Hills of Mustard Seeds

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

But that fated day in the usually quiet farmers market of mangawan, Sudden talks of a strange-looking greenish-blue dog with shiny scales on its tails has erupted like wildfire.

It all started with two boys.

“Do dragons chase their tails”, Kush asked with a made-up brave straight face.

“Are you sure you saw a dragon? “ Kush inquired further while slurping his mango yogurt, also looking up in the sky the whole time, hoping to witness a random red-eyed fire-breathing dragon adventure.

Ignoring his brother’s talks Lav couldn't help but think about what happened two days ago, he kept shifting his weight on his legs one-after-another, trying to be comfortable for the hundredth time.

Lav felt their usual after-dinner hang-out place, the cobblestone bench in the middle of their backyard was unusually cold that night, or who knows the chill was inside him.

The chill did not leave him since that greenish-blue dragon in what looked like a silver chest plate had stared at him with his red eyes from across the banks of sona. The first stare had Lav skip a heartbeat and made him drop his bag of remaining mustard seeds. He managed to utter “ that’s a drrrragoooonnnnnnnn “ in a frightened voice. A clump of seeds went into his shoes before rolling off the edge and splashing into the water. But the swishing tail kind of contradicted the whole dragon thing.

“Lav, kush”, their mother called.

“you boys, come in now! Are you sleeping on the bench today? “

His mother’s voice brought him back from the flashback. He found a few mustard seeds in his clothes again and couldn't help but smile.

The eastern side of the Valley was patches of lush green and bright yellow, it was their favorite place to run around, play hide and seek and pick mangoes. This time of the year, the mustard plants wrapped the slopes, the sun shone the best, bees hummed, and parrots sang a lot. The air smelled of raw mangoes and mustard.

The river sona and her rocky banks flanked the opposite side of the Valley. The brothers loved to sit there and watch little gators jump now and then.

As the sunset neared, the Valley got quieter, except for those three men on his side of the river bank who were still trying to make a few sticks tied together like a bed to move on water. Lav and kush have laughed at them many times that day watching them fall as they kept trying to keep their water bed afloat.

The quiet splash sounds of water became prominent as the time passed. Lav had always loved the fresh smell of water of river sona.

At that exact moment when the sun went under the river when he was catching up the final glistened glimpse of the river, he had spotted a long-necked dog with a giant tail between his legs, sitting across the river. “What a strange sight, never seen this before! “ thought lav.

Then he saw the red eyes, a silver armor on his chest, and then he caught a shimmering scaly tail. What's up with it's tail? He thought.

A swarm of crickets flew by, chirped at a very high pitch, and distracted the boys. Kush contemplated about what Lav just told him about a blue dragon and all he wanted to do was to go home.

“ We should head back to the village before ma starts getting worried about us. " kush tugged at his brother‘s arm. Kush was 4 years younger than Lav and he was a little less risk-taking one, and relatively a a bit more responsible.

That evening for Lav, it might have taken a while to add up all the details because of the lack of light and all the mixed emotions, but for those three men who overheard lav and kush talking about the strange creature, it was a piece of cake. A few hours later on, the grapevine had it.

In the farmer's market a man told somebody that once he also saw an emerald green lizard with a whopping swishy tail full of silver scales that shimmered even in the faintest light of the thin nail chip-sized moon.

The gossip unraveled whole day and it reached their mother too.

She did not know whether a mustard seed had just turned into a hill. Nonetheless, she banned her kids from going out for two days. She wanted the people to forget about the story as soon as possible.

Still sitting in their backyard, kush glanced at his elder brother’s solemn face. Unsure whether he will be of any help, He thought of asking about it once again but dropped the idea instantly.

My brother can be a monkey prankster but when he tries extra hard to stay tight-lipped , he has a good reason behind that or a hunch of danger. Kush said to himself. Kush knew something was off in his house. But was unsure of whether the dragon sighting was a bigger situation or being house arrested was.

The boys went inside and slept. Well! They tried. !

In another room, Sita knew it has begun. She knew the burden of their destiny had already started putting its weight on her eldest son's shoulders.

Something glowed in the dark outside. If anyone would have seen it they would have definitely spotted its yellow gnawing teeth.

There were all kinds of snakes in the Valley but no one has ever spotted a dragon before. There were all kinds of birds in the Valley. But no one has ever spotted a garuda before.

No one except Sita and now her son too.