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[b][sup][color=wheat][color=burlywood]L[/color]OCATION — [color=burlywood]Home → Airport → Mrs Lovelace's office[/color]
[color=burlywood]I[/color]NTERACTING [color=burlywood]W[/color]ITH — [color=burlywood][color=blue]Her brother, Adarsh[/color] & [color=green]Her father, Elliot[/color] → [color=8493ca]Mrs Lovelace[/color] [@Lovely Complex][/color]
[color=burlywood]M[/color]OOD — [color=burlywood]Concerned → Proud → Back to concern again → Tired → Nervous[/color][/color][/sup][/b]

[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/6SeAhezE8hxy_9Y9ojfDmchH5rwl7GmVnT8OF3dwONYR-BDLimwEm3PA86XjN3Ku7FEWaxuzzPt4qzfeQZE7NNowR3LvkginIzxBvAcQIMqiWpCtoU-DbZW_B2w=s1600[/img][/center]

[right][color=burlywood][sup][b]MID-SEPTEMBER[/b][/sup][/color][/right]

Ananya remembered it all: the fever, the pain, the hallucinations. Everything. Granted, she was only about eight when it had happened to her, but no one forgets [i]that[/i] sort of pain so easily. It had taken over every fibre of her being, and lasted for much longer than it should've. The amount of times she'd accidentally shifted to her Nag state in midst of her pain was much more than she'd shifted her entire life. Her skin burned and froze all at the same time, and it was the sort of agony Ananya would [i]never[/i] wish on her enemies.

Well maybe some, but what was besides the point.

Adarsh for the past week and a half had been writhing on his bed in cold sweat. Ananya remembered the weeks following up to it. The signs, the symptoms, and she recognised it in Adarsh — it was [i]finally [/i]time for his [i]Sabhya[/i]. But unlike her Sabhya where she had an experienced Nag guide her through the ordeal, Adarsh was all alone except for a just as clueless sister and human father. Ananya, as soon as she realised, decided to stay back. There was no way the young nagin could leave her brother in pain while she enjoyed her time at Mayweather. What sort of sister would that make her?

Instead, she tried helping Adarsh the same way their mother had helped her many moons ago. It wasn't as effective, Ananya knew that very well. But what could the young Nag do? She couldn't see him suffer, Adarsh was her little baby brother. At some points during the week she found herself even wishing that her brother wasn't a nag just so he wouldn't have to deal with the pain.

So he could be a normal teenager. But what would wishing do? Adarsh was now on the way to being considered a naga and Ananya could feel the swell of pride in her amidst the concern for her younger brother. The Sabhya only happened once, and once the pain was done, Adarsh would feel [i]great[/i].

[right][color=burlywood][sup][b]END OF SEPTEMBER - EARLY OCTOBER[/b][/sup][/color][/right]
Maybe unnecessarily long Sabhyas came with being a Sharma. Ananya didn't know whether this was true; maybe she and her brother were just anomalies compared to the rest of the Nags, or maybe each Nag suffered through over two weeks worth of pain as part of their nature as a magical snake-human hybrid. Her mother never told her how long her Sabhya had lasted for, so this was all based on Ananya's assumption.

	[b][color=blue]"Arey, jaldi karo na! Daard ho raha hai, dídi!"[/color] [/b]

Her brother was curled up into a ball in his bed, blankets tossed off the side of the bed with sweat covering his dark skin as he shivered. Ananya nodded, taking the scrunched up towel and dipping it into the herbal mix for the x-th time that evening. Wringing out the excess - and wincing at the strong smell of disinfectant mixed in with the other ingredients - Ananya pressed the cold, damp towel against his side. Adarsh sighed as the coolness numbed his aching side, momentarily making him forget about the pain.

	[b][color=wheat]"Mani jaldi ara ha hai. Fikar mat karo."[/color]

	[color=blue]"Fikar mai kaise mat karo? You didn't warn me it would hurt this bad when you told me it was time for my Sabhya."[/color][/b]

Adarsh's shaky voice was accusatory, and all Ananya could do was wince. Maybe she [i]did[/i] leave out that one crucial part when she sat Adarsh down almost a month ago to explain what was going to happen to him. To be fair, the young nagin didn't want to scare Adarsh, even if he was a (self-proclaimed) strong [s]boy[/s] man. Even Elliot was stood there, leaning against the door frame while (trying to) discreetly chew on his nails from the anxiety. There was little Ananya could do to comfort him when she herself could barely handle seeing her baby brother in so much pain.

	[color=wheat][b]"It'll all get better soon, it's almost out anyway. Give it another day."[/b][/color]

Ananya rubbed Adarsh's thick hair softly, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvuMpTTiXaU]humming[/url] under her breath. It was a song their mother liked to sing, using the soft, gentle melody to lull the once tiny Nags to sleep back in India. The habit stuck, and Ananya would find herself humming - even singing along to it sometimes - along to the song whenever she needed that little extra comfort.

[right][color=burlywood][sup][b]ONE WEEK LATER[/b][/sup][/color][/right]
	[color=blue][b]"So now what? You're leaving because of some tournament thing you originally weren't even supposed to be a part of?"[/b][/color]

Adarsh's Sabhya had ended three days ago, and the teen was finally able to walk around the house without looking like a typical zombie from [i]The Walking Dead[/i] series. Ananya pulled her suitcase from out of her father's car trunk, letting the heavy case slam onto the trolley carelessly as her brother stood beside her, covered up in three blankets and a [url=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0mDg9_NtJdc/VGGTtDr5mCI/AAAAAAAAFPI/zml_Zh1ryRo/s1600/side%2Bheadliner%2Bcut%2Boff.jpg]fluffy ski hat[/url] (which Ananya was almost [i]certain[/i] was actually hers). Elliot shut the car door, reaching over to his son to give him something to hold onto as Ananya just shrugged in response to his question. Ananya, dressed in a [url=http://img.biscoot.com/Gallary/Just-like-Shraddha-her-competitor-Alia-B110714153522081_480x600.jpg]light pink suit[/url], pulled out her phone from the tote bag she was carrying. 

	[color=wheat][b]"It's not like I have much choice in the matter. I'll ask Mrs. Lovelace when I arrive whether it's [i]absolutely[/i] necessary to participate, but to do that I have no choice but to go visit her in Mayweather."[/b][/color]

Ananya noticed a little frown on Adarsh's face, and she let out a soft sigh. She dropped her tote on top of the suitcase before reaching forward to pull her younger brother into a gentle hug, careful not to press into his side and aggravate the still sore wound. [color=wheat][b]"You'll be fine. I'm just a phone call away. And I'll visit whenever I can. Just say the word, okay?"[/b][/color] Ananya assured him, Adarsh's arms curling around his short sister's body. Ananya and Adarsh let out a surprised [i]squeak[/i] as their father joined in the hug, pulling the two children into his chest with his hands patting their head.

	[b][color=green]"Oh come on, I can take care of you too. I'm not [i]that[/i] bad."[/color][/b]

Both Ananya and Adarsh let out a snort, and the soft patting turned into a harsh tap. The snort turned into laughter between the three, the family bonding for a little while longer. Before long, Ananya pulled away from the hug, giving both her father and Adarsh a kiss to their cheeks before smiling and waving as she pushed the trolley with her suitcase towards the airport entrance.

[right][color=burlywood][sup][b]A COUPLE HOURS LATER[/b][/sup][/color][/right]
Boy was Ananya exhausted. The young nagin was ready to just collapse into her bed and sleep for the next couple weeks. After doing all nighters for the past few weeks, with barely enough resting time in between because of Adarsh's Sabhya, it wasn't a surprise that as soon as Ananya took her seat on the plane, she was asleep immediately. Thankfully, it was a dreamless sleep and the girl was able to gather as much of her energy as she could before having to meet Mrs Lovelace about the mix-up. All Ananya had received was an email with little warning yesterday morning, and by that night she already had her plane tickets and suitcase packed, ready for the year ahead of her.

And when Ananya finally reached Mayweather, the girl found herself just a [i]bit[/i] excited. Maybe this was finally the time for Ananya to test her abilities against the other heroic students of Mayweather despite the chances of her butt getting whooped was quite high. After hurrying along the now familiar corridors of Mayweather, she couldn't help but notice there was an [i]abundance[/i] of faces she didn't recognise - not everybody could be a new freshman, right? Ananya made a note of it to ask Mrs Lovelace about it later, but as of for now, her priority was [i]making it there[/i] without crashing into a body in the crowded hallway. 

Finally arriving, Ananya stood outside the door, taking a deep breath before raising her fist to knock on the door in front of her, and when she heard the her beckoning her inside, Ananya slowly opened the door, peeking inside before fully stepping into Mrs Lovelace's office. [b][color=wheat]"You wanted to see me?"[/color][/b] Ananya asked. In the office, along with Mrs Lovelace were two other people, two she didn't recognise at all. She gave them a nervous smile, before hiding her hands behind her back so she could play with her fingers.

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[hider=Translations]
Sabhya — Okay so I made up this word because I couldn't quite come up with something fitting for this. A Sabhya, as I tried to explain in the post, is the pivotal moment in any Nag's life where their 'soul' leaves their body in the form of a gem — the Mani. The Nag, after the Sabhya, is considered old enough to start learning the ways of their nature by this point.

[color=blue]"Arey, jaldi karo na! Daard ho raha hai, dídi!"[/color] — "Hey, hurry up! It's hurting me, sister!" 

[color=wheat]"Mani jaldi ara ha hai. Fikar mat karo."[/color] — "Don't worry, the mani is coming soon."

[color=blue]"Fikar mai kaise mat karo? You didn't warn me it would hurt this bad when you told me it was time for my Sabhya."[/color] How can I not worry? You didn't warn me it would hurt this bad when you told me it was time for my Sabhya."
[/hider]