“Forget the land.” He took her hands—rough, clay-stained, beautiful hands. “I am going to open a small pottery studio here. Not for the tourists. For the women. For you. And Meenu…”

That was when she heard the scooter. Not the rusty, sputtering moped of the village postman. A sleek, silver machine that hummed like a contented bee. It stopped near the banyan tree. And he stepped off.

“Then why make it?”

The confession did not shame her. It was a fact, like the river drying up in summer. But for Vikram, it was a thunderbolt. He saw the pot she had shaped that day—a small, perfect cup with a single rose carved into it. She couldn’t write her name, but she could carve poetry into clay.