‘Put that back, Aarti, and listen for once,’ Aman said. He looked at Fayza and started to tell the six who were unaware of Sanaka’s machinations—Yuvan, Jagrav, Savitri, Aarti, Payal and Dhara—about how he and Idhika had first found out about the Preservers, which had led them to the discovery of Sanaka’s stores of Madhu at the bottom of Pandayam Tal.

Despite her mental collapse, Idhika had to wipe her tears and get up. Hopping about to keep the soles of her feet from getting frostbite, she urged the others to continue walking while Aman filled them in on the details. Would they actually believe him? Fayza, Ujal and Prithvi piped in now and then with a point or two that Aman had missed, but the six others looked highly sceptical of whatever they had heard. The five Souls had never really made an effort to include the others, and it was a bit late to expect their trust at once. However, the sight of the identical lal bicchu marks on their ankles did a lot to convince them.

‘And when I was at the bottom of the lake,’ Idhika, still sniffling, cut in, ‘it must have been then. There’s no other way . . . Sanaka must have learnt that I found the Madhu. But how . . .? I searched for a companion, any sign of a living being down there in the underwater cave, and there was nothing.’ A shiver ran down her spine, and she continued with her train of thought. ‘The lal bicchu must have stung us, all five of us, in our sleep the day before the Sabha . . . When did we leave the valley?’

‘Around noon, after the Sabha and Samiti this morning,’ Yuvan said. Savitri looked at her watch.

‘This morning? Oh, so it was only yesterday . . .’ Idhika asked.

‘And the five of you chose to keep it from us?’ Aarti said. ‘. . . take the matter of our lives into your hands. Thought it best to decide for all?’

‘This makes so much sense!’ Dhara said. ‘A month ago, I was looking for an isolated location to practise my Atmayog, but Sanaka’s lackeys, Ghanisht and Ekram, wouldn’t let me anywhere near Pandayam Tal.’

‘Oh, of course,’ Savitri added. ‘I too had requested the Assembly for old palm leaves detailing the previous Mahayatras but was denied.’

‘What is he doing with so much Madhu? Getting high on it?’ Yuvan asked. ‘Why is he stealing it? Why not come up here to collect all the Madhu that he needs?’

‘I don’t know why he’s taken such blasphemous steps,’ Idhika said. ‘But finding Madhu is only possible through the boon of Indra. The lord passes on knowledge of the bees’ location to the Eka and the Eka alone. This is why Sanaka needs us to get it.’

‘All’s not lost yet!’ Prithvi pointed out again. ‘We can simply return and expose the truth.’

A few heads nodded at this. Fayza said, ‘But we need evidence. One of us should Atmayog back home and check before we turn around—’