Lekha came to sit with Kat, and Amala updated her regarding when Kat had last taken her medicine. Lekha reported that she’d just come from the nursery and that Viola and Paulina had been spending time with Harry there, and he was doing fine. Amala was glad to hear that Harry was being held and cared for more by family than by servants, although she found it ironic that while she and Henry seemed to instinctively feel the need to be with Kat as her time drew closer, the others had a difficult time being with Kat at all. But they were apparently comforted by spending time with Harry. She knew that every person grieved in their own way, and she was glad for the perfect joy and innocence that Harry had brought into their home. She was also glad that Kat was never lucid long enough to really know who was with her and for how long.

Amala thanked Lekha and went to her own room to freshen up before going downstairs. She also took the time to kneel by her bed and pray, asking for strength in all they had to face and for her family members to be strengthened also. She prayed that Kat’s passing would be painless for Kat and bearable for the rest of them. And she asked that this strange dilemma that had been stirred up by Kat’s final wish would be sorted out according to God’s will and that they would all be strengthened in dealing with that, as well.

Drawing courage, Amala went with trepidation down to the dining room, where she found everyone else already seated. As usual, her father sat at the head of the table, with her mother next to him across one corner and Paulina sitting opposite her mother. Henry sat—due to her father’s request—at the opposite end of the table from her father, as the other man of the house. Kat’s chair across the corner at his side had been empty for many weeks now, and Amala always sat across from that chair, each time mourning the fact that her sister was not there facing her, talking and laughing and adding a lightness to everything they might discuss. Kat’s absence felt more stark than usual as Amala seated herself and apologized for being late.