Sage Narada was waiting for them when they returned.

The evening had settled lusciously on the clouds and the sky was streaked with pinks and golds and reds. Hand in hand, Suman and Savitri walked down the shorter path that Dhumorna had escorted them to. The benevolent sage was waiting for them at the crossroads where the large sandal tree stood. Its leaves glimmered and basked in the droopy rays of the sun.

"So, you made your choice," he noted, striding towards them. "I must say, I knew that you would pick your future over your past, Narayana, Narayana."

"Did you really?" Savitri asked.

The sage hesitated. "Well...no, actually, not really." He was humble enough to blush. "But through the glimpses of your future I saw that you were happy, and I knew that one who clung to their past would never be a happy person, Narayana, Narayana."

"I don't know if I picked the right choice or the wrong choice," Savitri said. She smiled. "But I made the choice that made me happy, and I'm sticking to it."

"And you, Suman?" Narada turned to the boy who had been fascinated with the prickly bush beside him. "Are you confident in your decision?"

"What's there not to be confident about?" Came Suman's cocky response. "I know what I'm doing. If she can live through my snoring, I can live through hers."

"I do NOT snore!" Savitri snapped.

"Right, and I'm the one that makes the rakshasa sounds at night." Suman lifted his arms up and flicked his wrists downwards like claws. He wrinkled his nose and made a sound similar to a vexed pig and dying rakshasa.

Savitri pushed his arm. "You snore too," she said. "It's probably you making the sounds, but you just don't realize it."

"Trust me, I would know if I snored like a rakshasa."

"Well, my work here seems to be done for now, Narayana, Narayana," Sage Narada said. His impish smirk traveled from Savitri to Suman. "For now, at least. I will most likely see you both again."

"Again?" Alarm struck Savitri's voice and she squeezed Suman's hand. "What do you mean by that?"

Sage Narada shrugged. "Quite the contrary of what you are thinking, Narayana, Narayana." Her hand relaxed. "It will be a good thing, I think. It depends on how you view the topic."

"What topic?" Suman asked. "Oh! Is it spiders? Because if it is, can you convince Savitri to let me take a pet spider with me."

"I said no," Savitri stressed. "You can have a snake, or a monkey, or whatever other animal you want but not a spider."

"That's very mean," Suman pouted. "Poor Makdee."

"He'll survive," Savitri sighed.

"Well, it seems that you both will have a wonderful time with your long future!" Sage Narada broke in. "I wish you both well on the rest of your journey, Narayana, Narayana."

"What journey?" Suman asked as Narada disappeared. "To where? I thought we were done with our quest?"

Savitri bit her lip. "I'm not sure," she said. "But, oh well. Maybe we'll know soon."

"Maybe. Oh!" Suman's eyes brightened. "Maybe we can be secret agents for the king! That would be cool, don't you think?"

"Spying isn't really my definition of cool," Savitri said. "But I'll consider the idea if the weaving industry fails."

"We should make a new house," Suman said seriously. "One for the both of us, but close to Sage Agastya and your family." He paused. "Oh, I should probably meet your father to get his blessings as well."

Savitri patted his hand. "We can go see him once we pay our respects to Sage Agastya and my...well...old in-laws, I suppose?" She shrugged her shoulder to try and push the band of her bow behind her shoulder blade so it wouldn't fall. "I haven't seen my father in years though."

"Are you ready to see him?" Suman asked. "We don't have to if you do not want to."

"No, it's been so long," Savitri said. "I need to make sure that he's okay. He's my father, after all, and...I don't know. Maybe I can make up for the time I lost?"

Suman smiled. "Well, there's no time like the present." He grinned.

~****~

Sage Agastya wasn't in his ashram when Suman and Savtiri finally made it back to the part of the forest that they were most accustomed to. Suman justified his absence by saying that he was possibly in another kingdom, so he and Savitri moved on to her in-laws home, where, to their surprise, Sage Agastya also was. He sat on the mud porch with Saibya and Dyumatsena, moving his hands as they spoke. His back was turned to the approaching couple, so he didn't see them, but Saibya did. She gasped and the waterworks came rapidly following.

"Savitri..." she whispered hoarsely. "Oh, Savitri...oh beti..."

She hobbled to her feet and rushed down the dry, clay steps towards the girl she considered to be her own daughter, wrapping her in an embrace. Sage Agastya greeted Suman with equal warmth, holding and hugging the boy tightly. Suman's face was as bright as the shiniest apple. Savitri assumed that he wasn't expecting Sage Agastya to be so affectionate with him.

He was the father I always wanted, Suman's words returned to Savitri's mind and she found herself getting teary-eyed. Saibya, worried about why she was crying, wiped Savitri's tears with her odhni.

"Oh, don't cry, beti," she assured her. "It's okay. It's all okay now."

"I'm sorry," Savitri murmured. "I couldn't retrieve him. I tried...I really did. And I was close, but I..." She couldn't face Saibya. "I just wanted to say goodbye."

"Oh darling..." Saibya cupped Savitri's face gently. "We know. You don't have to be sorry for healing yourself. This is life. We knew you would mend."

"But...Satyavan..." Savitri was confused.

Dyumatsena rose and approached Savitri. "He is in a better place," he told her. "Relieved from the past, just like you. We knew that you would never get him back, Savitri. But we believed that you would heal, and you did." He looked at a spot behind Suman, but his words were directed to the tense boy. "I see this woman as my own daughter, young man. Treat her like the princess she was born as."

"Yes, sir," Suman said, seriously but gently, his tone tinged with humor. He glanced at Savitri. "Till death do we part, right?"

"That's not funny," she dryly commented, even though she was smiling.

"I am happy that you are both safe and well," Sage Agastya said, blessing the two children as they touched his feet in respect. "I had been informed by Lord Surya that you would be arriving soon. I heard of your father in law's plight, Savitri." He gestured to Dyumatesena's eyes. "I was hoping to see if I could be of service to help him."

"Thank you, sir." Savitri bowed. Suman's arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to him, and she smiled. Her heart soared - she felt so light that she wondered if she flapped her arms she would fly. "Truly, all of you, thank you."

~****~

The sun came and left, taking Sage Agastya along with him. Saibya and Dyumatsena retired to bed, but not before telling Savitri that she was welcome to stay with them until she and Suman had built their home and had a proper wedding.

Night had settled well into the sky, and yet Suman had not left. He promised Sage Agastya to return home soon, but he was very content with laying his head on Savitri's lap, weaving together his flower crown and garland as she hummed above him. She had her bow and a wide, triangular stone in her hands and was carving something into the wood.

"This is coming nicely," Suman murmured as he peeled some of the stem of the flower out of the crown.

"Do you think it will fit my head?" Savitri asked distractedly.

"It should. I measured your head before I started to create the outline," Suman said. He frowned, inspecting the crown. "Just some minor imperfections..."

"Don't take them off, then."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I think that those imperfections make the crown more beautiful," she said.

"So, you want me to keep the thorns on?" Suman grinned.

Savitri blanched. "Actually, no. Please take them out," she told him.

Suman laughed. "I thought so." He plucked the thorns out one by one and tossed them into a carefully stacked, pyramid shaped pile beside him. "I wanted to make this for you first, then the garland."

"You put God before me?" Savitri mocked surprise. "How romantic."

"I wouldn't get too high up on your horse if I were you," Suman shot back. "This is your crown, so most likely, if God inflicts his punishment on anybody, it's you."

"You made the crown," Savitri said. "You reap what you sow."

"Quite literally, in my case." Suman sat up and put the crown on her head. He glanced at her handiwork. "Oh! You're adding something to your bow?"

"To the aesthetic of it, yes," Savitri replied. She put the rock down beside her leg and tilted her bow to the side to inspect her job. "Do you like it?"

"Obviously," Suman scoffed. "I made it."

Savitri gave him a deadpan expression. "No, you silly boy. I mean, do you like what I wrote?"

"Your handwriting is crude," Suman muttered, taking the bow from her. Savitri ignored him. "What does this say? Safar? Journey?"

Savitri nodded. "I thought it would go well next to jeevan," she said.

A slow smile dragged Suman's lips apart. "I suppose it does," he said. He handed the bow back to her and leaned his back against the tree trunk. He tilted his head up to the sky, mimicking Savitri's movements, and sighed. "The stars are all out tonight."

"They are."

"Do you think that there will ever be a day when we can't see the stars?"

"I don't think so. Who would want to hide this beauty?"

"I don't know. Future people?"

"We don't know what the future will be like." Savitri stretched her arms over her head. She turned to Suman and grinned. "Anything could happen in the future."

"That's true," Suman said. "But the stars will always be here."

"They will be," Savitri agreed. "They'll always be watching us - they always have been. But I guess like everyone else, they also move on, except Dhruv, it seems."

Suman laughed. "Yes, it does seem like that when it comes to his star," he said.

Silence swept over them, covering them with a blanket to spend the night outside, but neither Savitri nor Suman minded. Together they stared up at the stars, counting them, drawing shapes with them, admiring them. The brightest star - the Dhruv star, was duller that night, so it seemed to Savitri's eyes. A bunch of new stars outshined the centerpiece ball of gas. Four stars, clustered together to form a shape that looked like a rounded square. No, a bigger star. A cross. A sparkle.

A new life.