That One Time I Got Incinerated
“We’re not thieves!” said Brynne.
“Iwill be the judge of that.”
Kamadeva smiled. Aru had never seen a more beautiful—or crueler—smile in all her life.
“Ah, one of you thinks I am weak …” he said, his gaze turning to Brynne. “Is it because you do not see me wielding a mace? Or a sword?”
“I—” started Brynne, but she couldn’t lunge at him, not with a swordpointing at her throat.
“You think desire is nothing, do you? Empirical evidence points to quite the opposite. I can start a war, you know.”
Kamadeva waved a hand and the four of them stared down as a scene unfurled across the marble floor:
In the woods, Surpanakha—an ugly tusked demoness with red eyes and sagging gray skin—confronted two handsome men and a beautiful woman. When Surpanakhasaw the handsome Rama—who was an incarnation of the godVishnu—and his younger brother Laxmana, she transformed into a beautiful woman, and tried to make one of them marry her. But Rama pointed to his wife, Sita, an incarnation of the goddess of good fortune. And Laxmana refused Surpanakha with a vehementHeck no!(At least that’s what Aru imagined he said.) Furious, Surpanakha rushed at Sita,and Laxmana cut off the demoness’s nose, revealing her true nature.
Humiliated, Surpanakha ran to her brother, the great demon king Ravana. She told him about her dishonor and blamed the beautiful Sita.
Ravana’s ten heads turned to Surpanakha. “What does this Sita look like?”
Aru knew what happened next, because it was the story told in the epic poem theRamayana. Ravana stole Sita, and Ramalaunched a war to get her back.
Kamadeva waved his hand, and the image changed. “Or I can end a war.”
The land had been ravaged by a terrible demon. A council of the gods declared that only the son of Lord Shiva, the god of destruction, and Parvati, the Mother Goddess, could do away with the culprit. There was only one problem, though … Parvati had been reborn on Earth and had never met Shiva.So there was no kid.
“Allow me to assist,” Kamadeva said to the concerned council of gods.
He found Lord Shiva meditating in a clearing in themiddleof a lush forest. The beautiful Parvati was approaching. Kamadeva ran around the glade rearranging leaves and flowers. “Look alive, people!” he shouted. “This is it! First impressions areeverything!”
Just as Parvati was about to enter, Kamadevareached for his bow and arrow.
“And one … two … three …” said Kamadeva. “Spring breeze.”
A light wind rolled through the forest clearing.
“Perfume!”
Flower blossoms opened.
“Music!”
Soft drumming and a flute echoed in the clearing.
“Lights!”
The afternoon sun’s rays dimmed to a golden glow.
“And now … a touch of je ne sais quoi.”
Kamadeva gently blew some glittery dust from his palmand the air looked star-touched.
“Perfection!” he said, stringing his bow—
“Wait …” said Aiden. At the sound of his voice, the image on the floor froze with a sharp sound like a record scratch. “Isn’t this the part where you get incinerated?”
Kamadeva dusted the shoulders of his suit. “Oh, so you’ve heard this story before.”
