KRISHAVYAYAM

39. A Talisman

Krishna, sang the wind, the stars and the crescent that was the monarch of the midnight ether. The moonlight painted ethereal patterns on her feet as they hung and dangled down the edge of the terrace, fuelling the series of muses that rose in her and for him alone.

She was bewitched. Gone to the charms of the blue one, that wicked cowherd. Kamalnayani wished it was a silly infatuation, but then the daughter of the sun who saw her non-different from herself apparently did better analysis of one wounded by cupid's arrows. Of course, Yamuna Sakhi would tease her to death. Divine people, Agnijaa grumbled to herself although a foolish smile tugged at her lips from either sides- wait, her father was the god of scorching flares too.

She could worship him. She would let him walk over her heart and she would let him claim her as his too. There was a pleasure in absolute submission, in devotion. Perhaps the fierce princess in her would have retaliated against losing her identity in the process but the lovelorn soul wouldn't mind at all. She would let him drive a knife through her in a heartbeat without a doubt, she already had, in fact. What was this dilemma if not a strike?

Did he feel the same too? If not, what would she do even? If Hari had taken her soul for his and sent this man in whom she could see the one she revered, would he be so gracious as to bestow her with redemancy?

"I have loved you,
A little more in every life,
A little more in every breath,
And a little less everytime,
So that I can love you
A little more at all times," she recited like a prayer, like an offering to please the deity that ruled her through and through.

"Well hello there, orphic one," he husked in a baritone as old as time and as new as any bud of a seraphic bloom. Kanha offered a warm smile before seating himself beside, cupping his face and gazing at her in a winsome fashion with mischief written all over his demeanor. When she squealed at the suddenness of his arrival, facepalming to cover her flushed cheeks, he broke into this evil chortle which made her forget the most rudimentary task of breathing.

"What?"

Good heavens, here come the butterflies.

"Oh oh, someone is blushing!" He laughed again as she managed to stifle the red showing up on her cheeks, ready with a protest.

"You invaded my privacy!"

"My ardent apologies to her royal highness. This puny one won't be repeating this in the future," he straightened up with a dramatic look of acknowledgement and then glanced at the moon once, beaming all the same, "Lover of the moon, huh? He is beautiful, indeed. Jesting aside, you were serene with that dreamy look in your eyes." He hummed, pushing aside the curly tendril invading the territory of her bronze eyes with a gentle touch as they fluttered shut in reflex. Krisha had to avert from the intensity of his gaze on her, the untiring muscle in her ribs thumping at the way his voice deepened.

Someone had to be her saviour today. She wasn't going to survive otherwise.

"Do you believe in magic?" She chirped with a dismissive shake of her head, her irises glimmering with a spark and he drowned in them, all over again. The daughter of the ocean, and that of fire in this manifestation. Magic, of course. An amalgam of fire and water. Of the sun and moon. Of illusions and stardust. Of the universe and everything anagalactic. "I do. Magic, art, literature, happiness derived from the tiniest of things. Sempiternal, agape love," she spoke in a trance, her mind finding querencia in the god of preservation as he promised a security she could latch on for the rest of the eternity.

Vishnu, chanted the cosmos. A peculiar gush of elation rushed through her veins and for once she thought, how much of a doofus she would seem, in love with a god. She stood no chance, then why did he sweep her off her feet even? Why did the men she fall for, had to be so exquisite? "The beautiful humans, the magnificent animals and the birds. If these aren't magic, then what is? If you believe it happens, then it surely does. The moon, just like any other thing, is magic too. He . . . he gravitates me. They say he narrates timeless fables."