Pieces of the Puzzle Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWO haired boy raced into the room and hurled
himself into Shanti’s lap. Close behind was a
Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley slightly older girl with huge dark eyes.
“Kala is trying to hit me,” the boy
whimpered.
Shanti sat on a woven mat on the hard “He hit me first!” retorted Kala.
dirt floor, her feet together, slender back “You took my cart,” the boy, Arjun,
straight, gray eyes closed. Her hands were answered.
held out to her sides, palms up, delicate “I was only playing with it while you
fingers and thumbs touching, elbows bent. were asleep.”
A small humming sound escaped from her Shanti held up a hand. She knew they
full lips. A sunbeam slid in through the east could continue indefinitely recalling earlier
window and gave a glow to her creamy skin injustices each had suffered. “Hush, both of
and her long, straight, silky black hair. you.” She stood, taking little Arjun by the
Incense burned in a clay bowl near her feet. hand. “Let’s go find something to eat, shall
The only sound to be heard beside the we?”
vibration in her own throat was the sweet Shanti peeked into the kitchen area and
morning trill of a lark perched in the fig tree saw it was already coming to life. Twin
shading the south window. adolescent girls, Malati and Malini, were
The peace was suddenly shattered by preparing breakfast, one stirring up the fire
yells and pounding footsteps. A small black- and the other rolling out balls of wheat
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Pieces of the Puzzle Chapter Two
dough to flatten into chapatis. Kala and escaped to the bedroom and returned with
Arjun held back, knowing they were not to his beloved clay cart in hand.
enter the room until they had taken their The three of them went to the kitchen
morning wash. Shanti, who had bathed where the meal was soon ready, and the
herself earlier, led them to the bath area. plate of bread was handed round while
The children each took a turn stepping everyone sat on the floor around an
down into the deep square tub while Shanti embroidered dining cloth spread before
stood over them and poured water over them. Another dish held yogurt, and a third
their heads. It splashed down them and a lentil soup. The yogurt and soup were
trickled across the brick floor waterproofed scooped up with the flat bread since only
with bitumen and out a pipe that led to the fingers were used to eat.
city’s drains. On special occasions a rock There were two empty places around
would be used to block the drainage hole the cloth. Mitul, a year younger than the
and the tub could be filled to the top, but for twins, spent most of the week in a nearby
daily washing the water was used more town where he was paid to do the
sparingly. recordkeeping. Balraj, Shanti’s husband,
When the children climbed back up the was due to return any day from a trading
tub steps, Shanti quickly dried them down expedition to Ur. Kala and Arjun spent
with a rough cloth and smoothed out their hours each day staring out the window,
hair, combing it with oil. Arjun fidgeted hoping to see him ambling up the street.
impatiently, and as soon as he was clean he They knew he would have a small treasure
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Pieces of the Puzzle Chapter Two
for them, hidden in the waistband of his “Why was the tortoise in here?” Malati
robe. asked, her hands on her hips. From the next
Everyone helped clean up as soon as the room Shanti was listening to the
meal was finished. Arjun took the food conversation with a smile.
scraps outside to the two dogs and his pet “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I brought
tortoise. Kala shook out the dining cloth him in to keep me company. But now I can’t
while the twins washed up the cooking pots. find him.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Malati “Well, take those dogs outside to play.
could see Arjun sneaking quietly along the The tortoise will show up without the help
wall with his dogs slinking guiltily behind of those messy creatures.”
him. Arjun skipped happily outside while his
“Arjun!” she said sternly. The boy sisters shook their heads indulgently before
stopped, his angelic face betraying no turning back to their work. The room was
remorse. “You know your dogs are supposed clean enough now for Shanti’s meticulous
to stay outside,” his older sister reminded eye, and the older children seated
him. themselves in a row on the ground and
“I know, Malati, but I had to,” Arjun began reciting their lessons.
replied with confidence. “My tortoise is lost These home lessons were unusual. No
in here somewhere, and I need them to help one else in the city studied multiple
sniff him out.” languages, numbers, history, and the
rudiments of medicine, but Shanti insisted
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that all of the children she raised had a good trails alerted him to the fact that the people
education. Already Shanti had mothered had been attacked by animals and dragged
several generations, and they had all been off. He found the remains of two adults and
able to attain prominent positions, not only a child in the grass. Keeping a cautious eye
in Indus, but in places as far away as on his surroundings in case the beasts, cats
Babylon and cities in Egypt, and one he believed, were still nearby, he hastily
adopted son lived and worked in China. searched the camp for a clue to the dead
By the time Shanti had realized she did family’s identity. Quickly he kicked aside
not age like her peers, she had already pots and pulled away a pile of cloth, only to
discovered she could not have children. Her uncover a small pink face. Dark blue eyes
first husband was a kind-hearted man who looked straight into his. He scooped up the
felt deeply for Shanti’s sorrow at her infant and turned for home. After he had
childlessness. He had tried offerings to the walked a while he noticed that the baby was
gods, paid the best medicine men, shuddering and gasping strangely. He
purchased the most potent herbs, but all to looked closer and saw that the little face was
no avail. One day he had arrived home with screwed up in a purple fury, but no sound
a bundle in his arms. came from the tiny throat. The poor thing
As he had traveled on the roads north of was mute, which had undoubtedly saved its
the city, a much younger city at that time, he small life.
had come upon a temporary camp near the Shanti’s heart had gone out to the baby,
trees. A horrific sight met his eyes. Blood and as he grew old enough to crawl around
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her feet and pull over pots and then laugh midday meal. Shanti and her husband could
silently, she realized she did not want to have easily afforded to pay servants to do
have an empty house ever again. And when this work, but they felt that the children
that first husband had grown old and left needed the character-building experience of
her a grief-stricken widow, her comfort had these chores.
been the group of children and Shanti crossed her courtyard and went
grandchildren gathered around her. She had into a square building off the side street that
understood then how wise they had been to acted as her office. She sat down at a scroll
take all those young lives into their hearts of papyrus purchased across the gulf in Ur,
and home. where it had been imported from Egypt. As
When the lessons were finished, Malati she was ticking off numbers, a man entered,
took Kala with her to fetch water from the giving a quick bow of respect. An expectant
well, a large pot perched on her head and a look crossed her face as she raised her
smaller one on Kala’s. They were going to writing stick, jangling the bracelets that
have to walk to the shared well at the end hung from her wrist, and sat back on her
alley of the neighborhood, since their stool.
personal well in a room on the back left The man brought a report from each of
corner of the property had crumbled on one the businesses Shanti owned in the city. He
side and would need some work. Her twin stood with his hands clasped behind his
sister took Arjun to the market to buy fresh back, his eyes looking upward, and a serious
pomegranates and other food for the expression on his face as he rattled off all
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Pieces of the Puzzle Chapter Two
the numbers that he had committed to production from the copper smith did not
memory, since he could neither read nor match the amount of material she had
write. provided for him. It was a very small
Shanti was one of the richest people in difference daily, but it was adding up. She
the city. She had come here with her first sighed, realizing that she would have to visit
husband when the land was used for grazing the metal shop today, though she already
cattle and growing grain. As the population had a long list of things to do.
grew, they had been part of the group of She thanked the foreman, and he
citizens that planned the city in its careful bowed again before backing out the door.
straight streets crossing at right angles. Standing, she shook out the skirt of her
They had become very wealthy selling off yellow-orange cotton robe, straightening the
some of their estate in pieces that were now intricately embroidered hem. It reached
covered in homes and business buildings, all down past her knees, much longer than
rebuilt several times due to occasional most of the women in the city wore their
serious flooding of the Indus River. Shanti robes.
felt that each time the city was dug and She walked back toward the house and
rebuilt out of the mud dumped by the flood, as she entered a small clunking sound made
the work was done a little more hurriedly, a her turn around. Seeing nothing, she moved
little less expertly. inside, but the sound came again.
As she listened to her foreman, a frown This time she realized the thump came
crossed her brow. For the past week the from the other side of the wall. She went
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around to the back storage room, full of clay stop was the busy bricklayer’s, where she
pots, where she saw Arjun’s tortoise scheduled some repairs to be done on her
repeatedly trying to push his way forward well in two days. Then she made her way to
through a narrow opening between two of the section of town where most of the shops
the jars. were owned by either her or her husband.
She hefted the heavy, wrinkled animal Today she would inspect the pottery shop,
with one hand grasping each end of the which was actually one room in a brick
knobby shell and set him outside in the building divided into several spaces by brick
courtyard. walls. To reach it, she had to walk through
“For such a slow animal, you sure are a the shop where workers ran drills, the
wanderer,” she told him, patting the hard points driven by the back and forth motion
covering. Back in the house she found of a thin rope with a man pulling at each
Malati and Kala back from the well. She told end, to put holes in beads made of shell and
them she had to go to the business blocks, stone. As she passed through she ran an eye
and they were to do their embroidery while over the pile of beads and was satisfied at
she was away. She would check on their their quality.
progress when she returned. In the next room, one potter sat at a
The brick streets were warm on her turning wheel, the light touch of his hands
bare feet. She stayed to the side to avoid the smoothing the wet lump of clay at the center
traffic of ox carts, smaller chariots pulled by of the wheel upward into a symmetrical pot
horses, and burden-laden camels. Her first shape. He dipped his fingers into water and
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then with one hand inside the pot and the Finally she made her way back to the
other outside, he worked it into the street and headed toward the outside of the
thickness and shape he had in his mind. city. The sun was high and the air was
Shanti liked to work at the wheel herself humid. This high level of moisture in the air
sometimes, and she enjoyed watching this was the reason the bricks of the city had to
master of the craft at his work. Around the be kiln-fired rather than dried in the
room, other potters were working the clay sunshine. It could make the heat very
without the wheel to make small bull figures oppressive at certain times of the year.
or hand shaped pots. When the workers saw The metal shop was outside the city
Shanti, they all stopped and made because the smoke of the forge fires was a
respectful, humble greetings with their pollutant that would not be welcome in the
hands together in the traditional namaste, city. The interior of the building was warm,
and she returned their salutations with a and the copper smith was covered in a layer
smile while motioning for them to go about of shining perspiration as he leaned over his
their work. She made her way through them work. His face gave a quick expression of
to the far wall where several finished worry when he looked up and saw Shanti
products were waiting to be taken to the standing in the doorway, but he swiftly hid
kilns outside the city for firing. She came at it with a welcoming smile.
least once every ten days to inspect the “It is always an honor to have your
quality of work here, unwilling to put her presence cross this threshold,” he said,
seal on inferior merchandise.
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standing and offering her a stool. “Do you favored with eternal, magical youth?” He
care for a drink?” glanced up quickly at that, trying to read her
“If you have a little coconut milk, I face.
would be glad to refresh myself from the “We both know your hands have not
heat,” she replied, settling onto the stool. He withered with age in less than a moon’s
fetched the drink, which she sipped straight time,” she said calmly. “I want to see the
from the shell of the fruit itself. Then she left-over copper.”
looked at him with an arched brow. “There His eyes darted about frantically for a
is a special reason for my visit here. I am moment, but realizing he was caught, he fell
guessing you know what it is.” at her feet.
The craftsman pulled nervously at his “They threatened my family if I did not
robe, but replied, “Have I lessened the pay!” he pled. “There was no other way!”
quality of my work? I hope I have not fallen “Who did this?” Shanti asked.
out of favor.” “It is a band that collects payment from
“Your work is as skillful as ever. It is the different craftsmen in trade for being left in
quantity, not quality, I am worried about.” peace. Those who do not pay have had their
“I fear my fingers are growing old and tools and shops looted, and the brutes have
slow,” he replied, looking down at the floor. even been known to harm anyone who does
“I cannot work as quickly as before. You not cooperate. Their influence is spreading.”
would not punish your obedient servant for
growing old, especially not when you are
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“And who do they work for?” she asked,
wondering how this had been happening
without her knowledge.
The craftsman shrugged. “No one
seems to know. Their power has been
creeping southward down the river, so it is
believed their leader lives to the north
somewhere.”
“I will send guards to your shop and
family this afternoon. You are not to pay
them again.”
The man bowed his agreement, but his
face was lined with apprehension.
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