“I could eat,” she agreed, and took his wrist to lead him past the watching aunties and uncles.

In the refreshment area, a wealth of spicy and savory and sweet aromas combined to create the promise of a luscious buffet she wanted to demolish bite by bite. Food, so much food.

Tanvi hadn’t been ravenous like this in years, hadn’t wanted food for its own sake. But now, she thought, salivating, she could devour it all.

Huge platters covered the available surfaces, some of which she couldn’t identify. But the rest sang to her growling belly: mounds of ivory cashews and ivory pistachios; jewel-rice in teal, plum, and rose; plump spiced jewel-vegetables the envy of any farmer on Prithvi; glittering silver rose lassi; and dried copper jasmine petals.

She used her hip to nudge the door shut behind them. “Gimme.”

Side by side, they helped themselves to plates and got to work loading them.

You’re going home soon. Ask him.

“Why—” she started, then faltered. Why did talking when it mattered have to be so hard? It was just making sounds come out of your mouth in patterns other people recognized, and yet in some ways, it felt more magic than magic itself.

Absorbed in his food, he mumbled, “Why what?”

“Why me?” The words burst out of her. “Why do you care about what happens to me?”

Venkat glanced up at that, and his smile was so warm, a ray of sunshine she wasn’t sure she deserved. “I like you, Tanvi.”

“But why?”

Venkat put his plate down. “When Asha brought you here, you had a spark about you. A passion, like you wanted things, and you were going to get them. Even the initiation couldn’t take that away, not really.”

He bridged the tiny distance between them. “I hated seeing how sad you were,” he went on, and she saw her own pain mirrored in his face. “You still have that spark.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s so pretty, just like you.”

So many feelings poured over Tanvi that the only thing she could do was drink in the sight of him.

“I’m so sorry all this happened to you. And for my part in it.” Venkat pointed to her plate. “Aren’t you hungry?”

She was, for many things. Especially the boy standing right before her, offering her kindness she’d been too shut down to appreciate before. More, besides, if she wanted it.

You still have that spark.

They were so close that all she had to do was lift her chin, and then there wouldn’t be any space between them at all. A tiny universe, a self-contained circle of two.

No one knew what was going to happen once she went home. This might be her only chance to find out the answer to her heart’s questions.

Do it, her heart whispered.