Chaitali took time convincing Vaibhav, and of course in the most unconventional way. She arrived at Baka lohar bridge just after the battle.

"Seriously! A menagerie of minds! Whatever she is, you're not her, I'm not her!", Chaitali felt horrible shouting in this period of grief, "I told you to remain objective, not.....I'm not the Harbinger of Nor'wester, okay!"

Vaibhav could only flare in response as he and Chaitali saw the lifeless body of Biraj being loaded into an ambulance. Then the hydraulic mobile crane came and Vaibhav simply walked away to join Bimal.

It was a lot of commotion, as the hostages were pulled out via long ladders, lowered by cranes. The naxal's jeeps were driven aside and a passage was made for the people. Some thanked the police and others spit at the naxals from far away. The command desk was still surrounded by officers.

Then the volume shot up. Vaibhav looked past the hordes of uniform to see a contingent of people coming this way, most of them dressed in white. Only one man could over advocate for peace like that, associate MLA Surojit Samanta.

Bimal suddenly came and dragged Vaibhav to the command desk. Surojit shook hands with a few hostages and walked up to the desk. Bimal saluted him and spoke clearly, "All the hostages are secure, Sir!"

Surojit leaned on the desk, laying his palms on the wood, and looked directly at Vaibhav. He chewed his lips before speaking, "A girl who commands the sky! Shouldn't have joined politics...!"

"Sir, I can deal with her...!", Vaibhav tried to speak.

Surojit slammed hard on the desk, "She vaporized two armies in front of you! One of our officers is dead...!", Surojit turned behind to his associate, "only officers of the law saw her!? go, contain things.....", Surojit turned back to Vaibhav, "Did you know, before today?"

"Sir, it's not easy to talk about her! I'm used to backing myself with evidence...!"

"How it is hard to tell that is a storm goddess is out there!?"

"Exactly, it is that, hard!", answered Vaibhav.

Surojit dwelled on the weirdness of his words for a minute, "you christened her didn't you, hargreaves of nor'wester or something!?"

"Harbinger", said Vaibhav, "she is the harbinger of nor'wester!"

Surojit smiled at Vaibhav and turned to Bimal, "turn over the command to CRPF...!"

Vaibhav didn't find it in him to object.

"...tell Ms. Karmakar, she's on her own with the court. I'll talk to Writers', Dr. Roy is off this case, effective immediately!"

Vaibhav put his hands on his waist and looked down.

                  *.    *.    *.    *.    *.    *

The evening was rolling in and Vaibhav sat blankly on the chair, watching the stars twinkle through the window.

Sattu's house was just like him, optimally happy. Sattu invited Vaibhav to tea after hearing about Biraj. Chandrani handed Vaibhav the cup and went back to the kitchen, Vaibhav sipped his tea and went back to watching the skies. Sattu relaxed on his couch and followed suit.

"The foetus starts to weigh down along the third trimester", Vaibhav observed Chandrani walking as he spoke to Sattu, "changes your gait, you shouldn't let your wife handle heavy or fragile things, cutlery for instance...", Vaibhav raised his cup.

Sattu gave his inexpressible expression again.

"I keep thinking that he shouldn't have died! Like amidst a rebellion, fighting a storm...sure there are nonfatal ways to survive this....!", Vaibhav took a sip of his tea.

Sattu wasn't overly interested in the harbinger. He was a man who rooted for simpler problems in life. He breathed out heavily before speaking, "Biraj too, possessed a confusing sense of this world. I don't know if we should lament his death or celebrate his life.....!?"

Vaibhav quietly sipped his tea. Chandrani came back from the kitchen and joined them, sitting beside Sattu on the couch. Then she spoke, "maybe all hope, Biraj is somehow, somewhere, okay. Hope for the best...it has been a long time since I did that, circumstances disappointed me too many times, you know!"

"You know these supernatural stories and Biraj's incident, reminds me of the Maya and the Sikdars incident!", Sattu said to his wife sipping his tea again.

"Oh, please no more Nandan Sikdar or Maya Devi. Doing police work and loving stories didn't bode me well...!", Vaibhav said squinting his eyes at the stars.

"We're drinking tea, on an evening, what different activity, do you propose?", Sattu spoke blatantly.

Vaibhav upturned his lip, raised his brows, and nodded his head, "So, Maya devi? I've heard all about evil zamindar Sikdar and his annexation of the Mayatalav temple...!"

"No, I'm referring to the changing narratives", Chandrani sat up, "Maya, she was politically conscious......she didn't gossip, she was the one who changed public perceptions...!"

"...I only remember her dancing, my mother used to take me to her shows. Those powerful steps, I thought she'd kick me.....", Sattu picked up the pace, "Sikdars were rich, Maya frequented them for her aims of public good! Stories sprung of this enchanting young dancer and the rich patron...."

Vaibhav suddenly turned from the window.

"...then Nandan was accused of fraud, Maya suddenly disappeared. People said Nandan defiled the god's bride....I think the whole fiasco began from there....!"

"I've to go...", Vaibhav suddenly stood up, "The tea was lovely, Chandrani!"