Vayu's eyes opened slowly to the sterile white of an unfamiliar ceiling.
He tried to push himself up, but a sharp ache in his chest and his spine throbbed in protest, forcing him back down. The memory of the rakshasa's crushing force returned—he had pushed his Prāṇna to the limit to heal himself. Now, his energy reserves were depleted, his very life force feeling fragile and thin, like a threadbare veil over an endless void.
"Oh, you're awake."
Vayu rolled his head and saw Sindhu on the adjacent bed, biting into an apple with a crisp snap. Juice glistened on his chin, a small rebellion against the room's antiseptic chill.
"Where...are we?" he asked.
"That girl who kicked the hell out of you dragged us here," Sindhu said. "Now we're prisoners, waiting to face the consequences." He pulled a handful of his hair, his eyes darting toward the door as anxiety piled up in his mind.
Vayu stared up at the ceiling, trying to piece together the fragments of memory. The plaster's faint cracks webbed like old scars, mirroring the ache in his bones.
A voice called from the doorway. "This one has regained consciousness. Call the Ved."The Ved — a doctor with cool, professional hands —examined him, pressing gently along his ribs. "Hm. Multiple fractures on upper body..." The Ved stepped back. "Rest for today. You will have to appear before the council."
Sindhu leaned in, lowering his voice. "So—what's your name?"
"Vayu."
"I'm Sindhu. Heir of Kaveri," he said, puffing out his chest slightly, as if expecting a reaction. When none came, he added, "If these people find out who I am, they'll..." He let the threat hang in the air, his fingers drumming an erratic rhythm on the bedsheet.
Vayu kept watching the ceiling, the cracks now resembled a map to nowhere, more compelling than Sindhu's edged words.
"What are you looking at?" he snapped.
"Nothing."
"Then listen to me when I talk."
"I can't. The Ved said I must rest."
Sindhu fell silent for a moment. "Whatever. Just pray Kumari Tanya doesn't show up again — she's a short-tempered tigress."
Vayu closed his eyes. The world faded, the cracks in the ceiling blurring into nothing.