The war camp, two days later
Kripa's strength returned slowly, a little more each day, though Bhaskaracharya still refused to let him stand unaided for longer than a few minutes at a stretch, insisting the journey back to Ujjayini would ask enough of his body without adding unnecessary strain to it beforehand.
Eshaan spent those two days moving between the guarded tent and his own restless thoughts, unable to settle properly into either, the weight of everything Kripa had told him circling constantly at the edge of whatever else he tried to focus on.
Bhaskaracharya found him alone on the third evening, sitting near the perimeter fire with the staff resting across his knees, exactly the way Harigupta had first found him on the road here.
"You've been quiet," Bhaskaracharya said, settling beside him without asking. "Quieter than even everything Kripa told us would explain."
"I'm thinking, Acharya. That's all."
