‘Hmm, are you sure?’ Bisma asked. She crouched down so she was at eye level with the five-year-old, then pressed her ear to Nori’s stomach. ‘You are! Your tummy just told me so.’
A smile cracked through Nori’s pout. ‘No it didn’t!’
‘Oh yes it did.’ Bisma felt around Nori’s stomach, tickling her in the process. ‘Look, I can feel it, too! Your tummy is empty.’ She stretched her free hand to Deeba, tickling her as well. ‘And so is yours!’
Both girls laughed, and Bisma pulled them close. ‘Now, will you help me make chai? You can have some honey milk and nankhatai.’
‘Make me some, too!’ Luna called from the couch, where she was lying down, fighting with a spool of yarn.
‘Fine, but watch Deebs,’ Bisma said, depositing the two-year-old onto the floor in front of her.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Luna said. She grabbed some painted wooden blocks and tossed them to Deeba, who quickly busied herself with playing.
‘Azalea?’ Bisma asked, pulling out a wooden stool for Nori to stand on by the stove. She set a pot with water on the stovetop, careful to mind Mei’s work. Mei was in the kitchen as well, making a hot and sour soup for dinner.
‘Yeah, duh,’ Azalea replied. Only the older girls were allowed caffeine, and like most twelve-year-olds, Azalea took every opportunity to be one of the older ones.
After the water boiled, Bisma asked Nori to add in the loose tea, telling her to only put in a spoonful. Nori, of course, added a spoonful that could easily be counted as two, but Bisma had accounted for such an error; two spoonfuls was really the amount she needed.
As that brewed she added sugar and cardamom, then when it was ready, Bisma poured in the milk herself, adding milk to another small pot with honey, to warm for the younger girls.
When their drinks were ready, Bisma poured the chai and milk into teacups as Nori brought out the tin of nankhatai, giving each of her sisters a buttery shortbread cookie.
Bisma distributed the teacups, and when she gave Luna hers, Bisma’s eyes caught on Luna’s work. She seemed to be knitting a pair of colorful striped mittens and looked to be getting tangled in the yarn.
‘Who are those for?’ Bisma asked. They looked far too big for any of the girls.
Luna hid her nose in her teacup. ‘No one,’ she mumbled.
Bisma returned to the kitchen, exchanging an amused look with Mei who’d overheard.
They sat wrapped in their sweaters and shawls, feet clad in fuzzy socks, sipping their warm drinks, as candles glowed around them, their home filled with the smell of ginger and soy sauce. Luna hummed to herself, and Deeba happily babbled along.
‘Baji, did I tell you?’ Luna said. ‘Last time Azalea and I were in town, Haru made this wonderful pumpkin dessert with the first pumpkins of the season. He knows I justadorepumpkin sweets, as I’ve mentioned it to him on more than one occasion.’
‘Hmm.’ Bisma had already heard this story about eight times in the past two days.
‘Buthealso likes them,’ Luna continued, ‘so do you think he made them becausehelikes them or because he knows thatIlike them … ?’ She trailed off, clearing her throat.
‘Oh, thank god she stopped,’ Azalea muttered.
Bisma wasn’t really paying attention; her gaze was trained on the little ones, eyes jumping from Mei in the kitchen, to Nori at the table, and Deeba on the floor.
Bisma took another sip of her chai—then nearly choked on it as Luna shrieked.
‘What is it?’ Bisma asked, shooting to her feet. She turned to the living area, where Luna had dropped her knitting and was clutching her left arm with her right. Her hand was red as if burning.
‘Lulu?’ Deeba asked from the floor, alarmed.
Luna cried out, falling to her knees. Her face was contorted with pain.
‘What happened?’ Bisma cried, falling to her side. It didn’t make sense. And then she saw the skin of Luna’s hand and wrist, the veins turning dark blue.
Just as they had with Mei.
Luna had been poisoned.
All the girls had gathered round, but upon seeing her dark blue veins, Mei started back, face petrified. Her dark eyes were wide with fear.
