Think It Strange

The elders exchanged looks, and some of the villagers began whispering among each other.

“Dakshana,” Srina began, but Dakshana shrugged her off and stepped forward.

“Why would that matter?” Dakshana asked. “Or are you just looking for an excuse to burn me to death the same way you did my parents?”

The elders looked affronted. One of them stepped into Dakshana’s space. “How dare you, after we kept you --”


“Did none of you think it strange, that Ashoken was so eager to burn them, and then he vanished in a magic circle?”

“You survived the deaths,” the elder said. “You.”