Hemagiri

I

A dreary glare of the sun cast a shadow over the capital city. The clouds were dark, indicating a pouring as harsh as the sun's heat later in the day.

The kingdom was in the month of transition with the weather having a severe whiplash of moods. The worst of all was that with each passing year since the war, the summers kept getting short. This meant that the mining season in Hemagiri was short. It was an intense two and a half months that was always fulfilling for the kingdom. It was why the people who had come to the kingdom for trade would try to stay till the end of the season, despite the risks of travel being higher. More gold meant more money.

And no gold shined better than the gold from Hemagiri.

Except this year had been shorter. Barely completing two months, they were already preparing themselves to leave the moment there was a long enough gap to sail away to their homes.

For the kingdom, this meant lesser prosperity. For Vrindha, it meant unaccounted gold that wouldn't be traced back to her even if it was stolen.

She had been given her target, a pudgy fifty year old man. She had learnt that it was best she never asked Patil, her employer, why he needed her to steal when he was already rich. Getting into the politics of businessmen never ended well. Thinking beyond carrying out the robbery was unnecessary time and energy wasted.

Her target had been widowed two years before with two sons who hated him, one of whom sat across from her grumbling silently.

She waited patiently, sipping on her filter coffee. Gopi's coffee never failed to be the best coffee she had ever had. Every time. Never failed. It was why there was always a huge crowd near his store. For most people, it was a respite in the middle of work. Located in the heart of the bustling city where most of the work happened and away from the residential parts of it, business always flourished throughout the day. With a coffee and a couple of rusks, the people would just buy them from inside the house and enjoy it while walking back to their work.

At the most, people would sit on the thinnai like she and Surya did to talk a little when they had enough time to relax. Outside the house, it was a platform with a pai on top. Leaning against one of the wooden pillars, Surya rested against the wall opposite to her, his coffee untouched.

At nineteen, both Surya and Vrindha had none of the burden of work, but life hadn't treated them well enough to look their age. Life had worn them out enough they looked much older.

"I hate him," sighed Surya, finally done seething in his mind. "I wish he would die today so I wouldn't have to see his face tomorrow."

She hated her mind for instantly thinking about Dev if someone mentioned death.

As much as it should've been a bad thing, she had grown so accustomed to his lifestyle that it didn't bother her at all. The only thing that bothered her was that it had been several months, almost a year since she had seen him. All she knew about him was what she had heard from the streets in the past year. If he couldn't bother himself to care about her, it was high time she learnt to as well.

Clearing her mind, she asked Surya, "What did he do?"

He shook his head, "Leave it, it's not worth your time. To be honest, it's not worth anyone's time."

She grabbed his hand with her free one, squeezing it. "And I'm telling you it's worth my time."

He looked up. She held his gaze as she stressed, "I want to listen."

She could see his walls breaking. Maybe people opened up to her because she was a girl. When Vrindha had gone to Tara's brothel to see Gowri, she had managed to get one of her customers to spill information. The moment she had seen it, Tara had tried recruiting her, but Vrindha didn't believe you needed to seduce a man for information. She had long learnt that men were very emotional, and all it took was using the right words to hit the right place.