The approval did not come immediately.

There were meetings, written requests and legal formalities. One document had to be corrected, and another required approval from the education board.

Whenever the process became difficult, Mrs. Patwardhan helped Mother understand the next step. She spoke to the school management, explained Aaradhya's successful temporary term and made sure the application was not treated as an ordinary uniform request.

After several difficult weeks, the board accepted the arrangement.

12.1 The Long Night

Mother barely slept that night.

Whenever she closed her eyes, another part of the past year returned to her.

The forgotten nail-paint. Aarav's red eyes after school. The small bindi that had finally made him confess the bullying. His poor monthly-test marks. The boys avoiding him after the suspensions.

Then she remembered the girls' building.

She had seen Aarav become less frightened there. His marks had improved. He had made friends and become someone his classmates approached for help.

This story is set in Ireland during the War of Independence, 1919-1921.

The Players.

An Cailleach, approximately Old Hag in English, is a term found in both Gaelic and Scots Gallic (the latter being a variation of Gaelic). It carries connotations of divinity or magic.

Volunteers, the name used by Irish national insurrectionists engaged in the War of Independence. After independence, these formed part of the basis for the new National Army which still has the letters IV (Irish Volunteers) on formal uniform buttons.

RIC, Royal Irish Constabulary, an armed police force responsible for crime and internal security. Recruited locally, it was heavily infiltrated by the Volunteers and many members left the organization during the war.

Black & Tans and Auxiliaries. These were paramilitary police recruited in England to support the RIC, notorious for indiscipline, terrorism and extra-judicial killings.

For a while, Archie thought about Amy.

Deliberate thoughts had become difficult now. They needed somewhere steady to stand, and stumbled around in his mind as the ground crumbled away beneath them. Each thought came without asking, soft and immediate, gliding softly around the gaps. Instinctive thoughts settled much more easily, as they could simply float through the spaces as they pleased.

He remembered the first time she had rescued him.

CHAPTER 64
We sat for a while enjoying the views, comfortable as a family, until Clara spoke up again.

“I got given a pressie before I came over, one for you all”

Maz gestured ‘go on’, and Clara chuckled.

CHAPTER 15
We slipped out of the tent a couple of hours later as Jude continued to mumble away next to us, avoiding disturbing her by taking our breakfast in the food tent rather than rattling pans in the porch. It was a beautiful morning, various other rallygoers sitting half out of their tents with mugs or bowls as they had their own breakfasts, one, as predicted, eating leftover kebab meat out of a cardboard tray. I averted my eyes after a quick nod of recognition from me, and confusion from him. He’d only met Harry, I remembered, almost too late.

Mark Lansing never wanted to stand out. He was perfectly happy disappearing into a football huddle with the rest of the team until one play made him the talk of the town. Thrust into a spotlight he never wanted, every choice can reshape his future, and every decision could transform him in ways he never believed possible. Mark’s destiny will be determined on the field … assuming he can figure out how to dress the part.

How can something be so wrong, when it feels so right?

That was the single most important thought that ran through Aisha’s mind as she fastened her padded bra behind her, before she took the pair of silky dark tights out of their packet and slowly stretched them one leg at a time over her hairless legs, until the control top held her abdomen and her backside tightly. As she took her plain white blouse and knee-length blue pencil skirt from its hanger, Aisha mused on how the clothes were a far cry from the hijabs and abaya her mother and sisters wore.