The whirring grew louder, closer, the distinct throb of a powerful speedboat cutting through the dense silence of the Sunderban Delta. Avni didn’t wait. “Vikram, jaldi karo! (Hurry up!)” she urged, her voice low and sharp. She pushed the small wooden box, now clutched in Vikram’s hand, towards Aradhya. “Beta, hold this. Don’t let it go.”

Aradhya, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs, instinctively took the box. It felt surprisingly heavy, ancient. Her gaze, still swimming with the recent revelations, met her father’s. Grief and love wars in his eyes, but a new steel had entered them.