KRISHAVYAYAM

60. The Tempest

Days before the approaching dawn of Devashayani, she saw vultures hovering over her hermitage. The sky where the toasty rays of the sun once reigned was seized by the shadows of ravens, and she herself had once planted chrysanthemums and red poppies in the backyard of her wild dwelling with Adhrit and Prithvi.

The flames of the yagya her father poured ladles of clarified butter in gave off fyrgebraece, elucidating her the lessons that one in their last days should be cognizant of. Fire, an element which sustained life, was the very one which also reduced everything to ashes if it wasn't tamed or was dishonoured. Swallowing the very trace of life, it would breath out stygian smoke that would smoulder the vanquished breaths of a victim.

The titian tincture of it also reminded her of her next birth, where she'd emerge from them, and they would accuse her of ensnaring a cowherd prince with a flute. The irony had her mutely chuckling, mirth dancing in her brown eyes that fought with the nightfall tufts invading their territory. In the shadows of the evergreen forests, a cursed goddess lurked, draped in saffrons and whites. Who would know that the gruesome flames desired to nurse a fallen tigress, prodding her to roar away the despair of the righteous?

"Hey little lady, too sloth-like, aren't we?" Kandali giggled, letting the sun peek in as her daughter groaned, shifting and letting the rays fall on her back.

"Right! Now sloth-like, then I'll be a panda, and then a koala. My mother wanted a shape-shifting trickster it seems," Kamya murmured in her quasi act of sleep, pulling the pillow closer to herself as her mother lovingly threaded her finger through her hair, adoring the pouty look on the JagatJanani's visage as her bronze features were accentuated by the gilded river of madrugada. Oh, how the times change!

"My lil' baby, darling of mine, the only empress of my heart, may I have the fortune to have your affection or is this old mother forgotten already?" Kandali dramatically sighed, immediately earning the attention as Kamya sat up and snaked her arms around her mother.

"Ma'am, my drama queen, you have all of me. Now, do I get a kiss?" She giggled as her mother too laughed in her embrace, showering kisses all over her face, much like she did when her child was a baby.

"Now, that's a good morning wish!" Kamya winked coquettishly, having her mother fluster who threw a pillow at her face.

"Shameless girl, flirting with your mother?"

The goddess let out a cuckooing laugh again, "You know I'd do it again, whenever I have the chance!"

Kamya waved a slightly exhausted goodbye to her parents, who were setting off for the residence of Dharini and Parashurama. Something in Kandali screamed blue murders, begging her to stay and deny the sojourn but the almost haunting visage of her husband wordlessly pressed her to not give in to her arbitrary thoughts. It was, after all, a visit to the lord. Nothing could go wrong.

Therefore, she did not complain and kissed her daughter on her forehead, cradling her in her arms like she did always and whispered some affectionate nonsense, her voice faltering and fumbling. Kamya did not question the tentativeness. Her eyes mirrored the emptiness of her heart that was a fruit of attachment, which came along with a human life. A divine energy to be contained in a mortal mould was a tough task, and the gods that had frequently incarnated had mastered the skill. The wobbling boat of her mind manoeuvring its way from the endless sea of rapidly running fate's play only brought her agony, if not anything more.

But that agony too lived short. For now it so happened that the rationalism of the situation and the plans discussed beforehand took control of her mind, and she shut the doors of the cottage she had alone built, and let her mind wander off to the inner depths of Vaikuntha.