Chapter Text
“Willie, Willie,” Indiana mused. “What is that, is that short for something?”
He figured he should make some conversation. It was maybe his fault Willie Scott had been dragged through the jungle.
A bit.
“Willie is my professional name,” Willie said. She shot a glare at Indiana across the campsite. She added, pointedly: “Indiana.”
“Hey lady, you call him Doctor Jones!” Short Round interjected.
“My professional name,” Indy said. He flicked the coin that had been the stake in their little poker game to the boy. Shorty caught it with a grin.
“I meet a doctor and he’s one of those that run across smelly jungles instead of being rich and respectable,” Willie mumbled. “Just my luck.”
Indiana felt an another pang of guilt. He told himself Willie was better off in the long run, getting away from Lao Che, but she had had a nice career going on in Shanghai...
“Well, sorry.”
That had maybe come out as a bit more sarcastic than he had intended.
“Friends call my ‘Indy’, though,” he tried again as an opening to make conversation.
“Hm, makes sense. What, your parents really wanted a girl?”
Indy bristled at that. “What?”
“It’s a girl’s name. India-”
“It is NOT,” Indy protested. “I mean in what way is it-”
“Not a girl name!” Shorty shouted at Willie. “Very manly, very American. Like cowboy.”
Willie rolled her eyes but looked like she did not want to argue with the boy.
Instead she got closer to Indy.
“Why are you dragging us off to this deserted palace. Fortune and glory?”
Indiana reached into his jacket. Willie deserved to know what they were after, at least. “Well, this is a piece of an old manuscript. This pictograph represents Sankara, a priest.”
Willie snatched the piece of the manuscript.
“Gentle! Gentle, this is hundreds of years old,” Indy warned.
But at least she was showing interest.
Good, they could bond over this.
“Is this some kinda writing?” Willie asked.
“Yes. It’s Sanskrit. It’s a part of a legend of Sankara.” Indy could feel himself slipping into the comfortable lecturing mode. “He climbs mount Kalisa where he meets Shiva, a Hindu god.”
Willie leaned forward. She pointed at the figure. “That’s Shiva? And what is he handing to the priest?”
Indy nodded enthusiastically. “Rocks. He told him to go forth and combat evil. To help him he gave him five sacred stones with magical properties.”
“Magic rocks?” Willie’s tone was mocking. “My grandpa was a magician, he spent his entire life with a rabbit in his pocket and pigeons up his sleeve. He made a lot of children happy and died a very poor man.” She scoffed.
“Magic rocks. Fortune and glory.” Willie got up. “Sweet dreams, Doctor Jones.”
Indiana wasn’t sure they would actually find anything like the actual Sankara stones. But he had a hunch this was important.
He thought back to the village.
To the village elder telling him Shiva had brought them there. That there was a purpose there, some unseen power working behind the scenes.
Indiana had seen enough in his line of work to believe there were things in the world that were, if not supernatural, mysterious. But usually there were far more mundane explanations to things.
The villagers had been desperate, willing to grasp at any straw.
Even if I brought their rock back to them it wouldn’t help with their failed harvest!
But he couldn’t shake the feeling he was marching towards. Something.
The old man had been convincing enough, with his zealous certainty.
You will bring the stone back to us.
And something else.
You do not believe me. You do not believe I have seen the truth. I see the truth. But so does She.
The old man had wagged his finger at Indy.
Truth can break you. And truth can mislead you. What will you do if you are shown the truth?
Indy leaned forward to add a branch to the fire.
Nonsense, he thought.
Besides, he was a scientist. Seeking the truth was his whole profession.
I have nothing to worry about.