"Are you done avoiding me?" Neer asked, as soon as Gyaan came back.

"No, I would like to avoid you for some more time, a few years to be precise," Gyaan answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Sameera and Ahana didn't come back," Gyaan observed. Ahana had left before him, so he thought she must have definitely reached already. Moreover, Sameera should have come way earlier as she didn't go for a walk like Ahana.

"Only focused on ladies, are we?" Neer taunted.

"Bhaiya, they went to dry their old clothes on the rock that is a little far away," Avan answered when he understood that Neer wouldn't ever give a straight answer to Gyaan.

"Other rock? Why?" Gyaan asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"So that peeping Tom doesn't look at them." Yet another taunt was fired on Gyaan.

Gyaan's jaw was clenched, but he remained silent, not wanting to start a dispute so early in the morning.

Sensing the tension between the two, Avan spoke up about the great news he got, hoping to divert their attention from the current topic.

"Gyaan Bhaiya, while you were gone, we met with a deer. We asked and got directions for the water source from my dear friend."

"Whoa! That's such great news," Gyaan exclaimed happily, bending to hug Avan.

Avan hugged him back earnestly, happy that he was able to change the mood.

"Yeah, Avan found out the water source. Even the small child knows what is more important right now, unlike someone who is busy—"

"Neer, you will be crossing limits now if you complete your sentence," Gyaan interrupted in a hardened tone.

Avan face-palmed, he celebrated too soon.

"Crossing limits? Why should I worry about something you already did last night?" Neer asked.

"Bhaiya enough!" Avan yelled, knowing that this fight was going to take an ugly turn.

"Avan...?" Neer was shocked, not expecting Avan to yell.

"Gyaan bhaiya is already feeling guilty about what happened. And even if he didn't, then Ahana didi is strong even to stand up and fight for herself if she felt violated." Avan said, his small chest heaving as he stood their with a fierce stance.

"Kiddo is right," came Ahana's voice as she and Sameera joined them. "I am no damsel in distress. Neer, I understand your protectiveness, but don't go overboard, not when we all know that he didn't do anything intentionally."

"Make up already," Sameera muttered, "Come on, shake hands and become friends again."

"What do you think we are? Kindergartners?" Gyaan scoffed, making Avan giggle.

"If you fight like children, then you will resolve it as children," Sameera answered sternly, before ordering them, "Shake hands now, and while you are already at it, then you can also hug each other to declare the end of the fight."

"Now a hug too?" Gyaan asked, looking annoyed, while Neer huffed.

"Hurry up, before the hug turns into a kiss," Ahana teased.

"Kiss! Kiss!" Avan chanted, clapping and jumping gleefully.

Both the guys looked at each other with widened eyes, before hurrying and hugging each other. Although Ahana was clearly joking, they wouldn't put it past Sameera to actually ask them to do something like this as a punishment.

"I know you did this for me, but please end the fight soon," Sameera requested.

"So you knew this wasn't real," Neer said, looking at her with accusing eyes.

"Well, it was a start," Sameera shrugged.

"Cheeky," Gyaan grumbled.

Sameera laughed at the grumbling youngsters, before saying in a grave tone, "On a serious note, we cannot really afford a fight amongst us right now. Small banters here and there are fine, but don't take it too far that we cannot become one team again."

"Sameera's right," Ahana agreed, "We won't be able to survive if we aren't united."

Understanding the severity of the situation, Gyaan and Neer nodded sincerely.

"Sorry," Neer apologized to Gyaan.

"It won't happen again," Gyaan promised in response, knowing that even though the fight was seized, Neer was still worried about Gyaan's involvement with Ahana.

"Now now," Ahana clapped her hands once, gaining everyone's attention, "if the fight scene is done and over with, can we take a moment to praise Avan, who has done a marvelous job."

Neer picked up Avan on his shoulders while everyone hooted for him. Avan covered his face in shyness as everyone sang praises for him.

"I didn't do much, just asked a friend for directions," Avan said, however his reddened face and brightened eyes gave away the fact that he was really enjoying the royal treatment.

"You did, kiddo. You don't realize what an important task you have done," Ahana said, smiling at him brightly.

"True," Neer agreed. "It would have taken us much longer to find it ourselves. There's no essence of water nearby. Don't know how many days and how many wrong turns would have passed, if we tried to search it by ourselves."

They laughed, they enjoyed, they got serious, they packed the little stuff they had and off they went to find the water source. Avan happily informed Gyaan about what he had learned from the deer, and Gyaan navigated accordingly.

Everything was going well for two hours, but then Gyaan was getting a little confused. However, he didn't let it show on his face and guided the group confidently.

"I think we are lost," Sameera said, after they crossed the same entangled tree for the third time.

"We are what?!" Ahana exclaimed in shock, "Gyaan?" She looked at him with raised eyebrows, wanting him to deny the possibility.

"I think Avan forgot some of the instructions the deer gave him," Gyaan responded, avoiding direct eye-contact.

"Of course, put the blame on the child, because how can you make a mistake?" Ahana said sarcastically, "Just because you have the power of immense knowledge, doesn't mean that you can never go wrong."

Outwardly Gyaan showed that he was offended, but internally he was happy for Ahana's taunts and sarcastic comments. It meant they were going back to normal.

"Neer, what are you doing?"

Sameera's question brought Gyaan out of his thoughts. He glanced over Neer to see what Sameera was pointing at, and saw him standing there with closed eyes. The lines on his forehead showed that he was concentrating hard on something.

"What are you—"

"Sshh," Neer shushed Ahana, before she could ask him anything.

After an hour of waiting, which was actually five seconds, Neer finally opened his eyes.

"I was trying to find the essence of the water source," Neer answered the question everyone had on their minds.

"You couldn't do it earlier? You could have saved us half an hour of walking in the same place," Gyaan said.

"What to do? I had put my blind trust on you," Neer retorted.

"Guys," Sameera said sternly, stopping the fight even before it started. They didn't want to get punished again.

"Well...what did you find?" Ahana asked urgently, wanting to reach the destination fast.

"I found two essences. One is towards the right, while another will come if we walk straight from here," Neer answered, before looking at Gyaan pointedly, "Which also means that none of them are on the way Gyaan took us."

"So which way should we go?" Avan asked hurriedly, before Gyaan could retort and another fight started.

"Umm...towards the right, I guess. The essence is stronger over there," Neer said, a little unsure.

"Towards the right we go," Ahana announced, linking her arm with Neer's as they walked ahead.

They all moved towards the water source, not knowing that it wasn't the one deer had directed them to. And it was definitely the one that was going to bring chaos in their life.