"Wake up Rahul! Wake up! The sun is shining on your belly and at the end we will be late because of you!" These were the first sentences that Rahul heard in the morning, still half in the realm of dreams. He was not at all happy that his hyperactive friend was bothering him again, although he is slowly getting used to the fact that no matter what he does here, he will be yelled at.
"And what does that have to do with me?" Rahul whined as he sat up with a huge yawn.
"You shouldn't miss the handover ceremony! You've won a bunch of competitions!" The Bolacsuk boy was delighted, although Rahul had no idea how this child got so much energy, early in the morning.
"All right, all right! I'm coming." He finally gave in and waved at his friend, but he still didn't open his eyes even when he started to get himself together.
"You are a strange fella!" Citar laughed, watching what the boy was up to with his hands on his hips. "Is this a chüvigh custom?" He asked with a chuckle as Rahul slowly opened his eyes.
"No! This is a Rahul habit." He smiled faintly, then stretched and approached the boy. "Well, shall we go? You were quite hurried before." He stuck out his tongue at the boy, who returned the gesture, then turned around laughing and left the yurt. So Rahul had no choice but to follow him. They repeated the rounds made the day before this morning too, and then they set off for the Heginjülins shopping area.
The pair went downstairs looking at the stalls, as Citar said it was still early for the festivities to begin, although when he pointed this out, Rahul almost choked him in front of everyone saying, 'What the hell did you wake me up for then?!' And the only thing that saved the Bolacsuk boy from this not-so-pleasant kind of death was that his team appeared out of nowhere.
Although it still wasn't easy for Citar to get rid of Rahul, since some of his beloved friends were on the side of the 'new boy', so they let them fight for a while and only stopped the couple when a slightly bigger crowd started staring at them. However, even then, it took a few minutes before Teveli calmed down the mood and the team could only then go to the handover ceremony.
This event also took place in the same place as the youth's level measurement ceremony on the first day, only this time the crowd was much larger, as everyone was present. Maybe it was the large crowd that made Rahul so nervous that he was close to getting sick. He may have competed in front of everyone, but not everyone was staring at him then. But now he knew that as soon as he was called to the platform, everyone would be staring at him.
"Don't worry, I'm here by your side." He suddenly heard a voice next to him and when he looked over he saw the Tapló leader.
"What happened, are you nice now?" He asked with raised eyebrows, while the other shook his head.
"It's not your fault that those idiots don't know how to keep a secret. As long as you don't poke your nose into what's none of your business, I'll be nice to you." The answer came, and Rahul started to giggle.
"I think you should teach them how to keep a secret first." He shook his head, but before he could continue, the tribal chief, who gave a speech on the first day, called both him and Razvan to the platform. Rahul stood nervously in front of everyone present and did not understand at all what the point of receiving small lanterns was, but he thought it better not to say it in front of everyone.
"Congratulations boss and to you too Rahul!" Citar ran in front of him and the head of the Athamana and grinned widely at the couple.
"Thank you." Rahul smiled, and Razvan next to him just nodded. "What are these good for anyway?" Rahul raised the lanterns in his hands.
"You don't know that yet?" The sudden question surprised Rahul, especially since it came from the boy next to him. "These are eternal lanterns. If you light them, their flame will not go out for a whole year." Razvan explained, who had already put the lanterns in his small bag.
"Boss, are we having a meeting on the Karrabata shooting?" Came the question from Benkó.
"Yes." The interviewee frowned, then hurried away without bothering with the team.
"What happened to him?" Suk tilted his head to the side.
"You talked about a group case in front of me again." Rahul shrugged and everyone looked at him in surprise. "What, did I just say something wrong?" He raised his eyebrows.
"No, but how do you know that?" Asked Citar, with which he made Rahul hit himself in the head.
"You really don't understand the concept of a secret." He muttered under his breath.
"It's okay, people, leave it, the joint meditation begins. We're still going to say goodbye over the closing ceremony, right?" Teveli asked, and the team started nodding with grins, except for Rahul, of course, who had no idea what was going on around him.
"When aren't we?" Achilleus laughed, then grabbed Benkó's arm and dragged the boy away from the team. Following his example, the others scattered, leaving Rahul alone with Citar again, who was still widely grinning, the Bolacsuk boy led him back to the clearing where the heings were all sitting on the ground.
"What should we do now?" Asked Rahul as he looked at the crowd, but instead of answering, Citar just grabbed his arm and pulled him to the ground.
"Just do what I do." He finally waved, then settled down and closed his eyes. Rahul tried his best to imitate the pose the boy had taken, but no matter how he tried, he was either uncomfortable or it didn't look right. He could have spoken up and to ask for help, but Rahul didn't want to disturb the boy, who was visibly concentrating.
"I'll help." Rahul was jolted out of his thoughts by the Tapló leader's voice, who simply sat down next to him and now turned towards him. "Maybe it'll be better this way." He said as he took Rahul's right leg with his hand and bent it, then took the left and crossed it on Rahul's right leg, finally he put the boy's hands on his bent knees and patted his back, making Rahul staithen himself out. "This is the meditation pose, with this your kí flows more easily. Just close your eyes and let the soul magic permeate your body." The boy explained, then he turned away from Rahul and he too sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
"Thank you." Rahul whispered softly and he could have sweared he saw a faint smile on Razvan's lips, but the boy soon became serious again, so Rahul concentrated more on meditation and finally closed his eyes.
To his greatest surprise, by the time this joint meditation was over, he felt much better and seemed to have much more energy, which was a particularly strange feeling. Even when Citar and he left the closing ceremony to say goodbye to the Athamana team, he was mortified by the appearance of this inexplicable excess of energy.
"Where the sun meets the earth, hold on, there the fire-breathing mountain will growl and seal a mighty man." Rahul and Citar were stopped on their way by a white-haired man dressed in strange clothes who spoke with a misty look. The two boys didn't understand what he was talking about, although Rahul wondered what if the stranger was a seer.
"Citar! Rahul!" They suddenly heard their names and looked towards their caller, who was none other than Suk. "What are you doing here in the middle of nowhere? Everyone is waiting for you." The man in yellow reached them before the two boys turned back, but the strange man had already left without a trace.
"We got lost." Citar finally grinned, which caused Suk to roll his eyes, then grab the two boy by the wrists and pull them after him so that they too could say goodbye to the team, only to have everyone return to their own tribe for the next month.