Luna nodded, putting an arm around Nori. Mei held one of little Deeba’s hands, while Azalea held her other. With one final smile, Eva blew them a kiss. She looked up at the treehouse—her home—then turned to go. Bisma walked alongside her.
The Forest was dark now, but they could move through the woods with their eyes closed. Moonlight shone down from above. The air was chilly. Bisma rubbed her arms. They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the edge of the Enchanted Forest.
It was time.
Bisma threw her arms around Eva, holding her tight.
‘Don’t go,’ Bisma said, though she knew it was futile. She pulled away, clutching Eva’s forearms. ‘I’m not ready, Baji. Can’t you stay just a little longer?’
‘Not Baji anymore,’ the older girl replied with a sad smile. ‘Just Eva, remember? I’ll have to get used to that again. Same as you’ll have to get used to being called Baji.’
Bisma released a long breath, eyes filling with tears. It felt as though a piece of her heart was being carved out.
‘The rules are the rules,’ Eva whispered, her voice wavering. ‘You know how the Forest is.’
The Enchanted Forest had a mind of its own. It welcomed girls who were unwanted or had nowhere else to go but with the strict stipulation that the eldest would become Baji on her eighteenth birthday and remain only until the next girl came of age.
In three years, when Luna was eighteen, Bisma would be leaving just as Eva was now. It felt like a cruel punishment, always having to say goodbye.
Things had always been like this, since the Enchanted Forest took in the first girl hundreds of years ago. The rules and traditions had passed down over and over. The girls did not quite understandwhythe Forest had its rules, just that it did, and they needed to obey them.
‘Won’t you write to us?’ Bisma whispered. ‘To me, at least? I won’t tell, I promise.’
Eva sighed. ‘I wish, but you know I can’t. None of the elder bajis ever have, and besides, I don’t think the Forest would allow my letters to reach you even if I did.’
‘But why?’ Bisma asked, angry. ‘It isn’t fair.’
‘Darling, if you spend all the time I’m away wishing for me to come back, how will you ever adjust? How will any of the others?’ Eva said. ‘You need to trust and rely on yourself, so the girls can, too. The system is the way it is for a reason.’
Bisma didn’t understand why it was like this, but she did not see the same frustration on Eva’s face. Eva seemed to understand why it had to be this way; perhaps when Bisma wasdone with her tenure as Baji, she would understand, too. But for now she felt nothing but anxiety.
‘Now I really must go. Look …’ Eva said, drawing up her wrist. There was a black tree inked onto her skin; it was the mark of the Enchanted Forest. They all had them, but Eva’s was fading fast, nearly gone.
‘I’m afraid,’ Bisma whispered. Raising five girls under the age of fifteen—caring for them, protecting them, nurturing them—was no easy feat.
‘So was I,’ Eva said. She squeezed Bisma’s arm. ‘But you’ll figure it out, and you’ll have the Forest to help you. I know you can do it.’
But Bisma wasn’t as patient as Eva, nor as clever or kind. She loved her sisters, but love was not always enough.
‘I have to go,’ Eva said. The mark on her wrist was nearly gone now. Once it faded, she would not be allowed back into the Enchanted Forest. She would go and build her life somewhere else, somewhere new, just as the previous bajis had done before her.
Bisma had no idea where any of them were; once they left, they did not stay in the Old Town and they did not return.
‘I hate this,’ Bisma said, eyes welling with tears. ‘I’m going to miss you.’
Eva cupped Bisma’s face in her hands. ‘We’ll see each other again,’ she said, her voice a promise.
Hope flared in Bisma’s heart. ‘Really? How?’ Bisma asked quietly.
‘I’m not sure,’ Eva replied, nibbling on her lower lip. ‘But it’s what my baji told me.’
‘Where will you go? How will I find you?’ Bisma had a hundred questions, but Eva just smiled, leaning forward to kiss Bisma’s forehead.
‘Just trust me,’ Eva said, and despite the fear unfurling in Bisma’s chest, she did. She trusted Eva with her life. She pulled her older sister into one last hug.
‘Be good,’ Eva whispered. With that, she walked away into the thick fog and disappeared.
‘But that’s just it,’ Bisma whispered to no one in particular. She stood alone in the quiet woods. ‘I’m not good.’
