After a while, Aman nudged Savitri, who instantly pulled out a cloth with rolling materials from her bag. He pulled the sheet of paper and spread the green substance on it evenly. Then, pinching its two ends, and with a slick lick of the gum, he twisted his wrist while running his fingers along the vertical hem of the paper. It bonded to become the only thing that could let him digest his meal.

Aman used the bonfire before him to light the joint. As he took a puff, he looked at the smoke streaming out of the cannabis stick, almost bidding it to solve all his problems. ‘Hah!’ he laughed at Savitri, his voice nearly as buoyant as the smoke, ‘Maybe all this is a rite of passage for us. To see what we are capable of, to take us to the edge of our skills, both mentally and physically.’

‘Yeah, maybe,’ Savitri said, taking the joint from Aman’s shaking fingers. But, unlike her friend, she siphoned off the smoke elegantly, as if the joint was part of her hand.

Fayza eyed them as Savitri and Aman talked.

‘So, did you go down into the lake yesterday with the Eka?’ Savitri asked Aman. ‘How did Sanaka find out? Was he in the underwater cave with Idhika?’

Before Aman could answer, he heard faint sobbing beside him. Idhika was back. She hadn’t even announced herself. ‘. . . he moved it all . . .’

Everyone crowded around her.

‘He moved it . . . and he must have asked the Preservers to leave.’

‘Good going, Idhika,’ Yuvan said sarcastically, throwing his half-eaten apple into the fire.

Ujal hugged her. ‘It’s not your fault.’

It dawned on Aman that they had missed the only chance to set right a bunch of wrongs. To save themselves from this journey. To force answers out of Sanaka that would explain his father’s disappearance. To get a chance to see his mother anytime soon.

They all knew they needed concrete proof to convince the Sabha and Samiti of Sanaka’s wrongdoing—as things stood, it was just their word against his. If they were to return without Madhu, theirs would be the first batch to have failed without even trying. They would not be allowed entry to Vanyasa and instead face consequences none of them wanted to ponder at the moment. They would have to continue with the Mahayatra.

WOOOOOOSH! Prithvi recognized the sound. Maybe that’s why she registered it first. A thin, sharp whistle. THUD!

A spear emerged from somewhere above and pierced the top of Yuvan’s head, felling him. The others watched in horror as the spearhead emerged from under his chin, having pierced his skull all the way through. His eyes remained open, and his gaze was hooked on to Aman, who was the closest and leapt towards Yuvan. But the boy was beyond anyone’s help.

Prithvi dipped her arrow in the fire. Jagrav lifted his gada. Aarti’s sheath was now barren. Dhara’s spear was poised, and Payal heaved her mace. They all closed in to form a circle around Yuvan’s corpse, looking out into the dark, ready for what was to come.