The Letter Rukmini Wrote in Secret

She had never met him, and she was certain her whole life belonged to him.

She could not have explained that to anybody who asked her to justify it.

What she had to go on

Stories. Carried into her father's court in Vidarbha by travelling merchants.

A king who ruled from a city of crystal and silver on the western sea. Who had killed tyrants and freed the innocent.

Who was spoken of by ordinary people the way ordinary people speak about somebody they have decided, without evidence, to simply trust.

She had never seen his face. It did not matter.

Something in the telling of him had already claimed a part of her before he knew she existed.