Karna hastened out. He thought he could feel her unwavering gaze on his back. He imagined her standing by the door of the cabin, watching him go. I’m not going to look back, he decided resolutely. It was for the best. He knew that sometimes one had to be stern to be generous. So, when he heard the cabin door shut amidst peals of laughter before he had barely stepped away, Karna had a sudden fierce suspicion that he had got something wrong.

I

A thing of beauty is said to last forever, unless it begins to speak. Mati thanked the Storm God that her Lamb had not proposed marriage. Nothing ruins an affair more than an effort to make it last. It was all she could do not to laugh in his face. Silly Northern virgins, the fantasies of those lovesick puppies could outrun a galleon. Her first had been so uncomplicated. He’d been a muscled sailor from Madurai, with a gorgeous mustachio. He only knew three words of Sanskrit but ‘cunt’ was luckily one of them. That reminded her that once she got off at Diamond Harbour, she would have to seek out a devadasi who could brew the moon-tea to keep her belly flat.

As she looked up, a flight of sea crows sailed over her in the direction of the ship. Sign of land. She could see the Sassan, Kalinga’s fortified shipyard, to the far west, against the rich blue-green sea – the heraldic colours of Kalinga. Yet now the banners that fluttered from its battlements were red, not blue, and where the Kalingan Swan had once flown proudly, there now roared the crowned lion of the Magadhan Empire. She knew Kalinga wasn’t truly conquered by Magadh; it was too free to be contained by a conqueror. Jarasandh, however, managed to rule Kalinga through indifference. Magadh didn’t care about the everyday administration of Kalinga as long as the seal of the lion was stamped on official documents, and Kalinga provided a ship or two in times of need.

So, Kalinga remained Kalinga, and these days, even less regulated than it had been in the past. For the poor, their life of unhappy comfort and adventure continued. For the rich, they had to bow their heads from time to time. The Kalingan royalty however, was a miserable breed. Bending the knee did not come easily to the Swans. Frowning, she turned to look straight ahead to where the lighthouse on Diamond Harbour loomed, beckoning the ship carrying the diplomats, home.