Kamadeva tries to calm down. He wishes he could take a swig of that sharey Siva drinks all the time. He wishes he were back with Ramani instead of trying to fulfil his duties to the world like this. But the devas have told him that Siva needs to have a son by Parvati if the world is to be saved. Shaking off his apprehensions, he goes up to the wall and perches on it.

He sees Siva sitting deep inside the dark forest, lost in his penance near the still lake, full to the brim with sharey. Well, things are about to change. Parvati finishes her garland and holds it up, examining it carefully. She then walks down the long path to where Siva is seated. Kamadeva clutches his sugarcane bow, checks the bowstring of honeybees for tension, counts the five arrows of love in his quiver and follows her softly.

Ramani is also there, watching him. She knows he is preoccupied with something other than her. He is not even aware that she has been here all this time. She sees him follow a young girl carrying a garland and feels piercing jealousy. She follows them.

The flowers reflect red-gold-white on the trees, lighting Parvati’s way in the darkening forest. As she approaches Siva, so still beside the silent lake, Parvati’s anklets make the only sound in the entire forest. When she stops, all sound stops. When she moves, they sound like huge bells.

She stops for a moment, stilled by a premonition of disaster, and looks back at the path. All around her, the radiance of red-gold-white bounces from the trees, blinding her eyes. She smiles. The colours of auspiciousness are blessing her.

Parvati turns back to her path and sees him, the lord of her dreams, the man on whom she will put this garland and accept as her own. How stern he looks. The flowing black locks of hair, all matted and disordered. She longs to touch them, to brush her finger down that cheek and to feel the coarseness of that hair against her own neck. Her cheeks turn red-gold-white with blushes at the boldness of her thoughts. She holds up her vivid garland and starts walking as softly as possible, so as to not startle him.

Ramani can see Kamadeva standing still behind a tree. She moves behind another one and watches. The girl is going towards a tall dark rock, absolutely straight, with the tip pointing to the sky. She stops, an inch away from the rock.