1529
In the tranquil fields of the eastern hill, it was all filled with a clatter of laughter.
From the midst of the chaos of a herd of sheep grazing under the drowning sun, ran Shefali dazzling with the flower crown she made herself for over an hour from now.
"Shefali, wait!"
Shouts Rekha running after her beloved friend.
"Quick! It's already so late"
Shefali turns her head slightly to look at Rekha behind her making the little jhumkas tinckle slightly.
They ran through the narrow lanes of Muksadabad (present day Murshidabad, Bengal) making heads turn.
Some gasp at the sight of the two young girls running about when it is almost dusk and some shake their heads in disbelief.
Some even wonder how can their families be so liberal?
To their dismay, the girls pay their round eyes no attention.
They part ways as soon as Rekha runs inside the gates of her house.
Shefali is sure her dadu (grandpa) won't spare her off his lecture this time.
Afterall it's the second time she is so late in the same week.
"Dadu?"
She walked past her caretaker as soon as she opened the door.
The caretaker, namely Gauri, sighed in relief that her little mistress is back.
Ever since Shefali's parents died in a pandemic, Gauri has been taking care of Shefali with immense compassion.
"Are you there?"
Shefali asks in a comparatively louder voice while walking up the darkened stairs.
"Take the lantern with you"
Gauri says from downstairs but Shefali is already past the staircase.
The little lamps are lit in regular intervals around the broad corridors.
"Don't disturb the neighborhood by shouting on top of your voice, child"
Says her grand father closing the book, sitting on his armchair and putting it beside the oiled lantern on the side table.
"Dadu... I was-"
She started explaining herself with the sweetest tone she could manage.
She knows how to soften the heart of the old man who loves her the most of all the people he ever had any sort of relations with.
"Late again"
He finishes for her.
He stood up removing his spectacles on the way.
"You are a young girl, Shefali. Your mother in your age was already married off to your father"
He started while picking a grass or two from the tangled hairs near the side of her ear.
"And here you are running around the town with a widow of all people"
He regrets saying the last part almost immediately.
Shefali's eyebrow's cross themselves and her hands turn into fists at her either side.
"Do you believe Rekha is cursed as well?"
She asks with a depth of grief in her voice but her eyes held curiosity.
"Does that at all alter with your friendship with her?"
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𝟏𝟓𝟐𝟗: 𝐀 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐣𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐚| Indian Historical Fiction
Historische Romane𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 Ⅰ 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐀𝐉𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐈-𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐀 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘 Shefali Roy had lost her parents in a pandemic when she was just one year old. That was the first time she was orphaned. The next time she was orphaned was when she was seventeen. The army of...
