Page 89 of The Surviving Sky
“So, you’re trying to escape?” Iravan asked, watching her. “It’s not possible, Bha.”
“Are you sure, Iravan?” she asked lightly. “Certain you know everything about Ecstasy and about me?”
Iravan stared at her, and she smiled. For a brief second, he forgot the absurdity of the situation. It was like she was mentoring him again, and he was one step behind, trying to guess her mind.
“Why the jungle?” he asked.
“It’s where we belong. In the jungle. Not theski—”
“We die in the jungle,” he said. “The earthrages kill us.”
Bharavi just laughed, the sound inordinately melodious.
Iravan closed his eyes in a long, slow blink, willing himself to breathe slowly. He looked back at her, and she watched him patiently, so like herself that his resolve almost cracked. Underneath his wavering indifference, the man who had wept next to Ahilya clawed at him, feeling the horror of this moment.
“This power,” he said, swallowing. “How long have you been an Ecstatic?”
Bharavi lifted her arms, her skin gleaming blue-green, the patterns growing so complex that he couldn’t keep track. “It has grown. I have been wrestling with it for months.”
Iravan closed his eyes in shame.
Months.
This was his fault, for not keeping to vigilance. He had thought Bharavi had been easy on him, but in facthehad been easy on her. Ahilya’s voice washed over on him.If only you’d been at the watchpost; and Airav said,It’s time to act like a Senior Architect. Laksiya had thought he was too young, too reckless for the job, but he had not been too young. He had just not been good enough. Notsmartenough.
Iravan opened his eyes to see Bharavi still studying him.
“You battled this power,” he said. “And you lost?”
“A poor choice of words, if you only knew what Ecstasy meant, but I gave into it truly when I landed the ashram less than two weeks ago.”
“When youlanded—”Iravan’s interlocked hands clenched. “That was you. You were on watchpost duty before we landed. You called for the landing. Did you manipulate the magnaroot then somehow?”
“I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing. But the first few experiencesare…mystifying. Surely you understand.”
“Did you manipulate it when Naila was in there, too?” Iravan asked relentlessly, knowing the answers now but foolishly seeking her denial as though that would help the situation. “Somehow, you stopped the magnaroot from becoming thorny. You trajected the rudra tree, didn’t you? Bypassed its impenetrable permissions and forced it to forget that an earthrage was happening at all?”
Bharavi leaned forward on her seat. “I’m sorry you had to carry that burden,” she said, and there was genuine regret in her voice. “I couldn’t be found out. Not until I could convince everyone this is how things should be, howarchitectsshouldbe—notuntil I had a case.”
“And voting to have me Examined would give you that time?”
She gazed at him, her face unreadable.
“I won’t deny I voted yes for your Examination. Icalledfor it, youknow—eventhough Chaiyya said you needed more rest. But I knew you’d pass, Iravan. If I’dwaited—ifthe council had waited to testyou—anotherday, another week, it would have been too late. You’d have failed. It would have been you in this deathcage. As it turns out, you have more time to remain undetected.”
Iravan’s throat tightened. In his heart, he knew she was telling the truth.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter now,” Bharavi continued. “One slip is all it takes. I was careless. You will be too.”
“All those things you said to me in the sanctum. You were talking about yourself.”
“I needed toknow—ifthere was a way to control thepower—”
“Andisthere?” Iravan asked, his eyes burning into hers. “Have you found control, then?”
“I’ve found,” Bharavi said softly, “acceptance.”
When he continued to stare at her, she shrugged again, the gesture graceful.
