In Kalari's mind, she saw the whirling and turning of gorgeous, bright gowns, waving and spinning as she danced. Her mother's pronouncement: "I don't care about mathematics and literature. She can be the stupidest creature, but she must be graceful and attractive. She needs to make a good match, and however repulsive she really is, must seem delightful to men. Do whatever it takes!"
From the age of ten, that was how Kalari's life unfolded. Dancing lessons, dress fittings, voice lessons… instructors on how to walk, and two dozen maids to dress her. In the middle of it all, Kalari, lonely and lost and wondering.
But she had loved to dance. Not on the arm of a suitor, but freely and wildly. Her instructors were shocked at how Kalari refused the various offers she got, men begging her for a dance. She scorned them.
It was one day when she was seventeen. She remembered how she had been sitting in a tree in the garden, reading.
And chance will come and take its dues
So every heart must pay the price
For wrongs to others it has dealt
Good life be granted the oppressed:
Hear now! They cry, those you have wronged
For life, and breath, beneath your feet
And the unjust will feel that pain
That gladly they to others gave
Kalari shivered as she read it. It was the beginning of an epic written by a former slave. She dropped the tablet and watched as it shattered below her.
"Madam Kalari!" It was a servant's voice, sounding nervous. "Your mother wants you. She is presiding in her chambers."
"Then I will go to her," said Kalari, climbing down from the tree. "Have that cleaned up," she added, pointed to the shattered clay tablet. "And see to it that all the copies of The Epic of Tujda, a Clavdian Slave in our library are destroyed. That is all."
"Yes, Madam." As the servant stooped to pick up the fragments, Kalari walked briskly to her mother's chambers. Her heart was thumping strangely. Perhaps it was an omen…
Kalari's mother looked up from a book as her daughter walked into the room. "Darling!" she cooed, "I've hardly seen you for months. Have you made any conquests lately?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, I forgot… you are frightfully stupid in such matters. But I have something to tell you."
"Yes?"
"You probably won't remember, but eight years ago, you were attacked by a vicious Kapa…"
"I remember," whispered Kalari, blanching. "Can we please not speak of it?"
"We must," her mother purred, stroking Karali's hair. "No doubt it was a frightening experience for you, but…"
"It's not that," said Kalari softly. "It's how I acted."
"Yes… you were childish. You are more ladylike now."
Karali sighed but said nothing. I was cruel… she thought. But the judge... that was too harsh, true.
"Well, by course of just law, the Kapa became our slave for ten years," her mother went on. "We sent her to a plantation so she could not harm you. But she has... escaped. We have still to recapture her. Since she has threatened harm to you, we are going to—"
"Going to what? Don't hurt her. It's my fault she's a slave."
"Don't you see? Your life is in danger! So I have arranged to send you to live with the Yedepos in their summer palace. They have a very… oh, never mind that."
"A very eligible young son? I'll only go if forced."
"Well, I will force you, then. The caravan leaves tomorrow." She stood up, began putting away her papers.
"Mother, wait. How long am I to stay?"
"You will never come home unless we find the slave." She paused, studying her daughter. "And my hope is that you shall be settled and never come home— except to visit. Either way—I never wish to see you again. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Mother."
Her mother strode off, walking with an exaggerated air of grace and triumph. She left Kalari with her own thoughts. Wondering.
"And the unjust will feel that pain, that gladly they to others gave." Kalari took a grim pleasure in the thought of penance.
Early in the morning, before the sun peeked into her room, Kalari's maids woke and dressed her.
"Where is she going?" one of them whispered.
"To live with another family. Remember the scandal when a Kapa attacked the mistress? Well, that wicked Kapa has escaped, and the family is sending Miss Kalari off for safety!"
Kalari gave her maids a look that silenced them. Then they dressed her in a blue and ivory white gown and did her hair. Then they tittered over her beauty. Kalari avoided the mirror.
"Now, Madam," said Runa, "You are ready."
Kalari smiled. "Are you three to come with me?"
"Ah yes, Madam, for you must look pretty for the young master, and how will you find decent maidens among those heathen Ligquus?"
"I am glad. Everything will be so different, I was only wishing one thing to stay the same. And now I have found it."
The maid curtsied.
"You may go, all of you."
The maids all curtsied now and left.