Dust flew around in swirls. Camels snorted here and there as they walked through the places between the buildings which could barely be called streets. The sun was beating down upon the small village in the middle of the desert. A few people walked around in the sweltering heat, their faces beaded with perspiration and their white clothes clinging to their tanned bodies. The houses looked like they wouldn’t survive a sandstorm, made of mud and straw and natural things. Trees were a scarce resource, but a few palms and acacias dotted the area. The other animals that roamed around the village were yawning away in the midday sun, and their bodies no longer had the energy to do anything. A little channel could be seen flowing through the middle that would provide water in the wetter months, but was presently dry and parched.

"Welcome to my home,” Raghav flourished his hands around.

“Wow,” I said. I was definitely underwhelmed. This was where he lived? An ancient, dilapidated village with no water and no modern facilities? I felt a little sad for him. But I didn’t want to show any contempt, he definitely looked content with his home.

He led me towards the middle of the village. We hopped through the paths, trying to avoid stepping on the various animal excreta that dotted the ground. Finally we arrived at a hut which looked bigger and sturdier that many of the huts in the village.

“It has three rooms and two bathrooms,” Raghav boasted to me. I decided not to comment, it seemed like it would be a huge house here.

“Bhaiya! Bhaiya!” a flurry of movement on the right caught my eye as soon as the door opened. I looked down to see two thin, brown arms wrapped around Raghav’s waist. He looked down and smiled at the tiny girl that stood there. She wasn’t as tall as him, and came till my nose, but her face was absolutely adorable. Two thick black plaits rolled down her back, oiled and shining in the sunlight. Flecks of gold danced in her black eyes that sparkled up at Raghav with love and admiration. Her tiny nose with a pointy end and little beady eyes fit perfectly in her round face.

“Meena!” Raghav exclaimed after he glanced himself and hugged her back.

“Why are you home so early?” the little girl asked, her mouth slightly open.

“I didn’t go to get water today, Meena. I went to look for my friend,” he said sweetly.

“Oh,” she said, eyeing me up and down. Her stare was a little scary, and her eyes might be framed in a child’s face but seemed to hold perception and wisdom beyond her years. Then she finally turned her gaze to Raghav, extracting a sigh of relief from me. “I made something.”

She led us to the back of the house, which reeked of camel dung and cow dung. There was a well in the corner, but it looked like it hadn’t held water for years. A small shed was built on the side to serve as a shelter for two camels, and a few cacti and some other plants grew here and there. She led us to a dry patch of sand. There was something odd about it. When I finally stood near it I realised what it was. There was an intricate pattern that snaked through the golden sand, surrounding a beautiful, lifelike face. Raghav’s face was enshrouded by a magnificent design of lines and curves, dots and swirls. My jaw dropped to the floor, and Raghav smiled at the girl. “It’s terrific, behna!”

That was when I realised that they were siblings. Raghav gazed into his sister’s eyes with adoration deeper than anything I had ever seen in Phimine. She wrapped her little, soft hand around his finger as he led her back into the house. “Have you had your food?”

“Not yet, bhaiya. Papa isn’t back from work yet, and mom went to fetch the water.

Raghav led her towards the kitchen to give her some food and then finally came back to me. He stood beside me with his arms folded over his sweaty chest as we watched as Meena ate. His head was tilted a little to the side, and when I called his name once he didn’t hear me. “She really loves you.” I remarked to him.

He smiled back at me. “I love her too. She needs someone to take care of her. She is often left alone at home in the day and ends up at one of her friends house or just plying somewhere in the village.”

“What is your name?” Meena walked up to me.

“Melga,” I answered, a little unnerved by her stare.

“Where are you from?” she narrowed her eyes at me. “And how do you know my brother?”

I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know what to say. Her direct questions had left me utterly speechless. I couldn’t exactly say that I was a dwarf from an underground city hidden below their desert.

Raghav dove to the rescue. “Oh, Melga is from another nearby village. I met her a few days ago when we were fetching water and we became friends.”

Meena continued narrowing her eyes at me while I held her gaze, mostly in fear. I don’t know how she managed to intimidate me so much, being about half my age. Yet there was something about her, something strangely familiar yet too far to grasp, that continued to unnerve me.

“So how did you like my home?” Raghav raised an eyebrow at me.

“It’s … Umm … Interesting,” I finished, not quite knowing how to describe it. “But I guess I should be getting back now.” 

Raghav shook his head. “I thought you were going to stay. Shouldn’t you let things calm down for a day?”

Meena’s little black eyes widened, as she gawped at her brother and then me. “You are going to stay?”

I gulped. “Maybe. But my dad would be worried. I have to get back.”

Raghav sighed. “I’m no one to stop you,” he resigned and left walked out of the door.

I followed him and caught up with him following the dusty, beaten path leading out of the village. Avoiding a horse cart that rushed past me, I kept a hand on his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Raghav. But I’d rather not stay here.”

“Why exactly is that?” came a voice from behind me. Meena stood there in her pink and orange clothes, jogging a little to keep up with Raghav and me. I sighed in my mind, a little off guard and nervous that she had followed us.

“I don’t quite fit in here, do I? I just don’t belong,” I tried to explain to her.

Raghav said, “Oh, but you can fit in. You look mostly like us, and nobody has batted an eyelash at you yet. You can easily pass off as one of us.”

Meena raised an eyebrow in the same unique questioning way as her brother that could wriggle out many answers, and in certain cases secrets and gossip from the other kids in the village. “One of us?”

Before Raghav could answer, I interjected. “What is that?” I pointed. At the edge of the village, I could see a small colourful tent. It had red, yellow and green parts, with blue tassels and ropes hanging around. Small mirrors decorated its thick cloth surface, and it looked completely out of place in the village.

“Oh, that’s the local prophet’s tent,” Raghav waved it aside.

“That nasty clairvoyant!” Meena spat.

I wanted to ask why Meen harboured such an enmity towards her, but I didn’t. And yet I was irresistibly drawn to the colourful tent with its wondrous designs. It beckoned to me, and I yearned to go inside and meet the oracle.

“What are you doing?” I felt Raghav’s hand on my arm as I realised that I had started moving towards the tent. 

“Can we pay a small visit?” I pleaded, not quite knowing why. I had to say, out here on the surface my instincts and feelings were going rather haywire, and I was following all of them.

Raghav was reluctant, cast around a look, and said, “Alright. But don’t fall into the trap of the words, my mother told me they can be twisted.”

“Right-o,” I said, and marched into the small tent and the utter darkness inside that swallowed me whole.