Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson

told you to go upstairs. Did you not hear her?"
    Indu folded his hands. "Nama-ji, she said she didn't want to see my face within two floors of the milk fudge, and that I should meditate on the sin of gluttony until Sister Payoja granted her prayers and blessed me with some manners."
    "Then why do I find you outside bothering this lady with your squirrel chatter?"
    Diribani watched as the boy turned big brown eyes on her stepmother. Ma Hiral came to his rescue, as Diribani had known she would.
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    "No bother," she said. "In fact, the boy offered to describe the prince's party for us. Better he watches safely off the street, eh?"
    "I'll tell you everything!" Indu promised. He shaded his eyes with his hand. "War elephants at Lotus Gate! Two lines of them, with shiny armor. The men on their backs carry spears."
    "Brother Akshath shield us!" his grandmother exclaimed, but Diribani noticed that she had rested a hip on the windowsill and settled in to listen. "On no account are you to leave that spot, except to return to this room. Is that clear, grandson?"
    "Yes, Nama-ji." Indu wriggled with excitement. "There are squads of soldiers, the governor's and the prince's both, by the flags. Next are the horsemen, the hunting cheetahs and their minders, pack camels, ranks of riflemen, and more soldiers on foot."
    Sitting inside, the garlands forgotten in her lap, Diribani listened as Indu described the procession winding through their neighborhood. She heard the sounds: the tramp of feet, the musical notes of horns and the louder trumpeting of elephants, people cheering, and pushcart vendors shouting their wares.
    Dealers in luxury goods like jewels and fine fabrics received customers at the market tents or were invited to call on their patrons with a selection of merchandise. A festive occasion like the return of a royal hunting party would attract a different class of vendor, selling treats or colorful trinkets to the crowd gathered to enjoy the free spectacle. On any other afternoon, Diribani would have been eager to see it for herself. Her stepmother's concern had affected her more than she wanted to admit. It seemed...fitting to wait for Tana. Her sister would help Diribani steer a course between Ma Hiral's warnings and the certainty Diribani felt in her heart that Naghali-ji meant her largesse to be shared.
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    And then, mixed with the trumpets and the shouts of "charms for luck" and "fine ripe melons," came the sound of a woman screaming.
    The wild shrieks brought Diribani to her feet, fists clenched around a finished garland. Not Tana, please the goddess!
    "What happened?" Ma Hiral cried, as if she, too, was remembering that her daughter had not yet returned.
    "I can't see." Teetering on the balls of his feet, Indu leaned out over the street.
    "Grandson!" his grandmother called.
    "Oh. Don't worry. It's only a white-coat, not one of our girls, arguing with a soldier." Indu dropped down to sit on his haunches. "I hope it's Gulrang," he said. "She kicked a lucky frog I was chasing at the well yesterday, when I almost had it! Maybe the soldier will give her a bloody nose."
    "Indu," the two older women chorused in scolding voices, but the look they exchanged held relief.
    Diribani didn't share their feeling. The cries continued, sharper and more frantic. Even if it was a white-coat who needed help-- especially Gulrang--this seemed a clear test of faith. Thanks to the goddess, Diribani had the means to bribe any man short of Emperor Minaz himself into letting go of an unwilling girl. Did she have the courage to brave the crowd for a person who might despise her?
    What if it had been Tana? Or, if their situations were reversed, would Tana sit idle while another girl suffered?
    The instant Diribani's mind posed the question, her body answered it. Fingers grabbed a handful of rubies to go with the garland she still held; feet carried her at a run out the door, across the courtyard, and through the gate. Like their house naga after a