A gentle knock. Then: "Mistress."
Shanaya spun on her stool, finding the youngest girl, Eva, standing just inside the door. The girl bowed. "The guests have arrived."
"Thank you Eva. Are the others ready?"
"Yes mistress." The girl bowed again, then turned to leave.
"Eva."
The girl spun around, facing her mistress once more. "Yes mistress?"
"Do you remember our agreement?" The girl's shoulders drooped. "Come now, it is no torture. Not for the whole night." Shanaya stood and walked through her sitting room, up to the girl. "On during the greeting; off the rest of the night. Is that so much to ask?"
The girl's mouth, behind a piece of blue cloth, moved slightly. "I suppose not, mistress."
"Good." Shanaya kissed the girl's forehead, and waved her away. "Make ready for my entrance."
"Yes mistress." Eva bowed a final time and departed. Shanaya went back to her table of makeup and perfume, and gazed at herself in the mirror. She turned her head one way, then another, watching herself in the flickering light. She smacked her lips. Standing, she wrapped a piece of pink muslin around her shoulders, and slipped several bracelets on each arm. She glanced at the mirror again.
There she was; bewitching. A woman famous for charm and beauty--unknown for her wit and intelligence. Dark eyes, dusky skin, shining black hair.
She stood, casting an eye at the timepiece on the wall. Already the minister and his guests would have entered the building, greeted by the five girls. Eva, the youngest, in her blue. Charvi, dressed in purple and ready to impress. Pihu, wearing green and saying just as little as one can. Adah, in red like the sunset, waiting for darkness so she might return to her room and resume painting, and Mishti, the oldest, wearing yellow and watching the road she must soon use to leave this place. The front doors would open and reveal them tallest to shortest, bowing in unison with their palms pressed together.
And she, Shanaya, Mistress of Colors, dressed in pink and white, and prepared once more for guests foreign and local. A servant assisted her with her veil, and she took the staircase down from her tower. Powerful beams of the falling sun cast her shadow as she descended the spiral. Strong spices from dinner and conversation from the entrance hall reached her before she made it to the bottom.
Two more servants stood ready. When she stepped off the staircase, they left the room through tall, ornate wooden double doors. Their appearance in the entrance hall was her girls' tip to formally announce her.
Mishti, as was tradition, got their guests attention, and began to speak loud and clearly--the better for her mistress to hear. "Honored guests, Minister--may I present the Mistress of Colors."
The servants pulled open the doors as Shanaya began to walk forward, and she entered the west-facing entrance hall with the sun igniting her. Her many baubles and jewels flashed, and she strode forward with a smile. "Minister," she said to the first man. Portly and smiling, it was not his first visit to her, nor, if he had any choice, his last.
"Mistress," the minister said, kissing her offered hand. "An honor to see you again. I thank you for the opportunity to introduce my friends to your beauty." He swept his hand over the other five men, each standing with a piece of luggage. Shanaya saw a Japanese, an Indian, and three white men--she thought one an American, one an Englishman, and the last a German.
"Friends of the minister," Shanaya said, stepping past him and bowing to the other men. "We and this place are blessed by your presence." The five men, likely thanks to the minister's instructions, bowed back. "You do a service to India and the world with your work. I will always accept as guests those who put others first."
"Thank you, mistress," the Indian said, bowing again. "Your invitation honors us, as well." He stood upright. "I am Ranbir. He gestured to the Japanese man. "This is Taro." The Japanese man bowed. "This-" he gestured at the supposed Englishman "-is William." William bowed as well, coming upright with a wide smile. "This is Derrek." Ranbir pointed at the other European.
"German?" Shanaya asked.
"Austrian, mistress," Derrek said, bowing slightly. The men all stood stock-still--afraid of insulting her, as many were when they first entered.
"Lastly, this is Edward." Ranbir indicated the American, who smiled and bowed.
"Wonderful to meet you all," Shanaya said. "Hopefully my girls have introduced themselves." She received a chorus of "yes mistress" from the girls. "There are servants ready to take you to your rooms. Let them know of any dietary restrictions before dinner, and please take the chance to rest and freshen yourselves. I hear you have been traveling much; tonight will be for rest. We will eat in an hour."
She retreated through the doors, and the servants closed them behind her. Her girls were about to take a different exit to their rooms to prepare, and she had her own work.
First, to the kitchen. It gleamed with stainless steel and tile, and when she strode in the entire staff bowed. "No time for that! Chirag-"
"Mistress!"
"Chirag, these are not our normal kind of guests. These are not princes and presidents, who eat well day-in, day-out. These are young men who have spent their own time and money to come to India and better it. They have healed, helped, and protected. There was...supposed to be one more, but he succumbed to injuries suffered when protecting a woman from rape. Serve them as you would serve the Buddha."
"Yes, mistress!"
Shanaya left the kitchen as Chirag cracked his voice like a whip. She rounded the corner and found Charvi. The two nearly collided.
"Apologies, mistress!" Charvi said, bowing quickly. "May I ask a question?"
"Of course Charvi, but there isn't much time."
"Yes mistress. Is it true what these men do?"
Shanaya didn't answer at once. She looked the girl over. "Charvi, why this question? It does not matter much what they do. But, yes, it is true."
"They go back there...to those places?"
"Yes, Charvi."
The girl, nearing eighteen, looked at her purple slippers. "Thank you mistress. Excuse me."
Never a dull day, Shanaya thought as she climbed the spiral staircase to her rooms.
Eva waited for her. "Quickly now, quickly," Shanaya said. She began to disrobe. "The dark blue, I think."
"Yes mistress," Eva said quietly, fetching the thin dress out of the expansive closet.
"What did you see?" Shanaya asked. Eva halted, outfit draped across her arms. "Don't be shy." Shanaya sat in front of her mirrors and began to remove jewelry. "Tell me about our guests."
Eva said nothing for a few moments. "The American seemed to enjoy the architecture of the building most of all. He was always looking up. The Japanese man seemed sad."
"One of their friends died recently," Shanaya said. "They may still be in mourning for him." Eva froze, and Shanaya glanced at her. "A tragedy. The minister told me their lost friend was the one who began their organization. A man of great heart." The room was quiet. "Did you see anything else?"
"The Englishman was watching Pihu when she was looking elsewhere."
"Was he? Interesting. She did look lovely in her green, didn't she?"
"Yes mistress."
"I must make a note...Is that all?"
Eva, braiding Shanaya's hair, small fingers winding it into a braid, took a moment. Shanaya heard her sigh. "That's everything."
"Thank you, Eva. Go and get ready for dinner. The kitchen is making its best. And-" Eva stopped, half-way out the door. "Remember our agreement."
After a second, Eva nodded, then departed. Shanaya turned back to her mirror. "Please enter, Minister. I am dressed."
"You honor me, mistress," the man said, stepping inside the door.
"Navodit, you know you may call me by my real name here."
"Yes, I know, but it's proper to maintain decorum. Your guests are unaware of our relation, and for simplicity's sake I'd like to to stay unknown."
"Why should you care if they know? Surely they are aware your parents may have siblings? And those siblings may have had children of their own?"
"Yes, Shanaya, but it takes from the mystique! These men...they have spent months in the squalor of cities, helping and healing everyone who comes to them--at great risk. I want to show them the beauty of India; they have seen wounds, and tears, and starvation, but no wonder, until now."
Shanaya put her makeup down and turned her head in the mirror. "Thank you for bringing them here, Navodit. They deserve reward." She spun and stood. "Tell me about them."
"Is there time?"
"Time enough. Please, sit."
The minister sat on a padded stool piled with cushions. "The man from Japan, Taro, was closest to their fallen number. The wound is still fresh, but he has lost a friend. Our countryman, Ranbir, is the one who found the group when they were still looking for the right place to serve. He knows about the dirty streets of Mumbai--he is from there."
"The Europeans? The American?"
The minister smiled widely. "Excellent men, all of them. William is greatly interested in the culture and history of India. He reads whenever he can. The Austrian and the American get along very well--they both know jokes enough to make a man laugh all night long. They have the hearts of kings. They see pain and it hurts them, too. Not a one of them has the perfect life, and still they choose to come to a dirty, dangerous place and try to help men, women, and children they have never met. I knew you would like to meet them, cousin, and I knew they would like to see this place."
"Yes, Navodit, thank you. I would happily host them." She picked up a necklace from the table. "A bit of assistance?"
"Of course." The minister stepped near, and Shanaya moved her braid out of the way so he might attach the piece of jewelry around her neck. "How have your girls been?"
"As one expects," Shanaya said. "Things are never dull, even when there are no guests. Mishti is getting ready to find her own place."
"She won't be staying?"
"She has chosen to leave. She says there's something out there for her, but I know she's afraid. Sometimes I catch her looking out the window, watching the road like it's a viper." Shanaya shook her head. "Pihu can still barely look anyone in the eye, Adah is upset because of her art. Not to mention Eva."
"What does Eva struggle with?"
Shanaya chuckled. "You'll find out at dinner. Speaking of which-" she looked at the clock. "You should go. Gather your guests and let them know the rules of the meal. Wouldn't want them to feel embarrassed, would we?"
"Of course not, mistress." Navodit bowed, and came upright with a grin. "Will you be dancing for us tonight?"
"No, my girls will be showing off one of the traditional dances. I'm sure...who was it? William? I sure he will be interested to see it."
"They will all be interested, Shanaya. Thank you again." As the minister left, Shanaya heard him excuse himself to someone waiting outside the door.
Which one will it be? Not Eva or Charvi. Pihu will be hiding in her room until dinner is announced. Adah will be too busy getting ready. "Come in, Mishti."
"Thank you, mistress," the oldest girl of the five said. "May I sit?"
"There isn't much time before dinner, but please."
"Thank you, mistress." Mishti, dressed in a gray skirt and brown top rimmed with gold, was almost as tall as Shanaya. "I just have a single question."
"Ask, then."
Mishti rubbed her knees through the skirt. "Our five guests are forces of good, fighting against forces of evil. Charvi has told us plenty about evil...Are there many more good men like them?"
"Each person is unique, Mishti. I understand what you truly ask, though. No, the number of evil souls is greater than the number of good. The five men with us now are good men. Have you spoken with the Japanese man, Taro?"
"No, mistress."
"Engage him in conversation after the dance. Ask him about the world at large. He has seen much of it, and I'm sure you will be interested in what he has to say."
"Yes, mistress."
"You look lovely, Mishti. Gather the girls; it's nearly dinner."
"Yes, mistress, thank you."
A few minutes later Shanaya took in a deep breath and left her room. She could hear the kitchen from the stairs. With each step, the noise, the heat, and the smell became a little stronger, more intense. She passed the kitchen.
An uproar wasn't the correct word for it. A storm, perhaps. One beginning out over the ocean, and making landfall, toppling trees and swamping homes. Soon the chaos would erupt from the kitchen and pour out into the dining room, carrying her, her girls, and her guests away into the Indian evening.
When she stepped inside the kitchen, the chef and cooks halted on a dime. She wouldn't have been surprised to see a paratha suspended, half-flipped, in the air. "Is there going to be a problem with dinner? Will I be forced to tell me guests it will be delayed?"
Chirag appeared at her side. "Not at all, mistress! A kitchen is always a furious place." He shot a glance at one of the cooks, who resumed stirring a pot of something. Chirag returned his gaze to Shanaya, beaming. "Everything will be ready exactly when you request."
"I would not have my guests go hungry."
"They shall not, mistress! Now, please, allow my cooks to work in peace! Your beauty distracts them!"
Shanaya left the kitchen and it roared back to life. She entered the dining room's antechamber, finding her girls ready. "How beautiful you all look," she said. "Have you decided an order?"
"Yes mistress," Mishti said, followed by the details.
"I would change a few things. Ah, and I would like to adjust the seating arrangement as well." After relating the changes, she sent the girls out. "You know the drill." The whole time, Eva, mouth clamped shut, hadn't said a word. Well, she'll have to open her mouth to eat.
Shanaya entered the sitting room outside the dining room, finding the minister and the five men reclining on couches and chatting. They had donned better clothes than the dusty things they had traveled in, and the Austrian and American--those with longer hair--had combed.
"My friends," she said as she entered. "I see you have taken advantage of the rooms at your disposal."
"They are beautiful, mistress," Edward the American said. "Like something out of a fairytale."
"So big, too!" William said. "A bed, couches, drapery, a balcony for each of us. Mistress, this is a wonderful place."
"I'm pleased you find it to your liking. Girls!" she called over her shoulder. "Dinner will be served shortly. Allow my girls to escort you to your seats. Minister?" Shanaya held out her arm. The minister popped up from his seat and took her arm with a wide grin. She led him into the dining room.
A long, light wood table filled most of the room. One chair at each end, and ten total in the middle meant each had a spot to sit. It was already decorated with china. Cups of hot water sat ready for leaves, reflecting the light from candelabras and several chandeliers. The smell and sound of the kitchen filtered through a door hidden in the wall. Shanaya felt smooth tile through her slippers as she brought the minster to one end of the table, then stood at the other end.
Eva came first, mouth firmly shut, leading Derrek with their arms linked. The size difference almost made Shanaya laugh; the Austrian was close to two feet taller. Eva let Derrek sit, closest to Shanaya, then took her place on his side. Next was Charvi, leading her countryman Ranbir. They chatted in Hindi about the meal. They took up two more seats on Shanaya's left.
Pihu came next, leading the quite-pleased William, and she sat him next to Charvi, on the minister's right, then sat across from him, on the minister's left. Adah, makeup done to perfection and dressed almost as well as Shanaya, led Edward, seating him next to Pihu. She sat at his left, across from Ranbir. Finally, Mishti. Shanaya's oldest girl led Taro to one of the two remaining spots, then sat directly to Shanaya's right.
Shanaya looked at each of them. "My guests. You are my guests here, friends of the minister, but I consider you my friends as well. Anyone who looks to help those in my country are welcome here. Sit, enjoy yourselves. Our dinner, built from fine dishes all of India has to offer, from Kashmir mutton to the unique aromas of Tamil Nadu, is only the first of the night's entertainment. After we dine, my girls will perform a Shastriya Nritya. Afterward, there will be tea and cakes to enjoy, as well as conversation. I look forward to learning much about you and the work you have done.
"I know you have spent much time in my country, and know the dining etiquette. I am not asking you to set it aside, but to simply dine as is comfortable to you. You may ask for cutlery if you wish. There are several varieties of tea present, including some you may not have yet encountered. I implore you to try everything you wish--India is full of wonder, and I'm sure you know wonder can be quite delicious. If there is anything you wish for, simply ask. You are honored guests, and if I can provide, I will."
She clapped her hands lightly, and the door to the kitchen swung open, issuing forth a stream of servants bearing dishes of hot food. The aforementioned mutton, pork, chicken, fish and other seafood. The smell clouded the room, and the guests--as well as a few of the girls, hummed as they sniffed the air. Curries, vegetables and fruits, rice, dumplings, all spiced with cardamom, garlic, black mustard seed, and more exotic flavors followed, filling the table until one could not set his or her napkin down for fear of bumping a dish.
"Minister, honored guests, please, eat." Shanaya sat.
Dinner began. Conversation gave way to clinking dishes as everyone filled their plates. The girls offered tea to the guests: Nilgiri, Darjeeling, Assam, and more.
Eva ate tiny bites, reluctant to open her mouth too wide. Derrek, next to her, was talking about the kind of tea common in Austria, sprinkling the explanation with humorous quips and puns. Charvi, one spot over, was still talking with Ranbir, in both English and Hindi.
Pihu--as well as William, across from her--listened to the minister talk. He preferred a fork, and it spun through the air as the man ate. Every few moments William would steal a glance at Pihu when he thought she wasn't looking. To Shanaya's slight surprise, Pihu stole them back. The minister didn't notice any of this flirting, content to dine and regale those seated near him with tales of politics, India, and the world.
Next to William, Adah and Edward ate quietly, exchanging a few observations about the food. Adah probably dwelled on her painting, and only a loud enough noise would break her train of thought. Edward kept gazing around the room, taking in the flickering light on the walls, the color of the dishes, the smell.
Mishti and Taro also ate quietly. Shanaya knew both of their minds were full. If only they could find a way to talk to each other, both might find someone who can reciprocate what they felt.
The table was full of emotions. Shanaya ate, listening to the conversation and adding a bit of her own, mostly speaking to Eva, Derrek, Mishti, and Taro.
Derrek had just finished telling Eva about his pet, a black Labrador named Kuchen. "I had a rabbit before I came here," Eva said. "His name was Soora."
"Say Eva," Derrek began, setting his tea down. "Do you know the way to catch a unique rabbit?"
"No." Eva looked at him with confusion. "How?"
"Why, it's simple. U-nique up on it." He smiled, and Eva smiled as well. "Ah, but how do you catch a tame rabbit?"
"How?"
"Tame way: u-nique up on it!"
Eva laughed this time, opening her mouth wide to reveal metal bands bridging her teeth. Too quickly she brought her lips together, color spreading on her face. Taro, however, had seen.
A few seconds passed until his mouth was clear. "So, Eva, how long will you have braces?" Eva looked at him with embarrassment and fear, wide-eyed, mouth sealed shut, food hanging limp in her fingers. "I had them for...two years, I think?"
Derrek nodded. "I had them almost as long. Had to have a few teeth pulled, as well." He shook his head. "No fun."
"I had them even longer than that," Edward said. He smiled at Eva. "My mother just got them again! Nearly sixty, and she has braces. She can't believe it."
"She had them already?" Eva asked, eyebrows rising up. She slowly sat up straighter.
"Yep," Edward said. "Long before I came along. She was about your age, I think." He grasped his chin. "Close to that, at least." He glanced at Eva. "No need to be embarrassed," he said. "How long then?"
Eva looked down at her plate and pushed rice around with a piece of fried flatbread. "Seventeen more months."
"Not very long at all," William, from the far end of the table, said. "I had it just as long. It'll fly by. You won't even notice it most of the time. I still have a retaining bar along the inside of my bottom teeth." He ran his tongue along the bar.
Pihu watched him, and her mouth fell open a little bit.
"I just got them," Eva said. "I don't like them."
"Well, no," Derrek said. "But I can't help but guess you'll like having nice straight teeth when you're all done growing up."
Eva, however, kept her mouth closed tight. "What did I tell you, Eva?" Shanaya said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they could all tell even when you had your veil on."
Eva gaped at her mistress, then closed her mouth again. She swept her vision back to her food, then looked up at Taro, who lifted his shoulders a touch. "It makes it look like your mouth is full of food," Mishti said.
"Consider yourself lucky you didn't have to have them when my father did," Derrek said, before Eva could melt into a red-hot puddle on the floor. "Some people used to have these big metal bars that went around the outside of their face and connected behind the head." He put his thumbs in the corners of his mouth and stretched it open in a crazed grin, linking his fingers behind his head. His mouth stretched open so far Eva had no choice but to giggle at the sight. It took a second longer for her to remember her shame and shut her mouth, and Shanaya smiled as Derrek cleaned his hands and resumed eating.
Halfway down the table on Shanaya's right, Adah stirred her food idly, staring at it without seeing it. Edward watched the motion as he chewed. "Not very hungry?" he asked, as the focus left Eva and returned to normal conversation. Adah brought her head up and looked at him for a moment, then shook her head. "Something on your mind?"
Adah laid her spoon down. "It's not very interesting." She hesitated. "I enjoy painting in my spare time, and I cannot figure out a way to make my current project look correct."
"What are you painting?"
"Surely you don't want to speak about such things?"
"Well...is there anything else you'd like to speak about?" Adah paused with a forkful of rice halfway to her mouth, looking at Edward. He shrugged and raised his eyebrows. "I like to hear people talk about things they're interested in."
Adah got her fork nearer to her mouth, then lowered it again. "Why?" she said, low enough to slip it under the conversation around her.
Edward sipped his tea. When he set it down he said: "Animation. Did you see Derrek talking about his dog? He was happy. Excited. When you say you paint in your spare time do you mean every day? Most days?" He looked at her; she nodded. "How long have you been doing it?"
"Since I was fifteen."
"An hour a day, perhaps? Say four days a week? And I won't dare guess how many years since you started. But, even if it's only five years, that's still a thousand hours. That's like sitting in front of a canvas for almost six weeks...and painting. Now, I can't imagine doing anything for that long and having nothing to say about it." He ate. "This curry is delicious."
"It's not a curry, actually," Adah said. "It's called punjabi dal makhani."
"Really? What's in it?"
"Black lentils, mostly. Kidney beans, as well. In addition, some garlic, onion, tomatoes..." Adah stared at her plate. "I've been trying to paint a landscape."
"What kind?"
"Hills. At sunrise. I cannot get to sleep some nights, so I have seen a few sunrises. I loved the first one I saw. It crept upon me like a slow hunter, and then leapt, throwing itself across the sky in front of my eyes. It made the sky a color I had never seen before, and then it was gone." She held her fork in her right hand, drawing designs through the food in front of her. "I've been trying over and over to get it right. But it never looks correct."
"Why not?"
"I can't get the colors right," Adah said, a little too forcibly, and a morsel of food spat from her mouth onto her plate. She covered her mouth with her hand and silenced herself.
"Go on," Edward said.
She swallowed. "I'm trying to paint the hills at the bottom...and the sun breaking through on the right side of the painting." She put her hands out in front of her, and moved the right one to indicate the sun. "And I want the sky above to be shining with radiance like I have seen a dozen times." She put her hands down and shook her head. "I cannot look at the sun, of course, so any color I use looks wrong. And it doesn't have rays. I don't want to split the sky into segments with different pieces of the sun's light, I want to paint the stars over with the morning."
Her shoulders slumped, and she went back to stirring her food. "But I can't get it right."
"What have you tried?"
"Well, I've tried what I just described: making rays come off of the sun. At first I tried to emulate the colors I'd seen. It was like pink, and purple, and blue all mixed together, yet distinct." Across the table, Charvi and Ranbir listened. "That didn't work, of course. Then I tried to do the same thing but with all the colors; with a rainbow. It just looked silly." Adah drank from her tea. "Then I tried to make the sun more distant. Smaller. Make it project light onto the sky." She shook her head. "Now I've tried to re-position the sun, into the center of the sky, and have the colors come off of it in waves."
"Is that working better?"
Adah roved her tongue inside her mouth. "It is different, at least, and I've enjoyed painting it simply because it is something different to paint. But I begin to wonder if I should try something else."
Her eyes came up, and she realized most of the people at the table were listening in. She cleared her throat and rededicated herself to her food.
"Ah, art!" the minister said. "I will never tire of hearing about it," he said to William, at his left hand. "Music, literature...what beauty the world possesses!" William brought his eyes up to glance at Pihu, across from him at the minister's right hand.
"I couldn't agree more, minister," he said. "I'm thrilled to be able to see some of the classic Indian architecture. When I was a boy, my father read One Thousand and One Nights to me, before bed. It took months. I could not help but picture everything he described."
"An excellent example of wonderful art! Though," the minister waggled his fork at William, "not, technically, Indian! Your point stands, of course. The towers! The decorated walls! The garden courtyards! The constructions that exhibit strength and grace!" At this, Pihu glanced up at William, then back to her meal. "Pihu!" She jumped. "Which is your favorite?"
"F-favorite?" she asked, risking another glance at William before looking back to the minister. "What do you mean, sir?"
"Why, your favorite art, of course! Drawing? Music? Perhaps singing?"
"Sir," Pihu said, smiling. "Dance!"
"Ah! But of course! You know my friend-" the minister looked to William "-Pihu is a wonderful dancer. I quite look forward to seeing her tonight. Do you?"
"I can't wait!" William said. Pihu's skin was too dark to show, but her face felt like it was on fire as he looked at her. "A traditional Indian dance. Spectacular! We haven't had much of an opportunity to see many of the traditions in practice, I'm afraid."
"Well, Pihu will be glad to show you everything tonight!" the minister said. "She and the other girls practice until they could perform the dances blindfolded. I similarly cannot wait to enjoy the spectacle once more. The merging of music, poetry, and motion! Ah..." The minister leaned back in his chair. His stomach strained the front of his outfit. "A wonderful meal as always, mistress!"
"Thank you, minister," Shanaya said, at the other end of the table. "Your enjoyment is my enjoyment." She rose. "I and my girls must take our leave for the moment. Please, continue eating. When you are finished, the servants will take you to the tea room." She bowed as the girls rose from their chairs. "For now, we must prepare."
A few minutes later, the prep room next to the tea room was full of the girls, talking as they changed clothes and prepared. Having just succeeded in herding them inside, Shanaya left, entering the tea room. Long bolts of cloth hung from the ceiling, heavy aromas filled the air, plush couches and pillows made way to intricate rugs. Oil lamps suffused dim light--or such was the intent, anyway. Shanaya tsked, tapping the canisters for one of the lamps. It rang hollow. She called a servant and instructed he fill the lamps, then went back to the girls.
The room was brightly-lit, full of bright bulbs. Mirrors covered most of the walls. Padded seats sat in front of long tables, full of each girl's makeup and jewelry. They sat in a row, each now dressed in their special sari. Eva was helping Mishti put on her ankle bells, Adah was carefully arranging her bindi, Charvi was redoing her hair, and Pihu was staring at her reflection in the mirror. From the tea room, they could hear the musicians warming up.
Dinner had gone well. Better than Shanaya could have guessed. She watched Eva smile, inspecting the brace on each tooth. The girl let the smile fade, and sighed.
Charvi was talking with Adah--the older girl let the younger talk, focused as she was on her makeup. Pihu fiddled with an earring, clearly not seeing the piece in her fingers, and it took Mishti's gentle scold to get her to finish in time.
But the girls finished preparing and stood youngest to oldest, beautiful even in the room's harsh light. They exited the room, hidden behind the curtains. Shanaya also exited. The minister and his guests were just seating, in a wide semi-circle; the minister was in the center. The lamps were lit; the room was full of cinnamon.
Shanaya waited until the men had a chance to make themselves comfortable on the cushions and exchange a few words. She caught the sarangi player's eye and made a motion with her hand. Without a word, he began to play, and the other musicians followed his lead. Taps from the tabla, and the wonderfully discordant hums of the violin.
She spread the curtains and strode between them, each foot coming down quietly. In a moment she had her guests' attention. "Honored guests." She came to rest in the center of their semi-circle. "My five adopted daughters are pleased to exhibit a traditional five-person Kathak, for your entertainment and education. I ask you remain silent until the dance has ended, at which time refreshments will be served."
Shanaya retreated through the curtains, and quickly skirted the perimeter of the room, ending up behind where the men sat without their notice. The music changed, and Eva stepped through the curtains.
She wore a long white gown, brushing the floor with each shift of her leg. Across her shoulder she had a violet sash, tied at the waist with a gold cord. Charvi, appearing after her through a different gap in the curtains, wore the same save for a blue sash. Pihu wore a green sash, and Adah had yellow--her braid was almost as long as her gown. Mishti, appearing last, had a red sash. With small steps, not enough to make the bells wrapped around their ankles anything more than a light smattering--like rain on a distant road--they arranged themselves in the room's open space.
They leapt with the music, abruptly changing. Reaching an arm out and leaning forward on one leg, the other foot still planted, they spread their palms and chattered the bells on their ankles with practiced stomps of their heels. They snapped their arms back to their bodies and spun, reaching in the same way to the other direction. After another stomp, they spun again.
Charvi ended in the center. She began to stomp her feet at a blinding speed as the tabla sped up. The other four girls swayed behind her, two swaying left and right and two swaying right and left. Charvi followed the beat, beaming, moving her feet fast enough to turn the hem of her white gown into a blur and sending the bells' rattles into the far corners of the room.
After a short time, they spun again. Mishti ended in the center. She, too, tapped her feet to the music, but just as quickly abandoned the practice to instead hang her arms at angles and turn gently, maneuvering her feet to twirl her like she stood atop a patch of ice. The music changed once more, and she began to wind her spine back and forth, letting her arms flow as she did so. As the music drove forward, so she drove her hands and arms into contortions.
Another spin, and Eva entered the middle, twirling and extending her arms at intervals, periodically pausing to stamp her feet to the beat.
Before too long the five girls began to wind around each other, gowns flaring as they spun. The wove in and around each other like the winding threads of the rug their feet neared.
Adah entered the center, and the music slowed. She began to flow from one pose to the next. The motions of her arms and legs were smooth, measured--every step, every twist of her wrist was part of the greater motion. She stood upright in the center and spun slowly, one hand forward, and when she again faced the guests she brought both hands together in front of her face, gently stamping her feet with smooth lifts of her hips. As the music sped up, she pressed her palms forward, moving her feet at greater speed. Plucking imaginary fruit from over her head, she then started spinning, kicking her heels up and moving her arms with the rhythm. They twined like snakes.
She halted her spin on a dime, one arm curled against her body and the other half-extended. She shook her hips in a figure-eight, the skirt of her gown making waves across the wooden floor. The other four girls began to mimic the motion, and they locked into synchronization. Their hands shifted up and down while lying flat, their heads bobbed to the time, their feet stomped faster than the eye could see.
As one, they hopped a few inches off the ground, heading into another spin. Pihu then maneuvered to the center, taking long steps back and forth with her hands pressed against an invisible plane. She twirled, kicked a foot up behind her, then snaked a hand up to her forehead, leaving it after just a touch. She spun to the side, bent, stood upright, spun to the other side-
-and slipped.
Before she hit the ground, however, William leapt forward and caught her. Her head was half a foot from smashing on the ground, eyes looking up at William's face. The other four girls gasped and rushed to her. Shanaya rose from her seat. William was already placing Pihu on her feet. The music faltered and stopped.
"A bit of oil on the ground," William said, pointing. The small spot, now smeared, flickered in the firelight. "I saw it before the dance started. Nobody got too close to it until Pihu."
Shanaya swept down on the panting girl. "Are you hurt, Pihu?"
"No mistress, I'm fine." She moved around Shanaya and approached William. "Honored guest, thank you." She placed her hands together flat and bowed. "I surely would have been injured if not for you."
The other girls quickly joined her in the bow. Shanaya did as well, a bit slower and gentler. "I suppose the dance must end here," she said, when she came up. "Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it."
"Yes! Wonderful!" Derrek said, clapping. "Such a shame!"
"Eva, notify the kitchen we are finished ahead of schedule?" Shanaya asked; the girl bowed and scampered off. "Charvi, notify the servants I may flay one of them?" Charvi laughed and departed. "As promised, tea and cakes. Dinner is fine but can be difficult to converse. I hope you will take the chance now to relax, chat, and enjoy yourselves."
The other three girls returned to the prep room to change out of their dancing clothes while Shanaya exited into the hall. Charvi was returning, leading one of the servants. Charvi whispered something to him before dashing around Shanaya, and the servant quailed when the words reached his ear.
Shanaya strode upon him, and she felt very tall when she spoke. "You refilled the lamps?" The servant nodded. "You spilled. You spilled oil. You spilled oil on the dance floor. Pihu was a moment away from splitting her skull open on the ground, and it would have been your fault. Once we have finished using it, take a rag and clean it up. There should not be a spot of oil left, nor even the barest scent when I put my nose to the ground. You will also refill the lamps with the utmost care; is that understood?" The servant nodded, cheeks trembling. "In addition, you, solely, will be responsible for washing the outside steps tomorrow, once our guests have departed. Consider the hard work penance for endangering one of my girls in a place you know they would use to dance. Questions."
"N-none, mistress."
"To task, then."
The servant scuttled away. Shanaya stretched to her full height, and arranged her outfit. She had become disheveled. She spun on her heel and returned to her guests.
"Ah..." she said when she entered the tea room, already filling with the smell of gulab jamun, rice pudding, and fragrant tea. Servers from the kitchen were bringing plates and bowls, as well as hot kettles, onto a table someone had moved into the center of the room. "Here's hoping no one will slip during dessert," she said with a smile. The minister held a cup toward her, already full of her favorite blend. "Thank you, minister. How lucky I am."
"How lucky we all are, mistress," Taro said, raising his cup of tea. The other guests followed him. "You bless us."
"You bless me, Taro," Shanaya said, picking up a gulab jamun, speared on a toothpick. She sniffed it, and the fried dough made her mouth water. "As do the rest of you. When my good friend the minister contacted me, and told me of your work in Mumbai, how could I deny you such a poor reward as this? Surely, your karma will grant you eternity in Swarga Loka." She swept toward an empty seat. "You serve the poorest and least of us, and in doing so you have served the greatest as well."
"One might be forgiven for thinking that a Christian concept, mistress," Edward said.
"Yes, my friend--a wise thing, and one people of many religions are unfortunate to have forgotten."
"Mistress, forgive me..." Ranbir hesitated. "You said the girls were your adopted daughters?"
Shanaya nodded, chewing. "Correct. I have been blessed in many ways, and I decided to return the blessings. The five girls here with me now are not the first, and, hopefully, not the last I will host. Our friend the minister wed one of the first."
"And she blesses my life each day," the minister said with a wide smile.
"You deserve thanks as well, then," Ranbir said. "It's just as much an act of charity as what we do."
Shanaya waved her hand. "Nowhere near as much. You get your hands dirty, I clean others. Most of my girls still have families and lives; I have simply helped them elevate themselves. You, however, search out for those who need help the most."
Shanaya looked at her reflection in the cup of tea. To see a hand reach out for you, when all surrounded you was mud and dust. To find welcoming smiles when all you had ever seen were scowls and frowns. She looked up. "You deserve every reward this life and the next has to offer."
A brief pause, then Derrek cleared his throat. "Thank you, mistress."
A few minutes of quiet sipping passed. The girls re-entered, now dressed in more comfortable clothes. They surrounded the table of treats and took their time pouring tea for each other and piling their plates with desserts, talking and laughing.
"How long was the dance supposed to be?" Taro asked, as the girls found their seats.. "I hope we didn't miss too much."
"Each of us had a segment where we were in the middle," Mishti said. She sat near Taro. "Pihu was the last one. We had an extended section of...Adah, how would you describe it?"
"Synchronized bells, and then the in-and-out, and then a wave." Adah shrugged, focusing on her tea. "Those don't really mean much unless you've seen the dance. There were only a few minutes left."
"Well, I wish we could have seen more of it," Edward said. "Is it very physically difficult?"
"The motions themselves do not require much strength," Adah said. She bobbed her head side-to-side, thinking. "Well, some do. The difficulty comes in not only the minutia of each motion, but synchronizing with the other dancers. Flexibility is required, as well as dexterity. Some of the motions have important meanings, and if they are done incorrectly, they can impact the story in a manner unintended. As well, some of the motions are very quick, such as stomping the feet. You might not have noticed, but very quick stomps always preceeded a period of slower movement to allow us to regain our breath." Adah looked up and found everyone listening. Her eyes dropped back to her tea, and she did not continue.
After a few seconds of silence, Mishti placed her cup on its saucer and rose. She put it on the table in the center of the room. "I feel like a walk. Taro, would you mind joining me? I have a few questions."
"Uh, well, certainly," Taro said. He put his tea on the side table next to him. "Where shall we go?"
"The veranda is a lovely sight this time of night," Shanaya heard Mishti say as the two exited the room. "The moon should be up by now." She saw the other men eye each other, and chuckle. She also saw Pihu watching William quite closely, unless, of course, he happened to look in her direction. Then she would find something upon her plate much more interesting. Shanaya began to list a few items.
"I liked your section quite a lot," Edward told Adah, on the other side of the room. "You've clearly put a lot of work into getting it right, and it shows."
"Thank you, Edward. Practicing a dance is rather enjoyable. A good physical distraction."
"Plus, we get to hang out together when we do it!" Charvi said, smiling over her cup of tea. "It's my favorite part of the day!"
"I'm not surprised!" Ranbir said. "It was all eyes on you as soon as you took center stage! You must have had some training before you came here?"
Shanaya, Charvi, and the other girls present fell silent. Charvi cleared her throat. "No, I didn't. I would have liked to, but I didn't have the opportunity."
Shanaya watched the realization strike Ranbir. "Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's quite all right," Charvi said. She set her tea down. "In fact, I'd like to ask the four of you some things."
"Of course!" Ranbir said. "I'm sure we'd all be happy to answer any questions you have." The other three nodded.
Charvi took a moment to think. "Why did you choose to come here, to India? Why did you choose to help people, and why pick here, out of all the places? How can you...how can you elect to go to a place that has nothing to offer?"
"Because it has nothing to offer," Ranbir said. "There were a number of places we considered: Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe."
"Ranbir convinced us we could do the most good here in Mumbai, where he grew up."
"Where I grew up also," Charvi said. "I haven't been there in many years; mistress found me long before you began your work. Please, continue."
"There were originally six of us," Ranbir said, and the four men--as well as the minister, who until then had been availing himself of the desserts with gusto--sat up straight, laced their fingers, or bowed their heads. "Taro knew him the best. His name was Zan. His family had escaped Communism in China when he was a young child, and were living in Japan. He knew how despair can keep someone from finding their way to a better life--his family had done everything they could to get away from the despair, and he was dedicated to finding a way to help others.
"He, and Taro, reached out through a network of volunteers, of which the minister is a part." He pointed a hand at the minister, who bowed in his seat. "He was able to help them connect with us-" Ranbir swept his hand around the room. "-and from there things began to grow."
"But how?!" Charvi said. "How can you go to those dirty places, and see the dirty people, and not want to run away, back to somewhere that's safe and warm, and where there's food?"
"We do," Edward said. "Every time. We want things to be easy for us, but why can't we help make things easy for others, as well?"
"We run a small home in the slums," William said. "We have a few employees, men and women from Mumbai. They're volunteers, really, but we usually find a way to scrape together a bit of cash for each of them."
"What kind of things do you do?" Eva asked. Her mouth was hanging open, and Shanaya could see lamplight glint off the metal on her teeth.
"My title is administrator," Ranbir said, "but most of my day is translating. The others are still working on their Hindi, plus whatever other language comes in. I've had to hold a conversation in three languages all at once."
"It kind of hurts to watch," William said.
Ranbir nodded. "Think about how I felt. William is our medical professional."
"A degree in Internal Medicine from Edinburgh," William said. "And plenty of other experience now, thanks to Mumbai and the minister's private library." The minister bowed again. "But really you can't mention my work without Edward's. He's the physician's assistant and...what else?"
"RN, experience working with infectious diseases, and even a bit of time working with dentists, surgeons, and eye doctors."
"Are-Enn?" Eva said, wrinkling her face.
"Registered nurse," Edward said, grinning at her.
"If there's a professional volunteer in the world, Edward's the first," William said. "Not a bad bedside manner, too."
"And you, Derrek?" Eva asked. "What do you do?"
"Mainly I'm the electrician, plumber, groundskeeper, and custodian. The place needs to be spotless if we're working as an impromptu hospital, and I'm sure you know it can be difficult. I'm also security--thankfully, not something I need to put into practice very often, now we're established in the community. There are big crowds of people who will go after anyone who tries to harm us."
Charvi's eyes unlocked from the Austrian. She had her cup of tea back in her hands, and like her mistress she found herself looking into the reflection of the orangish liquid.
"What about Taro?" Pihu asked. "What does he do?"
"Taro has a degree in accounting. He manages our finances." Ranbir shifted. "With...now that it's just the five of us, he's also the one in contact with officials, both foreign and domestic."
"And, of course, the minister!" William said. "None of this would be possible without his help!"
"No, no!" the minister said, waving him down. "I leapt at the chance to help my country, just as I'm sure hundreds of others would. I simply found you first."
"How is it you help?" Adah asked.
"I'm their unofficial representative in the government," the minister said. "I make their work known and help make sure they have the funds necessary. They are, technically, an international organization, and so they are able to accept funds from anyone, even foreign governments. But when I speak to my friends at Parliament I cannot stop telling them about these fine young men and the good they do. I am sure they would like nothing more than to stuff my mouth with napkins to cease my prattle, but some of them have come forward with monetary help."
"It's not all fun and games," Edward said. "Mumbai isn't the safest place in the world, even for charity. Women don't trust us--even if Ranbir is helping us communicate. The building we have is dilapidated, Police are unhelpful at best, there are religious squabbles, gangs..."
"...Insects," William said, "wild animals, even. You remember our second month there?"
The men laughed. "William gets up one morning to check on a patient, and there's a leopard asleep in the corner of the lowest level! Bold as you please!" Derrek said, laughing as he did so. "He gets me up--security--and both of us stand there watching it until it wakes up. We call the police, but they're in no hurry to get to us, so we get buckets on our heads, and long mops, and poke it until it gets up!"
"Then what?" Pihu asked.
"Well, she's quite unhappy, of course, so she's all growly and snarly," William said. "But she's in no mood to get into a fight with us, but she doesn't want to leave. Everyone else is up now, and Taro runs into the kitchen and gets a few pork sausages. He throws one at her, and of course she slurps it up, and he takes another and hucks it toward the front door. The leopard practically crawls over to it, and then Taro throws the last one out into the street."
"She goes after it, and then we slam the door shut to make sure she can't get back in," Derrek says. "I'm pretty sure she was lounging in the next alley the whole day."
"I've seen her a few times," Edward said. "I think. Could be a different leopard for all I know."
Charvi listened to them tell stories. Births in the street, thieves, festivals, meeting members of parliament alongside the minister. She saw these things clearly. Others were still murky: Welcoming people in who had nowhere else to go. Making sure you were safe from whatever illness a patient had. Sitting in a dim room with a stack of books, making sure there was enough money to keep the lights on. Reaching out to someone who was sitting in the dirt and pulling her onto her feet. Giving her food. Giving her shelter. Giving her a better life.
Conversation made the hours pass. Mishti and Taro rejoined them, and they traded stories, tried to make Eva laugh with jokes. Eventually Shanaya yawned, covering her mouth the the back of her hand, and rose from her chair. "As much as I would enjoy the night to go on forever, I must rest. I trust you can find your way back to your rooms?"
"Yes mistress, of course," Ranbir said. "Another thing we have little of in Mumbai: privacy. There are only a few rooms we use for sleeping. A night in a room to ourselves will be wonderful."
"Hey, Eva," Derrek said. "Do you know why elephants are so wrinkly?"
Eva frowned. "No, why?"
"Because they take too long to iron!"
Eva stared at him for a second, then her mouth split open and she laughed so hard her arms circled her stomach and she was bent double. Shanaya laughed as well. Soon she was headed up the spiral stairs to the top of the tower.
Shortly she was brushing her hair, humming the tune the girls had danced to a few hours earlier. She heard a not-unexpected knock, but turned in her seat to see an unexpected person. Mishti entered when bade, hands clasped in front of her. The girl sat. She stared at the wall, and sucked her lips inside her mouth to moisten them, a quirk Shanaya had been watching her do for more than a decade.
"What did you and Taro discuss?" Shanaya asked, beckoning the girl closer. Mishti went to her, turned around, and knelt. Shanaya began to brush her hair. "You were gone for quite a while. We talked about a great many things while you were gone. We learned several interesting things about what our guests do."
"I told him I am soon to leave here," Mishti said. "I told him I haven't spent much time outside the house. I told him I don't know much about the world."
Shanaya continued brushing. She could nearly hear the thoughts clunking past, one after the other, inside Mishti's head.
"He asked me what I was planning on doing, I told him I didn't know. He asked me when I was leaving, I said in a few weeks. He asked me why I was telling him.
"I told him I was afraid. I told him I knew stories about what happened out there; stories about rape and murder. About disease, and sadness. Places where a person cannot see the light for all the shadows around her. People who will bind you in chains."
Mishti sighed. "We were on the veranda, watching the sun go down. There I was, telling a stranger about my fears. But you asked me to, didn't you? So I knew it was a good idea. Do you know what he said?"
"I have a guess," Shanaya said. "Go on."
"He told me about his friend Zan. Someone who had been working with them until recently. He said 'What about the man who protects the woman or saves the man from murder?' He said 'What about the doctor who heals, the singer who brings peace?' He said 'What about the light that snakes, and winds, and penetrates even the strongest, toughest darkness, until it shines in your face despite everything else?'
"I didn't know what he meant. He began to speak of Zan--he had taken a wound from a knife while protecting a woman. Zan was a being of light, someone who helped others out of the dirt. He could not but assist another, if he saw a need."
The girl fell silent. Shanaya brushed, and the room filled with the rhythmic sound of the brush sliding through Mishti's thick sheaf of dark hair. Mishti was staring at her hands, open in her lap.
"The darker the world is, the brighter you must shine to blow away the darkness around you."
Shanaya stopped brushing. The girl turned to look at her. "Isn't that right? If it's very dark outside, you light more candles, or turn on more lamps. When the sun comes back, you can turn the lights off." Shanaya resumed brushing. "I still want to start my own life, mistress. I love it here, and I will always love you and my sisters, but I want a life to call my own. I can't do that here. I have to go out into the world."
"Even if that world frightens you?"
"Even if. Even if. Even if waking up makes my heart pound. Even if saying hello to a stranger makes me want to run and hide. Even if there are a thousand stories about death and danger and only a dozen about sweetness and joy. Especially if. I could write another, and add that much more light to the dark sky."
"Yes," Shanaya said. "The world can always be brighter." She put the brush on her table. Mishti stood, turned, and bowed, waves of her shiny, silky hair passing in front of her smile.
She left, and Shanaya turned back to her mirror. She counted to ten. The knock came a few seconds after she finished.
"Come in, Pihu," Shanaya said, standing and going to one of her shelves. When she turned around, the girl was just inside the threshold, staring at her feet with her hands bunching the dress at her legs. "It's quite late, darling. Is there something you need?"
Pihu opened her mouth, let it hang for a moment, then closed it. Shanaya saw her throat bob. "Trouble sleeping?"
"During the dance," Pihu said. She was still gazing at the tiled floor, and Shanaya knew it would be quite the achievement for the girl to meet her eyes. "I would have been hurt if William hadn't caught me. I...he...I'd like to thank him."
"That's true, Pihu. He did you quite a service. Did you have something in mind?"
This time, Pihu's mouth didn't close. "Quite handsome, William, isn't he?" Shanaya asked, selecting a small woven basket from the shelf. She tapped her lips and began to place inside it a few items. Cardamom perfume, ginger candles, bags of tongkat ali tea leaves. A few more modern items, designed for safety and comfort. "And a doctor, as well!" She turned toward Pihu, who looked like she was about to bore a hole through the floor. "You know, I heard he's very interested in our culture."
She waited. "I could...offer to show him a special dance. Just for him. In his room. As thanks for saving me from injury."
"Why, that's a wonderful idea," Shanaya said. Pihu fell silent again. Shanaya stepped away from the shelf, nearer to the girl. "Don't be embarrassed, darling," she said, just loud enough to hear. She took one of Pihu's hands and placed the basket's handle inside it. "Everything you need is here. Do not pressure him, and do not allow yourself to be pressured. If you reconsider, there is no harm done. Enjoy his company. Make sure he enjoys yours."
Pihu gazed inside the basket. "Thank you, mistress."
"You sound like I did, thirty years ago," Shanaya said. "You know he's been watching you all night? He thinks you're beautiful."
Pihu nodded, stood in the door for a few more seconds, then fled at a near-run. Shanaya listened to her footsteps descend the stairs. The Mistress of Colors sighed, smiled, and closed her door.
Breakfast was more relaxed than dinner. To Shanaya, who could read her girls better than any of her guests, it was quite a lot of fun.
First there was Eva and Derrek. The two, though a decade separated them, had grown comfortable telling jokes back and forth. Derrek would tell her about the Alps, the chocolate, the music and history of Austria. Snow was a rare thing in India, especially where the mistress had made her home, so Eva listened with glee at stories about sledding, snowball fights, and snowmen; all the while Shanaya could see light glinting off her braces.
Charvi was acting strangely, mostly in that she was not speaking much. She and Ranbir were pleasant to each other, but when Ranbir turned to his food, Charvi's eyebrow's would slide together. She would stir her breakfast, eating slowly. She asked a few questions to Ranbir in a quiet voice unlike her normal tone, but Shanaya could still hear it. They were about the home Ranbir and the other guests ran, conditions in the city, struggles they had. As Ranbir replied, Charvi would stare him down, listening with intensity, then return to her stirring.
There was William and Pihu, of course. Again they sat across from each other, the minister in between them at the end of the table, and again he was unaware of the way they acted. Both were quiet, both ate steadily. Every once in a while, they would catch the other's eye, and cease eating for a moment. Unlike the night before, they didn't do it hoping to escape the other's notice. Neither held their gazes long, but it was clear both wanted to. Pihu would smile, a curl at the corner of her lips, and William's expression would soften. It didn't seem as if either of them had gotten very much sleep.
The big surprise, to Shanaya, was Adah and Edward. They, too, seemed quite tired, and at first Shanaya began to construct the conversation she would have with Adah about safety. But, no. On closer inspection, Shanaya saw the two talking not with great energy, but with animation. Short exclamations broke up long sentences from either of them. It was like they were working on a project together. They drew designs with their silverware in the open space above their plates. They took something the other said and modified it, or turned it upside-down, or dismissed it outright. The other would take no offense, but forge on with another statement. Their discussion was too furtive for Shanaya to hear much of it.
And then Mishti, next to Taro. While Charvi's words had become thoughtful, quiet, and fewer, Mishti was speaking more, happier, energetically. Taro could hardly keep up. He nodded and interjection a word or two when he could, Mishti talked on. Mostly about the world at large, the places Taro had seen. About Japan's Mt. Fuji, and the Shinto shrines. About India's diverse areas, Mumbai's massive scope, even of Everest, holy mother of mountains. Taro was unable to finish most of the questions Mishti posed him before she launched into another. She once, while gesturing with her silverware, flung a piece of food in Shanaya's lap.
Mishti halted, looking on in horror as Shanaya reached down and picked the piece off. "Forgive me, mistress. I wasn't being careful."
"Quite all right," Shanaya said. "Just a bit of food. Tell me, Mishti, you seem pleased this morning. Is it all right if I know why?"
"I had an idea last night while falling asleep, mistress," Mishti said. The rest of the room quieted, and the light in her eyes grew. "I was thinking of our discussion last night. About how I want to be something good in the world, just like our guests." She beamed at them. "But I didn't know what I could do. I want to help others, like you are all. I want to do it in my own way. I figured it out."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense!" the minister said from the other end of the table. "What shall you do?"
"Dance," Mishti said. "I do not know how yet, but I will find a way. I will earn a sponsor, go around the world and show them the beauty of India."
"A wonderful idea, Mishti," Shanaya said.
"But that's not all," Mishti said. She put her silverware down. "I want to dance, but I couldn't shake the feeling it wasn't enough. Compared to what you are doing in Mumbai, it's a sorry idea. I must dedicate myself to teaching others why I dance: to add good to the world. I must tell them about my friends in Mumbai, who do so much good my dances could never match them. Maybe someone who sees me dance will think 'I would like to add good to the world. I would like to shine bright in this darkness around me.'"
Next to her, Taro was smiling and nodding. On her other side, Edward clapped lightly. "Bravo, Mishti! A fine decision! If what we saw last night is what you have to offer, I'm sure you'll become well-known throughout the world!"
"But how?" Eva asked. "Where are you going to go?"
Shanaya saw a flicker cross over Mishti's face, but it was gone too soon to recognize. "I don't know, truly. But I know I will be able to find a way. I have been afraid of leaving this place, and I now know it is because I couldn't see my path; doubt and unsurety obscured it. Now I can see. Now I know what I want to do. My path has become clearer."
"Entirely?" Taro asked.
Nobody spoke. Mishti's head twitched to the side, hesitated, and then shook. "No. Could it ever? One might think so, but I think not. And...yes, I am afraid still. Less so, now...and I don't think I will ever be afraid while I am dancing. How could one be afraid and so joyful at once?"
Everyone around the table nodded, and Eva smiled at her eldest adopted sister, revealing the braces on her teeth--but joy had overpowered the fear. She turned to the Austrian next to her. "Derrek."
"Hmm?" Derrek said, a piece of food in his mouth.
"Want to hear a funny joke? It's really good, so you should brace yourself."
Breakfast gave way to laughter.
Shanaya emerged from the kitchen, which had spun up to high-energy again after she had told it to produce food for her guests to take back to Mumbai with them. They would stay for a few more hours, resting and relaxing, before the long trip back to India's capital. Shanaya made for her study, there to go over the next few days. A few supplies were running low, and she would need to order more. A glance at the calendar reminded her Charvi's birthday was getting nearer--time to make plans for an eighteenth birthday celebration.
"Speak of the girl herself," Shanaya said, when she went into her study. Charvi was already waiting for her, arms folded over her chest. "I have work I must do; is there something you need?"
Charvi nodded. "I want to help our guests."
"In what way?" Shanaya went to her desk, cluttered with papers and a laptop. She switched the lamp on.
"I mean I want to help them in Mumbai. I want to help them help others."
Shanaya paused halfway through typing in her password. "That's unexpected of you, Charvi."
"I know. I didn't expect it either. But, I remember how I felt when you found me, and helped me. I have been happy ever since then, without being happy at all before. I know Hindi, and English, and I'm a woman; I could help the women who go to see them trust William and Edward."
"So you want to be a liaison?"
"No, mistress, I want to be a nurse."
"A nurse? Charvi, that takes quite a lot of work, you know. You must go to university and study very hard."
"I have studied hard before, mistress."
The girl had taken Shanaya's dance instructions without complaint. She had gone over each step and motion a hundred times, until she could get them perfect. She had studied the rules of proper behavior--it was that or find herself back in the dirt, though Shanaya would never think of such a thing. But Charvi had believed it to be true, so she had studied her heart and eyes out. Hindi and English weren't the only languages she could speak. Many of the domestic guests spoke Bengali, Telugu, or Marathi, or any more of the hundreds of languages making up the sound of India. Charvi, chief among the girls, could communicate with them. Shanaya nodded. "So you have. Have you spoken to Ranbir about this?"
"Not yet, mistress. I was still convincing myself."
"A female nurse who can speak the languages would be a great boon to them." Shanaya tapped a finger on her desk. "You will be eighteen soon. How would you like an early present?" She looked over her shoulder at Charvi, who had a raised eyebrow. "I will ask my university friends what you should study, what you will need to know. In the meantime, divulge yourself of the books in the library on medicine, anatomy, and physiology. You will also need to know chemistry and biology." She saw Charvi's face fall. "You can do it, darling. I believe in you. You know you can do it, too. It may not be right away...it may not even be soon...but you can do it."
She had her hands behind her back, and her feet fiddled with the ground. "I think I can too, mistress."
"Good. Please excuse me, I must work."
"Yes, mistress. Thank you!"
Shanaya wrote a number of emails--none about Charvi, yet. She needed more time to figure out exactly what to do. After an hour, she stood from the swiveling office chair and exited the room, finding the sun closer to its apex and the building heating up. She found nothing pressing demanding her time, so she strolled through the gardens, where she chatted with the groundskeeper. While she did so, she looked up at the second-level veranda, and saw Adah and Edward, conversing as they stared at an easel. After she had finished with the groundskeeper, Shanaya climbed the sun-baked steps, entering the long open hallway where the two were talking.
"Mistress!" Adah waved her closer. "Edward and I have been talking about this all morning. Look!" She presented the easel with both hands, stepping away as she did so. Shanaya stepped closer.
She had seen much of Adah's art over the years, but this one was different. Shanaya tilted her head back and forth, taking in the colors. "You seem quite excited about it, Adah. What have you been discussing?"
"I had difficulty sleeping last night," Adah said. "I came here to watch the sunrise. Edward was here before me, doing the same."
"I've had insomnia all my life," Edward said. "Though these days I'm usually tired enough to get all the sleep I can."
"We watched the sun rise together," Adah said. "We commented on our thoughts: the colors, the ideas. I started painting as Edward watched."
"What makes this different than your other attempts?"
"A simple idea," Adah said. "Look: the sun is at the bottom of the painting. the distant top edge is dark like night, but the closer it gets to the bottom the lighter it is. It took several tries, but we got the gradient correct at last."
"And are you happy with it?"
The smile faltered on Adah's face. She looked at Edward, who was standing with hands in his pockets. "It isn't how I imagined," she said. "It's never how I imagined. I see things that are impossible to put onto a canvas. The passage of time, the size of space." She fell silent.
"We talked about it," Edward said. Adah and Shanaya looked at him. "I told her it's something lots of artists struggle with. All of them. The ones who keep trying are the ones who will eventually create something they love."
Shanaya looked at Adah. She was nodding, staring at her painting, fingers twitching. She kept nodding, her eyes were wide, she was smiling. She could already see what she would try to paint next.
Servants were loading luggage into the van her guests had arrived in. A driver sat waiting in the idling vehicle. Shanaya, her girls, the minister, and his guests were in the lobby.
"Thank you again for visiting," Shanaya said. She and the girls bowed for the last time. "If you happen to find the time to return, we will gladly have you."
"If we find the time, we will gladly return," Ranbir said. "All of us had a wonderful time."
The doors behind them opened, and they began to descend the staircase to where their vehicle waited. William got halfway down, watching his feet go, before he heard someone call out for him. He turned and found Pihu running toward him, hem of her skirt held away from her feet. Her arms circled his torso, and she smelled him again, breathing in deeply.
She sat on the bottom step, watching the van pull away. She smoothed the piece of paper in half, already working to memorize the number written on it.
Adah hung the painting up, tilting her head back and forth at it. She put a fresh canvas on her easel and started to mix paints.
Charvi blew out a deep breath and opened the front cover of a heavy book. The first chapter was entitled "An Introduction to Anatomy."
Mishti counted to herself as she danced.
Eva smiled at herself in the mirror, then let it fall. She smiled again, and it finally felt real.
Shanaya watched the van disappear over the hill from a window in her room. She picked up the phone and called her bank. With some work, and diversification of her portfolio, she would have more funds to help others, starting with a donation to her guests.
Shanaya spun on her stool, finding the youngest girl, Eva, standing just inside the door. The girl bowed. "The guests have arrived."
"Thank you Eva. Are the others ready?"
"Yes mistress." The girl bowed again, then turned to leave.
"Eva."
The girl spun around, facing her mistress once more. "Yes mistress?"
"Do you remember our agreement?" The girl's shoulders drooped. "Come now, it is no torture. Not for the whole night." Shanaya stood and walked through her sitting room, up to the girl. "On during the greeting; off the rest of the night. Is that so much to ask?"
The girl's mouth, behind a piece of blue cloth, moved slightly. "I suppose not, mistress."
"Good." Shanaya kissed the girl's forehead, and waved her away. "Make ready for my entrance."
"Yes mistress." Eva bowed a final time and departed. Shanaya went back to her table of makeup and perfume, and gazed at herself in the mirror. She turned her head one way, then another, watching herself in the flickering light. She smacked her lips. Standing, she wrapped a piece of pink muslin around her shoulders, and slipped several bracelets on each arm. She glanced at the mirror again.
There she was; bewitching. A woman famous for charm and beauty--unknown for her wit and intelligence. Dark eyes, dusky skin, shining black hair.
She stood, casting an eye at the timepiece on the wall. Already the minister and his guests would have entered the building, greeted by the five girls. Eva, the youngest, in her blue. Charvi, dressed in purple and ready to impress. Pihu, wearing green and saying just as little as one can. Adah, in red like the sunset, waiting for darkness so she might return to her room and resume painting, and Mishti, the oldest, wearing yellow and watching the road she must soon use to leave this place. The front doors would open and reveal them tallest to shortest, bowing in unison with their palms pressed together.
And she, Shanaya, Mistress of Colors, dressed in pink and white, and prepared once more for guests foreign and local. A servant assisted her with her veil, and she took the staircase down from her tower. Powerful beams of the falling sun cast her shadow as she descended the spiral. Strong spices from dinner and conversation from the entrance hall reached her before she made it to the bottom.
Two more servants stood ready. When she stepped off the staircase, they left the room through tall, ornate wooden double doors. Their appearance in the entrance hall was her girls' tip to formally announce her.
Mishti, as was tradition, got their guests attention, and began to speak loud and clearly--the better for her mistress to hear. "Honored guests, Minister--may I present the Mistress of Colors."
The servants pulled open the doors as Shanaya began to walk forward, and she entered the west-facing entrance hall with the sun igniting her. Her many baubles and jewels flashed, and she strode forward with a smile. "Minister," she said to the first man. Portly and smiling, it was not his first visit to her, nor, if he had any choice, his last.
"Mistress," the minister said, kissing her offered hand. "An honor to see you again. I thank you for the opportunity to introduce my friends to your beauty." He swept his hand over the other five men, each standing with a piece of luggage. Shanaya saw a Japanese, an Indian, and three white men--she thought one an American, one an Englishman, and the last a German.
"Friends of the minister," Shanaya said, stepping past him and bowing to the other men. "We and this place are blessed by your presence." The five men, likely thanks to the minister's instructions, bowed back. "You do a service to India and the world with your work. I will always accept as guests those who put others first."
"Thank you, mistress," the Indian said, bowing again. "Your invitation honors us, as well." He stood upright. "I am Ranbir. He gestured to the Japanese man. "This is Taro." The Japanese man bowed. "This-" he gestured at the supposed Englishman "-is William." William bowed as well, coming upright with a wide smile. "This is Derrek." Ranbir pointed at the other European.
"German?" Shanaya asked.
"Austrian, mistress," Derrek said, bowing slightly. The men all stood stock-still--afraid of insulting her, as many were when they first entered.
"Lastly, this is Edward." Ranbir indicated the American, who smiled and bowed.
"Wonderful to meet you all," Shanaya said. "Hopefully my girls have introduced themselves." She received a chorus of "yes mistress" from the girls. "There are servants ready to take you to your rooms. Let them know of any dietary restrictions before dinner, and please take the chance to rest and freshen yourselves. I hear you have been traveling much; tonight will be for rest. We will eat in an hour."
She retreated through the doors, and the servants closed them behind her. Her girls were about to take a different exit to their rooms to prepare, and she had her own work.
First, to the kitchen. It gleamed with stainless steel and tile, and when she strode in the entire staff bowed. "No time for that! Chirag-"
"Mistress!"
"Chirag, these are not our normal kind of guests. These are not princes and presidents, who eat well day-in, day-out. These are young men who have spent their own time and money to come to India and better it. They have healed, helped, and protected. There was...supposed to be one more, but he succumbed to injuries suffered when protecting a woman from rape. Serve them as you would serve the Buddha."
"Yes, mistress!"
Shanaya left the kitchen as Chirag cracked his voice like a whip. She rounded the corner and found Charvi. The two nearly collided.
"Apologies, mistress!" Charvi said, bowing quickly. "May I ask a question?"
"Of course Charvi, but there isn't much time."
"Yes mistress. Is it true what these men do?"
Shanaya didn't answer at once. She looked the girl over. "Charvi, why this question? It does not matter much what they do. But, yes, it is true."
"They go back there...to those places?"
"Yes, Charvi."
The girl, nearing eighteen, looked at her purple slippers. "Thank you mistress. Excuse me."
Never a dull day, Shanaya thought as she climbed the spiral staircase to her rooms.
Eva waited for her. "Quickly now, quickly," Shanaya said. She began to disrobe. "The dark blue, I think."
"Yes mistress," Eva said quietly, fetching the thin dress out of the expansive closet.
"What did you see?" Shanaya asked. Eva halted, outfit draped across her arms. "Don't be shy." Shanaya sat in front of her mirrors and began to remove jewelry. "Tell me about our guests."
Eva said nothing for a few moments. "The American seemed to enjoy the architecture of the building most of all. He was always looking up. The Japanese man seemed sad."
"One of their friends died recently," Shanaya said. "They may still be in mourning for him." Eva froze, and Shanaya glanced at her. "A tragedy. The minister told me their lost friend was the one who began their organization. A man of great heart." The room was quiet. "Did you see anything else?"
"The Englishman was watching Pihu when she was looking elsewhere."
"Was he? Interesting. She did look lovely in her green, didn't she?"
"Yes mistress."
"I must make a note...Is that all?"
Eva, braiding Shanaya's hair, small fingers winding it into a braid, took a moment. Shanaya heard her sigh. "That's everything."
"Thank you, Eva. Go and get ready for dinner. The kitchen is making its best. And-" Eva stopped, half-way out the door. "Remember our agreement."
After a second, Eva nodded, then departed. Shanaya turned back to her mirror. "Please enter, Minister. I am dressed."
"You honor me, mistress," the man said, stepping inside the door.
"Navodit, you know you may call me by my real name here."
"Yes, I know, but it's proper to maintain decorum. Your guests are unaware of our relation, and for simplicity's sake I'd like to to stay unknown."
"Why should you care if they know? Surely they are aware your parents may have siblings? And those siblings may have had children of their own?"
"Yes, Shanaya, but it takes from the mystique! These men...they have spent months in the squalor of cities, helping and healing everyone who comes to them--at great risk. I want to show them the beauty of India; they have seen wounds, and tears, and starvation, but no wonder, until now."
Shanaya put her makeup down and turned her head in the mirror. "Thank you for bringing them here, Navodit. They deserve reward." She spun and stood. "Tell me about them."
"Is there time?"
"Time enough. Please, sit."
The minister sat on a padded stool piled with cushions. "The man from Japan, Taro, was closest to their fallen number. The wound is still fresh, but he has lost a friend. Our countryman, Ranbir, is the one who found the group when they were still looking for the right place to serve. He knows about the dirty streets of Mumbai--he is from there."
"The Europeans? The American?"
The minister smiled widely. "Excellent men, all of them. William is greatly interested in the culture and history of India. He reads whenever he can. The Austrian and the American get along very well--they both know jokes enough to make a man laugh all night long. They have the hearts of kings. They see pain and it hurts them, too. Not a one of them has the perfect life, and still they choose to come to a dirty, dangerous place and try to help men, women, and children they have never met. I knew you would like to meet them, cousin, and I knew they would like to see this place."
"Yes, Navodit, thank you. I would happily host them." She picked up a necklace from the table. "A bit of assistance?"
"Of course." The minister stepped near, and Shanaya moved her braid out of the way so he might attach the piece of jewelry around her neck. "How have your girls been?"
"As one expects," Shanaya said. "Things are never dull, even when there are no guests. Mishti is getting ready to find her own place."
"She won't be staying?"
"She has chosen to leave. She says there's something out there for her, but I know she's afraid. Sometimes I catch her looking out the window, watching the road like it's a viper." Shanaya shook her head. "Pihu can still barely look anyone in the eye, Adah is upset because of her art. Not to mention Eva."
"What does Eva struggle with?"
Shanaya chuckled. "You'll find out at dinner. Speaking of which-" she looked at the clock. "You should go. Gather your guests and let them know the rules of the meal. Wouldn't want them to feel embarrassed, would we?"
"Of course not, mistress." Navodit bowed, and came upright with a grin. "Will you be dancing for us tonight?"
"No, my girls will be showing off one of the traditional dances. I'm sure...who was it? William? I sure he will be interested to see it."
"They will all be interested, Shanaya. Thank you again." As the minister left, Shanaya heard him excuse himself to someone waiting outside the door.
Which one will it be? Not Eva or Charvi. Pihu will be hiding in her room until dinner is announced. Adah will be too busy getting ready. "Come in, Mishti."
"Thank you, mistress," the oldest girl of the five said. "May I sit?"
"There isn't much time before dinner, but please."
"Thank you, mistress." Mishti, dressed in a gray skirt and brown top rimmed with gold, was almost as tall as Shanaya. "I just have a single question."
"Ask, then."
Mishti rubbed her knees through the skirt. "Our five guests are forces of good, fighting against forces of evil. Charvi has told us plenty about evil...Are there many more good men like them?"
"Each person is unique, Mishti. I understand what you truly ask, though. No, the number of evil souls is greater than the number of good. The five men with us now are good men. Have you spoken with the Japanese man, Taro?"
"No, mistress."
"Engage him in conversation after the dance. Ask him about the world at large. He has seen much of it, and I'm sure you will be interested in what he has to say."
"Yes, mistress."
"You look lovely, Mishti. Gather the girls; it's nearly dinner."
"Yes, mistress, thank you."
A few minutes later Shanaya took in a deep breath and left her room. She could hear the kitchen from the stairs. With each step, the noise, the heat, and the smell became a little stronger, more intense. She passed the kitchen.
An uproar wasn't the correct word for it. A storm, perhaps. One beginning out over the ocean, and making landfall, toppling trees and swamping homes. Soon the chaos would erupt from the kitchen and pour out into the dining room, carrying her, her girls, and her guests away into the Indian evening.
When she stepped inside the kitchen, the chef and cooks halted on a dime. She wouldn't have been surprised to see a paratha suspended, half-flipped, in the air. "Is there going to be a problem with dinner? Will I be forced to tell me guests it will be delayed?"
Chirag appeared at her side. "Not at all, mistress! A kitchen is always a furious place." He shot a glance at one of the cooks, who resumed stirring a pot of something. Chirag returned his gaze to Shanaya, beaming. "Everything will be ready exactly when you request."
"I would not have my guests go hungry."
"They shall not, mistress! Now, please, allow my cooks to work in peace! Your beauty distracts them!"
Shanaya left the kitchen and it roared back to life. She entered the dining room's antechamber, finding her girls ready. "How beautiful you all look," she said. "Have you decided an order?"
"Yes mistress," Mishti said, followed by the details.
"I would change a few things. Ah, and I would like to adjust the seating arrangement as well." After relating the changes, she sent the girls out. "You know the drill." The whole time, Eva, mouth clamped shut, hadn't said a word. Well, she'll have to open her mouth to eat.
Shanaya entered the sitting room outside the dining room, finding the minister and the five men reclining on couches and chatting. They had donned better clothes than the dusty things they had traveled in, and the Austrian and American--those with longer hair--had combed.
"My friends," she said as she entered. "I see you have taken advantage of the rooms at your disposal."
"They are beautiful, mistress," Edward the American said. "Like something out of a fairytale."
"So big, too!" William said. "A bed, couches, drapery, a balcony for each of us. Mistress, this is a wonderful place."
"I'm pleased you find it to your liking. Girls!" she called over her shoulder. "Dinner will be served shortly. Allow my girls to escort you to your seats. Minister?" Shanaya held out her arm. The minister popped up from his seat and took her arm with a wide grin. She led him into the dining room.
A long, light wood table filled most of the room. One chair at each end, and ten total in the middle meant each had a spot to sit. It was already decorated with china. Cups of hot water sat ready for leaves, reflecting the light from candelabras and several chandeliers. The smell and sound of the kitchen filtered through a door hidden in the wall. Shanaya felt smooth tile through her slippers as she brought the minster to one end of the table, then stood at the other end.
Eva came first, mouth firmly shut, leading Derrek with their arms linked. The size difference almost made Shanaya laugh; the Austrian was close to two feet taller. Eva let Derrek sit, closest to Shanaya, then took her place on his side. Next was Charvi, leading her countryman Ranbir. They chatted in Hindi about the meal. They took up two more seats on Shanaya's left.
Pihu came next, leading the quite-pleased William, and she sat him next to Charvi, on the minister's right, then sat across from him, on the minister's left. Adah, makeup done to perfection and dressed almost as well as Shanaya, led Edward, seating him next to Pihu. She sat at his left, across from Ranbir. Finally, Mishti. Shanaya's oldest girl led Taro to one of the two remaining spots, then sat directly to Shanaya's right.
Shanaya looked at each of them. "My guests. You are my guests here, friends of the minister, but I consider you my friends as well. Anyone who looks to help those in my country are welcome here. Sit, enjoy yourselves. Our dinner, built from fine dishes all of India has to offer, from Kashmir mutton to the unique aromas of Tamil Nadu, is only the first of the night's entertainment. After we dine, my girls will perform a Shastriya Nritya. Afterward, there will be tea and cakes to enjoy, as well as conversation. I look forward to learning much about you and the work you have done.
"I know you have spent much time in my country, and know the dining etiquette. I am not asking you to set it aside, but to simply dine as is comfortable to you. You may ask for cutlery if you wish. There are several varieties of tea present, including some you may not have yet encountered. I implore you to try everything you wish--India is full of wonder, and I'm sure you know wonder can be quite delicious. If there is anything you wish for, simply ask. You are honored guests, and if I can provide, I will."
She clapped her hands lightly, and the door to the kitchen swung open, issuing forth a stream of servants bearing dishes of hot food. The aforementioned mutton, pork, chicken, fish and other seafood. The smell clouded the room, and the guests--as well as a few of the girls, hummed as they sniffed the air. Curries, vegetables and fruits, rice, dumplings, all spiced with cardamom, garlic, black mustard seed, and more exotic flavors followed, filling the table until one could not set his or her napkin down for fear of bumping a dish.
"Minister, honored guests, please, eat." Shanaya sat.
Dinner began. Conversation gave way to clinking dishes as everyone filled their plates. The girls offered tea to the guests: Nilgiri, Darjeeling, Assam, and more.
Eva ate tiny bites, reluctant to open her mouth too wide. Derrek, next to her, was talking about the kind of tea common in Austria, sprinkling the explanation with humorous quips and puns. Charvi, one spot over, was still talking with Ranbir, in both English and Hindi.
Pihu--as well as William, across from her--listened to the minister talk. He preferred a fork, and it spun through the air as the man ate. Every few moments William would steal a glance at Pihu when he thought she wasn't looking. To Shanaya's slight surprise, Pihu stole them back. The minister didn't notice any of this flirting, content to dine and regale those seated near him with tales of politics, India, and the world.
Next to William, Adah and Edward ate quietly, exchanging a few observations about the food. Adah probably dwelled on her painting, and only a loud enough noise would break her train of thought. Edward kept gazing around the room, taking in the flickering light on the walls, the color of the dishes, the smell.
Mishti and Taro also ate quietly. Shanaya knew both of their minds were full. If only they could find a way to talk to each other, both might find someone who can reciprocate what they felt.
The table was full of emotions. Shanaya ate, listening to the conversation and adding a bit of her own, mostly speaking to Eva, Derrek, Mishti, and Taro.
Derrek had just finished telling Eva about his pet, a black Labrador named Kuchen. "I had a rabbit before I came here," Eva said. "His name was Soora."
"Say Eva," Derrek began, setting his tea down. "Do you know the way to catch a unique rabbit?"
"No." Eva looked at him with confusion. "How?"
"Why, it's simple. U-nique up on it." He smiled, and Eva smiled as well. "Ah, but how do you catch a tame rabbit?"
"How?"
"Tame way: u-nique up on it!"
Eva laughed this time, opening her mouth wide to reveal metal bands bridging her teeth. Too quickly she brought her lips together, color spreading on her face. Taro, however, had seen.
A few seconds passed until his mouth was clear. "So, Eva, how long will you have braces?" Eva looked at him with embarrassment and fear, wide-eyed, mouth sealed shut, food hanging limp in her fingers. "I had them for...two years, I think?"
Derrek nodded. "I had them almost as long. Had to have a few teeth pulled, as well." He shook his head. "No fun."
"I had them even longer than that," Edward said. He smiled at Eva. "My mother just got them again! Nearly sixty, and she has braces. She can't believe it."
"She had them already?" Eva asked, eyebrows rising up. She slowly sat up straighter.
"Yep," Edward said. "Long before I came along. She was about your age, I think." He grasped his chin. "Close to that, at least." He glanced at Eva. "No need to be embarrassed," he said. "How long then?"
Eva looked down at her plate and pushed rice around with a piece of fried flatbread. "Seventeen more months."
"Not very long at all," William, from the far end of the table, said. "I had it just as long. It'll fly by. You won't even notice it most of the time. I still have a retaining bar along the inside of my bottom teeth." He ran his tongue along the bar.
Pihu watched him, and her mouth fell open a little bit.
"I just got them," Eva said. "I don't like them."
"Well, no," Derrek said. "But I can't help but guess you'll like having nice straight teeth when you're all done growing up."
Eva, however, kept her mouth closed tight. "What did I tell you, Eva?" Shanaya said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they could all tell even when you had your veil on."
Eva gaped at her mistress, then closed her mouth again. She swept her vision back to her food, then looked up at Taro, who lifted his shoulders a touch. "It makes it look like your mouth is full of food," Mishti said.
"Consider yourself lucky you didn't have to have them when my father did," Derrek said, before Eva could melt into a red-hot puddle on the floor. "Some people used to have these big metal bars that went around the outside of their face and connected behind the head." He put his thumbs in the corners of his mouth and stretched it open in a crazed grin, linking his fingers behind his head. His mouth stretched open so far Eva had no choice but to giggle at the sight. It took a second longer for her to remember her shame and shut her mouth, and Shanaya smiled as Derrek cleaned his hands and resumed eating.
Halfway down the table on Shanaya's right, Adah stirred her food idly, staring at it without seeing it. Edward watched the motion as he chewed. "Not very hungry?" he asked, as the focus left Eva and returned to normal conversation. Adah brought her head up and looked at him for a moment, then shook her head. "Something on your mind?"
Adah laid her spoon down. "It's not very interesting." She hesitated. "I enjoy painting in my spare time, and I cannot figure out a way to make my current project look correct."
"What are you painting?"
"Surely you don't want to speak about such things?"
"Well...is there anything else you'd like to speak about?" Adah paused with a forkful of rice halfway to her mouth, looking at Edward. He shrugged and raised his eyebrows. "I like to hear people talk about things they're interested in."
Adah got her fork nearer to her mouth, then lowered it again. "Why?" she said, low enough to slip it under the conversation around her.
Edward sipped his tea. When he set it down he said: "Animation. Did you see Derrek talking about his dog? He was happy. Excited. When you say you paint in your spare time do you mean every day? Most days?" He looked at her; she nodded. "How long have you been doing it?"
"Since I was fifteen."
"An hour a day, perhaps? Say four days a week? And I won't dare guess how many years since you started. But, even if it's only five years, that's still a thousand hours. That's like sitting in front of a canvas for almost six weeks...and painting. Now, I can't imagine doing anything for that long and having nothing to say about it." He ate. "This curry is delicious."
"It's not a curry, actually," Adah said. "It's called punjabi dal makhani."
"Really? What's in it?"
"Black lentils, mostly. Kidney beans, as well. In addition, some garlic, onion, tomatoes..." Adah stared at her plate. "I've been trying to paint a landscape."
"What kind?"
"Hills. At sunrise. I cannot get to sleep some nights, so I have seen a few sunrises. I loved the first one I saw. It crept upon me like a slow hunter, and then leapt, throwing itself across the sky in front of my eyes. It made the sky a color I had never seen before, and then it was gone." She held her fork in her right hand, drawing designs through the food in front of her. "I've been trying over and over to get it right. But it never looks correct."
"Why not?"
"I can't get the colors right," Adah said, a little too forcibly, and a morsel of food spat from her mouth onto her plate. She covered her mouth with her hand and silenced herself.
"Go on," Edward said.
She swallowed. "I'm trying to paint the hills at the bottom...and the sun breaking through on the right side of the painting." She put her hands out in front of her, and moved the right one to indicate the sun. "And I want the sky above to be shining with radiance like I have seen a dozen times." She put her hands down and shook her head. "I cannot look at the sun, of course, so any color I use looks wrong. And it doesn't have rays. I don't want to split the sky into segments with different pieces of the sun's light, I want to paint the stars over with the morning."
Her shoulders slumped, and she went back to stirring her food. "But I can't get it right."
"What have you tried?"
"Well, I've tried what I just described: making rays come off of the sun. At first I tried to emulate the colors I'd seen. It was like pink, and purple, and blue all mixed together, yet distinct." Across the table, Charvi and Ranbir listened. "That didn't work, of course. Then I tried to do the same thing but with all the colors; with a rainbow. It just looked silly." Adah drank from her tea. "Then I tried to make the sun more distant. Smaller. Make it project light onto the sky." She shook her head. "Now I've tried to re-position the sun, into the center of the sky, and have the colors come off of it in waves."
"Is that working better?"
Adah roved her tongue inside her mouth. "It is different, at least, and I've enjoyed painting it simply because it is something different to paint. But I begin to wonder if I should try something else."
Her eyes came up, and she realized most of the people at the table were listening in. She cleared her throat and rededicated herself to her food.
"Ah, art!" the minister said. "I will never tire of hearing about it," he said to William, at his left hand. "Music, literature...what beauty the world possesses!" William brought his eyes up to glance at Pihu, across from him at the minister's right hand.
"I couldn't agree more, minister," he said. "I'm thrilled to be able to see some of the classic Indian architecture. When I was a boy, my father read One Thousand and One Nights to me, before bed. It took months. I could not help but picture everything he described."
"An excellent example of wonderful art! Though," the minister waggled his fork at William, "not, technically, Indian! Your point stands, of course. The towers! The decorated walls! The garden courtyards! The constructions that exhibit strength and grace!" At this, Pihu glanced up at William, then back to her meal. "Pihu!" She jumped. "Which is your favorite?"
"F-favorite?" she asked, risking another glance at William before looking back to the minister. "What do you mean, sir?"
"Why, your favorite art, of course! Drawing? Music? Perhaps singing?"
"Sir," Pihu said, smiling. "Dance!"
"Ah! But of course! You know my friend-" the minister looked to William "-Pihu is a wonderful dancer. I quite look forward to seeing her tonight. Do you?"
"I can't wait!" William said. Pihu's skin was too dark to show, but her face felt like it was on fire as he looked at her. "A traditional Indian dance. Spectacular! We haven't had much of an opportunity to see many of the traditions in practice, I'm afraid."
"Well, Pihu will be glad to show you everything tonight!" the minister said. "She and the other girls practice until they could perform the dances blindfolded. I similarly cannot wait to enjoy the spectacle once more. The merging of music, poetry, and motion! Ah..." The minister leaned back in his chair. His stomach strained the front of his outfit. "A wonderful meal as always, mistress!"
"Thank you, minister," Shanaya said, at the other end of the table. "Your enjoyment is my enjoyment." She rose. "I and my girls must take our leave for the moment. Please, continue eating. When you are finished, the servants will take you to the tea room." She bowed as the girls rose from their chairs. "For now, we must prepare."
A few minutes later, the prep room next to the tea room was full of the girls, talking as they changed clothes and prepared. Having just succeeded in herding them inside, Shanaya left, entering the tea room. Long bolts of cloth hung from the ceiling, heavy aromas filled the air, plush couches and pillows made way to intricate rugs. Oil lamps suffused dim light--or such was the intent, anyway. Shanaya tsked, tapping the canisters for one of the lamps. It rang hollow. She called a servant and instructed he fill the lamps, then went back to the girls.
The room was brightly-lit, full of bright bulbs. Mirrors covered most of the walls. Padded seats sat in front of long tables, full of each girl's makeup and jewelry. They sat in a row, each now dressed in their special sari. Eva was helping Mishti put on her ankle bells, Adah was carefully arranging her bindi, Charvi was redoing her hair, and Pihu was staring at her reflection in the mirror. From the tea room, they could hear the musicians warming up.
Dinner had gone well. Better than Shanaya could have guessed. She watched Eva smile, inspecting the brace on each tooth. The girl let the smile fade, and sighed.
Charvi was talking with Adah--the older girl let the younger talk, focused as she was on her makeup. Pihu fiddled with an earring, clearly not seeing the piece in her fingers, and it took Mishti's gentle scold to get her to finish in time.
But the girls finished preparing and stood youngest to oldest, beautiful even in the room's harsh light. They exited the room, hidden behind the curtains. Shanaya also exited. The minister and his guests were just seating, in a wide semi-circle; the minister was in the center. The lamps were lit; the room was full of cinnamon.
Shanaya waited until the men had a chance to make themselves comfortable on the cushions and exchange a few words. She caught the sarangi player's eye and made a motion with her hand. Without a word, he began to play, and the other musicians followed his lead. Taps from the tabla, and the wonderfully discordant hums of the violin.
She spread the curtains and strode between them, each foot coming down quietly. In a moment she had her guests' attention. "Honored guests." She came to rest in the center of their semi-circle. "My five adopted daughters are pleased to exhibit a traditional five-person Kathak, for your entertainment and education. I ask you remain silent until the dance has ended, at which time refreshments will be served."
Shanaya retreated through the curtains, and quickly skirted the perimeter of the room, ending up behind where the men sat without their notice. The music changed, and Eva stepped through the curtains.
She wore a long white gown, brushing the floor with each shift of her leg. Across her shoulder she had a violet sash, tied at the waist with a gold cord. Charvi, appearing after her through a different gap in the curtains, wore the same save for a blue sash. Pihu wore a green sash, and Adah had yellow--her braid was almost as long as her gown. Mishti, appearing last, had a red sash. With small steps, not enough to make the bells wrapped around their ankles anything more than a light smattering--like rain on a distant road--they arranged themselves in the room's open space.
They leapt with the music, abruptly changing. Reaching an arm out and leaning forward on one leg, the other foot still planted, they spread their palms and chattered the bells on their ankles with practiced stomps of their heels. They snapped their arms back to their bodies and spun, reaching in the same way to the other direction. After another stomp, they spun again.
Charvi ended in the center. She began to stomp her feet at a blinding speed as the tabla sped up. The other four girls swayed behind her, two swaying left and right and two swaying right and left. Charvi followed the beat, beaming, moving her feet fast enough to turn the hem of her white gown into a blur and sending the bells' rattles into the far corners of the room.
After a short time, they spun again. Mishti ended in the center. She, too, tapped her feet to the music, but just as quickly abandoned the practice to instead hang her arms at angles and turn gently, maneuvering her feet to twirl her like she stood atop a patch of ice. The music changed once more, and she began to wind her spine back and forth, letting her arms flow as she did so. As the music drove forward, so she drove her hands and arms into contortions.
Another spin, and Eva entered the middle, twirling and extending her arms at intervals, periodically pausing to stamp her feet to the beat.
Before too long the five girls began to wind around each other, gowns flaring as they spun. The wove in and around each other like the winding threads of the rug their feet neared.
Adah entered the center, and the music slowed. She began to flow from one pose to the next. The motions of her arms and legs were smooth, measured--every step, every twist of her wrist was part of the greater motion. She stood upright in the center and spun slowly, one hand forward, and when she again faced the guests she brought both hands together in front of her face, gently stamping her feet with smooth lifts of her hips. As the music sped up, she pressed her palms forward, moving her feet at greater speed. Plucking imaginary fruit from over her head, she then started spinning, kicking her heels up and moving her arms with the rhythm. They twined like snakes.
She halted her spin on a dime, one arm curled against her body and the other half-extended. She shook her hips in a figure-eight, the skirt of her gown making waves across the wooden floor. The other four girls began to mimic the motion, and they locked into synchronization. Their hands shifted up and down while lying flat, their heads bobbed to the time, their feet stomped faster than the eye could see.
As one, they hopped a few inches off the ground, heading into another spin. Pihu then maneuvered to the center, taking long steps back and forth with her hands pressed against an invisible plane. She twirled, kicked a foot up behind her, then snaked a hand up to her forehead, leaving it after just a touch. She spun to the side, bent, stood upright, spun to the other side-
-and slipped.
Before she hit the ground, however, William leapt forward and caught her. Her head was half a foot from smashing on the ground, eyes looking up at William's face. The other four girls gasped and rushed to her. Shanaya rose from her seat. William was already placing Pihu on her feet. The music faltered and stopped.
"A bit of oil on the ground," William said, pointing. The small spot, now smeared, flickered in the firelight. "I saw it before the dance started. Nobody got too close to it until Pihu."
Shanaya swept down on the panting girl. "Are you hurt, Pihu?"
"No mistress, I'm fine." She moved around Shanaya and approached William. "Honored guest, thank you." She placed her hands together flat and bowed. "I surely would have been injured if not for you."
The other girls quickly joined her in the bow. Shanaya did as well, a bit slower and gentler. "I suppose the dance must end here," she said, when she came up. "Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it."
"Yes! Wonderful!" Derrek said, clapping. "Such a shame!"
"Eva, notify the kitchen we are finished ahead of schedule?" Shanaya asked; the girl bowed and scampered off. "Charvi, notify the servants I may flay one of them?" Charvi laughed and departed. "As promised, tea and cakes. Dinner is fine but can be difficult to converse. I hope you will take the chance now to relax, chat, and enjoy yourselves."
The other three girls returned to the prep room to change out of their dancing clothes while Shanaya exited into the hall. Charvi was returning, leading one of the servants. Charvi whispered something to him before dashing around Shanaya, and the servant quailed when the words reached his ear.
Shanaya strode upon him, and she felt very tall when she spoke. "You refilled the lamps?" The servant nodded. "You spilled. You spilled oil. You spilled oil on the dance floor. Pihu was a moment away from splitting her skull open on the ground, and it would have been your fault. Once we have finished using it, take a rag and clean it up. There should not be a spot of oil left, nor even the barest scent when I put my nose to the ground. You will also refill the lamps with the utmost care; is that understood?" The servant nodded, cheeks trembling. "In addition, you, solely, will be responsible for washing the outside steps tomorrow, once our guests have departed. Consider the hard work penance for endangering one of my girls in a place you know they would use to dance. Questions."
"N-none, mistress."
"To task, then."
The servant scuttled away. Shanaya stretched to her full height, and arranged her outfit. She had become disheveled. She spun on her heel and returned to her guests.
"Ah..." she said when she entered the tea room, already filling with the smell of gulab jamun, rice pudding, and fragrant tea. Servers from the kitchen were bringing plates and bowls, as well as hot kettles, onto a table someone had moved into the center of the room. "Here's hoping no one will slip during dessert," she said with a smile. The minister held a cup toward her, already full of her favorite blend. "Thank you, minister. How lucky I am."
"How lucky we all are, mistress," Taro said, raising his cup of tea. The other guests followed him. "You bless us."
"You bless me, Taro," Shanaya said, picking up a gulab jamun, speared on a toothpick. She sniffed it, and the fried dough made her mouth water. "As do the rest of you. When my good friend the minister contacted me, and told me of your work in Mumbai, how could I deny you such a poor reward as this? Surely, your karma will grant you eternity in Swarga Loka." She swept toward an empty seat. "You serve the poorest and least of us, and in doing so you have served the greatest as well."
"One might be forgiven for thinking that a Christian concept, mistress," Edward said.
"Yes, my friend--a wise thing, and one people of many religions are unfortunate to have forgotten."
"Mistress, forgive me..." Ranbir hesitated. "You said the girls were your adopted daughters?"
Shanaya nodded, chewing. "Correct. I have been blessed in many ways, and I decided to return the blessings. The five girls here with me now are not the first, and, hopefully, not the last I will host. Our friend the minister wed one of the first."
"And she blesses my life each day," the minister said with a wide smile.
"You deserve thanks as well, then," Ranbir said. "It's just as much an act of charity as what we do."
Shanaya waved her hand. "Nowhere near as much. You get your hands dirty, I clean others. Most of my girls still have families and lives; I have simply helped them elevate themselves. You, however, search out for those who need help the most."
Shanaya looked at her reflection in the cup of tea. To see a hand reach out for you, when all surrounded you was mud and dust. To find welcoming smiles when all you had ever seen were scowls and frowns. She looked up. "You deserve every reward this life and the next has to offer."
A brief pause, then Derrek cleared his throat. "Thank you, mistress."
A few minutes of quiet sipping passed. The girls re-entered, now dressed in more comfortable clothes. They surrounded the table of treats and took their time pouring tea for each other and piling their plates with desserts, talking and laughing.
"How long was the dance supposed to be?" Taro asked, as the girls found their seats.. "I hope we didn't miss too much."
"Each of us had a segment where we were in the middle," Mishti said. She sat near Taro. "Pihu was the last one. We had an extended section of...Adah, how would you describe it?"
"Synchronized bells, and then the in-and-out, and then a wave." Adah shrugged, focusing on her tea. "Those don't really mean much unless you've seen the dance. There were only a few minutes left."
"Well, I wish we could have seen more of it," Edward said. "Is it very physically difficult?"
"The motions themselves do not require much strength," Adah said. She bobbed her head side-to-side, thinking. "Well, some do. The difficulty comes in not only the minutia of each motion, but synchronizing with the other dancers. Flexibility is required, as well as dexterity. Some of the motions have important meanings, and if they are done incorrectly, they can impact the story in a manner unintended. As well, some of the motions are very quick, such as stomping the feet. You might not have noticed, but very quick stomps always preceeded a period of slower movement to allow us to regain our breath." Adah looked up and found everyone listening. Her eyes dropped back to her tea, and she did not continue.
After a few seconds of silence, Mishti placed her cup on its saucer and rose. She put it on the table in the center of the room. "I feel like a walk. Taro, would you mind joining me? I have a few questions."
"Uh, well, certainly," Taro said. He put his tea on the side table next to him. "Where shall we go?"
"The veranda is a lovely sight this time of night," Shanaya heard Mishti say as the two exited the room. "The moon should be up by now." She saw the other men eye each other, and chuckle. She also saw Pihu watching William quite closely, unless, of course, he happened to look in her direction. Then she would find something upon her plate much more interesting. Shanaya began to list a few items.
"I liked your section quite a lot," Edward told Adah, on the other side of the room. "You've clearly put a lot of work into getting it right, and it shows."
"Thank you, Edward. Practicing a dance is rather enjoyable. A good physical distraction."
"Plus, we get to hang out together when we do it!" Charvi said, smiling over her cup of tea. "It's my favorite part of the day!"
"I'm not surprised!" Ranbir said. "It was all eyes on you as soon as you took center stage! You must have had some training before you came here?"
Shanaya, Charvi, and the other girls present fell silent. Charvi cleared her throat. "No, I didn't. I would have liked to, but I didn't have the opportunity."
Shanaya watched the realization strike Ranbir. "Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's quite all right," Charvi said. She set her tea down. "In fact, I'd like to ask the four of you some things."
"Of course!" Ranbir said. "I'm sure we'd all be happy to answer any questions you have." The other three nodded.
Charvi took a moment to think. "Why did you choose to come here, to India? Why did you choose to help people, and why pick here, out of all the places? How can you...how can you elect to go to a place that has nothing to offer?"
"Because it has nothing to offer," Ranbir said. "There were a number of places we considered: Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe."
"Ranbir convinced us we could do the most good here in Mumbai, where he grew up."
"Where I grew up also," Charvi said. "I haven't been there in many years; mistress found me long before you began your work. Please, continue."
"There were originally six of us," Ranbir said, and the four men--as well as the minister, who until then had been availing himself of the desserts with gusto--sat up straight, laced their fingers, or bowed their heads. "Taro knew him the best. His name was Zan. His family had escaped Communism in China when he was a young child, and were living in Japan. He knew how despair can keep someone from finding their way to a better life--his family had done everything they could to get away from the despair, and he was dedicated to finding a way to help others.
"He, and Taro, reached out through a network of volunteers, of which the minister is a part." He pointed a hand at the minister, who bowed in his seat. "He was able to help them connect with us-" Ranbir swept his hand around the room. "-and from there things began to grow."
"But how?!" Charvi said. "How can you go to those dirty places, and see the dirty people, and not want to run away, back to somewhere that's safe and warm, and where there's food?"
"We do," Edward said. "Every time. We want things to be easy for us, but why can't we help make things easy for others, as well?"
"We run a small home in the slums," William said. "We have a few employees, men and women from Mumbai. They're volunteers, really, but we usually find a way to scrape together a bit of cash for each of them."
"What kind of things do you do?" Eva asked. Her mouth was hanging open, and Shanaya could see lamplight glint off the metal on her teeth.
"My title is administrator," Ranbir said, "but most of my day is translating. The others are still working on their Hindi, plus whatever other language comes in. I've had to hold a conversation in three languages all at once."
"It kind of hurts to watch," William said.
Ranbir nodded. "Think about how I felt. William is our medical professional."
"A degree in Internal Medicine from Edinburgh," William said. "And plenty of other experience now, thanks to Mumbai and the minister's private library." The minister bowed again. "But really you can't mention my work without Edward's. He's the physician's assistant and...what else?"
"RN, experience working with infectious diseases, and even a bit of time working with dentists, surgeons, and eye doctors."
"Are-Enn?" Eva said, wrinkling her face.
"Registered nurse," Edward said, grinning at her.
"If there's a professional volunteer in the world, Edward's the first," William said. "Not a bad bedside manner, too."
"And you, Derrek?" Eva asked. "What do you do?"
"Mainly I'm the electrician, plumber, groundskeeper, and custodian. The place needs to be spotless if we're working as an impromptu hospital, and I'm sure you know it can be difficult. I'm also security--thankfully, not something I need to put into practice very often, now we're established in the community. There are big crowds of people who will go after anyone who tries to harm us."
Charvi's eyes unlocked from the Austrian. She had her cup of tea back in her hands, and like her mistress she found herself looking into the reflection of the orangish liquid.
"What about Taro?" Pihu asked. "What does he do?"
"Taro has a degree in accounting. He manages our finances." Ranbir shifted. "With...now that it's just the five of us, he's also the one in contact with officials, both foreign and domestic."
"And, of course, the minister!" William said. "None of this would be possible without his help!"
"No, no!" the minister said, waving him down. "I leapt at the chance to help my country, just as I'm sure hundreds of others would. I simply found you first."
"How is it you help?" Adah asked.
"I'm their unofficial representative in the government," the minister said. "I make their work known and help make sure they have the funds necessary. They are, technically, an international organization, and so they are able to accept funds from anyone, even foreign governments. But when I speak to my friends at Parliament I cannot stop telling them about these fine young men and the good they do. I am sure they would like nothing more than to stuff my mouth with napkins to cease my prattle, but some of them have come forward with monetary help."
"It's not all fun and games," Edward said. "Mumbai isn't the safest place in the world, even for charity. Women don't trust us--even if Ranbir is helping us communicate. The building we have is dilapidated, Police are unhelpful at best, there are religious squabbles, gangs..."
"...Insects," William said, "wild animals, even. You remember our second month there?"
The men laughed. "William gets up one morning to check on a patient, and there's a leopard asleep in the corner of the lowest level! Bold as you please!" Derrek said, laughing as he did so. "He gets me up--security--and both of us stand there watching it until it wakes up. We call the police, but they're in no hurry to get to us, so we get buckets on our heads, and long mops, and poke it until it gets up!"
"Then what?" Pihu asked.
"Well, she's quite unhappy, of course, so she's all growly and snarly," William said. "But she's in no mood to get into a fight with us, but she doesn't want to leave. Everyone else is up now, and Taro runs into the kitchen and gets a few pork sausages. He throws one at her, and of course she slurps it up, and he takes another and hucks it toward the front door. The leopard practically crawls over to it, and then Taro throws the last one out into the street."
"She goes after it, and then we slam the door shut to make sure she can't get back in," Derrek says. "I'm pretty sure she was lounging in the next alley the whole day."
"I've seen her a few times," Edward said. "I think. Could be a different leopard for all I know."
Charvi listened to them tell stories. Births in the street, thieves, festivals, meeting members of parliament alongside the minister. She saw these things clearly. Others were still murky: Welcoming people in who had nowhere else to go. Making sure you were safe from whatever illness a patient had. Sitting in a dim room with a stack of books, making sure there was enough money to keep the lights on. Reaching out to someone who was sitting in the dirt and pulling her onto her feet. Giving her food. Giving her shelter. Giving her a better life.
Conversation made the hours pass. Mishti and Taro rejoined them, and they traded stories, tried to make Eva laugh with jokes. Eventually Shanaya yawned, covering her mouth the the back of her hand, and rose from her chair. "As much as I would enjoy the night to go on forever, I must rest. I trust you can find your way back to your rooms?"
"Yes mistress, of course," Ranbir said. "Another thing we have little of in Mumbai: privacy. There are only a few rooms we use for sleeping. A night in a room to ourselves will be wonderful."
"Hey, Eva," Derrek said. "Do you know why elephants are so wrinkly?"
Eva frowned. "No, why?"
"Because they take too long to iron!"
Eva stared at him for a second, then her mouth split open and she laughed so hard her arms circled her stomach and she was bent double. Shanaya laughed as well. Soon she was headed up the spiral stairs to the top of the tower.
Shortly she was brushing her hair, humming the tune the girls had danced to a few hours earlier. She heard a not-unexpected knock, but turned in her seat to see an unexpected person. Mishti entered when bade, hands clasped in front of her. The girl sat. She stared at the wall, and sucked her lips inside her mouth to moisten them, a quirk Shanaya had been watching her do for more than a decade.
"What did you and Taro discuss?" Shanaya asked, beckoning the girl closer. Mishti went to her, turned around, and knelt. Shanaya began to brush her hair. "You were gone for quite a while. We talked about a great many things while you were gone. We learned several interesting things about what our guests do."
"I told him I am soon to leave here," Mishti said. "I told him I haven't spent much time outside the house. I told him I don't know much about the world."
Shanaya continued brushing. She could nearly hear the thoughts clunking past, one after the other, inside Mishti's head.
"He asked me what I was planning on doing, I told him I didn't know. He asked me when I was leaving, I said in a few weeks. He asked me why I was telling him.
"I told him I was afraid. I told him I knew stories about what happened out there; stories about rape and murder. About disease, and sadness. Places where a person cannot see the light for all the shadows around her. People who will bind you in chains."
Mishti sighed. "We were on the veranda, watching the sun go down. There I was, telling a stranger about my fears. But you asked me to, didn't you? So I knew it was a good idea. Do you know what he said?"
"I have a guess," Shanaya said. "Go on."
"He told me about his friend Zan. Someone who had been working with them until recently. He said 'What about the man who protects the woman or saves the man from murder?' He said 'What about the doctor who heals, the singer who brings peace?' He said 'What about the light that snakes, and winds, and penetrates even the strongest, toughest darkness, until it shines in your face despite everything else?'
"I didn't know what he meant. He began to speak of Zan--he had taken a wound from a knife while protecting a woman. Zan was a being of light, someone who helped others out of the dirt. He could not but assist another, if he saw a need."
The girl fell silent. Shanaya brushed, and the room filled with the rhythmic sound of the brush sliding through Mishti's thick sheaf of dark hair. Mishti was staring at her hands, open in her lap.
"The darker the world is, the brighter you must shine to blow away the darkness around you."
Shanaya stopped brushing. The girl turned to look at her. "Isn't that right? If it's very dark outside, you light more candles, or turn on more lamps. When the sun comes back, you can turn the lights off." Shanaya resumed brushing. "I still want to start my own life, mistress. I love it here, and I will always love you and my sisters, but I want a life to call my own. I can't do that here. I have to go out into the world."
"Even if that world frightens you?"
"Even if. Even if. Even if waking up makes my heart pound. Even if saying hello to a stranger makes me want to run and hide. Even if there are a thousand stories about death and danger and only a dozen about sweetness and joy. Especially if. I could write another, and add that much more light to the dark sky."
"Yes," Shanaya said. "The world can always be brighter." She put the brush on her table. Mishti stood, turned, and bowed, waves of her shiny, silky hair passing in front of her smile.
She left, and Shanaya turned back to her mirror. She counted to ten. The knock came a few seconds after she finished.
"Come in, Pihu," Shanaya said, standing and going to one of her shelves. When she turned around, the girl was just inside the threshold, staring at her feet with her hands bunching the dress at her legs. "It's quite late, darling. Is there something you need?"
Pihu opened her mouth, let it hang for a moment, then closed it. Shanaya saw her throat bob. "Trouble sleeping?"
"During the dance," Pihu said. She was still gazing at the tiled floor, and Shanaya knew it would be quite the achievement for the girl to meet her eyes. "I would have been hurt if William hadn't caught me. I...he...I'd like to thank him."
"That's true, Pihu. He did you quite a service. Did you have something in mind?"
This time, Pihu's mouth didn't close. "Quite handsome, William, isn't he?" Shanaya asked, selecting a small woven basket from the shelf. She tapped her lips and began to place inside it a few items. Cardamom perfume, ginger candles, bags of tongkat ali tea leaves. A few more modern items, designed for safety and comfort. "And a doctor, as well!" She turned toward Pihu, who looked like she was about to bore a hole through the floor. "You know, I heard he's very interested in our culture."
She waited. "I could...offer to show him a special dance. Just for him. In his room. As thanks for saving me from injury."
"Why, that's a wonderful idea," Shanaya said. Pihu fell silent again. Shanaya stepped away from the shelf, nearer to the girl. "Don't be embarrassed, darling," she said, just loud enough to hear. She took one of Pihu's hands and placed the basket's handle inside it. "Everything you need is here. Do not pressure him, and do not allow yourself to be pressured. If you reconsider, there is no harm done. Enjoy his company. Make sure he enjoys yours."
Pihu gazed inside the basket. "Thank you, mistress."
"You sound like I did, thirty years ago," Shanaya said. "You know he's been watching you all night? He thinks you're beautiful."
Pihu nodded, stood in the door for a few more seconds, then fled at a near-run. Shanaya listened to her footsteps descend the stairs. The Mistress of Colors sighed, smiled, and closed her door.
Breakfast was more relaxed than dinner. To Shanaya, who could read her girls better than any of her guests, it was quite a lot of fun.
First there was Eva and Derrek. The two, though a decade separated them, had grown comfortable telling jokes back and forth. Derrek would tell her about the Alps, the chocolate, the music and history of Austria. Snow was a rare thing in India, especially where the mistress had made her home, so Eva listened with glee at stories about sledding, snowball fights, and snowmen; all the while Shanaya could see light glinting off her braces.
Charvi was acting strangely, mostly in that she was not speaking much. She and Ranbir were pleasant to each other, but when Ranbir turned to his food, Charvi's eyebrow's would slide together. She would stir her breakfast, eating slowly. She asked a few questions to Ranbir in a quiet voice unlike her normal tone, but Shanaya could still hear it. They were about the home Ranbir and the other guests ran, conditions in the city, struggles they had. As Ranbir replied, Charvi would stare him down, listening with intensity, then return to her stirring.
There was William and Pihu, of course. Again they sat across from each other, the minister in between them at the end of the table, and again he was unaware of the way they acted. Both were quiet, both ate steadily. Every once in a while, they would catch the other's eye, and cease eating for a moment. Unlike the night before, they didn't do it hoping to escape the other's notice. Neither held their gazes long, but it was clear both wanted to. Pihu would smile, a curl at the corner of her lips, and William's expression would soften. It didn't seem as if either of them had gotten very much sleep.
The big surprise, to Shanaya, was Adah and Edward. They, too, seemed quite tired, and at first Shanaya began to construct the conversation she would have with Adah about safety. But, no. On closer inspection, Shanaya saw the two talking not with great energy, but with animation. Short exclamations broke up long sentences from either of them. It was like they were working on a project together. They drew designs with their silverware in the open space above their plates. They took something the other said and modified it, or turned it upside-down, or dismissed it outright. The other would take no offense, but forge on with another statement. Their discussion was too furtive for Shanaya to hear much of it.
And then Mishti, next to Taro. While Charvi's words had become thoughtful, quiet, and fewer, Mishti was speaking more, happier, energetically. Taro could hardly keep up. He nodded and interjection a word or two when he could, Mishti talked on. Mostly about the world at large, the places Taro had seen. About Japan's Mt. Fuji, and the Shinto shrines. About India's diverse areas, Mumbai's massive scope, even of Everest, holy mother of mountains. Taro was unable to finish most of the questions Mishti posed him before she launched into another. She once, while gesturing with her silverware, flung a piece of food in Shanaya's lap.
Mishti halted, looking on in horror as Shanaya reached down and picked the piece off. "Forgive me, mistress. I wasn't being careful."
"Quite all right," Shanaya said. "Just a bit of food. Tell me, Mishti, you seem pleased this morning. Is it all right if I know why?"
"I had an idea last night while falling asleep, mistress," Mishti said. The rest of the room quieted, and the light in her eyes grew. "I was thinking of our discussion last night. About how I want to be something good in the world, just like our guests." She beamed at them. "But I didn't know what I could do. I want to help others, like you are all. I want to do it in my own way. I figured it out."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense!" the minister said from the other end of the table. "What shall you do?"
"Dance," Mishti said. "I do not know how yet, but I will find a way. I will earn a sponsor, go around the world and show them the beauty of India."
"A wonderful idea, Mishti," Shanaya said.
"But that's not all," Mishti said. She put her silverware down. "I want to dance, but I couldn't shake the feeling it wasn't enough. Compared to what you are doing in Mumbai, it's a sorry idea. I must dedicate myself to teaching others why I dance: to add good to the world. I must tell them about my friends in Mumbai, who do so much good my dances could never match them. Maybe someone who sees me dance will think 'I would like to add good to the world. I would like to shine bright in this darkness around me.'"
Next to her, Taro was smiling and nodding. On her other side, Edward clapped lightly. "Bravo, Mishti! A fine decision! If what we saw last night is what you have to offer, I'm sure you'll become well-known throughout the world!"
"But how?" Eva asked. "Where are you going to go?"
Shanaya saw a flicker cross over Mishti's face, but it was gone too soon to recognize. "I don't know, truly. But I know I will be able to find a way. I have been afraid of leaving this place, and I now know it is because I couldn't see my path; doubt and unsurety obscured it. Now I can see. Now I know what I want to do. My path has become clearer."
"Entirely?" Taro asked.
Nobody spoke. Mishti's head twitched to the side, hesitated, and then shook. "No. Could it ever? One might think so, but I think not. And...yes, I am afraid still. Less so, now...and I don't think I will ever be afraid while I am dancing. How could one be afraid and so joyful at once?"
Everyone around the table nodded, and Eva smiled at her eldest adopted sister, revealing the braces on her teeth--but joy had overpowered the fear. She turned to the Austrian next to her. "Derrek."
"Hmm?" Derrek said, a piece of food in his mouth.
"Want to hear a funny joke? It's really good, so you should brace yourself."
Breakfast gave way to laughter.
Shanaya emerged from the kitchen, which had spun up to high-energy again after she had told it to produce food for her guests to take back to Mumbai with them. They would stay for a few more hours, resting and relaxing, before the long trip back to India's capital. Shanaya made for her study, there to go over the next few days. A few supplies were running low, and she would need to order more. A glance at the calendar reminded her Charvi's birthday was getting nearer--time to make plans for an eighteenth birthday celebration.
"Speak of the girl herself," Shanaya said, when she went into her study. Charvi was already waiting for her, arms folded over her chest. "I have work I must do; is there something you need?"
Charvi nodded. "I want to help our guests."
"In what way?" Shanaya went to her desk, cluttered with papers and a laptop. She switched the lamp on.
"I mean I want to help them in Mumbai. I want to help them help others."
Shanaya paused halfway through typing in her password. "That's unexpected of you, Charvi."
"I know. I didn't expect it either. But, I remember how I felt when you found me, and helped me. I have been happy ever since then, without being happy at all before. I know Hindi, and English, and I'm a woman; I could help the women who go to see them trust William and Edward."
"So you want to be a liaison?"
"No, mistress, I want to be a nurse."
"A nurse? Charvi, that takes quite a lot of work, you know. You must go to university and study very hard."
"I have studied hard before, mistress."
The girl had taken Shanaya's dance instructions without complaint. She had gone over each step and motion a hundred times, until she could get them perfect. She had studied the rules of proper behavior--it was that or find herself back in the dirt, though Shanaya would never think of such a thing. But Charvi had believed it to be true, so she had studied her heart and eyes out. Hindi and English weren't the only languages she could speak. Many of the domestic guests spoke Bengali, Telugu, or Marathi, or any more of the hundreds of languages making up the sound of India. Charvi, chief among the girls, could communicate with them. Shanaya nodded. "So you have. Have you spoken to Ranbir about this?"
"Not yet, mistress. I was still convincing myself."
"A female nurse who can speak the languages would be a great boon to them." Shanaya tapped a finger on her desk. "You will be eighteen soon. How would you like an early present?" She looked over her shoulder at Charvi, who had a raised eyebrow. "I will ask my university friends what you should study, what you will need to know. In the meantime, divulge yourself of the books in the library on medicine, anatomy, and physiology. You will also need to know chemistry and biology." She saw Charvi's face fall. "You can do it, darling. I believe in you. You know you can do it, too. It may not be right away...it may not even be soon...but you can do it."
She had her hands behind her back, and her feet fiddled with the ground. "I think I can too, mistress."
"Good. Please excuse me, I must work."
"Yes, mistress. Thank you!"
Shanaya wrote a number of emails--none about Charvi, yet. She needed more time to figure out exactly what to do. After an hour, she stood from the swiveling office chair and exited the room, finding the sun closer to its apex and the building heating up. She found nothing pressing demanding her time, so she strolled through the gardens, where she chatted with the groundskeeper. While she did so, she looked up at the second-level veranda, and saw Adah and Edward, conversing as they stared at an easel. After she had finished with the groundskeeper, Shanaya climbed the sun-baked steps, entering the long open hallway where the two were talking.
"Mistress!" Adah waved her closer. "Edward and I have been talking about this all morning. Look!" She presented the easel with both hands, stepping away as she did so. Shanaya stepped closer.
She had seen much of Adah's art over the years, but this one was different. Shanaya tilted her head back and forth, taking in the colors. "You seem quite excited about it, Adah. What have you been discussing?"
"I had difficulty sleeping last night," Adah said. "I came here to watch the sunrise. Edward was here before me, doing the same."
"I've had insomnia all my life," Edward said. "Though these days I'm usually tired enough to get all the sleep I can."
"We watched the sun rise together," Adah said. "We commented on our thoughts: the colors, the ideas. I started painting as Edward watched."
"What makes this different than your other attempts?"
"A simple idea," Adah said. "Look: the sun is at the bottom of the painting. the distant top edge is dark like night, but the closer it gets to the bottom the lighter it is. It took several tries, but we got the gradient correct at last."
"And are you happy with it?"
The smile faltered on Adah's face. She looked at Edward, who was standing with hands in his pockets. "It isn't how I imagined," she said. "It's never how I imagined. I see things that are impossible to put onto a canvas. The passage of time, the size of space." She fell silent.
"We talked about it," Edward said. Adah and Shanaya looked at him. "I told her it's something lots of artists struggle with. All of them. The ones who keep trying are the ones who will eventually create something they love."
Shanaya looked at Adah. She was nodding, staring at her painting, fingers twitching. She kept nodding, her eyes were wide, she was smiling. She could already see what she would try to paint next.
Servants were loading luggage into the van her guests had arrived in. A driver sat waiting in the idling vehicle. Shanaya, her girls, the minister, and his guests were in the lobby.
"Thank you again for visiting," Shanaya said. She and the girls bowed for the last time. "If you happen to find the time to return, we will gladly have you."
"If we find the time, we will gladly return," Ranbir said. "All of us had a wonderful time."
The doors behind them opened, and they began to descend the staircase to where their vehicle waited. William got halfway down, watching his feet go, before he heard someone call out for him. He turned and found Pihu running toward him, hem of her skirt held away from her feet. Her arms circled his torso, and she smelled him again, breathing in deeply.
She sat on the bottom step, watching the van pull away. She smoothed the piece of paper in half, already working to memorize the number written on it.
Adah hung the painting up, tilting her head back and forth at it. She put a fresh canvas on her easel and started to mix paints.
Charvi blew out a deep breath and opened the front cover of a heavy book. The first chapter was entitled "An Introduction to Anatomy."
Mishti counted to herself as she danced.
Eva smiled at herself in the mirror, then let it fall. She smiled again, and it finally felt real.
Shanaya watched the van disappear over the hill from a window in her room. She picked up the phone and called her bank. With some work, and diversification of her portfolio, she would have more funds to help others, starting with a donation to her guests.