Madam Ananya has been waiting—for someone…
For the one who will finally set her free from the shackles of this world.
For more than two millennia she has remained inside the same old house, hidden behind a veil of belief and curse.
Seasons come and go, yet she stays—body and soul—unchanged.
She has endured heat and cold beyond counting, until her heart is nearly stone.
No love has proved durable enough to stay with her.
No faith endures without asking something in return.
No one has remained long enough to truly understand her.
Until she returned at last.
But deliverance is not as simple as a reunion.
Even though their eyes meet and their hearts still recognize each other,
Ananya has no idea how to lift the curse for good.
Must she wait until the other woman’ s memories awaken?
Should she speak the entire truth, plainly and at once?
…Or will she have to lure her—
to coax her heart open,
to draw from her a single word— “forgive.”
Ananya cannot be sure which path leads to salvation.
But if she must try them all,
she will—whether it takes charm, guile, or the remnants of a heart already starved of tenderness.
All she asks is an ending.
All she wants is to depart this world, whole and unbound, at last.