ROSES UNDER BROOK // SHORT STORY

 

“What shall I do father?” Ihana asserted.

“It will be a disgrace for a King to pose a request to the mob. But to sustain life, we need water. The rose garden came in the way of the brook again. If they do not allow it to disperse, then the soldiers will rush upon them."


“Do we have a choice? What If I descend and convince them?”

“As long as you don’t reveal who you are, I’m content with it” The King said scratching his beardless chin. His people disappointed him. They no longer had disputes. They no longer paid him a visit. He felt less like a king and more like a lawless ruler.There was a decent mutual understanding between him and his people, yet he wanted them to meet him once in a while. Treat him well. Like a King deserves.

Ihana, being a princess spent most of her time luxuriously. She possessed anything that she raised a demand for. And when she walked, her black hair strayed like velvet. Her accent and tone of voice was royal as the Queen. Her smoldering eyes were a reflection of blue in the skies. Yet when she stood at the watchtower, gazing afar at the children of the town she felt alone. She had no human friend to play with. She knew that her father won’t permit her to play with those kids. In fact, the King constructed a merry-go-round, a couple of swings and a labyrinth all made up of gold for his daughter. But today, she had a chance. A chance to meet the children who had no gold, but seemed nonetheless happy.

Ihana wore a mud-shade frock that she received as a gift on her seventh birthday, but now she was almost eleven. The dress was tight with observable crumbles of fabrics coming out of it like parasites. But anyway, it gave her a look of a city girl. Which was suitable for her quest. After getting dressed, she took a pail of steel to carry the water in case she couldn't get the stream cleared out.

The city was strange. The houses were made up of mud-bricks and segregated in rectangular sections. It was all situated between trees and bushes. There was a flying market that descended from the sky after twilight every day at nine and then obviously, there was this brook and the rose garden.

It was said that, once upon a time when there were more gods than humans, Dorian and Lisa fell in love. They were the two earliest beings. It was impossible for Dorian to not adore Lisa. She painted these realistic portraits of gods and was an epitome of beauty herself. Whereas Dorian was a poet who talked about gods and moon and stars. His words flowed sweet like honey.

When they both fell for each other, Lisa painted portraits of Dorian, and he just wrote about beautiful existence of Lisa. The gods were happy to see the magic of love, but they were sad to see that these lovers did not venerate them anymore. So as the couple turned old, the Gods turned Dorian into the brook and Lisa into a rose garden.

One flowed like words, being a source of eternal bliss and the other stayed still, glorifying euphoria with her crimson petals. There they remained forever. Close, but apart from each other until the robin sang, people danced and children went round and round. As when these three things happened simultaneously, the roses in the garden bent to an impossible extent to submerge into the brook, restricting its flow. The water used to turn blood-red, and a sweet rosy smell conquered the illness of the atmosphere. It all used to turn soothing. That was how the lovers reunited. Yet when the brook no longer flowed, the water at the castle tank drained after its use for a day or two.

Ihana stood amazed by the yellow and orange skylines that mingled at different points in the horizon. She came to the place where all the people were assembled in a circle. They moved clockwise and anti-clockwise while dancing. Their heads dangled from side to side. Their hands moved in a sync. Swinging up and down and side to side. In the center, sat a furry robin bird. Hopping aimlessly. Twisting its head swiftly as it melodiously sang a tune of love and art and poetry.

“Oh! Oh! No, no, here we go,
Singing besides the robin from the woods
Flurry little birdie with a golden throat,
Hear the lyrics to your euphonious song

Lisa’s garden bowed
and Dorian’s brook froze
The lovers reunite
as the children go
Round and round
Till they all fall down,
And we dance till we hear Mr. Robin’s sound
Oh! Oh! No, no, here we go,
Feels so good to be alive today”

They kept singing and dancing unaware of Ihana’s presence. The princess turned her attention to the children she was accustomed to watching from her castle. There were five of them, three girls and two boys. They all were dressed in rag like tattered clothes. They covered in dirt. Yet on their face, was this ear to ear grin. They seemed peaceful and much richer emotionally than she was. To Ihana’s surprise, they asked her to join their circle.

Ihana got in between a tall girl and a boy who had similar facial features. Her assumption of them being twins was correct. They held her hands and the roughness of their palms made Ihana uncomfortable. But then they went round and round giggling and singling like the adults.

“You aren’t from here girl, are ya?” asked the girl next to Ihana.

“I am. I just. I live up there.” she turned her head to direct it towards the castle. She failed to keep her secret, but her honesty rewarded her later.


“Then why here and why this bucket?


“I’ve no one to play with. Also, the supply of water stopped at the castle. Father is very disheartened" Ihana said cheerfully, but they all stopped. All eyes were on her.

Suddenly. The robin sang no more, the people grooved no more and the roses started erecting again, letting the water pass.

“The princess is here” Someone yelled from the crowd.

“To what do we owe this pleasure" asked a woman with a scared smile on her face


“Due to unavailability of water, I stand here before you to request for it to flow again. Father, is quite upset, he wants y’all to” she frowned and one by one their heads hung low as Ihana spoke "visit him but no one ever shows up. Not even casually” she frowned. They all pondered and regretted on how lost they had been in their celebrations that they forgot to regard their saviour, their King.

“We apologize” they said in unison. Then an old man spoke on behalf of them, “It Is love that we found together. Under the skies and next to King’s beautiful castle we people sing and dance and play to feel the oneness we all exhibit. We see Lisa and Dorian reunite. Together we forget our worries and smile. We felt like we shouldn’t bother the King by telling about our day-to-day miseries. He had already given up a lot for us- “the old man broke down in tears and others joined him. Even a kid ran past Ihana to cry along with them. Then from the shadows arose the King himself, and it looked as if he might cry.

“I just wanted to know if my people still cared about me. I reckon I wrong to misjudge you. Nothing could please my ears more, than to hear that my people are ecstatic together” stated King calmly getting hold of himself. They all bowed. Once again, the beautiful relationship between the King and people of his city was restored. All this time he followed Ihana because, he was afraid that they might harm her. But these were simple beings. The ones who found peace amidst adversity. Ihana ran and hugged his father.

“If you say so majesty, we shall never gather like this again.”


“Gather and live, do whatever uplifts your soul but not anything that blocks water resources of the castle for too long” the King cracked out laughing, and they all did likewise. But suddenly he asked them seriously “Do ye mind If my little princess and I join y’all for today?”

“Then it would be the happiest day for us, my lord”

Well then, the King joined in the adults as they danced and sang along with the little robin, who had no clue what all that dramatic fuss was about. The King tried to mumble the lyrics and felt stupid because he never heard it before. Yet he was happy to stand along with his people once again. On the other hand, Ihana joined her new friends. Six of them went round and round. Holding hands. Smiling and singing. That was when the sunlight fell upon the roses that once again were deeply immersed in the brook. The place glittered as the golden rays of sun illuminated the crimson rose in the brook. It felt like a firecracker busting with a sweet scent of rose and radiating warmth and peace all around. That day even the god smiled at this unison of Dorian and Lisa, because the beauty of their love brought a King and his people together. It gave Ihana some friends to play with and no matter how round and round they went, trust me, they never fell down.