Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two) by Iram Dana Read Free Book Online

poles dug deep into the soil. It served as a shelter for the night only. They did most of their cooking outside, where Subodh had placed a few rocks into a circle and dug a hole in the centre, filling it with coals. This served as their stove where they would roast meats and do their cooking.
     
    During his free hours, Rain would run on the beach, or do push-ups and other forms of physical activity on the sand in order to keep his fitness levels up and regain his former strength. After the experience with Miti, he had begun to recite in earnest every wisdom that he could possibly remember, in the hopes of hitting on the right one by accident or luck. One sunny morning, he was doing just that, while messing around in the surf.
    “An apple a day keeps the doctor away …” he said, cupping a small mound of wet sand, shaping it into a ball, and then placing it alongside six others that he had arranged into a neat, winding curve.
    “Never leave until tomorrow, what you can do today …” he continued, making another ball of sand and placing it into position. He looked at the chain on his neck hopefully.
    Nothing.
    He made another ball. “A fool and his money are soon parted…”
    His Geeya floated over to him.
    “What are you doing, Rain?” she said in her soft, balmy voice. Rain looked up at the smiling face of his Geeya.
    “Trying to guess a wisdom.” he replied, returning her smile.
    “Is that a caterpillar?” she asked, pointing to the curving line made of balls of sand.
    “Yup.” said Rain, placing another ball of sand at the end of the ever-growing train of sand balls.
    “Look before you leap…” he continued.
    “You’ve been at this for the last five months now …” said his Geeya softly, placing a translucent, scarlet colored palm on his shoulder. “It’s not that simple. You should know by now. Don’t you remember what your first wisdom was like?”
    Rain stopped making the sand balls with a sigh and looked at her.
    “How can I forget?” he asked.
     
    In all this time, he had acquired a deep tan and lots of sun bleached gold streaks were visible in his blond hair, which he maintained at shoulder length since the encounter with Miti. He began to recite the wisdom Miti had given him.
    “Real courage doesn’t mean you’re not afraid. It means you’re terrified, but go ahead and face the situation anyway.” he said, throwing a large shell into the sea.
    “Exactly. See how different it is from what all you have been reciting? What you have been doing all this while is simply parroting all that has been taught to you. But real knowledge, real wisdom, comes from experience. And as you have seen, experience is gained after some difficulty.”
    “The understatement of the year.” Rain muttered under his breath.
    “I agree.” said his Geeya. “But no sense fearing the inevitable. Sooner or later you will have to face another situation and gain another wisdom. Don’t look so forlorn. I am sure they will not all be Miti-like situations.”
    “I guess you’re right. I’m just being a prick about his whole thing. But I was thinking … this changes the definition of a coward too, don’t you think? A coward isn’t a person who’s afraid. A coward is simply a person who never tried.” he said. Then, inspiration struck, and he quickly made a rhyme out of it.
    “Coward’s not the boy who cried; coward’s the one who never tried.”
    His Geeya nodded appreciatively.
    “That’s more like it. Learn your own lessons. They’ll stay with you forever.”
    Rain glanced down at his chain … just in case. His Geeya rolled her eyes, something that she had picked up from him during their many interactions.
    “Rain …” she said in mock exasperation.
    He flashed her an impish grin and got to his feet, bending to dust himself off and put on his shoes.
    “Let’s go for a walk into the forest.” he suggested, kicking the caterpillar he had been constructing, reducing it to a shapeless mass of wet