The thickening shroud of midnight skies consumed her sight. Cold piercing winds murmured on her cheeks to wake her weak senses.

"Where am I?"

She creased her lids but she couldn't recollect where she was. Vague linger of doleful tinges wheezed the walls that surrounded her. The continuous web of cracks and jabbed paints echoed mercy more than the enduring merry shades of faded art etched upon them.

"What is this place? Eww- Huh!"

Her eyes gazed at the little details. Upon one corner stayed a thick closet of urns and pots made of fiery pigmented clay that oozed its essence through the cracks. Few rolled thick sheets of caking suvadi, made of palm leaves stayed stacked on the ledges that covered the edges where the roofs touched the gigantic iron pillars.

"Is this an athurasalai?"

As she lifted her scooting eyes, the lingering strokes showed a lushly green mountain placed between the waves of a frothy ocean. Sadly the other bits of the piece fell pray to the hands of forsaken time.

Hmm should be. Perhaps it is the Sanjeevani malai.

As she walked through the place a narrow door in the corner caught her inquisitive eye. Even before she could touch, the gates opened in a heavy wheeze. Akin to the bug crammed by the breeze, her lids were shock struck. She saw few skeleton stacked on heavily braided wooden closets. The webbing bursts of dust crammed her throat.

"Who stacks the savam in a vaidhya peedam?"

The itches burned her thoughts to consume her sanity. She peeked at them while crushing the pleats of her floating thugil elegantly caressing her curves.

"They have not perished even an ounce.  But how?"

Eesha keep me sane. Please be with me.

The beating rhythm of her heart fastened as her thoughts ferried waves beyond her eyes could see. She kept reading the bits and pieces of mystery in front of her. Concluding the chaos to no answer she leaned on the messy stained walls. The curbing nauseous stench tightened her throat. Webs of insects and rotting little skeletons stuck to it irked her calm. She wish she could run but before that something told her she should not.

"Argh... Never have I seen such a pathetic place before-"

"Pathetic?"

"Who is that?"

She turned towards the echoing walls to catch a glimpse. A gentle whiff of freshly bloomed jasmine earned her sighs.

"This place was once the paradise."

The sleek silverine tone hypnotized her. Shaking her head twice, she straightened her spine.

"Hmm maybe. But the Squalid walls. Eww Huh. Fetid floors and blistering roofs with no life screams no joy."

Her fingers pointed the surroundings to eventually crush them between her palm.

"Fair enough."

The palpable slithery tone of the voice knotted her belly with a feeling that she could ever describe.

"Without the queen even the mighty palace decays into a forsaken hell. Now that you are here, you will remember this place in the least."

"Me? Remember? What do you mean?"

She leaned on the wall as her fingers traced the hanging peels of varnam. In a moment she pinched to chip them.

"Don't you dare to do it!"

The voice heightened to echo in rings around the walls.

"Haahaa. You sound witless. Will this one prick rot this almost dead wall here?"

She chuckled as she nibbled the peels. As poked her nails on the eerie parts of the chipping walls, a little burn crawled on her hands.

"Ouch! That hurts."

"Didn't I warn you? You must stay away. These walls have life."

Her dubious brows toppled on her forehead.

"Walls have life? That's the foolish statement I have ever heard."

The thick ounce of silence that trailed made her uncomfortable. She looked around but she couldn't see anyone except her.

"Does that mean I can kill them?"

"Careful with your words. They can hear!"

"Haahaa. That's a great joke. Whatelse is left? Do they bleed too?"

There came no answer.

"I demand answers from you-"

"Demand? As far as I know bleating goats never roar."

"You think I'm scared?"

A gentle murmur of giggles reddened her face. She clenched her jaws to flush her face. A little hit on the wall jerked of the peel to hit the floor. But her eyes were glued to the thick fluid that oozed out of the cracked sheath upon the lime.

"How can a wall- Argh!"

She pulled her arm up only to realise that her skin has begun to bleed. Her lips gaped as her terrified eyes studied the wound. The edges of her cut resembled the one that she inflicted upon the wall.

"Now don't act like a kid. Didn't I warn you enough, Devi?"

The gentle bursts of giggles mocked her. She took a piece of her cloth to tie it around the bleeding skin. The stains didn't spot but left a strange trail on her cloth.

"What is this?"

Her fingers traced the markings that blotted on her saree. They spiked and curved around, carving the details. With every passing whiff of breath, her lips tightened.

"This place. It is the aalayam."

"Yes."

She looked again at the paused inscription only to realise her bleeding had stopped. Without a second thought she peeled the wall to let it ooze again.

"Ah! Namah Shivayah!"

"Ahaa. How much we love the lord!"

But to her strange stares, the blood didn't hint her this time. Instead it blotted like a thick red paste of minced tomato.

"Why is this not working? What's wrong with the aalayam? Tell me!"

"See, here you bleat. You aren't ready."

Those words made her tighten the hold on her wounds to soak her anger with pain.

"Devi, bleeding nor bleating will get you no where."

"I know to cut and stitch as well!"

She took the little wooden carved hairpin out of her thick lushly hair to scratch the walls. Using the oozing liquids, she drew the trident of shiva. The surge of burns flattened her nerves only to earn her smile.

"He always hold my hands."

"Our hands, Devi!"

The phrase triggered her again. But the gleams of green lights sparkling through the walls blinded her. She dropped the pin to cover her eyes. Then everything turned empty, around and within.

__________________________

Tangerine network of settling morning lit up the metal. The reflection of her round face painted the smoothened surface. She tucked her wavy hair behind the lobe, revealing the huge lotus pearl earring dangling over her shoulder. Peeking throughly at her simple attire she sighed.

The play has begun.

She rolled the pouch of heavy silk to the obese cot placed behind her. Akin to obeying her commands it rolled to get stuck under the stacked pillows.

"Now the auspicious time has come."

A woman aging fine and far than potted wine pushed the vaayil with a heavy burst of laughter that filled the air with profound confidence. The one they had been desperately planning to witness with every passing dawn. The one that should write the tale of destiny of every being who hails Navapuri.

"Leave!"

She signaled the group of young flowers standing around her to clear. In a fleeting moment, they left them alone.

"Don't celebrate it too soon. Early wins should be feared. It might ruin everything."

"Piraati! For a change to occur we must learn not to think otherwise but believe that it is happening in our favour. That's how the prapanjam works."

She tapped the wooden stick on the baby elephant carved pillars of the bronze table set beside them. Slowly she trudged careful enough to not let her lolakku to hit her cheek. As she moved to face the woman, she held her chin in her wrinkled hands.

"Your Chellama has been with you through every tame of time. Why would you worry?"

"Leave me alone for a while, Amma."

She released her hands as she averted them. In a moment she could feel that the hold had tightened firm than before.

"You pity her? Don't you?"

"No!"

Her predating stare bore her fluttering doves only to realise it was a terrible lie. She patted her cheek harsh with her furious palm.

"Liar! You have learnt to lie to me."

Those words ferried her rage to every corner of the room. She took faster steps as she could with the wooden thadi in her hand to close the door that was left ajar.

"You have silly maiden."

She then gripped the frail woman tightly to pull her to the lowly lit wall of the entire andhapuram.

"Listen. Don't you remember your promise? Don't you remember the pain? Did you forget everything that you endured in the past?"

"That pain is mine to avenge!"

"Revenge, darling. It is revenge."

"But this poor girl-"

"Poor girl? The one who stands between you and your destiny shouldn't be empathized. You are a lioness and that deer is your prey."

She turned to the loitering curtains that brought in some fresh air. Her sculpted nares felt better after two quite breaths.

"Open it!"

As she stood silent, the woman held her hand to push the lever hidden in a little hole. With a buttery slide, the false plate of metal that resembled the brick moved aside revealing a thick box of iron. The head of a brawny majestic lion was inscribed upon it.

"Take it in hands."

Those heavy glance demanded that she did it without bargaining. But her fleeting thoughts wished to not touch them.

"The time of Amavasya is near, you can touch it to be blessed."

"But they aren't resting in peace to bless me. They are enraged. Tormented. Torn off."

"That's why you must fight. When you forget the path, go to them. Now hold them. Tell them you are walking in their destiny. Show them you are with them. They will stand by you."

Without a word, she did as she was told. She took the box in her hand and murmured a few silent words. A trail of tear warmed her cold cheeks.

"Tear the weakness out of you. You can't be weak. You know how many people lost their dreams that night. Over one horrible night."

She tapped the thadi erratically and eventually increased the pace. Her weak torso leaned on the wall as she wheezed to catch hold of her breath.

"Just because- Huh, we are privileged enough to survive doesn't mean we must fit in. We have a purpose. Don't you forget that!"

"I know what I must do, Amma."

"Good. Then do it. Don't think thrice. It's dangerous."

Her breaths fell short as she kept hitting the stick on the floor like a mad fox curling to bite its own tail.

"Amma, please calm down."

She quickly ran to get the jug of water only to be pushed far by the maddening old woman.

"Chellama, stop. Don't make me guilty. I may stumble but I never fall."

The woman brushed her wavy curls with her shaking fingers. She then clipped the koppu standing loose on the edge of her tender ears.

"Maa, please! It hurts."

"Shuush. Let it. Sometimes the pain gets too much into the heart that it battles with the brain to numb us. But always remember, what's yours must be yours."

She took the jug from her reddening hands to sip bits of water to quench her parching throat.

"If it goes otherwise, I will fight! I know."

"Rathnavadhi! Remember. This time we must wage a war. We should win. We have no chance left."

She gripped her shoulders to calm her heavy breaths. She then leaned on her frail humped body to shed her worries.

"You did the deed?"

"Yes. I did as we planned."

She pointed her hands at the crumpled silk pouch kept beneath the silk covered pillows.

"For how much this time?"

"Forty coins."

"Ahha! They traded? Must be rich kids."

"Spicy too!"

She pinched her arm to make her moan in gentle pain. Turing their heads, they slowly smiled.

"Don't make them your private guests."

"Shhh Amma! Panippengal wouldn't be very far!"

She then scooted the walls through her weak lids that glared piercing through the shrouds of curtain. Hugging her from sides she ruffled her head.

"Don't worry Rathna. These walls have guarded most of our secrets. They can hold a few more too."

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