Page 62 of The Unwanted Husband
As she stepped onto the gently rocking deck, she felt a profound significance of that moment. She would be spending the night alone together, surrounded by nothing but endless water and stars. She suddenly felt her awareness grow and looked up to find his eyes on her, an undecipherable expression in them.
She took his extended hand and stood next to him as they looked at the group on the deck. Ashok’s sisters had joined the sendoff party too. Ashok nodded at the man who was holding the rope that kept the boat docked to the small pier.
Just as they thought they would pull away, Aravinda stepped forward and a silence fell over the group. Isha admired the command she held in her presence. The true queen.
“It’s simple,” Aravinda announced from the dock, her voice carrying the authority of tradition. “You must stay awake and in conversation until the first light touches the horizon. If either of you falls asleep, or if you fall into silence for more than a few minutes, it is considered a failure. People will bemonitoring voices but they cannot hear what you are saying so don’t feel like you need to be discreet with your conversation.”
His sister’s eyes met Isha’s. “This is the final event before the wedding to prove you belong in the island, that you can be a true partner to the future chieftain.”
The future chieftain’s partner? Wasn’t Aravinda the future chieftain?
Isha looked up at Ashok confused as the family ceremoniously pushed the boat away from the dock. He nodded like he knew what her confusion was about and gestured to her to settle onto the cushions that had been arranged in the center of the vessel. The boat rocked gently as he raised the sail, and soon they were gliding away from the lights of the island, out into the vast darkness of the sea.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly, securing the sail and moving to sit across from her. The oil lamps cast dancing shadows across his face, and all around them was the gentle sound of water lapping against the boat.
She nodded, though her heart was racing. The isolation was complete now. It was just the two of them, the boat, and the infinite ocean and endless questions. “You are the future chieftain?”
Ashok nodded. “It was part of the deal I made with Aravinda. As the son of the chieftain, it is traditional for me to take over the reins after my father but when I left the island with Sami, I relinquished my rights to the role and made Aravinda next in line.”
He paused and let out a sigh. “She knows not to break tradition no matter how progressive my family is, so she took this opportunity to hand the reins back to me. It is her way of making sure I never leave the island again.”
“But what about your businesses? The kids’ education. Isn’t that all in the city?” Isha was a bit alarmed with the change in the plan.
“My businesses, I had always had the plan to set up in such a way that I can move here eventually.” He paused and smiled before adding, “Sami promised she would bring us back home at some point. Didn’t realize it would be this way.”
Her heart twisted painfully when she sensed the sadness in his voice. Something that he rarely showed. On impulse, she scooted closer to him, her hand going over his shoulder. “I get it.”
He nodded and looked at her. “For the kids’ education, nothing beats the system that Amuktha has set up. Education institutes with the teaching staff and the infrastructure to perform any kind of research and experimentation will all be set up in the next few years.”
She leaned back on the cushion, feeling the weight of her responsibility and duty lifting a little. “I’m so glad you thought this through. Makes me feel less guilty about going back to San Francisco.”
“Why would you feel guilty?” His question made her smile.
“Sami and Ravi entrusted both of us to take care of the kids so I should technically be involved in their lives.”
He let out a laugh. “You will be there every summer of their childhood. I’m going to ship them off to California to their Isha aunty.”
“You should come too,” she blurted.
He paused for a long moment before looking up at the sail. “Maybe, sometime.”
“You should for sure, it’ll be good.” Why she was so insistent on him going, she had no idea.
A silence fell between them for a few moments and she became worried. “What happens if we don’t stay up and talk all night? Will we be unmarried?”
He shook his head and chuckled.
“We won’t be,” he said confidently, reaching to his side. He pulled out a back pack from one side and said, “I brought reinforcements.”
She let out a laugh. “Not fair. You had time to pack?”
He reached into the backpack and pulled out a flask and a small dark colored pack. “I wasn’t warned either. I just grabbed my emergency go bag with this water warming flask and coffee. I had a stinking suspicion Aravinda would do something like this.”
“You knew such a test existed?” She was surprised.
He only scoffed. “My grandparents had to do this too, during a storm. I remember my grandma telling me that the waves were so high they couldn’t see the stars, but they kept talking until dawn.”
“Wow, that’s so fascinating to hear. If they had failed, what would have happened back then?” Isha was curious about Ashok’s culture.
