Chapter Text

Satya's vehicle is speeding along a road curving through the mountains of Switzerland. Snow illuminated by her headlights is lazily drifting down from the clouds hiding the moon behind them. She is heading to her hotel, from a meeting with a big client while in a phone call with her boss.

“Yes, Sanjay. Mr Reyes was quite interested in the design of his new office. This awful trip to this cold country might have been worth it after all.” Satya triumphantly reports to her boss. “Yes, I will write a full report as usual when I get back to my hotel. I should be there in a few hours.”

She hangs up her phone and turns a right following her SatNav’s instructions while cursing at the snow falling while she drives along a mountain pass.

“Blasted snow. Why did Mr. Reyes put his company’s prospected headquarters all the way on a damn mountain in the Swiss Alps!”

“Turn left after two hundred meters.” The Satnav calls out, interrupting her rant. She turns on the radio to listen to the weather forecast. The language spoken isn't her native tongue, but she's studied the Swiss German dialect for her assignment. The forecaster explains that the snowstorm will last at least another week and all flights from the Bern airport have been canceled. She calls her airline to cancel her flight, so she can book a hotel in Bern.

Just after she passes by a small peaceful mountain village, she hears a loud bang behind her and after swerving for a few seconds she ends on the side of the road.

“Damn, flat tire.” Satya puts on her coat against the freezing weather and goes to the back of her car. “Of course! No spare tire either!” She sits back down in the drivers’ seat and searches for the contact of the Swiss TCS and dials the number. She uses the menu to get to English and soon she gets a woman on the line.

“TCS Emergencies, how can I help you?”

“Hello, my name is Satya Vaswani and I have a flat tire and no spare. I am currently on the Susten pass just past the Bern-Uri border. Can you send me someone to help me?”

“I'm sorry, but all of our representatives in that area are currently occupied and it will take at least three hours to get to you.”

“That is unacceptable! I need to get out of this snow now! Is there no mechanic nearby you can call to tow me out of this mess?”

“There is a small town nearby that has a mechanic with a tow-truck. I will call them to see if they can make it. One moment please.” The woman puts Satya on hold and a boring jazz tune plays while she waits, and after a short while, the woman calls back.

“The mechanic is going to tow you back to her shop. Due to the weather it might take around an hour to get to you so go sit in your car and make sure you stay warm.”

Satya sighs, “Thanks, I will wait here. At least my phone still works. Otherwise it would be like one of those tasteless horror movies.”

“I guess so, stay safe and goodbye, ma’am.” The attendant hangs up the phone and leaves Satya alone with her thoughts. She grabs her laptop and spends her time with work while waiting for the tow truck. After waiting for fifty minutes she sees the lights of a large truck coming through the thick snow and she immediately gets out of the car to greet her savior.

“Hello! You need a tow back to town?!” the woman greets Satya as she jumps out of her truck. The woman has black messy hair draping along her darkened skin. Golden beads dangle beside her head as the howling wind plays with them

“Yes, I have a flat tire and no spare. Can you help me?!” Satya yells over the roaring wind and snow.

“Of course! Hop in my truck, I’ll go and get your car and then we’ll drive to my shop.” The woman reverses her truck

Satya climbs in the passenger seat of the truck and nearly winces from the mess inside. An old guitar is sitting lazily on top of a mangy seat. She covers the seat with her coat and waits for the woman.

After a few moments she sees her car being lifted on the bed of the truck and the woman gets into the cab with a graceful jump.

“You’re sure we can make it to your shop through this snowstorm?” Satya asks worried.

“This truck has treads on its rear axles so we should be fine.”

“If you say so.” Satya casts a dubious look through the window at the flurry of snow falling outside the vehicle.

The woman starts the engine and they slowly drive off through the snow. While they drive back to the town the storm rages on, but the modified truck has no problems plowing through the thick snow and after a bit more than half an hour they arrive at a quaint mountain town in the midst of holiday celebrations.

The woman steers the truck to an old garage which is also decorated with a beautiful Christmas tree in the front garden The woman parks the truck and gets out.

“Welcome to my shop! Care to join me for a coffee inside?”

“I would like some tea please.”

“Of course, follow me.” The woman gestures Satya to follow her inside.

she gestures for her to sit down on a comfortable looking brown leather couch and returns moments later with two cups of tea. Satya gratefully accepts the cup and takes a sip and gives a satisfied hum.

“This is Koshary tea. I prefer Saiidi, but this brew is exquisite.”

“It’s an old recipe passed on from my mother.” The woman nods. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Fareeha Amari and I own this garage.”

“I am Satya Vaswani, I am an architect from the Vishkar Corporation.”

“Satya Vaswani?” A voice calls from the kitchen. “Now that is a name I haven’t heard in a long time.” A woman with platinum blonde hair in a long braid enters the living room.

“Good to see you again, Angela!” Satya jumps up to see her old friend again. “How have you been?”

“Good!” Angela direct her attention to the other woman in the room. “Liebe, this is Satya Vaswani. I met her on an exchange project to the United States!

“Liebe? I thought you had a relationship with that Japanese boy?” Satya looks at the blonde woman confused. “You two were so nice together.”

“Yeah, me and him didn’t really work out in the end. I wanted to go back to Switzerland and he wanted me to go to Japan with him so we split up.”

“I see.”

“Enough about him, I want you to meet my fiancée!” Angela jumps over to the surprised mechanic in the room. “Satya, meet Fareeha Amari!”

“A pleasure to meet you Ms. Amari. I have heard a lot about your mother. Her designs of the modern car are quite exquisite.”

“Thanks, I am no designer, but I am good at my job so I’ll get your tire fixed in no time.”

Angela, who went to the kitchen to get something to drink, comes back into the living room and glances outside with a worried look. “I’m afraid you will have to stay here for a while, Satya. The snow storm is picking back up and I just got a text message that the weather will not change any time soon.”

“That is unfortunate. Thankfully I cancelled my flight back to India already.”

“Maybe Satya can stay here?!” A young voice calls from the garage. “I mean, we have the guest bedroom I renovated with Hana and it just needs fresh sheets and it’s ready to be used!”

“That might be a good idea, Brigitte.” Angela turns her attention back to Satya. “What would you say to staying with us until the storm is over? Like she said, we have a freshly renovated guest room and you should be able to get comfortable there!”

“Perhaps that might be a good idea. I guess I am stuck here for a while.”

“Great!” Brigitte jumps on her feet. I’ll get the bed made then!”

“Actually…” Satya interrupts quickly stopping the enthusiastic mechanic in her tracks. “I prefer to make my own bed if that is okay?”

“Of course! Follow me!” Brigitte nearly drags Satya with her and Satya shoots Angela a worried look, who in turn giggles in her hand at the endearing sight.

Brigitte leads Satya upstairs and into a neatly decorated bedroom. The walls are covered with aged wood while a queen sized bed looks out to the hill slope down. In the corner a fire crackles in a fireplace and a wooden chandelier with fake candles illuminates the room. On the other side of the bed another brown leather couch invites people to relax with a wonderfully woven carpet covering the hard wood floor. To Satya’s pleasant surprise the room has a bathroom in the back so she can refresh in private. Satya inspects the room and deems it to her liking. Brigitte waits impatiently in the doorstep while Satya takes a look at the bathroom.

“And? Do you like it?”

“It is simple, but indeed up to my liking.”

“Fareeha should be done getting your things from your car by now, be right back!” Brigitte runs off and leaves Satya alone in the warmly lit room. Satya shakes her head and opens the closet where she sees fresh bedsheets that meet her standards and starts making her bed.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence besides the wind outside she hears a stumbling noise downstairs and sees Fareeha and Brigitte struggling to carry her suitcases up the stairs with Angela in tow carrying her laptop case.

“I have a question, if I may?”

“Sure, what can I do for you?” Fareeha wipes the sweat from her forehead.

“Do you perhaps have a phone charger? Mine is still in one of my suitcases.” Satya shows her phone to the three.

“Sorry, me and Brigitte have Android phones, but Angela has an iPhone.” Fareeha looks at Angela.

“Yes, I have a spare one, you can borrow mine!”

“My thanks, I need to call my boss that I will be staying here so he does not have to wait for me but my phone has a flat battery.”

“Where do you want us to put your suitcases Satya?” Brigitte asks, eager to get things moving.

“Just leave them on the bed. I need to unpack anyway and I would like to do that by myself.”

Fareeha lifts the suitcases on the bed and leaves Satya alone to unpack. Brigitte follows her, but Angela stays with Satya.

“I hope Brigitte’s enthusiasm is not too much of a bother, Satya. She can be a bit compulsive.”

“The enthusiasm comes with the youth I guess. At least she means well.”

“I hope you like the room. I know you can be picky, I remember from back in the States.”

“It is adequate indeed. Brigitte and Hana I believe it was, did a decent job at decorating the room.”

The pair chat for a bit while Angela helps Satya unpack. Downstairs, Brigitte and Fareeha have begun unloading the car from Fareeha's truck so they could change the tire.

While Satya makes the bed loud rock music can be heard from the garage and rolls her eyes.

“Why did you end up with this rowdy woman?” Satya looks at Angela worried. “That Japanese boy was much calmer and had much more self-control.”

“That was one of the things that drove me nuts. No excitement, all silence and some talk. Fareeha is such a colorful person. She has so many personality traits, trust me. Look past the noisy exterior and you will find a controlled woman who does things well thought out.”

“Perhaps. Either way I am satisfied with the room and I’d like to call Mr Korpal now.”

“Of course. I’ll leave you be.”