The mantis stalks the cicada*

Over the past couple of years, Katyayani had covertly found a young lad through one of the Dharamshala women's connections and assigned him to shadow Ganak.

Moreover, she 'helped' him discover the joys of gambling and whoring after being thrown out of the Bali Mansion.

When questioned by her attendants about the extra attention towards him, Katyayani had casually informed them that Ganak was the secret lover of Dharitri, the eldest miss of the Bali clan and hence was a person of interest.

Ganak was a smart lad to begin with and it had taken a lot of patience and perseverance on Katyayani's side to see him turn into a wastrel during the last couple of years. But she had thoroughly enjoyed the process.

It was akin to the pleasure that she received while playing chess. The true enjoyment for her was in laying the seemingly unconnected moves which slowly but eventually led the opposite side to feel trapped and helpless! No escape, no mercy!

Ganak had also reached the same point in his life, finally. It seemed that tonight a good show would be played out next to the Lotus Pond!

Katyayani was not the only one who had experienced a restless night.

Few pavilions away, Ekshika was pacing restlessly in the room, wringing her hands. She hadn't managed to catch even a few winks in sheer terror throughout the night.

She had helped her mistress get ready alongwith the other maids in the morning before seizing the chance to speak with her as they made their way to the eldest madam's chamber.

"Eldest Miss, you are not actually planning to give into that villain's demands, right?"

Dharitri was dressed in a green short coat with a floral pattern, matched with a high waisted, embroidered yellow skirt. The coat was made of the finest silk and was smooth to touch.

"Look for Nanny Sumana and ask her to cook the sweet porridge that she used to make for me in my childhood. Tell her to personally bring it to my chambers in an hour," she instructed Ekakshi.

The maid looked at her stupidly. Was the mistress not worried about the deadline this evening? How could she be in the mood to reminisce about her childhood at this moment? How could she want to EAT at this hour?

But knowing her mistress's temper, she bobbed her head demurely and walked in the direction of the servant's quarters.

Nanny Sumana was Dharitri and Dharini's nanny who belonged to the maternal clan of Madam Lilavati. Even though the girls had grown up and didn't need the services of the nanny, the old woman had refused to retire. Instead, she begged to continue staying at the Bali Mansion and offered her services in helping manage the household. It was her fervent wish to spend even her last breath serving her benevolent mistress, Madam Lilavati.

With the relations deteriorating between husband and wife, affecting Madam Lilavati's mental state, she was grateful for the timely support. Over the years, she found herself to be more and more reliant on the capable shoulders of Nanny Sumana. She was someone from her natal family and absolutely trustworthy.

In the kitchen, Nanny Sumana smacked her betel leaf stained lips and showed off in front of the middle-aged head cook who was standing on the side. "No matter how old both the misses are, no matter how efficient the cooks are in the kitchen, the girls still want to eat the humble milk and dates porridge made by this old woman."

The stocky woman, who was the chief cook in the Bali residence, pursed her lips but didn't say much. After all, the management of the household rested with the eldest madam and this old biddy was her trusted aide.

Thankfully, Nanny Sumana liked to stay in the household accounts room instead of the kitchen. Hence, these once in a while irritating visits to the kitchen were easy to tolerate, else who could handle over the top gloating on a recurring basis.

An hour later

Dharitri had a headache brewing already when not even the second prahar of the day had passed yet (around 10am).

Her mother was going through one of her mood swings this morning. There was nothing surprising about it. Every year when Katyayani came down from the Mandh Mountain, her mother's nerves became more volatile than usual.

Though the young orphan girl did not possess even one hundredth of her mother's famed beauty, her eyes were exactly the same. Those bewitching eyes had caused enough turmoil in the Bali clan many years ago and still continued to do so.

Dharitri had found out about her father's fetish for those lowly women by accident when she was thirteen.

Eavesdropping upon a conversation between a strange man and her father in his study, she had discovered that he liked a particular type of beauty - one with grey eyes.

Even though grey eyed women weren't a common occurrence in Dima city, a few brothels managed to source them time-to-time for prestigious clients who had specific demands, one of them being Rudradev.

She did not go back and tell her mother about this. Instead, she went ahead and launched a scheme against her cousin purely to vent the anger and injustice which her mother had been experiencing over the years due to her cousin's dead mother!

"Eldest Miss, this servant has been waiting for you for quite some time. The porridge became cold so I sent it back to the kitchen for reheating," Nanny Sumana gave her a fawning smile, as Dharitri entered her room.

Dharitri looked at the old woman with complicated eyes. Stoutly built with a ruddy complexion, draped in a soft woollen long dress, she resembled a well-fed matron rather than an ageing servant of a household.

"Everyone except Ekakshi, leave the room!" Dharitri's commanding voice rang out in the chamber.

The cleaning maids bowed their heads and walked out without any delay.

Nanny Sumana's smile became even brighter. Was the eldest miss going to give her something precious? Her greedy mind ran unbridled in all possible directions.

*One of my favourite chinese idioms. You can google it to find the meaning and background behind it.