Pruthvi dropped his sister's clothes back into the trunk and slammed the lid shut. His face was turning red as a brick and eyes looked like they might pop out if his sockets. He adjusted his glasses and contorted his face, trying his best to hide his feelings from me. He wasn't in his best state of mind and I was nervous unable to understand why he was so annoyed. Was this about something I said earlier? May be I shouldn't have blabbed my skepticism to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

His lips slightly trembled before he said, "Okay, I don't get it. What possibly can be a reason for Doctor to hide such important things from us?"

"Pruthvi, I am not sure. I was just making a point."

"I know," he said quickly, "But Doctor somehow knew Nazira is living here. And it took seven months for him to tell us?"

"May be Doctor has something else in his mind."

"Don't take his side," he whimpered, "And what the hell is Shourya up to? Why does he always involve so much in our lives? Why is he even hiding Nazira here?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, "May be Shashi asked Shourya to hide her here."

He snapped me a death stare that I had the power to explode me. "You are really making me mad."

"Okay, I am sorry. I know I am confusing you," I said, "But don't you think we are really wasting time discussing this unnecessary matter when your sister is right out there? Pruthvi we should be on our way to find Shourya."

"Find where?" he demanded, now in a lower voice, "Do you have any idea where he might have gone? I don't know if you noticed it or not, but the alley across this room is again divided into three smaller alleys."

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes! And it's still middle of the night. Now do you have any other option?"

I looked away, desperately trying to think of an alternative. May be we can get separated and start searching for him individually. But then what if we failed to find each other back? It seemed to be a really simple job-find Nazira and get the hell out of here. I so didn't want to complicate it. I mentally hit my head. I was angry at myself on taking a lot of time in following Shourya when I had the chance.

"We have to have that map," I said.

"Exactly. Atleast one of us should carry it if you are thinking of separation."

I nodded in what I hoped was an assuring manner. "Let's just hope Nazira will be safe with Shourya until we track him down. Okay?"

"I so wish so," he mumbled beneath his breath and stood up to leave the room.

I wasn't being a good friend. I just put him under a lot of pressure, which wasn't my intention at all. Our bags were still down in that secret room and Hardik was the only precious thing I thought we had left behind. I, alongside Pruthvi, was walking hurriedly towards the door and on the way I kept looking at the comforters, bedspread and the torn velvet pillow.

I creased my brows to draw maximum attention to a circular wooden thing beneath the pillow. I gasped aloud unable to contain my hyperactive intuition. I hoped over the comforters and pushed the pillow aside.

There it was-a mahogany circular, arm sized wooden rollers.

"This is it!" Pruthvi exclaimed, standing beside me peeking down over my shoulder. 

My stomach knotted. Without waiting for my growing nerves to calm down, I rolled it open, trying to keep my hands off shivering. I kept rolling it, but the glued light brown colored papers never ceased to end. I suddenly realized that I was gazing down at the detailed life history of a man who lived for about fifty years, and thankfully it was written in the only language I knew. Most parts of the scroll were written in black, and only certain parts of it were written in red with slightly big letters.

"Wa...wa...wait!" Pruthvi insisted, holding my hand to stop me rolling it anymore, "Got it!"

He detached a piece of parchment glued over one of the papers. It was different, wheatish in color and there were an infinite number of vertical and horizontal lines drawn over it.

"That's the map?" I asked, my voice sounding shrill.

"Yes, it is," he replied with a self-satisfied smile.

He walked away and stood near the door of the room, his head buried in the paper. I frowned watching him, and to know what his deal was, whether he wanted to go around in search of his sister now that we found the map. But it seemed he wanted to study the map first. He sat down on his knees, spread the sheet on the floor and immediately got lost in it. He was a techie guy and now I was practically watching him being one.

I waited for a few minutes, holding the scroll firmly in my hand. But he was still immersed in it and I didn't know what he was looking so intently at.   

Come on, how hard it could be. It's just a map!

"Do you need more time?" I asked, but he didn't answer. He continued checking on it, moving his fingers all over it, making his own calculations.

I took it as a yes and sat down on the bedspread, cross legged waiting for him to be done. In the meanwhile I looked around at the room where a girl named Nazira Khan was living. I was contented that at least this room was neat and tidy, unlike the great hall and the passageways. Away from the comforters I spotted a small plastic bag containing a bunch of grapes in it. I acted on my impulse. I took a handful of them and popped them one by one into my mouth only to find out they were too sweet.

My eyes then fell on the thing resting in my hands. Pruthvi was taking ample time and in the meanwhile, I decided to give it a go. I opened the first page of it, the one written in red and within seconds, without my knowledge, I was drowned in it.

October 3, 1956

Hello,

I am Harsh K Thribhuvan and at the moment, I am six years old.

My father said I should start something worthwhile rather than keep embarrassing him in front of his whole lot of ministers. And my mother suggested to give writing a chance. Let's see how this keeps me from fooling around my father.

Well, today is my birthday. I have been waiting for this day for a while now because my mother asked me to start writing from this day. She believes some days are auspicious and that my birthday is one of them. I love her for numerous reasons, but sometimes her love for customs and traditions bugs me...a lot. Shhh, don't let her know that.

So I woke up early in the morning. We planned to go to the Temple of Chandrika, with our most noble knight, Yodhin Ojha. My father brought a new set of clothes for me and I HATED IT. I am eight years old and I know boys don't wear red color dress. It' was girly and on top of it, I felt like I was draped in Dakshinpur's flag. 

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And that is how I spend my eighth birthday. Wasn't it amazing?

You know what, writing is fun. I really liked writing it all to you. It feels good. I think we can be friends. Hey wait, you should have a name, I can't keep calling you a scroll, I know you will not like it, nobody does. Let me guess a typical name for you, How about, Humraaz- a friend with a secret? I think I can call you Raaz in short.

It's time for me to go now. My mother is getting impatient. I will be back tomorrow and we will talk in loads.

Good night!

My cheeks were hurting. I was sheepishly smiling all the way through. This did show that King Harsh was like any other kid, mischievous and energetic. Can't believe he hated his mother's love for traditions just like I did. And the way he described his birthday dress...may be we don't need a DNA test to prove we are family.

Pursing my lips, I looked up to share it with Pruthvi. Pushing his glasses up and scratching his head, he was still immersed in the map. I decided not to disturb him, I just wanted him to finish whatever he was doing as soon as possible. I bent my head down again and kept rolling the scroll till I found pages written in red and tried to skim through all of them without getting much into details.

April 11, 1957

Dear Raaz,

I wrote to you a week ago, but since then things have been changed. My father declared he is in love with someone else. My mother is crying and the kingdom is in shock. He decided to go against Panchayat. The King of Rawat is marrying that obscene woman for real. She is going to be my stepmother. I don't know what made him take this extreme step in such urgency. She is rude and mean to me. How can anyone fall in love with her? How can my father even think that she can be a member of this family. 

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December 20 1962

Dear Raaz,

He is here, my brother is born today and that woman named him Shashi. He is cute and so tiny. I don't care if he isn't my own brother but we share same blood. I want to hold him in my hands, I want to play with him but that woman doesn't allow me to. I HATE HER! After a really long time my mother is happy for me. She says I finally have someone she couldn't give me- a sibling. Even Aghasthya says we should celebrate today, on occasion of this addition to Thribhuvan family.

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November 5, 1967

Dear Raaz,

I visited Paschimgarh today to see this girl Aghasthya claims to like. He told me that he first met that poor blind girl in Daulah Haat and instantly fell in love with her. I can't believe we grew so much that we are checking on girls already. We are princes, a part of royalty and we are not supposed to be this way. My mother says matrimony should be happening between the two people born in the same clan. But my father broke that tradition, and I don't believe in this stupid belief anymore, nor does Aghasthya.

So today I, with my friend, went with a proposal for his marriage with the daughter of High priest of the Temple of Chandrika. Her father is hesitant. He is against this inter-clan marriages because it is unacceptable by the rules made by Panchayat. I already gave my word that Panchayat will not keep any objection for this marriage. They didn't mind to stop my father, why would they stop now? And now my parents are angry. They do not approve of my involvement in Prince of Sharad's marriage. But he is my friend and I can do anything for him.

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I took a long breath not interested to read the story of how King Aghasthya got married. I looked up at Pruthvi. He was pacing up and down the room now, still studying the map. There was something about this page that was changing my opinion. Even though I couldn't understand a few specific things in it like- what the hell is Daulah Haat?

I never accepted King Harsh as my grandfather until today. But now reading all his thoughts, and finding how alike we were.... may be I should stop calling him by his name and start acknowledging him truly as my grandfather.

I checked my watch. Heck, it was showing the eastern time in Florida. But I knew it's been a while now and we were getting late.

"Pruthvi?" I literally shouted at him to hear me out.

"Yeah?" he finally replied.

"I think we should go."

"Two minutes. I am almost there."

I shook my head, unable to believe him. It was surprising to see him so interested in the map rather than Shourya. But I took this opportunity and went ahead to the next page written in red, especially those dates and the years that interested me.

March 5, 1970

Dear Raaz,

I finally accepted to marry Princess Premila. Yes, I am going to do this. I am marrying her in two days. May be my father is right. Marrying her and uniting both our families is the only possible way to settle our conflicts with kings of Madhyakshetra. For more than ten years both the kingdoms have been facing these feuds only for a small piece of land. Many lives have been taken away. Many families are suffering because of this war. Lot of blood and tears have been shed. But enough is enough and I am unable to take it anymore. This should be stopped immediately. My father is planning for my coronation ceremony right after I get married. And once I acquire this regal opportunity I am going to eradicate killing once and for all. There shall not be bloodshed anymore. No more killing under my rule.

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May 27, 1971

Dear Raaz,

I am so honored and delighted to share this news with you. The first Princess of Rawat Dynasty is born today. Never in the history of Rawat a girl is born carrying the proud name of Thribhuvan. Premila has given me the best gift of my life. How can I ever repay her.

My mother is restless right now. She is looking for a best name for her grand daughter. But how can I tell her that I and Premila already chose a name for her, Sarakshi-a better sight for the better world.

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July 13, 1983

Dear Raaz,

I am so exhausted right now. Celebrating Tanishka's tenth birthday was hectic. But I am glad to give her everything she wanted for this day and thank you deities, she finally found someone good to be called as a friend. Now she can get off Sara's case and give some time to herself.

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Tanishka? I frowned. Looking at the date again and on quickly remembering whose birthday it was, I comprehended Tanishka should be my Aunt Tanya's full name-Tanishka Thribhuvan. I couldn't handle this piece of information which I never bothered to know before. I decided to stop reading to share it with Pruthvi.

"Pruthvi do you my aunt's full name..."

I looked up only to find him nowhere in the room. I chided him for leaving the room without informing me. I rolled up the scroll and walked outside to see if what he was doing.

"Pruthvi?" I called out as soon as I opened the door. It was still dark but not so much that I wouldn't know Pruthvi wasn't here. I called his name twice, but he didn't respond.

Now my nerves hit me, a rush of adrenaline filling instantly in my veins. I flamed my hands with maximum intensity and ran speedily to the direction I barely remembered that lead us to Nazira's room.

My heart started pounding so hard and my body shook with nervousness shuddering in my stomach. I kept calling his name but he still wasn't responding. All sorts of negative thoughts began framing in my mind.

He is in danger.
My friend is in danger.
Shourya must have caught him.
What if Shashi is here too?

Passing through several alleys I finally managed to enter the great hall. Early morning sunlight was now penetrating through the main entrance door and the ventilations. I was able to see the humongous hall filled with dump, but even on looking every possible direction I wasn't able to find any trace of him.

Chilliness in the air didn't stop a small droplet of sweat of anxiety to drip down my temple. My mouth wide open, inhaling and exhaling rapidly, I continued calling his name but in total vain.

"Dammit!"

I grunted, gritting my teeth with frustration. I hated myself for getting involved in the scroll and forgetting about Pruthvi. Now I understood that he literally meant to wait for two minutes. But how the hell could he leave me alone in the room without even informing me?

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where to go. Unknowingly, as if I was possessed, I ran towards the entrance door and dashed outside in the open air. I stepped down the marble stairs. It was unpleasantly cold, and the light humid breeze stung my skin. I scanned the entire surroundings, turning my head swiftly from side to side, towards the bushes, besides the water body encircling the palace. There was pin drop silence and it was creeping me out.

I finally had to accept the fact that only I, with the scroll in my hand, was standing beneath the entrance of the gigantic palace.

"PRUTHVI! WHERE ARE YOU?"

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