Fanindra lifted her head, swaying in the sunlight.
“What do you think?” I asked, showing her the ivory stone with the orange and gold veins running through it. She tilted her head as if considering my work. “I know, I know. It’s not my best effort. I’ll finish it though, have no doubt.”
The snake stayed with me after that, and when I grew restless, I packed a bag with Ana’s gifts, placed Fanindra in the top, and began wandering. After a few months, I came upon a clearing and something about it seemed familiar. It took me a while, but I eventually realized it was the place where Phet’s home should have been. Blowing out a breath, I lifted my arms and created the small hut, deciding to make it my new home base.
I traveled through time with Fanindra every so often, spying on those I loved, though each jump drained me for weeks afterward. Still, it staved off the loneliness. And it was gratifying to find they were all happy and content. Even Ren and Kelsey’s children grew up strong and healthy. They had five children in total. I watched them for a time but didn’t bother following their offspring after they left the home.
When Ren died, I was at his side. Kelsey had passed away before him, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. I was there, but none of them were aware of it. Invisible, I bent over her hospital bed as she slept and kissed her wrinkled cheek. Even with painkilling drugs dripping into her veins, she opened her eyes and looked at me as if she could see me. I returned her smile and stood by Ren as he held her hand and she passed into the next world.
Their children didn’t make it in time when Ren died of a sudden heart attack. I sat beside him on the bed in his small home. He looked so old, I thought, though his eyes were just as blue, and even at that age, he was still handsome. It was becoming harder for me to do, but I froze time, like Ana had done for Yesubai, and I spoke with my brother for a great length.
After restoring all his memories, he frankly forgave me for all the pain I’d put him through, and we cried together over the women we loved and the sorrow of lives lived separately. I told him I loved him and he asked if it had been me who had gifted his son with the family seal. I answered that it had indeed been me and Ana, though I knew the unfinished seal still sat in Phet’s hut in my own timeline.
I told him what the seal really was and that Kadam gave the one he’d used to open the Cave of Kanheri to me on one of his visits and that he’d said it was time for us to pass it along to the next generation. After leaving it with Ren’s eldest son, we followed its path for a time. Ren’s children never knew the importance of the object or its power.
As I sat with Ren, I knew the seal currently rested on the fireplace mantel of one of Ren’s grandsons. I wondered how many generations it would take for the simple history they knew to be forgotten.
Ren berated me for not visiting him and Kelsey over the years, and he said, “If it weren’t for the letter you wrote, we wouldn’t even know what happened to you.”
“Letter?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said with a cough. “You know, the scroll?”
Nodding, though I didn’t know what he was referring to, I gave him a drink of water and changed the subject. I stayed with him for hours, sharing all my adventures, and listened to him talk of his. He was proud of his family, as he should be, but he was more excited about the possibility of seeing Kelsey again.
“Do you believe she’s out there somewhere?” I asked.
“If anyone would know, I’d think it would be you,” Ren answered.
I glanced out the window at the morning sun, frozen in place, and then looked at the clock. It read 6:38 a.m. “I wish I could tell you I was certain,” I said.
“Well, if you’re not, I am.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I can feel her. Here.” He tapped his chest.
“I think that’s your heart attack speaking,” I said.
“No. It’s something more than that. It’s like…like she’s calling me. Asking me to find her.” We looked at each other for a long moment. “I…I think I’d like to go to her now, brother.”
Nodding, I rose and took his hand, squeezing it in my grip. His returning squeeze barely felt like a flutter against my skin. “Good-bye, Ren,” I said. “Go find Kells and give her my best.”
“I will. And Kishan?”
“Yes?”
“I love you too.”
Tears filled my eyes. Starting time again, I left, unwilling to watch another person I loved die.
Back in Phet’s hut, I thought often about what Ren had said, and I gathered ink and a parchment and sat down and wrote him and Kelsey a letter. Ren had said it was a scroll, and I rolled up the parchment, thinking about where a scroll, delivered to them after they’d married, might have come from. The timing would have to be just right so that it didn’t impact their future.
I carried it around with me for years, and when the paper tore and faded, I made a copy, used the newly finished seal of the House of Rajaram to bind it, and fashioned a glass to protect the paper from damage. That was when I knew what it was. I’d seen it before.
Knowing what to do, I visited the phoenix who, when I asked about a substance that would open a mortal’s eyes so he could see things hidden from others, bade me to juice a firefruit. I did and presented it to him. He bent over the liquid and blinked. A single teardrop pooled at the edge of his eye and fell into the liquid.
“How long will it last?” I asked.
“It will remain potent until the last phoenix falls,” he said.
I thanked him and headed to Tibet. Instead of making my presence known to all the monks, I materialized before the first Dalai Lama as he walked alone in his garden, likely pondering the secrets of the universe. If he was startled to see me, he didn’t show it.
After presenting him with the scroll and the ointment, I used the power of the scarf to create a tiger medallion like the one I remembered and hung it around his neck. I finished by warning him that the contents of the scroll were not to be read and gave him all the other instructions I thought were pertinent to help Kelsey and my former self in their quest.
Every time I thought of Shangri-La, it brought a tightness to my chest. With the letter gone and the seal finished, there was nothing more for me to do. I wandered for a few decades, helping people where I could, knowing Ana would have wanted me to. I came upon a young man during my travels and my hand thrummed when I shook his.
I knew immediately that he was one of my many descendants. He told me his name was Tarak, and I started. I was in the presence of my own grandfather. To make sure, I asked where he hailed from and he confirmed my suspicions. We traveled together for a time, and when we separated, I offered him a gift.
“What is it?” he asked, unwrapping the cloth.
“A very precious heirloom. Seeing as I have no progeny”—the seal remained cold in my hands, responding to my lie—“I would be honored if you would keep this in your family.”
His eyes grew large when he saw what he held in his hands. “Are you certain you wish to part with it?” he asked.
“I judge you as one deserving of it. Besides, the time has come for me to move forward without it.” I was about to turn aside when I thought of something else. Hesitantly, I pulled a second priceless treasure from my bag and placed it in his hands. “This belonged to my late wife,” I said. “Perhaps one day your wife or daughter might take to it.” I touched my fingertips to Ana’s ivory-handled hairbrush and then smiled, knowing it would someday soon be in my mother’s hands.
He clutched my arm in a familiar gesture. It was the warrior’s vow. The words had changed somewhat since my wedding, but the promises made still stirred my heart. I clutched the boy to me, pounding his back. “May luck be with you always, young Tarak.”