicked her hand and the candles which were on her table went out abruptly.

Netri jumped with shock and her face quickly turned into a satisfied smile of triumph. She couldn't believe her eyes what just happened. She just made the fire extinguish. She hurriedly went and started consulting her scriptures about controlling fire and found out that one can control the Pancha Mahabhoota (the five elements) of agni (fire), prithvi (earth), jal (water), vayu (wind), and atman (soul/mind) with their mind and temperament. Rigorous training is required to sync one's mind to channel their energy flow to control the elements. The basic matter of magic learning involves harnessing nature's power through these five elements. Netri managed to smuggle a lot of scriptures on magic and her determination in learning the ways grew stronger with what just happened.

Another six months passed and with her seventeenth birthday approaching suddenly one day, a week before she heard faint horse hooves approaching the mansion. Netri hurriedly put away her scriptures and ran out of her chambers with her dress and veil clumsily put on and her hair left open like a black waterfall that whipped sideways as she ran. She didn't care about that. The only thing that was on her mind was that finally, her wait was over. She stopped suddenly behind a pillar with and mix of happiness, shyness, and overwhelming love.

Her husband was greeted by the head maid and a few servants who unloaded his belongings from the carriage.

"Welcome back Saab." The maid bowed.

The merchant's eyes however searched for someone else. His eyes roamed around for a while fixing on the person half-hiding behind the pillar at a distance. He almost ran in that direction and caught Netri's arm who was about to run away blushing from her approaching husband. They looked at each other with their gazes locked which reflected how much they missed each other. This made Netri swept with an overwhelming shyness and she hastily let her hands off and ran away.

"Netri, wait…" he said pursuing behind her.

He followed her to her chambers to find her standing facing the large window looking over the garden. He silently came and hugged her from behind and a sweeping emotion flowed over their hearts. Suddenly he made her turn to cup her face and planted a deep kiss. All the time they missed each other was being exchanged through the kiss and it was deepening with the surging feeling of being away from each other making them want to become one. They stayed in the embrace with their lips un-parted for a long time and after they let go the merchant looked at his wife's face only to realize how much she had grown up and how much her beauty had blossomed.

"Did you miss me that much?" asked Netri with specks of happy tears at the corners of her eyes.

"More than anything," he replied with a kiss on her forehead.

"You should go fresh up first and in the meantime let me prepare a delicious dinner for you", Netri chirped happily.

With that, she left quickly heading towards the kitchen for the dinner preparation. The expression on the merchant's face drastically changed. The face which had a loving and contemptuous expression suddenly became scared and concerned. He remembered the outhouse and its sinister secret. A secret that he was mindlessly and coldly safeguarding for his first wife the one he thought was the love of his life. But with Netri's arrival, everything changed. He suddenly felt claustrophobic and heartbroken by the thought of what would happen after seven days. Most importantly he grew impatiently concerned that he was about to betray the person who loved him and whom he loved back. But there is no way out. He has to face the inevitable.