Chapter 116

Chapter 190: A Gift for the Unborn

The sun had warmed the wood of the door upon which the quick hand had knocked.

The door opened to reveal, from within, a haggard villager's face.

The villager studied the three men at his doorstep, noting their privileged servitude by their spotless attire.

"We are messengers from the Castle," began the man who had knocked while his two companions looked on.

"The Castle?" the villager was taken aback, "At my doorstep?"

"At every doorstep, in fact," pointed out the man, "We were sent to address every house in the South and North Villages."

"By whom?" the villager blinked nervously, "The First Lord?"

"The First Lady."

"The First Lady?" the villager repeated in astonishment, still unable to believe he had messengers from the Castle to the extent that he had quite forgotten his manners until his wife called from within, "Who is at the door, my old dear?"

The man looked over his shoulder, "Its messengers from the Castle, love."

"What are you doing keeping them out the door then!" exclaimed his wife from within, "Have you no manners, old man, to ask them in!"

"Oh, it'd slipped me mind," he hastily apologized and, with a sheepish smile, ushered them in, holding the door open for the men to walk in.

Though the three men stepped in, they refused to be seated or to be offered any drink, ascertaining that they had come there for a business' and would like to get it done with.

"What business would the Castle wish from our home, good sires?" the man's wife asked, holding a vase that she had been brushing the dust off when the visitors arrived.

"We are sent by the First Lady," said the second man, offering to relieve the first man of his speech, "She requests the Villages to assist her in concocting a little gift."

"A gift?" the man was confused and so was his wife, "What sort of gift?"

"In the very words of the First Lady: a gift that asks a share of your land, your time and your concern."

"I understand not a word of this, do you, dear?" the man glanced cluelessly at his wife.

His wife looked at the second man, "Who is this gift intended for?"

"Lady Anjali's child to come."

Both the villagers' face lit up on the mention of the unborn child.

"When is the child due?" the man asked.

"Nonsense, old man," the wife rebuked her husband, "You never ask such things of the great Lady's child. Besides," she added in a whisper, "We women are keeping time and we know the child is due after two months."

She smiled warmly at the men, "What does the considerate First Lady have to endorse for the child?"

The third man stepped forward and taking out two tiny sack-purses, placed them into the woman's hand, one purse jingling with coins and justly heavier that the other.

The second man explained, "One purse contains a few pomegranate seeds and the other-"

"Pomegranate?" the man was taken aback, "But we don't grow fruits in our gardens. Only vegetables. Arhasia's Fruits are exclusively from the Raizada Orchard."

"This is an exception," said the second man, "The second purse contains enough money with which you can buy yourself the resources with which you will need the seeds maintained and the tree flourished."

"What are we to do when the tree is-?"

"Pomegranate seeds take at least a year or two to become trees and bear fruit," the messenger continued, "When the child is born and it is time for her first ceremony, the fruits will have come. You will all be invited to the ceremony presumably and when you come, you will be required to bring the first pomegranate that grew on your tree as a sign of blessing."

"What about the rest of the pomegranates? Are we to hand them over the Orchard?"

"No," said the man, "You can keep the rest of the pomegranates and the pomegranates you will have in the coming years on your tree as a gift from the First Lady."

"The First Lady is most kind," the woman smiled gratefully, "Will you offer her gratitude on our behalf?"

"She seeks no gratitude but your time and your care of the seeds and the tree," the first man said.

"We will do as she asks of us," said the man, "Besides, she is a child from our own circle. When she used to live in the North Village-"

"Now, now, old man," the wife interjected, "They don't want to hear tales of what the First Lady was like when a child."

The third man opened the door that stood behind him and the first man walked out followed by the second man.

"Would you not have a little drink, sires?" the wife called out respectfully.

"We leave for now," said the third man as he turned to follow his brothers, "We have to visit every house in Arhasia and cannot stay long in any house. But we will come again, six months after today, to see how your seeds grow. Keep in mind the child to come and you will not spoil this honor of a proposition the First Lady has made with you."
"We will never dishonor her request," said the man, "We will see to it, sire, that what needs to be done is done."

But there was no reply for the three men had already left his house, many more doors waiting to be knocked upon.

Kushi's new prospect of involving the Villages of Arhasia in the welcoming of Arhasia's most anticipated offspring was revealed only to her sister and to Nani, in the secrecy of the old woman's room when Lady Anjali was not about.

"This is quite impressive!" Nani stated thoughtfully, when the two were alone, "Pomegranates: the fruit of life and hope...and of prosperity. It is also believed that the many-seeded fruit grows in the Divine One's garden."

"So you like the proposition, Nani?" Kushi's eager face looked up at Nani from where she sat on the floor.

"Like it? I am proud of the entire suggestion, Kushibitya," Nani beamed at her, "Only you would come up with something of this sort: connecting the villagers with the Castle folks."

Kushi smiled gratefully, "It is the blessings from elders that make me think such ideas for innovation."

Nani placed her cloth-wrapped hand on the young one's head, "You remind me a lot of the way my daughter was."

"Your daughter?" Kushi perked up, Nani had never spoken of her own family before.

"Yes, my little Nalini," said Nani and then she gazed at the open window as though lost in a memory.

Kushi wanted to ask about the little Nalini' but just then Fortune arrived from his afternoon soar in the forest, and called out for biscuits and nuts.'

As Kushi fed the bird, she read the engrossed look of Nani and was determined to find out why little Nalini' would drive Nani's mind such that she lost her sense of the present. But what held the topic to her curiosity was the unknown feeling that this little Nalini' was somehow related to her husband...

After the departure of the Lords to the Industry, Payal and Kushi busied about in the Castle, the former in the kitchen and the latter in the garden.

One evening, in the first week of Kushi's silence from Lord Arnav, Kushi was returning from the kitchen, when she found Lady Anjali in the dining hall, setting the table for the dinner that was due in less than an hour.

"Kushiji!" Lady Anjali's countenance beamed when she looked up and saw Kushi passing, "Are you coming from Nani's room?"

"No," Kushi smiled, stepping into the dining hall, "I was with Jiji in the kitchen."

She watched silently as Lady Anjali arranged the articles elegantly on the table.

"My lady," Kushi was confused, "Don't the servants know how to do this?"

"Yes, they do," Lady Anjali smiled as she placed a folded napkin daintily on a plate, "But Chotey insisted that one of the women in the family do the dining hall arrangements. It always used to be Mami."

"And now it's your turn," Kushi smiled.

Lady Anjali nodded, a hand sliding to her inflated middle, "Until this little life joins us and my hands will be too occupied to handle the table settings!"

Kushi giggled, "Oh, Di, you must know, the entire land is awaiting the coming of your little one."

"Thank you, Kushiji," Lady Anjali smiled, "Once everything's settled, I must thank the villagers for their prayers to the Divine One on behalf of our little one."

Kushi remained silent then as she watched Lady Anjali resume her setting of the table.

"How do you do this?" Kushi leaned closer, fascinated by the way Lady Anjali was picking the items and placing them in a certain order obtained from her ladylike memory.

Lady Anjali pointed out to the table setting as she guided Kushi to the etiquette being adhered, "You place the dinner plate or the luncheon plate in the center and, on the plate, you place the meticulously folded napkin rolled up. To the left of the main plate, you have the bread-and-butter plate' and the fruit plate'. As you already know, for dinner, this bread-and-butter plate and the fruit plate are replaced by the salad plate' and the fish plate'. For dinners, we may also have a dessert plate.' Other than the plates we place on the table pre-hand, you may already know of the set of soup bowls' that are brought to the table by the servants which act as appetizer to our dinner."

Lady Anjali picked up a few forks, knives and soups and placed them neatly on either side of the plate before her, "The fork and the knife closest to the dinner plate are the dinner fork' and dinner knife'. This is also applicable for the luncheon plate and its cutlery arrangement. Next to the luncheon knife' comes the butter knife', and if it is a dinner knife', the next knife would be the fish knife'. To the left of the dinner fork', we have the fish fork', after which comes the salad fork'. In the luncheon arrangement, the salad fork will be the fruit fork'. For dinner, we place the tiny dessert spoon and the soup spoon to the right of the knives."

Lady Anjali had placed two sets of glasses upturned beside the knives and spoons, "The tall long-necked glass, as you know, is the wineglass and the short-necked glass is for the water."

Kushi was staggered by the immense insight, "This is too much to remember! I am sure I would mix them all up if I were to arrange them. It is with time and with a lot of help from Lady Lavanya, during my stay here, that I had learnt to differentiate the fish fork' from the salad fork'!"

"Yes, it is hard at first," smiled Lady Anjali, "but once you master the art, you can recognize a fork even with a blindfold on."

"I will be quite old by the time I learn to do that," Kushi nodded seriously and then she looked over her shoulder, "Will the Lords be coming to join the family for dinner today?"

"Yes, they will be," Lady Anjali looked at her, "Are you planning to dine in the kitchen again?"

Kushi nodded, "I cannot let myself do otherwise."

Lady Anjali sighed, "What can I do to change your mind?"
"Nothing, Di," Kushi smiled, "My mind won't change as long as your brother's heart won't. Considering he has one..."

Lady Anjali said nothing and only watched painfully, as Kushi walked away to the kitchen, not knowing how much the young mother longed to put a stop to this mad game her Chotey and his wife were indulging in.

One week had passed after Kushi and Lord Arnav had stopped seeing each other, their longing not lessening but their obstinacy unwavering as well.

The first weekend's arrival worried Kushi by the thought that she would have to confine herself in her room for want of not coming across her husband who never visited the Industry on Saturdays and Sundays.

But it seemed he pitied her plight and tried to aid her by keeping himself occupied or away from the Castle for the weekend. Despite there being no work in the Industry and Lord Akash staying to be there with his own wife, Lord Arnav volunteered to spend his entire Saturday in the Industry. However, it was hard to follow that meaningless agenda on Sunday as well, so he spend some time locked in the library, asking that his meals be brought to him and that he won't join the family on the pretext he had too much work to attend to and dining with everyone downstairs exhausted a lot of his precious time.

When the prolonged hours in the library tired him, he got out of the Castle and went for a long ride on Shadow. Kushi knew he was doing all this so she wouldn't feel constricted and could comfortably walk about in the Castle and garden and get her apportioned work done. But this effort on his part did not change the way she was feeling about him and she remained resolute in her resistance.

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