Chapter 2 Nasrin and the Rakshasha

Chapter 2 Nasrin and the Rakshasha

At that age, Nasrin was well aware that wrong answers had consequences. If she'd been challenged on choices or endurance she'd have answered by the book. There was no expectation that the supernatural beings lurking around the village were safe. A friend from the other side of the village had cleansed a well, but lost out to horror in the woods above the village. His memorial was well-tended, but it existed. None of her peers believed they'd ever fail when the test came and neither did Nasrin.

Backed into a bend in a hilltop path, Nasrin had plenty of time to reflect on her answer. The rakshasha uphill from her thought she was paralyzed with fear. She was afraid, her hands shook, but she'd been taught to persevere. Some of grandmother's lessons were a bit extreme, but we're never harmful or at least... permanent. This had the stark choice of a lesson, but the true menace of real danger.

"Tell me what you want." it said. It said that a lot. For something so solicitous, it packed a lot of menace into what should have been a simple question. But it didn't mean "hand me that", or "I'm thirsty". Oh no. It wanted what was deep inside, what you might not have put into words before. "I want what I have. I do not want more."

She was very sure of her answer. This was good, uncertainty was the rakshasha's bread and salt. It was playing with its food, savoring every chance she had to make a mistake. Its confidence was like a cliff; looming, certain, final. It stalked her with words, with offers, with insinuations. She stood tall, due to do a thorough laundry, but firm in her presence. "I want what I have. I do not want what I do not have."

She still hadn't seen it clearly. When she looked back on it, there was an impression of a big cat, of fire, of cinnamon and vinegar. If she'd been a drinking woman, let alone a woman, the smeared vision of the morning after would have informed her sight, but also left her with the headache. It was bad enough as it was, too bad that just water and time would set things right. The nearest creek was out of hearing down the hill, it would be a fatal fall to reach it in a hurry. Grandmother had hinted that that might sometimes be the right choice. For now, it looked rocky and full of trees and falls waiting to smash a person As they tumbled down the hill.

Nasrin cast her eye at an outcrop of dirt, just below an outcropping of wild grasses. "I want what I... by now you know what I want. Or what I know I want." she stamped around where she was, finding the stable spots and where the hill wanted to become the valley. From below, the song of the creek lent a melody. It was stalking her, their moves a dance, but it didn't realize she was leading.

It was above her. It was next to her. The rakshasha would stop at nothing to overawe her. It surrounded her, all by itself. She step back from it, as if in fear. Around, towards, back, away, away, away they stepped.