Chapter 1 - Chandra

If space existed, their star was really a big ball of gas burning with trillions of times the power of Chandra’s lamp. He knelt and pressed his palms together, trying to focus on prayer as his parents had taught him. To this day, Chan could never wrap his mind around praying; probably because it pulled his mind up into the clouds and beyond, and then his mind never came back down.

His stomach grumbled.

“I am grateful,” he whispered to the silence. “Grateful for my health and the strength in my hands. Grateful for my mind the knowledge I’ve been granted. I have everything I need to be useful. I am able.”

On either side of the lamp sat two fading paintings with chipped frames. Frozen smiles looked back at him and his shack in disappointment.

“You did good,” he reassured himself. “They’d be proud he’d turned the family home into a ration redistribution centre.”

Or not, since he’d turned it into a feeding centre to fill the vast emptiness they’d left behind, a painful void in his chest so vast he imagined space had to be at least as large.

His stomach growled again, pulling his gaze up toward the table. On a saucer sat a single piece of dried cereal, his last ration for the day that he’d saved for dinner.

He clasped his hands together once more, facing the flickering lamp. “I am grateful that I have enough.”

“Hmm,” a bright female voice rang from outside. “That prayer, or is Chan talking to himself again?”

The door creaked open and Ren swept in like a sudden burst of song against the uncut diamond walls. It was the day of the Holi festival, and she was already ready for it. First, she held one of her arms behind her back, eyes twinkling mischievously. No doubt she came prepared with a handful of coloured diamond dust.

Second, she wore a cropped, black blouse with a transparent blue shawl thrown over her shoulder and tucked partially into her shorts before hanging down to her matching ankle warmers. Golden lining and embroidery made the outfit radiant. Or perhaps she did. Her light seemed to push back the darkness like a little star.

She leaned over him and innocently drew her fingers down his temples, leaving behind trails of blue dust as she cupped his cheeks. “Why do you pray?” she asked, tilting her head. “I thought you didn’t believe in Lord Vish—”

Chan stiffened, eyes darting to the door and windows. “Shh,” he hissed, pressing a finger to her lips. “If Brahmians catch wind I’m still thinking these things, they’ll exile me..”

People came here too often for fixing or food, even Brahmians who had already taken his feeding centre due his ideas.

Ren squinted down at his finger on her lips. That smile of hers returned. Anticipating a kiss, he withdrew his finger, leaving her to kiss air.

She pouted, then asked in a low, conspiratorial tone. “Why do you pray though?”

Chan rose and took a rag to clean the dust off his face. There was no time for festivities. He had work to do this evening. Brahmian house, dangerous leak near electricals. She took the rag and wiped his face.

“Praying is... meditative,” he said. And it helps distract from his stomach.

“Ah, so it’s like singing.”

“Equating your calling to me praying? Either you’re a terrible singer or you think I’m a priest.

“Far from it.”

“Terrible singer or priest?”

“Definitely priest” she specified. “You’d make everyone read some dusty old text.”

“Isn’t that what priests do?”

Her smile took a brief pause. Then, she laughed, a sound that chimed like cut diamonds tumbling in the wind. He couldn’t help but join her.

When she calmed, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “They can't exile you. Not while I'm next in line for leadership.”

“They're gaining support rapidly,” Chan countered. “Ever since the incident at the Vashan meet last year when I… opened my big mouth. Explaining was supposed to increase support to allow the Fed into the village to save our infrastructure. All I managed to do was scare everyone and make many think the Brahmians are right about me.” He looked at his calloused hands. “There’s only so much I can do for the village. I’m just one person, but the Fed is so much more. And I have to know… Why is our star dimming so fast? Our elders have no idea. Only the Fed would know.”

Ren sighed. “Come on, it's Holi. Forget about all that today. Let’s go dance!”

“I can't,” Chan said, already reaching for his tool kit. "There’s a leak at the Mila house. With the age of the wiring there, it’s a hazard. There are kids in that house, too.”

“Fine. Then, I'm coming with you."

“Go enjoy the festival!”

“I plan to. With you.”

…