Early next morning, Bhairavi and Samanya left to catch the 6.15am flight to Bagdogra, dropping the letter off at Bhairavi's house on the way. It was the only flight which had tickets available at such short notice, so the sleepy duo reached early and completed check in by 5am, before going to the airport’s cafe for some coffee.

Bhairavi yawned before ordering a black coffee with no sugar. She needed the liquid energy to survive the day with improper sleep and constant journeying. Samanya stared, "You...drink your coffee black...with no sugar? Seriously?"

Bhairavi smiled, before nodding and speaking mentally, 'Yep. Namma's Cocoa-nut coffee is an exception. I like my coffee hot and bitter.'

Samanya stepped back and put up his hands in mock surrender, "You scare me sometimes, you know?"

Bhairavi shook her head at his goofiness, 'Your jokes need energy too.’

He grinned at that before joining her with his own coffee, a Mocha to which, much to her amusement, he added huge spoons of sugar.

The flight duration was only an hour and they left the airport at 8am after booking a Swift Dzire to take them to Aritar. The distance was 112 kilometres and it would take them around four and a half hours, including breakfast and bathroom stops.

Bhairavi fell asleep as soon as the car took off and woke up only when they had stopped for breakfast at a roadside dhaba. They had hot, soupy Maggi, flavoured with coriander, which was surprisingly amazing. After having a hot cup of tea, they got back on road and this time Bhairavi made herself stay awake.

The last time she had come, she had been with her parents, enjoying the beauty of the mountains. Now, she was going to avenge them. But, she would not let that stop her from enjoying the beauty, 'Samanya, ask the driver to play some music, please.'

Samanya nodded slightly before saying, "Driver ji, please play some songs."

The driver did as asked and as the Journey song from Piku crooned in the background, Bhairavi was lost in the scenery while the car circled and crossed from one mountain to another.

Around half past twelve they reached Aritar and searched for a hotel to check in. But they found no vacancy. Finally, they decided to look for home-stays and found one. But there began the actual problem.

They were neither married, and definitely not a couple. And the homestay only had one vacant room. Since it was India and live-ins were not acceptable everywhere, they knew they would definitely not get the room even if they wanted to share it decently. It was already half past two and they were starving.

Finally, Bhairavi decided that she would use her powers to influence the owner into believing that they were a very young, newly married couple on honeymoon, thus the lack of vermilion and marital bangles. She felt a tad guilty, using her powers for selfish reasons, but it had to be done.

The owner was a very pretty Manipuri grandma and Bhairavi struck up a polite conversation with her by writing on paper, explaining the story before projecting it very firmly into her mind, and believing it strongly herself, to make it work.

The woman looked very unfocused for a while, and Bhairavi bit her tongue, afraid that she had overdosed her mind. She tenderly reached out mentally, and pulled the lady's memory of the story she just read to the surface, careful as to not disturb any of her other thoughts.

That seemed to do the trick and the woman smiled widely at her, "How delightful to see such a young married couple! I was just telling my son yesterday to let me find a good girl for him to settle down with, but he is so stubborn.

'It is too early, Maa,' he says. I will introduce your husband to him and tell him to give my son some tips and advice. Come, come, I will take you to your room. You two are so lucky that the honeymoon suite was vacant for you."

A slightly nervous Bhairavi followed the woman, Samanya was outside, paying the driver and taking his number for their return journey. On entering the room, she stared and stared while the grandma beamed at her, "Isn't it romantic!?"

Romantic would be too mild a term, for the entire room was a vibrant pink, full of frilly curtains and wall hangings and dried petals and what not. There was a huge four poster bed, pink obviously, with hangings and flowers strewn over it. There was a large sofa set as well, somehow pink again. Samanya entered, carrying her bag and his suitcase and stopped short at the sight of it.

"Even though it is cold, we have a bath tub and provide hot running water, extra rate for filling the bath tub, though. And since the medicine store is quite far, ahem, we provide all necessities for a honeymoon, and pills too."

Bhairavi’s face blushed deeply on hearing that and Samanya disguised his explosive laughter as a cough, "Ahem, thank you, ma'am. It is perfect."

The lady cooed about how cute they were as a couple before leaving.

"Bhairavi..." Samanya stopped.

They looked at each other before bursting out laughing. Tears rolled down her face as she recalled her horror and the lady's speech.

"Your face was as red as a tomato, you know," Samanya roared, half laying on the sofa and laughing away.

Feeling a little embarrassed, she said, 'You should have seen your face! Shocked with round eyes and a dry throat.'

Samanya smiled at that, before looking at her with humour, fondness and something which she could not comprehend. Clearing his throat, he looked away, before asking, "What do you want for lunch?"

'Let's have some rice and chicken? Choose a good dish.'

He nodded, "Fill the bathtub with hot water and take a bath, I'll pay. Relax a little."

Bhairavi frowned at that, 'Hey. You did not let me pay for the plane tickets. I am paying for the room and food.'

"No you aren't, because I already paid for the room while coming in."

Annoyed, she shouted after his receding figure, "You are sleeping on the sofa, by the way."

After taking a long post lunch nap, they woke up and decided to start planning. 'Samanya, where do you live, I mean used to live?'

"We live in a mansion on the edge of the Northern forest area. It is the largest house of Aritar. Won't be hard to find."

'Okay. Now, I have a plan. But you will have to betray me'

"What!? What do you mean!? I am not betraying you to my family."

Bhairavi smiled, 'Well, if you don't want to, you have to at least make them believe you did.'

Samanya smirked at that, "Do tell."

'Well, first of all, tell me how vast is your father's hold, here? And tell me how did you leave your home?'

"Well, I had only one friend here. Our gardener's son, Bahurupi. He was a low born Rakshasa, But he was blessed with the power to manipulate Maya to bend to his will and make him appear as anyone he wishes to impersonate.

He had helped me escape with my things and all that I carried extra with me. My father has many spies, and most mix and live among the humans. Thus, we need to be very careful about how we move around."

'Very good. Then it makes things easier for us. Tell me one thing though. Why escape? Why not simply leave your home, I mean, you had told me that since your father did not like you he might have banished you someday?'

Samanya sighed, "Bhairavi, my father prefers things going his way. If he banishes me, then it doesn't matter. But since I, his eldest son, dared to transgress and leave, well, it shows weakness. And a Rakshasa king cannot afford to show weakness. He won't last then."

Bhairavi nodded, 'Okay. I can understand. Let's do one thing. I need to go out and buy some things.'

Seeing that he had opened his mouth to protest she said, 'Let me finish. I will go disguised. With my chopped hair, colored contact lenses, heavy makeup and a scarf, even Namma won't recognise me.'

At his nod she continued, 'You, on the other hand, will look shady and move among the humans. Let his spies report back to him that you are back and up to something. Go to a medicine shop, then a hiking goods shop, buy sleeping meds and rope and something mildly adhesive.'

Understanding dawned upon him as he exclaimed, "You want them to think I kidnapped you and brought you here!?"

'Yes.'

"But why?"

'Because, it will help us gain easy entry into your house without much fighting. They will think you brought me as a gift to appease your father and prove your loyalty.'

"But, what will you do then? And what if they tie you up?"

'You will be bringing me all tied up to him. But I will be having a small blade with me, just in case. It will help me cut through the ropes easily, if they refuse to untie me. As for the rest, leave it up to me,' Bhairavi said with determination.

"I just hope you know what you are doing, Bhairavi," Samanya said seriously, his eyes filled with worry.

Touched by his concern for her, she patted his cheek, careful as to not let her fingers linger. 'Come on. Let's get ready. We need to go to the local bazar before it shuts up for the day and I need to get my makeup ready.'

Samanya nodded, "I am going to take a shower. The room is yours."

Bhairavi smiled at that before opening her makeup bag. Never before had she felt so happy on seeing it, for it would be her armor for the upcoming battle.

Samanya took his time taking a bath, she suspected he had lied about showering and was soaking his sore back in the bathtub, for he had been inside the toilet for thirty minutes.

She was about to knock on the door when it opened and Samanya stepped out with wet, messy hair, "Gah, who...Bhairavi? Wow. I almost didn't recognize you."

A woman in her late twenties or early thirties smiled at that. She had green eyes, red pouty lips, a slightly heavy yet hot makeup look, messed up short hair, and was dressed in a flowy dress with a shawl wrapped around her. 'Just going to put on the scarf. I'll only reveal my face in the shops, don't worry.'

"You know, if I were into women slightly older than me, I would totally date you. You look like a...like those filmy, sexy, young widows."

The woman laughed at that, 'Now I feel embarrassed.'

"Hey, but you will be fine on your own, right? I mean with the writing in a notebook or signing? I am not worrying about anything else, for the shopkeepers will be bowled over and no one is going to recognise you."

'Yeah, I will manage,' said the woman, before smiling enigmatically. 'And as for everyone being bowled over, let's find out.'

A/N

Soooo. You know the drill, vote, comment your views and follow me to get chapter updates! Since I have finished writing the novel, I am going to upload more regularly and will start editing the chapters as well. Fingers crossed.

Love,
Kaushiki