Salaam!

And a quick question! How do you pronounce Darakhshan?

With or without the n?

****

A Mazed Heart (Rifa Fathma)

07. Maze of Darakhshan

The pitter patter of the raindrops against her casement was music to her ears. But she was not gazing out the window.

She eyed her art supplies that were scattered on the floor of her room. Palette, sketch pad, pencils, kneadable erasers, sharpener, paint brushes, watercolors, acrylic paint. Her gaze skidded to each one of them with love and excitement.

She placed the steaming mug of tea aside and sat down.

She bid farewell to her final exams yesterday and desparately welcomed her summer break with open arms.

The moment she saw the rain drops silently gliding down the windows of their home, she knew what she had to do. It was the perfect weather to get started with her painting. She had been itching to start sketching it for a long time now.

She quickly got hold of her art supplies and asked her mother to make some hot and sweet tea for her. Grabbing the mug from her mother, she had now skidded up to her room.

She folded her legs and flicked open her sketch pad. She turned the thick papers that had her sketches until her hands ceased at a fresh one.

It had been a while!

She rubbed her hands and scanned her art supplies once again. She had four pencils with different types of leads. She picked out the one with the most lighter shade. It always made her easy to erase out her errors.

As she ran her hand over the thick, cotton paper, a pang of nostalgia hit her. She always found a way to satiate her excitement through sketching and colouring. If only Baba could let her be, she would confine herself in her room and bring out all the images from her mind. Day in and day out.

Right now, she has a sparkling, vivid image in her mind. She had been cocooning this picture for as long as she could remember. It was something special. But every speciality is tagged with a price. And the price of this painting was its protection. Protection from her brother.

"Lo! There I was wondering what is keeping you well out of our hair."

Her heart came to her throat when she heard his voice from behind. She thought of the devil and she didn't even make sure to lock the door? Giving a smack to her head mentally, she snapped her sketch pad shut.

She shut her eyes and desperately hoped that he hadn't seen anything.

"Tell, why do I smell some sizzling conspiracy cooking in your room?"

There. She caught a tinge of suspicion there in his voice. She had to throw him out of her room as soon as possible.

She leaped to her feet, swirled around, and stretched her arms out to the side. She couldn't possibly scoop her tall brother in her arms and throw him out of her room now, could she? No, right? Right! She was going to explain this to her brother as calmly as possible. "Yahoo! For the next few weeks, I don't want to see even your shadow looming across my room." She moved a finger around in the air to emphasis her point.

"Oh!" His eyebrows shot up in sheer mock until they disappeared behind his hair. "What treasures are you shrouding over here that you have to shoo me off like this?"

Ugh! How could she tell her dear brother without giving much away? The last thing she wanted was for him to see an unfinished painting and guess what she was up to.

"Let me see what your small head is brewing this time." He swiftly moved to his left to come around and grab the sketch pad from behind her.

"No!" she quickly flashed herself in front of him with her arms still wide open. "Step back! Step back I said."

A lazy smile snaked up his lips as he crossed his arms, spread his feet to the sides, and stared at her with that stubbornness glinting in those orbs.

She sighed through her nose. It was better that she came clean instead of hiding behind the bushes. She had to patiently deal with this, she knew. Patience that was so hard for her to muster. "You will get your hands on the surprise, I promise. For now, you are forbidden from so far as touching it as I'm not done with it yet."

But it seemed her brother was in no mood to get into a civil conversation. Yahya narrowed his eyes and gave her a once-over. "You do know that a lethargic koala - I mean you," He rounded a finger at her. "...don't stand a chance against me?"

"Don't!" She snapped. Her thread of patience broke into two. "Don't start with the name calling again!" All her sketch pad and painting went flying out of the window.

Want to tie her into a match? Just call her with a weird name and she will be in front of you in a flash. That was how much she hated nicknames. With passion. Especially Koala. A lethargic, good-for-nothing Koala.

As she glared at the smug face of her brother with burning anger, she questioned her motive for the unkempt times for the past few minutes. Did he really deserve what she was doing for him?

"I thought we had agreed to drop the name blaming for each other's good," she pointed out sharply.

Yahya nodded, that smug smile never wavering. "And I thought it was you who breached the contract by bringing out that weird nickname for me."

"Mind you, Yahoo is a decent one unlike what, Koala? Dudu? Ludo? Seriously?"

It was good that she got more than one reason now to throw this tall useless of a brother of hers out of her room.

She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him out of her room. "Don't you dare step a foot in my room until I call you myself." She shut the door on the smug face of Yahya.

As soon as the face of her brother disappeared from her vision, the pout on her face melted away and the anger went flying out of the window. Her breathing became even as a small smile took its place on her lips. Funny how her anger for Yahya always had a short life span.

That was why she decided to paint it for him. At the end of the day, her brother always came down to be her support system, her other side of the coin, her partner in crime, and her beloved brother.

A small giggle escaped her lips. "My art will explode you in flying colours, Yahoo! I can't wait to see the response this painting is about to bring out from you."

****

The heavy and gloomy clouds moved away and gave space to the clear and bright sky. Myriad of colors painted across its canvas in the next few weeks.

On all these days, Darakhshan was busy brushing her own colors across her sketch pad. After days of locking herself up and making sure her brother wasn't peeking in from anywhere, she was finally able to give the final touches to the painting.

As soon as she was done with it, she rushed down to call her brother. Her patience was wearing thin when she was told he had gone to prayer. She patiently sat on the sofa in the hall and occasionally peeked out to check if the main door cracked open.

The moment Yahya sauntered inside, she didn't even let him greet as she dragged him up to her room.

Now that she finally revealed the painting to her brother, she clasped her hands together and eyed her brother expectantly.

He stood in her room with her sketch pad spread open in his hands. His lips were parted in shock, his eyes flicking towards each and every detail of the art in front of him.

But she couldn't decipher the emotions that were passing in those blue orbs. But she waited. She waited for the reaction that was yet to come.

"You..." His Adam's apple bobbed, his eyes never left the painting. "You painted me." He breathed.

She let her hands fall to her side and went to stand by his side to see the painting. "How is it?"

"It's..." He looked up at her and again at the painting. "It's so real." His voice was reduced to several notches, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

She sighed in satisfaction and stared at the art that her hands created with days of work put together.

"I never knew you are this great at painting colors, Ludo. How did you get this idea though?" He shook his head, like he still couldn't bring his mind into accepting the painting. "Painting me in a military uniform?"

She nodded her head. "The idea popped into my head at Dawn Academy. Sidra's father had come to pick her up the other day. I guess, he works at the army because he had our military uniform on. Then, I remembered how you always talk about joining the army one day. I thought why not paint you in an attire you will be putting on?" She shrugged and smiled cleverly.

Yahya chuckled at this and gazed at the painting again. His lips curved up in amusement. "And you went far ahead by placing a bow in my hand."

She giggled. "Yeah."

"Aww, my Ludo has got some brains too now." He ruffled her hair and brought her closer to him with her shoulders. He rested his cheeks on her head as they both stared at the painting.

While she was sketching, she had left his hands at his sides. But for a soldier, his hands looked somewhat empty. She then thought to place something in his hands. A gun wouldn't possibly suit her brother's hands, or could it? She never saw him carrying one.

But she did see him carrying bows. Plenty of times. After giving a lot of thought to it, she finally came at a conclusion to place a bow in his hand.

She knew how passionately her brother played archery. He had even nudged her to leave some arrows in the air. She did try it. It was good to play archery, alright. But she didn't go crazy about it like her brother. The sound of the string vibrating when you leave the arrow, the twang, and then the thud when you hit the mark? She didn't find thrill in any of it like her brother.

For her, the real thrill was in tracing the silhouettes of the images in mind into a paper.

The real excitement was in experimenting with different colours and with their different shades.

The real joy was in bringing the imagination into the canvas.

****

One of the best perks of summer break was Aghu Jaan's stay at their home. And the best part comes in the afternoons when everyone in the house goes back to their room for a short nap.

She would quietly tip toe into her grandmother's room and snuggle up against her grandmother. She could never understand how Aghu Jaan got to know that it was her even though her eyes were closed the entire time.

Nevertheless, Aghu Jaan would whisper stories into her ears and Darakhshan knew no one could narrate it better than her Aghu Jaan. She was sure that it was the way Aghu Jaan narrates the story that makes it magical rather than the story itself.

She had been counting days in her finger and ticking the dates on the calender as she waited for Aghu Jaan to come over.

She had just woken up from her nap when she saw her mother folding her clothes and setting them into her wardrobe. And distractedly, she also told her that her Aghu Jaan had arrived.

She jolted up from her bed, pushed off her blanket and ran down the staircase to see her grandmother.

"Aghu Jaan!" She screamed and stormed into the living room when she saw her dear grandma seated on one of the sofas.

The moment Basma saw Darakhshan running towards her, she extended her arms, her eyes glistening with mirth. "Aghu Jaan's Jaan! How is my daughter?"

She ran and crashed herself into Basma's comforting arms. The latter folded her into a warm embrace as they swayed to and fro. "Do you have any idea how much I missed my doll?"

"I missed you more, Aghu Jaan! I was desperately waiting for you to come over."

"Now that I'm right in front of your eyes, tell me! When do you want me to take out the stuff I brought for you from back home? Now? Or after tea time?"

Basma knew that everytime she met her granddaughter, the first thing she would ask was whether she had brought something for her from her hometown. But this time, she voiced out her granddaughter's thoughts before she could utter herself.

Darakhshan's eyes widened in excitement. It was a given that whenever Aghu Jaan visited them, she never forgot to bring something for her.

But this time, she was excited for a different reason. She pushed herself away from the embrace to look at her grandma. "I have something to show you as well, Aghu Jaan." She fumbled her fingers as she swayed in happiness.

"Is it?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "Chalo, show me what you have got?" She lovingly caressed the side of her cheeks and ushered her to go and get it.

Darakhshan jumped off the sofa and ran out of the room.

Her brother was shocked to see the painting. When he came out of the shock, he was overjoyed to have her painted him in a military uniform. Plus, he was swelling with pride that his face was on-point and that she didn't smear it off on purpose. All praise went towards her. She couldn't wait to see Aghu Jaan's reaction now.

Within few minutes, she was again in the room with her sketch pad in her hands. She had flicked open the page where she had painted her brother. She made sure the sketch pad was facing her and slowly took her steps towards her Aghu Jaan and stopped in front of her.

She shook her head at her. "Pehle, close your eyes."

Basma's lips curved in amusement as she gave in to her demands. Closing her green eyes, which was so much like that of hers, Basma spread her hands out.

She flicked the sketch pad towards Basma's side and carefully placed it on her spread out hands.

Basma slowly opened her eyes and stared down at the painting.

Darakhshan pursed her lips to suppress the excitement that surged through her body and waited for her Aghu Jaan to react.

She waited for her slightly wrinkled face to brighten up in a surprise. She waited for her green eyes to sparkle with love and pride. She waited for her lips to spread into a warm smile.

But there was none. Aghu Jaan's jaw clicked as her eyes moved across the paper. Her lips were set in a firm line.

She then set her gaze at the door where Yahya came to stand by.

He smiled fondly at Darakhshan as he leaned against the door frame. He raised the mug of tea to his curved up lips as he shifted his gaze to their grandma.

Basma sharply turned the sketch pad towards him. "What am I looking at, Yahya? What is this?"

Darakhshan was taken aback at her voice. It was laced with shock, disappointed, and a seethe of anger. Aghu Jaan had used that tone on everyone but never at her. This made her realise that she had gone wrong somewhere. But where?

Yahya's smile wiped off. He slowly pushed himself away from the doorframe and sauntered inside. He plopped into the sofa across from them.

But Darakhshan's eyes couldn't leave her grandmother whose face was red and stiff. "What has she drawn?"

He sighed, took the last gulp from the mug, and set it down on the table before them. "Is the problem with her drawing me or drawing me in the military uniform?"

"She drew you. She confined your entire being into a paper."

"She is still a child-"

"She is a child. That's what I'm saying." She raised a firm hand to cut him off. "Why hasn't she been informed about it yet? She is what? Eight years? If you don't let her know things at this age, then when are you planning to? She is at a stage of life where she is fragile, like a clay. You can either mould her now into a princess or let her take the shape of a witch."

As Darakhshan stood there eyeing them to and fro, she couldn't make sense of anything. What was Aghu Jaan saying? What should she need to know? What did she do wrong? She just drew her beloved brother. Why was her Aghu Jaan so angry at it instead of hugging her and planting a kiss on her cheeks like usual?

"Will you start teaching her stuff when she turns to her teens or steps into adulthood? Will you let her know then? When she will become hard as rock, when she will stubbornly shake her head at every word you say? Does Yashayah know about it?"

He stole a glance at Darakhshan before answering in a low voice. "No. He knows nothing."

"Good. I will tell him myself."

"No!"

By the way Yahya's voice rose in alarm, Darakhshan knew then that whatever it was that Aghu Jaan had a problem with, Baba shouldn't even get the air of it. Or else, he will come after her like a lightening.

Yahya lowered his voice and said, almost pleadingly. "Can't we drop this here? I will... I will let her know about it."

"You better." Basma eyed him before setting her fiery gaze on her. "And you. Are you tearing this up now or should I take the honor?"

"What?" Her eyes widened. But her voice came out meek. She couldn't believe Aghu Jaan was using that tone on her. Her heart bet frantically, as if it wanted to break-free from its ribcage. Her stomach churned in unusual ways as she eyed her Aghu Jaan with so much hurt. It was the first time that her Aghu Jaan raised her voice at her.

And she was asking her to tear it off? Her painting? The painting of her beloved brother that she had poured her heart and soul into? The painting she had cracked bones and shed tears at? The painting that had taken her weeks to wrap up? Was she asking her to dispose it off just like that?

"Dadi leave, now if she has drawn it. She won't do it again. I will make sure of it."

Basma glared at him before thrusting the sketch pad away and walking out of the room.

Tears sprung out in her eyes as she stared at the retreating back of her Aghu Jaan.

****

"She is jealous that I chose you over her to sketch."

They strolled along wet and chilly grass of the park. Yahya had taken her out to brighten up her mood. But she couldn't find joy in anything. She couldn't believe Aghu Jaan would scold her like that out of everyone.

Yahya snorted beside her. "You think she scolded you because she was jealous?"

"I will never talk to her." Darakhshan was sure that she was jealous. She always knew Aghu Jaan secretly envied the bond she shared with her brother.

"Uh huh, Ludo is hurt now, isn't she?"

She turned her head to the other side. Her brother's banter was not working either. She was not in the mood to talk with anyone.

Yahya kept his hand around her shoulder and brought her closer to him and whispered in a secretive way. "Do you want to know why she was angry?"

"Because she was jea-"

"No, she was not, Ludo." He cut her off, amused.

She raised her head to see her brother. "Then why was she scolding me? Why didn't she like my sketch?"

He pushed himself away from her, took her hands in his and dragged her to a bench nearby. When they sat side by side, he took her hands in his again. "I will answer you. But on one condition."

She narrowed her eyes at her brother. She knew what was coming. Not that again!

"First, you should bring the answer to the question I'm going to ask now."

She groaned and threw her head back. "Not again, Yahoo!" She flopped back her head and glared. "Can't we drop this give-and-take just for this once? Why don't you just answer my questions? "

Seriously, she could never understand why her brother never answered her questions straight away. He wanted her to search for the answers first before he gives one.

"Are you up for the challenge or not?"

She was done. She couldn't understand why everyone was so hell-bent on irritating her. She wiggled her hands from his gentle grasp and crossed her arms against her chest. "Nope. I want to know right this instant why Aghu Jaan reacted that way to the sketch."

He calmly mimicked her posture by leaning back in the bench and crossing his hands against his chest. He turned his head away from her.

She narrowed her eyes at her brother and then at the people he was so interested in staring at rather than replying her.

She gulped off the bubble of anger and glared at the back of his head. He would never give her answers so easily. He had to make sure she flexed some muscles and shed some sweats to gain the knowledge. "Fine." She said slowly. "What do you want me to search for now?"

The corner of his lips curled up. He turned his head towards her and looked down at her. "Your task is to find out what's the biggest lie of this universe."

"What?" She blurted out.

"Uh huh. The biggest lie that the man has ever come up with."

She drew her brows together as she stared at her brother. This was the trickiest question she had ever got from her brother. She unconsciously chewed at the bottom of her lips as shw pondered over the question. "Biggest lie?"

"You have..." He narrowed his eyes with a small glint in those blue orbs as he stared into oblivion. "Three days." He flicked his gaze towards her. "Once you come up to me with the right answer, I will tell you the reason behind Aghu Jaan's behaviour." He stuck out his pinky finger for her. "Deal?"

She stared at her brother's finger. The irritation, anger, and sadness disappeared into thin air as she whacked her head around the question. When she realised it was a challenging task, a small smile took its shape on her lips. She was up for the challenge. She curled her pinky finger around that of her brother's as she said. "Deal."

****

The next episode will have one of the first scenes I thought of when I started sketching the plot of this book. I have been desperate to write it and can't wait for you to read it.

Plus, the next episode will be pretty long. Longer than I have ever written. But I'm planning to break it into two parts.

And oh, it's Da-rakh-sha! You pronounce it without the n :P

Until then, take care of yourself <3