“I know you and your propensity to assume the worst in all situations.”

Did the palace feel smaller because I had grown accustomed to larger or because I myself had grown?

It was the kind of challenge that would live on in stories and in song, outlasting any mortal heart.

Ravana visited and taught me a game of his own invention entitled chaturanga. It was delightfully complex, played on a wooden board engraved with sixty-four squares.

I should probably check if chess originated from him, and India

“It is not weak to avoid war,” I said, and my voice broke. Tears pricked at my eyes and I let them. “It is the strongest thing you could do, to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.”

“Dread borrowed into it’s ancestral home in my stomach.”

Yudhajit held up his hands in mock surrender. “Yes, you’re quite experienced.”

“For her worry was rolling off her in waves.”