Ardhana made his decision at first light, delivered to the assembled council with the flat finality of a man who had argued himself in circles all night and finally run out of alternatives worth considering. A small company would ride for the hill country within two days, small enough to move fast and quiet, built around Rama's capability rather than around numbers that had already proven useless against what waited there. Sekar would go with him. Their daughter would stay in the capital under Ratri's watch and Niken's fierce, self appointed guardianship, a decision that cost all three of them more than anyone said aloud.
"I don't want to leave her," Sekar admitted, the night before they rode, sitting at the edge of their daughter's cot long after the girl had fallen asleep. "Not after everything we've already survived by staying together."
