-: Pancha Vastra :- ( By Shailu )

[shailu4ever]

 
“Who are they?” he asks.
 
Mantra doesn’t answer immediately.
 
Instead, she stands and walks slowly toward the open window.
 
The wind lifts the edges of the silk curtains, letting sunlight spill across the room.
 
For a moment the golden light catches her skin again, and Arjun cannot help noticing how it seems to glow softly, as though it carries its own quiet warmth.
 
Outside, waves break against black volcanic rock.
 
“The nine women,” she finally says, “are… important to this village.”
 
She turns to face him again.
 
“And to the island.”
 
“How?”
 
“That is not my story to tell.”
 
Her gaze sharpens slightly.
 
“You don’t understand what you’ve done, do you?”
 
Arjun frowns.
 
“I pulled some people out of a burning building.”
 
“No.”
 
Mantra shakes her head slowly.
 
“You did something far more significant than that.”
 
She walks back toward the bed.
 
“In our tradition,” she continues, “saving a life creates a bond between two souls.”
 
Her voice lowers slightly.
 
“It is called Jeevandaan.”
 
“The gift of life.”
 
Arjun shifts uneasily.
 
“Okay…”
 
“When you give someone their life back,” she says, “that gift cannot simply disappear into the world.”
 
He studies her expression carefully.
 
“What kind of bond are we talking about?”
 
Mantra’s lips curve into a small, knowing smile.
 
“The kind that must eventually be returned.”
 
Something about the way she says it makes the room feel colder.
 
“What exactly does that mean?”
 
She doesn’t answer.
 
Instead, she moves toward the door.
 
“Amma Lakshmi will explain,” she says. “She has been waiting for you to wake.”
 
Arjun pushes himself up slightly.
 
“Wait.”
 
Mantra pauses at the doorway.
 
“You said something earlier,” he says. “About the island.”
 
She tilts her head.
 
“You said it doesn’t appear for just anyone.”
 
“That’s correct.”
 
“That doesn’t make sense,” Arjun says. “An island doesn’t just… appear.”
 
“It’s always here.”
 
“It’s simply hidden.”
 
Mantra watches him quietly for a few seconds.
 
Then she smiles.
 
Not mockingly.
 
Almost kindly.
 
“Is it?”
 
The question lingers in the air.
 
Before he can respond, she steps through the doorway.
 
Then stops and looks back at him one last time.
 
“You’re not a prisoner here, Arjun.”
 
Her voice softens slightly.
 
“You may leave whenever the tide allows.”
 
She studies him with an unreadable expression.
 
“But I suspect you didn’t arrive here by accident.”
 
Her eyes flick briefly toward his bandaged hands.
 
“The island has its own way of calling the people it needs.”
 
With that, she disappears down the corridor.
 
The door closes quietly behind her.
 
Arjun lies back against the pillows, staring at the wooden ceiling.
 
The waves outside continue their endless rhythm.
 
In.
 
Out.
 
In.
 
Out.
 
His hands ache beneath the bandages.
 
Nine women alive because of him.
 
A mysterious healer speaking in riddles.
 
A bond that cannot go unanswered.
 
And an island that apparently chooses who can find it.
 
For the first time since arriving here, a slow, unsettling realization begins to settle in his mind.
 
Nothing about this place is normal.
 
And somewhere deep inside, a strange voice whispers a thought he cannot explain.
 
You were meant to come here.

-- oOo --

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