‘Ah, so that is the source of the phrase pain is pleasure,’ Nala nodded in newfound wisdom. For some reason, Varcin blushed. ‘What?’ Nala asked, mystified.

‘That phrase…isn’t applicable here Nala,’ Varcin said, not meeting his eye.

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s the birds and bees, you know. I’m sure your father spoke to you about this.’

‘My Matre told me my father was eaten by a crocodile.’

‘You Forestfolk have strange stories.’

‘Studying Mandalas, are we?’ Acharya Vyas walked in, his voluminous saffron robes ballooning about him.

Nala and Varcin scrambled off their stools and fell to their knees, each striving to out-bow the other.

‘Sit. It’s good, though curious of course, to see young pupils in the Library.’ Vyas craned his neck as he stretched himself out on a chair opposite Nala. ‘So, is there anything I can help you with?’

The boys quickly unlimbered themselves to stand before him. They looked at each other in much the same way two thieves would have had the Captain of the Guard invited them in for supper.

‘I may just know something that can answer your doubts,’ Vyas added softly.

Varcin nodded at Nala, who took a deep breath. ‘Your Worship, we were just wondering…’ Varcin shot him a sharp look. ‘I mean I was just wondering about Chakras. Brother Varcin told me Chakras use soul energy, eyons to conjure Mandalas. But I thought eyons were used for Shraps and Vachans.’

‘Hmm, a study forbidden to your year,’ Vyas remarked. ‘Why is that when any teacher closes the curtains to a room, you Shishyas immediately need to know what’s on the other side? Pass me that apple, boy. And use the word atman instead of eyons. You are a student of Meru now.’

There was a pause as he sat munching the apple. ‘Shraps are used by drawing on atman, the same way Mandalas are created, but Shraps deplete the atman. Mandalas merely borrow it, and then return it. Think of atman as the apple you ate, Nala. Each curse requires the reddest, juiciest, tastiest and largest apple for it to work. If the apple isn’t big or juicy enough, you will not be able to use the Shrap.’

He beckoned them to take stools opposite. ‘The intensity of Shraps depends on the atman one has accumulated, or the size of the apple. Especially because, unlike Mandalas that used to be channelled through Chakras, a Shrap uses no such channels. It is what makes them so unsafe and explosive. That’s why a learned Namin, who performs the necessary rituals to direct the energy generated from sacrifices towards himself, has a high atman, erm...high soul-energy, which of course, comes with a propensity for quick, effective Shraps.’

‘So that’s the reason they are feared across Aryavrat,’ Nala mused.