Where Kings Can't Rule

6. where the beauty tells a tale

Sitara sometimes gets on my nerves. She has been drinking like a madman since last night. I thank Ananke she had a morning meal. I am sure she would be vomiting somewhere very soon.

I want to chide her for being this reckless and irresponsible. She was never meant to be handling so much of pressure.

"Where is Maa?"

Poor boy. He has been looking for his mother since the morning. What would I tell him?

Your mother is busy drinking because a king roasted her.

Or, maybe –

Your mother is busy drinking because she had a tiff with a monster.

Nothing that a child as innocent as him will understand. Nothing to tell a child who is just growing up and enjoying this world. "Want to hear a story?"

"Sure. You have lovely tales up your sleeves."

I chuckle. I take him up on my lap and sit on a chair in my balcony. The balcony grows from the walls like the generous arms of a host, decorated by a mossy forest hue and sprinkled with golden yellow spots over it that soothes my soul as it glimmers in the light. It heals me, romances my fickle heart every time I look at the magnificent rays of the sun or the dimly lit moon. The light now falls on the blonde hair of Yama, reflecting off the soft tresses and making them appear molten.

I ruffle his hair. He is adorable like a little squirrel. His shiny blonde hair glistens like caramelized sugar. "Do you know who Ananke is, who Kaa is?" I ask.

"Kaa is made of Poulomi and Puramdara, of the Good and the Chaos. But I don't know about Ananke."

So there we go! I can successfully distract him from looking for his maa.
"Ananke is the equivalent of Time. She writes our fates- of us humans, of little birds, animals, even pebbles. She governs over us all. She decides when to extinguish the life and when to give it a spark. Kaa is her companion."

"Are they brother and sister?"

A numbing pain clutches my heart.

Brother and sister– something so pure and sacred. A bond so close that no one can malign.

Except the brother and sister themselves, of course.

"They are good friends," I clarify. "Kaa is neither a man nor a woman."

"How is that possible?"

"When the baby is inside the mother's womb, do you get to know if it is a boy or a girl?"

Yama scratches his chin, thinking deeply. "No. We cannot ascertain."

"Then a baby has no gender. A baby is, just a baby. A cute little one."

Well, this will do for now. When he grows up I can educate him more about the fluid entity. "Ananke with her mighty quill and Kaa with their magic created hundreds of new species. The most intelligent among them was a woman named Kandake."