Light rain began to fall as they sat resting on the bamboo porch.The newly built roof above them held back the drizzle, leaving only the sound of rain and the cool, damp air of the afternoon.
By now, the routines had settled into place.
What once felt foreign had grown familiar.
Arga leaned back against one of the bamboo pillars, his gaze fixed on the field he had tended for weeks.What was once uneven ground with scattered plants now lay in neat rows.Water flowed gently through the split bamboo channels, dripping one by one into the soil, as if it understood its task… keeping the land alive.
Several plants were now sheltered beneath simple bamboo covers.Every side of the field was guarded by low walls and fences made from stacked bamboo, protecting the crops from animals at night.With these small additions, the place was no longer just a hut and a field.It had begun to feel like a home… warm, lived-in, and real.
"The clouds look really dark," Anindya murmured, staring up at the sky.
"Hope it doesn't flood if the rain gets worse," Jaka added, having just finished arranging a stack of firewood.
He glanced at the pile he had cut earlier, then something caught the corner of his eye.
On the dirt road beyond the field, a woman was walking alone beneath the drizzle.
She wasn't rushing… but she didn't move like any villager they had come to know.
Jaka watched her carefully.Danu looked up from cleaning his camera.Anindya paused her writing.Even Arga, who had been tying bamboo poles, straightened and followed their gaze.
The woman stopped at the edge of the yard.She hesitated, then turned and stepped toward their home.
A dark cloth cloak clung to her frame, soaked by rain.Strands of her hair fell loose, partially covering a white Srikandi mask that hid her face.
"Who's that?" Danu whispered as he moved closer to Bandung."Someone you know?"
Bandung shook his head slowly."No… I've never seen her before either."
The woman bowed slightly, polite and composed.
"Excuse me," she said softly."May I take shelter here for a moment? It feels like the rain's about to get heavier."
They froze at the sound of her voice.
Jaka and Anindya exchanged a glance, then stood almost at the same time.
"Y-yes, of course. Please, come in," Anindya said quickly, stepping aside to welcome her.
There was no suspicion in their hearts… only curiosity.Who was this woman, walking alone in the rain?
Inside the simple yet cozy bamboo hut, they sat in a circle around a small hearth.A pot of water and tea leaves warmed above the fire.The flames crackled softly, thin smoke rising and slipping through gaps in the roof.
Slowly, the woman removed her Srikandi mask.
She was young.Firelight traced the delicate lines of her face… graceful, composed, and strikingly different from a common traveler.And in her eyes, they saw something unmistakable.
This was not the gaze of an ordinary village girl.
Silence filled the room.
Every pair of eyes lingered, caught between awe and disbelief… until Anindya blurted out,
"Oh wow… you're beautiful. You look like someone from the keraton."
The woman laughed lightly, her cheeks flushing.
"You flatter me," she said."I'm just an artist… a traveling dancer, really. This mask belonged to my teacher."
Outside, the rain grew heavier.
Inside the bamboo house, none of them realized that this quiet meeting would become the beginning of something far greater.
Wind and rain battered the thatched roof.Cold air slipped through the bamboo slats, making the fire flicker and cast dancing shadows across the room.
The five of them sat in a loose circle, faces painted in trembling orange light.
The woman sat upright, never leaning back.Her legs folded neatly beneath her, both hands resting on the mask in her lap… as if ensuring it never strayed far.
Every movement was calm.Measured.Almost ceremonial.
"Forgive my manners," she said at last."My name is Dara… Dara Sekarningrum."
Her gaze moved slowly across their faces, then drifted briefly toward the door, the rain, the corners of the room.
"Dara…" Anindya repeated softly, catching the quiet alertness still lingering in her posture.
Trying to ease the atmosphere, Anindya smiled and began introductions.
"I'm Anindya. This is Jaka, and that's Danu. And them—" she gestured toward the brothers, "—this is Bandung and Arga. This is their place."
Bandung nodded politely, though his eyes never left Dara.Something about her… even the way she sat… felt unfamiliar.Different from anyone he had ever met.
"You've been traveling alone?" Jaka asked.His tone carried both caution and curiosity.
Dara smiled faintly, eyes fixed on the fire.
"I wander," she said."Sometimes people call me a dancer. Sometimes a fighter. I don't really mind. I just like seeing the world beyond my own footsteps."
Danu raised his camera slightly.
"You should be careful, though. Walking alone with a face like that… could invite trouble. You were lucky to find this place."
She turned toward him and laughed, amused by the mix of concern and teasing.Her brow lifted as she noticed the strange object in his hands.
"And that… what is it? You've been fussing over it since I arrived."
Danu grinned.
"This? It's a camera. It keeps faces… voices… moments."
He pressed a button.
The small screen lit up, showing Dara's face and her words from moments ago.
Her eyes widened.
"That small thing can do that?"Her voice held genuine wonder."It feels like keraton magic… where did you get it?"
"From our homeland," Danu said vaguely."We're not from around here. We were lucky Bandung and Arga took us in."
"So far away…" she murmured.Then her composure broke into something childlike."May I see it again?"
Danu gladly handed it over, explaining its workings like a proud magician.
For a moment, Dara looked less like a guarded traveler… and more like a child discovering a wonder.
Arga finally spoke."Where are you headed, Dara?"
Dara, still absorbed in the strange little device in her hands, looked up to answer Arga.
"I was just passing through this village," she said.
"I'm heading for the capital. I had some business there… but the sky darkened so suddenly."
She glanced toward the door, where rain still tapped softly against the bamboo.
"I was lucky to find a place before it got worse. And to find all of you."
Anindya hugged her knees, fighting the cold.
"That's such a coincidence," she said quietly.
"We're going there too. People say the road hasn't been very safe lately, especially if you travel alone."
Bandung nodded.
"That's right. It'd be safer if we went together."
He hesitated for a moment, then added,
"I mean… if you don't mind."
Jaka and Danu exchanged a glance, holding back a grin.
They both understood the look in Bandung's eyes.
Arga, still too young and earnest, noticed nothing at all.
"The storm won't let up today," Bandung continued.
"So maybe we could leave together tomorrow?"
Dara didn't answer right away.
She studied their faces, one by one.
The quiet concern.
The easy warmth.
The honesty that hadn't yet learned how to hide itself.
It was something she rarely found on the road.
A small smile curved at her lips.
"If you don't mind," she said softly,
"I'd like to come with you."
***
Several hours passed.The rain eased into a quiet mist, the wind softened, leaving behind damp earth, cold mist, and dew clinging to leaves.
From the warmth of the bamboo hut, Dara stepped out and stopped at the doorway.
Her eyes traced the yard and the fields she had barely noticed before.Now, under the quiet after rain, everything looked different.
She walked slowly, brushing dew-covered leaves with her fingertips.The Srikandi mask hung at her side. For once, she let her face remain uncovered, letting the cool air settle against her skin.
The yard felt alive.
Not just a patch of land or an ordinary field, but a small system… carefully shaped.What startled her most was not its beauty, but its thoughtfulness.Something this organized, this deliberate, standing on the edge of a village far from the capital.
Long bamboo channels lay in neat lines, arranged with precision.Water flowed gently through them, splitting into steady drops that fed each plot below.The sound of dripping water was soft, rhythmic… almost musical, blending with the insects slowly returning after the rain.
Dara stood still, taking it all in.
Nearby, Arga adjusted one of the bamboo channels, making sure the water flowed smoothly.His hands were wet, his face dotted with sweat despite the lingering cold.Anindya crouched beside him, offering cheerful instructions, her voice light and energetic.
Not far from them, Bandung trained as usual, lifting a long wooden beam across his shoulders as if it weighed nothing.Jaka and Danu sat along the edge of the field, talking, laughing, throwing out occasional jokes. Their laughter drifted through the air, easy and unforced.
They noticed Dara watching and waved her over.
She didn't move.
She simply stared.
Everything felt… whole.
"So beautiful…" she murmured without realizing she'd spoken aloud.
Arga turned at once, laughing as he wiped his brow."It's nothing special," he said. "You should've seen how messy it was before. This all started because I got tired of hauling water every day."He glanced at Anindya."Lucky for us, she came up with the bamboo channels. Ideas just keep coming out of her."
Anindya didn't look up. She pretended not to hear, though the tips of her ears burned red.
Dara stepped closer, touching the bamboo where cool water ran beneath her fingers."It's simple," she said softly, "but incredibly clever."She hesitated, then added, almost to herself,"Why has our keraton, the palace, never thought of something like this… for its people?"
The question fell lightly, yet the air shifted.
Bandung frowned slightly, weighing his words.Jaka answered instead, his tone calm but sharp with truth.
"The reports that reach the palace always say the villages are fine," he said."No one writes about floods. About failed harvests. About children leaving school to help their families."
"They only write what looks good," Bandung added, his voice heavier now."So it reads nicely for the king. If you don't live it yourself, how would you ever know?"
Dara froze.
Her gaze moved slowly from one person to the next.Arga's calloused hands.Anindya's tired smile.Jaka's practiced calm, hiding thoughts he never voiced.Danu, somehow still joking through it all.And Bandung… whose eyes carried a quiet, stubborn resolve to become a knight and change something that had been broken for too long.
The weight of it pressed against her chest.
Disbelief… mixed with admiration.
"So you just keep going?" she asked carefully."Living each day… trying to stay happy through all of this?"
For once, Danu didn't joke.
"You have to," he said simply."If you don't, how are you supposed to be happy?""Life's hard, sure. But happiness… you make that yourself.""Even if it's just laughing around a fire, or sharing coconuts together."
Dara absorbed his words in silence.She looked away, fingers tracing the edge of the Srikandi mask resting in her hands.
"Maybe…" she whispered.So softly it almost vanished.
The rain had fully stopped.Only water dripping from leaves remained, and the quiet that followed.
Dara stepped toward the doorway.
From the threshold, she gazed at the dirt road they would take tomorrow.The long path to the capital… a road she knew was far more dangerous than they realized.
Her grip tightened around the mask.
For the first time in a long while, Dara Sekarningrum wished she could remain only the name she had given them.
She had no idea that this moment…was the beginning of a journey she would no longer be able to turn away from.