The Haveli, which for months had felt like a mausoleum of silence and decaying pride, was now on the cusp of a strange, rhythmic awakening. Shivika's words hung in the air of the central courtyard… a challenge, a prayer, and a promise all at once. The men of the house stood frozen. Rudransh, leaned against a stone pillar, his eyes reflecting a mixture of exhaustion and dawning awe. Baba Sa remained in the deep shadows of the veranda, his back stooped, watching the women take control of a legacy he had nearly steered into the dust.

The future of their ancestral home no longer rested on grain markets or bank negotiations. It rested in the hands of the women they had often confined to the kitchen and the inner rooms.