Her belly got large and her parents' hearts were broken, of course. She was ruined. Blighted.
[At "blighted," he snaps off a small, overhanging branch and begins peeling the bark from it. Walking more slowly, now.]
The worst bit might have been her transgression with an imperial soldier. If she'd tarried with an Indian boy of suitably high station and dowry, they might have married her off quietly and enjoyed their grandchild.
As things stood, her parents were going to lock her away for the rest of her life. It was the worst punishment, you see, for Kairavi desired freedom above all things. She paced her room night and day. The child within grew larger and larger. I think...
[He pauses, wrapping one long strip of bark around his fingers.]
I like to think she would have loved her baby, possibly. Maybe. Or would have, if the madness to be free hadn't been so all-consuming. One night, late late---under a horned moon, you see---she contrived to escape by her window. Her soldier was there to bring her away, but she dismissed him with scorn. She wanted freedom, not the man who had engineered her imprisonment. She made her way down to the wharves to seek passage out of India.
no subject
[At "blighted," he snaps off a small, overhanging branch and begins peeling the bark from it. Walking more slowly, now.]
The worst bit might have been her transgression with an imperial soldier. If she'd tarried with an Indian boy of suitably high station and dowry, they might have married her off quietly and enjoyed their grandchild.
As things stood, her parents were going to lock her away for the rest of her life. It was the worst punishment, you see, for Kairavi desired freedom above all things. She paced her room night and day. The child within grew larger and larger. I think...
[He pauses, wrapping one long strip of bark around his fingers.]
I like to think she would have loved her baby, possibly. Maybe. Or would have, if the madness to be free hadn't been so all-consuming. One night, late late---under a horned moon, you see---she contrived to escape by her window. Her soldier was there to bring her away, but she dismissed him with scorn. She wanted freedom, not the man who had engineered her imprisonment. She made her way down to the wharves to seek passage out of India.