Nandini gently lifted Manimekalai’s chin and gazed deep into her blossoming eyes.

“My precious one! It is better that you keep your innermost thoughts from me. After all, I have not even been your companion for a single full day. Such secrets should be shared only with friends of long acquaintance,” she said.

“No, Akka! When I look at you, it feels as though you are an old friend of mine. My heart urges me to tell you things I have never told anyone else. I even find the courage to ask you questions I would not dare ask another…”

“In that case, ask me, dear one!”

“In stories, they speak of apparitions—of seeing someone’s form even when they are not truly present. Is that really possible, Akka? Can it truly seem as if someone stands before us, though they are not there?”

“Sometimes it does happen so; when we hold too much longing for someone, even if their form is not before us, it seems as though they are there. If we harbor too much hatred for someone, their image too will appear before us. Have you not heard the tale of Maya-Kannan, Manimekalai? Why, you must have seen it in plays as well! Kamsan had such hatred for Krishna that everywhere he looked, Krishna’s form appeared before him. He flung his sword again and again, only to be deceived. Nappinnai, the gopika, had such love for Krishna that she too saw his form wherever he was not. She would embrace pillars, trees, even the river’s flood, mistaking them for Krishna, and be left disappointed! Tell me, Manimekalai, who is the Maya-Kannan who has so bewitched you?”

“Akka! It was only four months ago that I saw him for the first time. Before that, my brother Kandhamaaran often spoke of him. But never did his image appear before my eyes then. After seeing him once, he began to appear often in my dreams. Sometimes, even in the daytime, it seems as if his form stands before me…”

“Even yesterday, you saw the apparition of that enchanter, did you not?”

“Yes, Akka! How did you know?” “Did no one ever tell you that I possess magical powers?”

“Yes, they did; but is it true, Akka?”

“You can test it for yourself. If you wish, I can use my magical power to reveal the name of the handsome young man who has stolen your heart!”

“Tell me, let’s see. Even I feel shy to say his name aloud.”

Nandini closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and said, “The beloved who has stolen your heart is none other than Vallavarayan Vandiyathevan of the Vanar clan! Isn’t it so?”

“Akka! It is true that you possess magical powers!” exclaimed Manimekalai.

“Oh, foolish girl! When you had already given your heart away to someone so completely, why didn’t you tell your brother about it? Why did he try to entice you with Madurantakan? Why did he make vain efforts to bring Karikalan here? Why did he summon me here unnecessarily?”

“Akka! My brother Kandanmaran does not like him…”

“How wonderful! Is your brother going to marry you off himself? But wasn’t it Kandanmaran who first told you about Vandiyathevan? Wasn’t it your brother who brought him here?”

“Yes, it was Kandanmaran who told me about him. He even brought him to the women’s quarters one day. But later, his mind changed; there was a reason for that too. In Thanjavur, he says that Vandiyathevan stabbed him with a dagger, Akka! Didn’t my brother lie wounded in your palace? Wasn’t it only because of your loving care that he survived and recovered?”

“Your brother exaggerates what I did. Let that be. Now, what will you do? The one who has captured your heart has now become your brother’s enemy!”

“But do you know what he says?”

“Who do you mean by ‘he’?”

“Him! The very person whose name you just spoke! He swears that he never stabbed Kandanmaran. He says someone else stabbed him and left him by the wall of Thanjavur fort, and that he himself found and saved him…” “He says so.”

“When did he tell you this?”

“Just yesterday…”

“Yesterday, did you see that Vandiyathevan in person? Didn’t you say you saw his very form and appearance?”

“That’s what troubles me, Akka. I don’t know whether it was truly him I saw yesterday, or just his apparition. When I think of all that happened yesterday, it all feels like a dream. Akka! Sometimes, people say that when someone dies, their spirit comes and speaks to the living—is that true?”

As Manimekalai asked this question, her voice trembled with boundless fear. Nandini’s body too shuddered; staring somewhere at the distant ceiling, she replied, “Yes, it’s true! The spirits of those who die untimely deaths wander among the living. If someone has been beheaded, sometimes only the head will appear. Sometimes, the body alone comes. And sometimes, both come separately and ask, ‘Have you avenged me?’”

Then, turning to Manimekalai, she raised her voice, “Girl! Why do you ask such questions? Are you afraid that something has happened to your beloved? Who has sown this doubt in your mind?”

“There’s a madman in this palace. I sent for him, but last night, someone beat him and sent him away. Instead, his wife, Devaratti, came—she was the one who told me!”

“Fie! Don’t believe such nonsense!”

“I too find it hard to believe. If it was only a spirit, you wouldn’t be able to touch it, right, Akka?”

“You cannot touch a spirit; nor can you touch an apparition. Why do you ask? Did you touch the one who has stolen your heart yesterday?”

“That’s what confuses me. It feels as if I did touch him; but when I think of certain other things, I begin to doubt.”

“Tell me everything that happened yesterday, in detail, girl! I will clear your doubts!”

“Let it be, Akka! If I ramble on out of