The Chronicle Of Jawata (Compilation Trial Edition)

4.11. Puncture Konde

“My feelings are not good.”

Unless her pair of hands were still half-reluffing reluctantly to embroider the stretched silk cloth, Shaninka stared out the open window. The sky seemed less friendly. His mind was worrying about something. But such a facial water did not last long to hide his attitude in front of Princess Alingga.

“You're thinking about them? Since when are you close to Taja and Lorr En?” princess Alingga asked, guessing Shaninka's thoughts. The question stopped Shaninka's hands from being preoccupied with colored needles and threads.

Putri Alingga ventured to talk about something that since yesterday was harbored, “Honestly, not about Taja's father that you are actually looking for. But something else. Lorr En dared to take a heavy risk for infiltrating the heirloom room not to see the royal pedigree!”

Shaninka catches Alingga's daughter's suspicions. From the way he looked, the king's favorite daughter seemed to accuse seriously, “If only the genealogy of the king, anyone asked permission to ask the palace experts, no need to hide!”

“Whatever you are looking for, will not drag you to an unforgivable punishment as long as you do not want to infiltrate the inheritance room,” apparently Alingga's daughter brought back the incident when she caught Shaninka and Lorr Endi in the most guarded heirloom room. Shaninka receded in the gaze of princess Alingga who seemed to force her to speak.

“What exactly are you looking for?” this time the voice tone of the princess is calmer, “talk to me honestly before you guys feel there is nothing more to believe.”

Princess Alingga clasped Shaninka's cold hand, “Shan, I promise I will keep whatever is your secret, and I will help you.”

The innocent princess's face really did not show any cunning. And he is not someone who deserves to be considered evil. If it was like that, maybe he had already reported Lorr En to the palace guard or to his father.

Shaninka looked at princess Alingga long enough in her silence. And at that moment, he finally felt he had to talk to her.

“Whatever it is, really princess will help Taja and Lorr En?” Shaninka looked doubtful. Princess Alingga nodded along with a sincere little smile.

“I need to know about an heirloom. That is very important to us ...,” Shaninka said.

“What heirloom?” ask princess Alingga.

“It is possible that this object is in the heirloom room, then Lorr En nekad infiltrated there,” Shaninka said as he pulled out a folded piece of paper from behind the cloth that bound his waist. After receiving the paper and opening it, the princess looked seriously at the plastered image.

“You call this thing heirloom?!” the princess laughed for a moment after the look on her face was astonished. Shaninka turned back in astonishment seeing her response like that.

“This is not an heirloom!” princess Alingga's laughter stopped, “I'm sure once this was just a kind of ...,” he was silent for a moment before concluding a few words from his tiny lips, ”..

Shaninka widened, as quickly as her pair of eyes were rounded.

“Pierced konde?!” he could not believe hearing it.

“Yes, konde puncture like the one at the end of our hair!” princess Alingga pointed at the hair scroll at the top of her head so that her hair decomposed long.

Princess Alingga took off the skewer of konde in her hair, then compared it to Shaninka's, “Actually the same. The konde puncture that you use is just a regular konde puncture. The shape is simple and made of wood only. But other than that, there were countless of konde skewers, some made from bone, ivory, metal, or jade. Moreover, the konde puncture that is specifically used by the empress, the size reaches as long as the legs of adult women and of course very heavy!” the princess' explanation greatly surprised Shaninka who had never seen such a hair-decorating object.

“Follow me to the Preening Palace,” princess Alingga quickly pulled Shaninka into the outdoor embroider her private. Starting to set foot outside the door, several maids followed them along the corridor that led to the place behind the gate many carvings of Hong's bird heads.

“Where are we?” shaninka's eyes incessantly swirled around.

“Your friend has infiltrated the wrong place. Of course the thing you're looking for isn't in the heirloom room. Because it's not an heirloom type!” princess Alingga whispered near Shaninka's ear.

During the time with Princess Alingga, it was not too difficult to arrive in front of a pair of large doors bearing the letters muno. Without asking, the key bearer who was always around the place, immediately opened the door and let them in.

“Call it, this room is the Preening Palace, the objects of the empresses since 500 years ago, “ Putri Alingga unfurled her hands. The room is so spacious. The roof and pillars are high. There was a curtain partition separating some more space inside. Around the wall are full of paintings of the empress.

“She my mother ...,” daughter Alingga pointed to one of the plastered paintings and approached her, “after she died, father never raised a empress again.”

“He is so beautiful!” puji Shaninka who first saw.

“See konde in her hair, big and tall!” said princess Alingga reminded him of their purpose in coming to the place, “the bigger and higher the skewer of the condition, signifying the degree of the wearer getting higher anyway.”

Princess Alingga dribbled deeper. To a room behind the curtain, on each wall is displayed hundreds of condes.

“Wow! I must have been wrong!” Shaninka dodged herself as being in a very private place as she had seen back then. Of course because of the help of princess Alingga.

“A lot! Plain or decorated with jewels, but all patterned equally. The base is widened or rounded, and the tip is tapered. It turns out that it is true that this image is more like a konde skewer than a weapon or a sword,” said Shaninka increasingly noticed the image on the paper he was holding, then compared to hundreds of konde punches neatly arranged on the wall.

“But ...,” Shaninka's pair of eyes traced hundreds of konde on the wall, “Is the konde skewer pictured in between?”

Shaninka was unaware since entering the room, Princess Alingga noticed her in confusion.

 “Shan, every konde skewer here has a name, I can help you to check the list one by one. But ...”

Princess Alingga is closer to Shaninka, “I want to know, why Lorr En dared to infiltrate the room of the House of Heritage just to prove about the image of the konde?”

Shaninka faced Princess Alingga staring seriously. But his tongue was stiff to answer that question. Princess Alingga fell silent, waiting for an answer from her.

...* * *...