In the dreary chill of winter, she was born to parents who never should have married. They named her Tara, presuming her to be the shining star of their lives, a stabilizing factor that shall anchor their tumultous bind. But more than that, she was the fruit of all her mother's prayers of having one person who would belong to her, love and accept her the way she has craved for. So even at birth, Tara bore the shimmer of stardust on her which was an amalgam of her mother's aspirations and desires along with her father's legacy. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing because the glimmer of the stardust also comprised of love but it is because it shall always remain the crux of the conflict she has been embroiled in for longer than she can remember. 

All her life can be surmised as a series of mistakes, fate and struggles she herself often invalidates because a stone being sculpted on does not complain about the blows of the chisel needed to mould it when the world outside is miles of terrain indent with apathetic wreckage, because she believes it would be a sacrilege. It can almost be said she is a character with nuances and like every character has a story in the play of life, this is Tara's story!

It is often said the ones with the most struggles and wounds are usually the bravest of the lot, being bestowed such because God has belief in them that they'll emerge from this battle victorious. But when one is going through the said battle, it is not often an idea received with reverence, instead it is affirmed with bitterness that it is a very convinient excuse. Before she even knew consciousness though, God had already put her on his list of brave warriors!

_

It was a relatively warm day. A gush of pleasant breeze caresses her face as she strolls alongside the lake like she always had ever since they moved to this quaint town in the valleys. It often gave her some semblance of solace, the babble of the water in the lake and the rustling of the leaves around a constant reassuring sound. Today though it wasn't much of an aimless walk catering to her musings. It was a slow stroll to nurse the hurt that never stayed long enough to hold and heal but instead which slipped to the deepest parts of her to remain obscured. As she strolls, her thoughts repeat the vicious words thrown at her for a trivial folly that damaged nothing yet which had apparently warranted that sort of lashing, all the while raising the question of why. It is when she is lost in this melancholy that a melliflous voice floats to her. Like lavender incense wafting in the air, the melody of the voice seems to bewitch her even as her legs move on their own accord to carry her towards the source of the sound.  The melody embellishes soul touching lyrics in its rendition and the more she hears it, the more it feels like her restless heart had called out for some understanding and for the first time received it in kind. 

It dosen't take long for her eyes to fall on the source of the sound and as it does, her world stops in its tracks. It freezes. Her heart stutters like she missed a step before beating rapidly in the confines of her chest. Like the rush of tangerine and scarlet hues that adorned the sky before the sun rose, a flush rushes just the same to color her fair skin. The voice that drew her here in the first place continues to reach her but it remains nothing to the sheer beauty of the woman who possesses it! It was a woman who could pass off as a writer's or an artist's muse, a delicate beauty to her that seems exquisite amidst where she is sat surrounded by nature looking at her with ardour! 

She does not know how long she stands there, lost in the woman's song and her melody, but she knows when it ends for as soon as her song ceases, the woman opens her eyes and directly looks into hers. Her eyes are a shade of brown and there seems to be some surprise etched in them while looking at her. They stay that way, in a silence that feels tranquil, for what feels like ages but which are but a few moments. 

"Hello" Tara manages to say, a hesitance in her tone that came from minimal interaction with people around her.

The woman smiles accepting her greeting

"Hello! I am Ila and you are?"

"Tara....my name is Tara!" she manages to say.

"It's nice to meet you" 

"You too" 

They smile at each other and that is how Tara meets a woman who she knows will change her life irrevocably!

_

 It was hesitant at first, shy in the way a blossoming bud slowly unravels its petals to the sunlight, their interaction with each other. Ila was bright and charsimatic, every word she spoke echoing a confidence Tara had always found hard to scrape. But unlike with others, it did not overwhelm her. There was an ease in being with Ila despite it just being their third interaction because silences with her were as profound as conversations. It feels surreal, something right out of the books she had read and fantasized about when the loneliness from having no friends sometimes consumed her more than she could bear. 

It feels surreal, fantasmic and for a set few days, the stifling conundrum in the interiors of her home learn to fade enough in the recesses of her mind so that all her consciousness can think of was the happiness of making a new friend! For a set few days, her inner conflicts fail to consume her in the face of a visceral happiness that she felt, something freeing in all of it. It makes her look forward to her evening strolls, refusing to let the questions beggining to nag at the back of her head consume her.

Love,
Pratyusha

WC: 1026 words