章 4: Three Feet Of Ice Didn’t Form In A Single Day

Katyayani's room was bare except for an intricately carved rosewood bed, matching dressing table on the side and a wooden rack with multiple hooks to hang miscellaneous items.

An elegant sitar* was the only accessory in the otherwise minimalist room.

Dvi glanced at her long-standing companion and snorted. "Do you think everyone else is like you? You 'sleep every night as if you have managed to sell all your horses'*. One day, someone will kill you in bed and you won't even stir. It has been fifteen minutes since Young Miss started her morning trek. I presume that she would have reached the mountain top by now and started with the suryanamaskar*. You also start moving your hands and feet quickly. After you finish tidying up here, put the big pot of water on a boil. I will fetch a few buckets of cold water from the well in the meanwhile. You know that Young Miss would want to dunk herself in the hot water and then the freezing tub, one after another. Yet you are standing here, as if there is wet mehndi* on your feet."

Eka gave her an apologetic smile, not paying heed to her acerbic tone.

She said, "It was a bit late by the time I finished taking stock of things last night, hence I overslept. I think Young Miss would want to return to the city in the next ten days or so. As a result, I have started preparing already."

But Dvi was not ready to give her even an inch of concession. "Excuses! Making a delicate woman like me undergo hardship first thing in the morning... no wonder, no guy is interested in giving a second look to a dullard like you."

At 25, Dvi was the epitome of sensuality, her body like a luring siren. Despite the cold weather, her voluptuous figure was encased in a thin, clinging sari* which was pale green in color. Her bare midriff was glistening against it.

A vermillion dot adorned the centre of her forehead and her eyelids had a thin layer of kohl smeared over them, completing the sultry look. A messy bun with tendrils hanging over the neck and face added to the allure.

For her, looking good was more important than the weather and its vagaries! Moreover, her native place used to have cold weather for more than six months in a year. Hence, her body was used to the colder climate.

As a result, she dressed in a sari all year round. She disdained wearing clothes which covered up her gorgeous body.

In comparison, Eka was a lot more practical and was dressed according to the weather in a thick, woollen, floor length brown skirt and a pale pink knitted sweater on top. Her feet were encased in socks and leather boots. The curly hair had been braided and then firmly tied up as a top knot. She emitted a warm and homely feel, an absolute contrast to her friend.

While the two of them quibbled with each other, Trini and Chatvari, the other two attendants were outside the wooden cabin. Trini had freshened up after Katyayani left and was now polishing the weapons one after another.

On the other hand, Chatvari had finished her preparations before her impending trek to the back of the mountain.

"I am going to the other side of the hill today and will be back by the time you and Young Miss return. I want to collect some dew and a few herbs which I had spotted growing there last time. Oh, I almost forgot! We are running out of coal. So, dig some more out of the shed. Also, the fencing in the southern boundary of the cabin seems to have been damaged by some animals. I will help you mend it this afternoon", Chatvari was meticulous and systematic in her thoughts and actions as always.

Being a person belonging to the field of medicine, she was extremely detail oriented but also suffered from obsessive-compulsive behavior at times. A mild-mannered woman in her mid-twenties, she possessed unremarkable facial features, except for her sparkling eyes. The intelligence in them could not be suppressed by the plainness of her face.

Chatvari was dressed warmly in a green, long-sleeved kurta and fitted leggings. The wind at the mountain top could be really harsh. Next to her were a few woven baskets in different sizes, and also a brass bottle.

Trini gave Chatvari a brusque nod. Her attention was fixated on wrapping a couple of flexible metal swords carefully around her waist. She was wearing an all black ensemble which had a flared kurta and long sleeves. The design was similar to Katyayani's clothes, but the color made her nearly blend in with the still-dark surroundings.

A black cloth was tied in the form of a turban around her head, which held her short hair neatly tucked in. Even though it was nearly unheard of, for women maintaining short hair in this era, she wasn't concerned much about it. She had always lived an unconventional life, walking the path of a lone warrior. Her hair was covered by a turban most of the time, anyways.

All that was visible was her inscrutable, tanned face.

She had a small, upturned nose, a wide mouth, and a small chin, giving her an innocent look. Unfortunately for her opponents, this was a mirage, given her lethal skills and brutal nature.

"Ok, I will see you in a couple of hours," Trini replied after a beat and continued with her preparations.

Trini was going to walk up to the hilltop where Katyayani would be waiting for her by now.

Meanwhile, Chatvari circled around the cabin and climbed the spiral, metal stairs at the other side of the cabin to enter through the backdoor.

Stepping into the kitchen, which was warm and fragrant due to the underway preparation of the morning meal, she smiled at the tableau in front of her. Eka was humming softly under her breath as she soaked a few strands of kesar into goat milk for later use.

Looking at her friend coming in, Eka asked her in surprise. "You haven't left yet? Are you also running behind schedule like me?" Chatvari smiled at Eka's question and responded with one of her own. "Did Dvi bully you again?"

Eka pouted but then shrugged her shoulders good-naturedly.

"I came to pick up a few chickens. I intend to lay a trap for a couple of baby golden eagles, which I spotted last time I went to the other side of the mountain. They don't look to be too old yet and I am hoping that I can bring them in for training," explained Chatvari.

At the back of the cabin, the half acre ground had been converted into a farmyard where they reared different animals and birds for miscellaneous purposes, like meat, medicine, eggs and also training.

The south-end of the farm was solely dedicated to a stable which held their horses. These horses had been reared by each of them personally, including Katyayani.

Even though the area was enormous, there were no servants tending to the place apart from the four of them. Of course, their easy-going mistress chipped in whenever she managed to find free time from her gruelling lessons.

"Take as many as you like. But in return, pick up that sack of grain and feed the remaining chickens. As you can see, I am still in the midst of the first round of work. Young Miss and I are scheduled to go through the ledgers today post breakfast. As a result, I have to finish prepping for the noon meal also before she returns," Eka lamented.

"I barely managed to finish milking the two cows before it was time for me to start the food preparations," Eka continued.

Chatvari patted her on the shoulder, silently agreeing to help her. She stepped out of the back door and climbed down the stairs with the animal feed in her hands. Turning around, she looked at the house where she, along with the other three attendants and their mistress, had spent the better part of the past decade.

A mixture of cedar wood and rosewood had been used to construct this place many years ago and the original owner had personally come up with the complex and novel design of the cabin. It was a plain, rectangular structure from the outside but the minute a person stepped inside, it was like a circular maze. The passages and corridors were confusing to an outsider and led to multiple openings. Unless one knew which path to follow, the inner sanctum of the cabin could not be accessed easily. Katyayani's bedroom lay right in the heart of this maze.

*Sitar - a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent

*Sleeping after selling your horses - a saying which indicates worry-free sleep

*Suryanamaskar - specific sequence of twelve yoga asana, otherwise known as a Sun Salutation

*Mehndi - a form of body art and temporary skin decoration usually drawn on hands or legs, common in the Indian Subcontinent, in which decorative designs are created on a person's body, using a paste, created from the powdered dry leaves of the henna plant

*Sari - a women's garment that consists of an unstitched drape varying from 4.5 to 9 metres in length and 600 to 1,200 millimetres in breadth[3] that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, partly baring the midriff

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