From behind a tree on the bank of the stream, half-hidden and half-exposed, Poonguzhali saw the mute queen. The unexpected sight of her, at such an unexpected place and time, startled Poonguzhali. She knew well that the mute queen did not like to see strangers. “Sendhan Amudhan is in the boat—if my aunt sees him, will she perhaps run away?” That very thought had barely crossed her mind when her aunt indeed began to run.

Poonguzhali swiftly leapt from the boat onto the bank and climbed the mound to look around. She noticed her aunt disappearing into the dense forest a little distance away.

Meanwhile, Sendhan Amudhan too jumped onto the bank, climbed the mound, and reached the spot where Poonguzhali stood.

“Poonguzhali! Poonguzhali! Who was it that stood here just now?” he asked.

“Don’t you know, Amudha?”

“I can’t say for certain! Perhaps…”

“Yes, it was my aunt! The very same aunt whom you thought was dead—your mother’s elder sister!”

“Yes; she did seem to have a little of my mother’s manner.”

“Don’t just say anything that comes to mind! There’s no resemblance in appearance between the younger and elder aunts; nor in their natures. Where is the cow that’s tied up at home, and where is the lioness who roams the wild as she pleases?”

“All right, let it be so. But why did the lioness run away as soon as she saw you?”

Poonguzhali laughed and said, “She ran away after seeing you, not me. She has no fondness for seeing strangers.”

“I am not a stranger, am I?”

“My aunt doesn’t know that, does she? If she knew, she wouldn’t run away after seeing you. But before she comes to know, she hesitates a great deal.”

“Poonguzhali! What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to search for my aunt and bring her back.” “May I come too?”

“For what purpose?”

“To see Periyamma in person and get to know her, that’s all.”

“Why do you need to know Periyamma?”

Senthan Amudhan, having learned a little about his Periyamma’s past from Poonguzhali, was eager to see her. Along with that, he also hoped that Periyamma might help change Poonguzhali’s mind away from her current loyalties.

“There are so many reasons; but is a reason needed to want to know Periyamma?” he replied.

Poonguzhali thought for a moment and said, “Alright, come! Let’s go. If I take you along, it might be a little harder to catch Periyamma. Still, who can stop us? We can tie the boat up here and leave it!”

As she said, they tied the boat securely, hiding it beneath a thicket of screw pine, and set off together toward the Kodikkarai forest.

As they walked, Senthan Amudhan asked, “Poonguzhali! Didn’t you say Periyamma lives either on the island of Lanka or on the island of Puthu?”

“Yes, sometimes she stays in Lanka, sometimes on Puthu island.”

“Does she come here often?”

“No; she comes only rarely. If I don’t go to see her for a long time, she’ll come here.”

“Has she come now just to see you?”

“This time, it seems she has come for some other purpose.”

“What other purpose?”

“She might have come to find out whether her adopted son drowned in the sea or managed to survive and reach the shore. She would have heard that after the prince boarded the ship, a cyclone struck at sea, wouldn’t she?”

“Is Arulmozhi Varman her adopted son? Then who is Periyamma’s own son?”

“That is what I do not know. But one day—if not today, then another day—I will uncover that secret and find out.”

“Is her own son still alive, or has he passed away?”

“Yes, he might have died—who can say for sure?” said Poonguzhali.

After a brief pause, she asked, “Amudha! You have seen your aunt, haven’t you? You once said her facial expressions resembled your mother’s. Did anyone else’s face come to mind?”

“It feels as if I remember something, but it’s not clear. It’s as though a veil of clouds has hidden it from me.”

“Have you often seen the younger queen of Pazhuvoor?”

“I have seen her a few times, yes! Now that you mention it, I realize whose face it is. It’s the very likeness of Nandini Devi’s features! How strange! How could such a resemblance have come about? Poonguzhali, how did you notice that similarity?”

“I have often seen my aunt. And only a few days ago, I saw the younger queen of Pazhuvoor here on this very Kodikkarai shore. The resemblance in their faces struck me at once.”

“What could be the reason for it?”

“That too, I will find out one day. Today, when I saw my aunt, I thought of asking her about it.”

“But your aunt is mute, isn’t she? How will you speak with her?”

“Don’t you speak with your mother, Amudha?”

“I speak with her through gestures—it’s been my habit since birth. But if it is to convey something new, it is difficult!”

“My elder aunt and I also communicate through gestures. If there is something we cannot express with gestures, we draw pictures to explain.”

“How hard it must be for both sisters in the same family to be born mute! How much sorrow it must have caused their parents!”

“That’s not all. When they were little, the elder and younger sisters would constantly quarrel with each other. Because of that, grandfather took only the elder aunt with him and went to live on the haunted island. Grandfather had such a deep affection for the elder aunt that—” She had cherished great desires. It seems that some astrologer had foretold she would become a queen as soon as she bore a child. That is why, when it became known that the child was mute, her sorrow was all the greater…”

Conversing thus, they entered the forest. For a long time they wandered, yet could not find the mute queen.

“Amudha! It is only because