Isabella and Estella stood in awe of what they saw: a huge building, almost the size of a mansion, but so old that trees, shrubs, and herbs grew out of its cracks. A building of this size in a tightly packed area still standing was nothing less than a miracle.
But the true shock came when they stepped inside. Although the house was ancient, the corridors were very well decorated, the stairway was beautifully maintained, and the interior and exterior stood in contrast with each other, yet it felt so majestic, more than any castle in Alzaras.
"It is confusing, like how is this place still standing, like the outside appearance and the inside appearance are different, yet it feels like we are walking into some heritage sight" Estella was in awe as she was trying to comprehend how one place can be so full of an historical aura.
"Well, it is a heritage sight, it was built by our ancestors before the Britishers even came to this land, yes, it has become old, yet it ages like a fine wine", Aaron carried a voice of pride as he looked around the entire house.
"You really love this place, don't you?" Isabella spoke calmly as she observed the huge lawn in between the houses.
"Well, yes, he is extremely prideful about this place, as the huge space you see in between that's called dalan/uthon, and for us it's a place where we have a great deal of memories with our cousins, some good and some punishing" Ishaan had a sly smile on his face.
As they walked across, it dawned on the girls that even though their entire lives they had lived in places with much bigger halls or rooms, still this place had something mysterious about it, an unforeseen pull that draws one in to ask themselves about the history of Bengal.
After they walked down the hall for a couple of minutes, they entered the living room, which was filled with many people, most of them adults or elders, accompanied by kids. When they saw Aaron and Ishaan, the kids ran towards them.
"Aaron and Ishaan dadaaaa…." All of them ambushed the boys as they tried to calm the mob down.
As they were being swarmed by kids all across, Isabella and Estella just looked at the boys and, while leaning against the door, softly smiled at the two, who were enjoying being swarmed by the little devils.
"Arre Arre wait, ambushing us before we enter, I see you guys haven't changed hai, Ankush, Bhaskar and Amrita ?" Aaron gave them a huge while we were trying to balanced himself.
"Energetic as all ways i see ahh… Kavya, Dkashit ?" Ishaan patted their heads.
"We missed you, Aaron Dada. Hey want to play right now?" Ankush asked as he tugged at Aaron's shirt.
"No, Aaron Dada is coming with me. I have so many drawings I made, I want him to see," Amrita asked as she also pulled at Aaron from the opposite side.
"Wait, wait, I'll go see your drawings and play with you for sure, but first let me at least get changed and pay my respects to dadu, dida and all" Aaron gave a gentle smile as he patted their head.
"Till then, you guys bully these girls", Ishaan said, pointing at Isabella and Estella, who were taken aback by his statement.
"Who are they ?" one of the kids asked.
Ishaan slowly whispered into their ears, "They are your big sisters from now on."
As he finished his sentence, the entire crowd of those curious kids completely swarmed the girls. Although they were initially surrounded and confused by what had happened, they somehow managed themselves and entertained those kids.
"So, I see the rumours were true, huh, to think Aaron and Ishaan have really brought wives from abroad…" One of the elders laughed.
"Arre Dadu, it's still too early for that statement, but yes, we are… close to them that we do like their company", Aaron being bashful.
"Well, it seems someone is getting a bit bashful ?" one of the adults spoke.
"Brodo mashi, leave it" Aaron tried to change the topic, but when he saw Isabella also all red, he couldn't.
The living room noise had settled into a comfortable hum — the kind that meant everyone had found their corner. Somewhere near the window, Estella was surrounded by three of the younger kids, all of them trying to teach her a clapping game at the same time, each convinced the others were doing it wrong. She was gamely attempting to follow all three versions simultaneously, failing spectacularly, and making it funnier each time she did.
Isabella had been claimed by Amrita, who had produced a stack of drawings and was explaining each one with the gravity of a museum curator. Isabella was listening with full attention, which was making Amrita approximately the happiest she had been all week.
Aaron watched them from across the room for a moment. Something in his chest settled.
"Aaron."
He turned. Kaka was standing at the edge of the hallway — not calling for him loudly, not making a production of it. Just standing there with the particular expression of a man who had a list and was about to share it. Ishaan, somehow already beside Aaron without having appeared to move, glanced at Kaka's hand and went slightly still.
It was, in fact, a list. Handwritten. Both sides.
"Come," Kaka said.
They followed him into the smaller sitting room off the main hall. Dadu was already there in his armchair, Dida on the settee beside him, and two of the other older uncles standing near the window. The room had the particular atmosphere of a briefing that had been postponed as long as reasonably possible.
Kaka set the list on the table.
"Cousins," he said simply.
"When?" Aaron asked.
"Puja day."
Ishaan made a sound that was not quite a word.
"We had expected Rohit and the others by now," Dadu said, not unkindly, "but the trains are delayed, and the roads — you know how it is during festival week. They will come. But they will come on the day itself."
"Which means," Dida added, with the calm of a woman who had managed this household through forty years of exactly this kind of situation, "the preparation falls to you two."
Aaron picked up the list. He read it once. Then he read it again more slowly.
"The main structure is done," Kaka said, counting off on his fingers. "The idol is placed, the framework is set. What remains is the finishing work. Decorations — the lights, the flowers, the fabric for the pandal interior. Food vendors — three or four, enough so the neighbourhood has something after the evening aarti. Invitations to be sent to the families on the lane. And logistics — timing, coordination, making sure everything arrives when it needs to arrive." He paused. "It is nothing. Especially now."
"Especially now because everything in the city is already booked three times over," Aaron said.
"Yes."
Ishaan was looking at the list over Aaron's shoulder. "The Ghosh family decorator — the one Baba uses every year—"
"Already taken. Durga Puja in Shyambazar."
"The vendor near the temple?"
"Same problem."
Ishaan exhaled slowly through his nose.
The room was quiet for a moment. Through the wall, they could hear Estella's laughter — bright and unguarded — followed by what sounded like the entire junior mob cheering at once.
Aaron set the list down.
"We'll figure it out," he said.
Dadu looked at him for a long moment. There was something in his expression — not doubt, not worry. Something more like recognition. "You sound like your father when he was your age," he said. "He also said that. Every year."
"Did it work?"
"Sometimes." A small smile. "Come find me when it doesn't."
As Aaron and Ishaan walked back toward the main room, Ishaan was already turning the problem over, hands in his pockets, eyes on the floor.
"Vendors first," he said quietly. "If we leave that one, it compounds everything else."
"Agreed. Decorations we can source from the market if the usual contacts are gone — it'll take longer, but it's doable. Lighting—"
"I know a guy."
Aaron looked at him.
"Bhavesh's cousin lives two lanes over. He did his building's lighting last year. Still has the equipment."
"Call him tonight."
"Already planning to."
They reached the doorway of the main room and stopped.
Estella had finally mastered the clapping game — or some version of it — and the kids were screaming in celebration. Amrita had moved on from showing Isabella drawings to now attempting to teach her how to draw a proper mango. Isabella's brow furrowed in genuine concentration, the pencil held too tightly in her hand.
Aaron looked at all of it.
It was a lot of what they'd just been handed. And the timing was bad, and the city was overcrowded, and every vendor they knew was already spoken for. He was aware of all of this.
He was also aware that Isabella had exactly one year left before she went back to Alzaras and became a queen. One year before, the weight of a country settled on her permanently. This week — this chaotic, underfunded, logistically nightmarish week — might be one of the last times she got to sit on a floor with a child and just draw a mango.
He could give her that, at least.
"We don't tell them," he said.
Ishaan followed his gaze. Looked at Estella, who was now being used as a human chair by two of the smaller kids simultaneously.
"Agreed," he said. "We handle it."
Neither of them moved for a moment.
"This is going to be a disaster," Ishaan said.
"Probably."
"We're doing it anyway."
"Obviously."
What neither of them knew was that the walls in old houses carry sound in unexpected directions.
Isabella had heard the low murmur of voices from the sitting room while Amrita was explaining her third drawing. She had caught enough — cousins delayed, falls to you two, vendors, decorations, logistics — to understand the shape of it.
She had looked across the room at Estella, who had gone slightly still in the middle of the clapping game.
Their eyes met.
You heard?
I heard.
Neither of them said anything. Estella turned back to the kids and picked up the game again, laughter back in full force, as if nothing had happened.
Isabella looked down at the mango she was attempting to draw, corrected her grip on the pencil, and said nothing at all.
For now.