22. Edgar

As Jasmine started to rise, Aru lifted his hand. "Let"s keep the entertainment part of the evening for later. There is still a lot we need to discuss regarding the trip."

Edgar cast Jasmine a sidelong glance and wasn"t surprised that Aru"s words offended her.

When she sat back down, Jasmine"s exuberant expression soured. "Tarot is a divining tool. They are not purely for entertainment."

"Apologies." Aru dipped his head. "I didn"t mean to offend you."

She sighed. "It"s okay. Most people think of tarot that way, and they are usually right."

Margo, who had been scrolling on her new phone and oblivious to the exchange between Aru and Jasmine, suddenly lifted her head. "Did you know Tibet is often called the "Roof of the World"? The Tibetan Plateau is the highest in the world. The average elevation is almost fifteen thousand feet, the height of the tallest mountains in the continental USA." She lifted her head. "Can you imagine that? That huge plateau, which is almost one million square miles, is taller than Mount Whitney. Only Alaska has mountains that are taller than that."

"That"s incredible." Frankie looked at Dagor. "Now I get why you were talking about trouble breathing up there. I thought you were exaggerating." She turned to look at Jasmine. "I"m worried about you."

So was Edgar.

Dagor shook his head. "As I said before, it"s manageable when done correctly, so you don"t need to worry. As long as we ascend gradually and give Jasmine"s body time to adjust, she can adapt to the high altitude. We"ll just need to be careful and watch for signs of altitude sickness."

"Good to know that the condition is manageable," Edgar said. "But you should be mentally prepared to do most of the trekking on foot. The helicopter might be pretty useless in such thin air."

That got their attention, and everyone"s expression soured.

"What should we do then?" Aru asked. "Should we scrap the idea of a chopper altogether?"

Edgar realized his mistake. If they decided not to get a helicopter, they would have no use for him and most likely leave him behind. There was no way he was allowing Jasmine to slip away from him, probably straight into the arms of her damn prince. "A chopper can still be useful, even crucial, to the mission. I meant that its utility might be more limited than you hoped."

Frankie sighed. "I have a feeling that we will be separated for longer periods than we initially anticipated. Do they even have hotels and inns there? How many people live in Tibet?"

Margo looked down at her phone. "I don"t know about inns and hotels, but it says here that the entire Tibetan population consists of about three million people and most of them are ethnic Tibetans. But there are also a lot of Han Chinese and other ethnic groups living there."

Dagor nodded. "That"s true. The region has a complex political history, with a lot of tension between the Tibetan people and the Chinese government. It"s an autonomous region of China, but many are not happy with that and want Tibet to be independent or at least have greater autonomy. As for accommodations for tourists, I"m afraid there isn"t much outside popular tourist areas like Lhasa, Shigatse, and Gyantse. Smaller towns and rural areas might have guesthouses and inns that provide basic accommodations. In trekking areas, though, camping is the most common option. In some places, monasteries offer rooms for overnight stays, but we never took advantage of that. We always preferred camping."

Jasmine groaned. "I thought I could shower at least every other day, but it doesn"t seem feasible."

Negal cast her an apologetic look. "I"m sorry, but it"s going to be rough."

"Where is Mount Everest located?" Gabi asked. "Is it anywhere near where we need to go?"

"Not really," Aru said. "Mount Everest and Mount Kailash are not very close to each other. Mount Everest is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet and is part of the Himalayan range. Mount Kailash is situated more to the northwest of Tibet and is considerably remote. They are about five hundred miles apart, but it"s not like you can travel to one from the other. You would need to return to a major city like Lhasa or Kathmandu and then proceed to the other destination."

"What about culture?" Gabi asked. "Isn"t Tibet where the fabled kingdom of Shambhala is?"

Jasmine"s eyes widened. "A hidden kingdom? What if that"s what I"m supposed to find? Is there a missing prince in the legends about Shambhala?"

Dagor shrugged. "The legends of Shambhala are pretty vague and open to interpretation. According to some, it is a mythical kingdom that is hidden somewhere in the mountains of Tibet. It"s described as an enlightened place ruled by a succession of wise kings who preserve ancient wisdom. It"s only reachable by those destined to find it through their virtue and wisdom. Others say it is not a physical location but a state of enlightened consciousness achievable through rigorous spiritual practice. The prophecy associated with Shambhala suggested a future era of peace and enlightenment, emerging from global turmoil."

Jasmine rubbed her forehead. "Maybe that"s my mission. The world is in terrible turmoil right now, worse than anything I can remember, and we desperately need Shambhala."

Dagor smiled indulgently. "You"re forgetting Syssi"s vision. She didn"t see you standing at the gates of a magical kingdom. She saw you standing over a crater with something smooth and metallic at the bottom."

"Right." Jasmine let out a breath. "Compared to finding Shambhala, finding the royal twins seems easy."

Edgar would have been much happier with Jasmine finding a mythical land than some prince who might be the one destined for her.

He reached for her hand. "We"ll be focusing our search around Mount Kailash, which is considered a holy site by multiple religions, so maybe the two are connected?"

Margo glanced at her phone again, her eyebrows raising. "It says here that Mount Kailash is believed to be the earthly manifestation of Mount Meru, the center of the universe in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology."

Dagor nodded. "The area around Mount Kailash is considered a powerful spiritual vortex, with some strange and unexplained phenomena reported by visitors. That"s precisely the type of clues we are investigating, and Jasmine"s scrying added validity to the location."