NATIA & The Invisible Island of Sawaiki

Talks about mother and tension

Uh oh! Natia looked at the tensed atmosphere in the room warily. Andrey and Vera seemed to be in a glaring contest. Both were not backing down. There seemed to be some problem between them. Was it because of her? She wondered. Her mother’s relationship with Andrey was before he married Vera. But, Vera didn’t know Andrey had another child up until a few months ago. That could create problems in their marriage life. She thought.

Then another thought crossed her mind. Vera doesn’t think Andrey kept his relationship with Hope, does she? Well, it is possible if she has that doubt. Only, it wasn’t true. Hope and Andrey didn’t rekindle their relationship after Andrey came to find them. Natia had a feeling her father wanted to, but, Hope had moved on.

When Andrey first came to her birthday, he was a bit disappointed that Hope was not joining them for the father- daughter bonding trip planned for later. Well, it was not really a trip, just a small picnic to a nearby place. But, Hope had refused to go with them, saying she was busy. Grandpa and grandma thought someone should go with them, to make Natia comfortable, since it was the first time she was meeting her father. So, they both went with them instead.

And the next year, with a lot of persuasion from both Andrey and Natia, Hope agreed to join them. That trip was to this very yacht- the only other time Natia was on this yacht. After that, Andrey never asked Hope to join them. She thinks it was only then that her father really gave up on her mother. They were always just civil to each other. Don’t even talk much to each other, except when it has something to do with Natia. Natia had later figured that it had more to do with Hope than Andrey. While Hope was not in any other relationship, she was in love with her research. And hence, she didn’t have time for a relationship or for anybody to tell the truth. 

“Good thing you finally decided to join us, Andreika. We were just getting to know Masha,” Said Valentin. It broke the eye war between Vera and Andrey. Andrey turned his gaze to Valentin.

“Yes, I can see that,” he said. It dripped with sarcasm and had an edge to it. If Valentin took offence to it, he didn’t show it. He just continued to sip his sorbet.

Andrey kissed Sofia on the forehead as a greeting. Rounded the table and kissed Natia also on the forehead. When he moved to Aleksandr, he pulled away and glared at him. Andrey just chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. A steward came with cutleries for him and began to set them at the other end of the table, opposite Vera.

“Oh no. Why would I sit there when everyone is at this end? We would be a mile apart. Set it here please.” He pointed at the seat next to Natia.

They were served the main course then; roasted chicken. Natia noticed Andrey wasn’t served the same dish as them. His was a salad with salmon, chick peas, salad greens etc. He must have to keep a diet. She thought.

“So, ‘marine invertebrates’ was her field of study?” Valentin continued the conversation like nothing happened; like there was no interruption and tension occurred earlier.

Natia glanced at her father before answering. He first looked at Valentin, then her. His concerned eyes asked if she was alright . She gave him a reassuring smile and turned to face Valentin. There was no need for her father to worry. She can answer some questions.

“Uh, yes and no. You could say marine ecology is her main field of study; specifically, the ecology of the Pacific ocean and the impact of human activities on it. She did her first Ph.D. in it. But, then she also studied marine invertebrates. And sometimes even works on topics that are outside her area; like, lastly, she was working on some insects. Not marine insects. I think there are only a few insects that can be considered as marine, but some other terrestrial insects. So you could say she has a wider area of interest.”

“What was she working on at the time of her death?” Vera asked.

Natia took a sharp breath and stared at Vera.Suddenly everything seemed too heavy. She couldn’t immediately form a reply. Even the words she wanted to form felt heavy; they were hanging heavily in her throat, refusing to come out and making her tear up.Of course, her mom was dead. She had been talking like her mother was still doing her research in her lab. That she is going to see her when she returns home. But, she is dead. Natia would never see her again. She felt like there wasn’t enough air for her to breathe in the room.

After her mother’s death, she couldn’t engage in a conversation about her mother without crying for a long time. This was probably the longest one she had without breaking down. And she was feeling proud of herself about that. But, it seems like she is still not ready to talk to anyone about mom’s death.

“I am not sure,” She managed to say. Her voice shook at the end. She tried to fake it as a cough and drank some water. But it didn’t go unnoticed by Andrey.

“That’s enough.” He said to Vera in a stern voice.

“What?! I heard she died in a fire that broke out in her lab. I was just curious about what she was working on.”

Before Andrey could reply to that, there was another interruption by Valentin. He chose that moment to make a toast to Natia. To welcome her into the family. Everyone knew he did that to prevent a fight.  It didn’t go furtive. But, Andrey sat back in his chair and Vera didn't say anything else and everyone resumed eating after the toast.

The dinner went uneventful after that. They had a salad, dessert and coffee. Natia was a little surprised when coffee was served. She didn’t know about drinking coffee at the end of dinner. A few more toasts were made in between, mostly to Andrey’s health etc.

After dinner, nobody stayed to chit-chat. Andrey said he had some work to finish and went back after kissing her goodnight. Natia wasn’t ready to go back to her room. So she decided to explore the yacht.