Toads and Diamonds Read Online Free PDF Page A

or embarrassment--or bruises--Tana had feared, her sister's face shone with joy, lovely as a rainbow under a waterfall. Tana's heart opened in answering delight before clenching, hard. "You met a man."
    Diribani gulped a sob and nodded. Then, at Tana's expression, she shook her head. She touched her fingers to her lips.
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    "Daughter." Ma Hiral gestured with a closed fist. Tana got up to see what her mother wanted. "Look here." Ma Hiral grabbed Tana's elbow and thrust the stones into her hand.
    Bigger than mustard seeds, smaller than dried peas, the light-colored stones clicked against each other. One caught a shaft of light between the shutter canes and lit with an unmistakable fire.
    Diamonds.
    Tana knew them by touch; a close examination confirmed it. Modest-sized but without flaw, they would need minimal faceting and polishing to sparkle with brilliance. Tana turned to her stepsister. She did her best to keep the question from sounding like an accusation. "Who is he?"
    "It doesn't matter who he is!" Ma Hiral crowed before Diribani could answer. "He gave her two diamonds, Tana! They'll feed us until the wedding, allow us to make the proper offerings to the twelve, and host the ceremony. Gods be praised, our dear girl has found herself a prince among men."
    "Men?" Diribani's laugh turned into a hiccup. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "No, this isn't about a man. Sister Naghali sent a messenger, and then she herself blessed me." With the words, two speckled lilies and a giant topaz dropped from Diribani's lips.
    Tana saw it happen. She watched the flowers and jewel spring from her stepsister's mouth and fall to the floor, and still she couldn't believe it.
    Diribani, too, gasped. Her eyes widened, and she clapped one hand over her mouth. The other reached for the lilies. She picked them up and sniffed. In silent amazement, she handed a lily to Tana. Tana returned the two rough diamonds to her equally dumbstruck mother and took the blossom between her fingers.
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    It felt like a lily. It smelled like a lily. A smear of orange pollen coated her fingertips when she touched its heart. Tana dropped the flower in Diribani's lap. Her knees buckled, and she sat next to her sister. The two of them leaned against each other, though Tana wasn't sure who was comforting whom. Ma Hiral crouched beside them. She touched a peony's fringed petals with a tentative brush of her fingers.
    "Tell us," Tana whispered.
    "I hardly-- It's not possible!" Marigolds shone gold in the dim light, their peppery smell teasing Tana's nose. Diribani's hands opened and closed as the words rushed out. "Gulrang was rude, but Kalyan came and she left. He asked about his father's commission. Then the viper didn't bite me, and I almost stepped on an old beggar woman at the well. Ah!" Diribani reared back like a shying horse as several pink roses fluttered to the ground, followed by a showy bloodstone.
    "From the beginning," Ma Hiral commanded.
    Tana felt stupid, as if Brother Utsav, the crow god, had turned the world upside down when she wasn't looking. Diribani spoke flowers and jewels. If Tana went outside, would she step on the sky and see the earth above her? Would water feel dry, or sand wet against her fingers? "Yes, unless--does it hurt you to talk?"
    "No," Diribani said. "It's just so strange. This"--she swallowed before continuing--"this is how it happened."
    The story cascaded from her lips along with an occasional sob and a scattering of flowers and jewels. By the time she finished, red-gold ashoka blossoms, lotuses, more lilies, and branches of jasmine massed in a scented heap on her lap. Rough diamonds, amethysts, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds lay sprinkled over the stone floor,
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    plentiful as colored gravel. Diribani twisted her hands together. "Why did she pick me? What must I do? What does it all mean?"
    "We are saved, praise Naghali-ji." Ma Hiral stood slowly and crossed the floor to the household altar. She placed the first two