𝙋𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙐𝙇𝙐𝙈 | 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 | 𝙈. 𝙊'𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙖

10| 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙄 𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧

┅╍━━🕷️🧿🕸️━━╍┅

July 2011

It had been a while since Vishwa had last taken Vrinda out on their secret night rides. The Masters at the Kamar Taj had heaped training sessions on her that week, with Master Ottavio insisting that she absolutely needed to learn basic protection spells despite her being unable to actually cast one. By the time she was back home or back at her room in the Kumari's Mansion, she could barely lift an arm off the bed from the rigorous training, much less take Vrinda outside.

Finally when the workload had eased and she had somehow passed Master Ottavio's little pop quiz, she found herself sitting before Vrinda again that morning doing her makeup. It was getting quite; devotees were already queuing up outside the Mansion to meet the Avatar of Taleju, to gift her their offerings and to pray for guidance and her blessings, the ruckus of the crowd filtering over the compound walls.

Vishwa was already in her gray training gear with her backpack slung over her shoulder. She was careful to clean the bit of lipstick straying above her little sister's cupid's bow before capping the tube. Vrinda was clad in her full goddess regalia: her body wrapped in red silk complete with her glittering ornaments of gold, her little crown and the bunches of bright red, yellow and orange Ashoka flowers, roses and marigolds that covered her hair underneath the crown. The crimson tassels hanging from the crown swung back and forth as Vishwa picked her up.

"Vishwa," She whispered as they walked.

"Yeah, bou bei?"

"Can we go today? Let's go see the Flower Fest at the Public School Ground."

Vishwa shifted her position on her arm.

"How do you know they're doing a Flower Fest there?"

"The newspaper had this ad, and it was really pretty. They have orchids and...and wisteria bonsai and stuff."

Vish sighed. "Um, no promises but I'll try okay?"

Vrinda pumped her little fists. "Yes!"

Red was the colour of the goddess, the only colour Vrinda was allowed to wear for her tenure as the Kumari. She wasn't complaining though, it was her favorite colour after all.

She had almost eaten one of Vishwa's red crayons back when she was a baby. It became kind of annoying when she grew up and Vishwa just had to give her all the red M&Ms from a tube or pick all the red gummy bears from a packet for her. If she had her way, her wardrobe would've been entirely red instead of being the spectrum of warm hues it had been before she had been selected as the Kumari.

Maybe she always had a bit of Taleju within her.

Vishwa was careful to hook her arm underneath her sister's knees, careful not let her feet touch the ground at any point no matter how much her arms hurt. It was believed that the second the Kumari's feet touched the ground, the Goddess Taleju's essense would leave her. The same went for any bleeding, the Kumari was to be kept safe from cuts, bruises or wounds.

Carrying a seven year old was difficult, and Vrinda had only grown heavier from being carried around all the time. Vishwa however didn't feel the strain as much following the spider bite.

The caretakers waited for her in the courtyard, ready to take her into the Throne Room upstairs. Vishwa smiled at them out of politeness and recieved warm smiles in return. She wasn't supposed to stay for long within the premises being family but the caretakers didn't have the heart to separate the two sisters, allowing her to visit Vrinda more often and even stay at times.