[ Deep, deep breath. Easy, now Lakshmi, a good thirty years should be enough to ease this pain some. ]
It is a law, stating, that if the English felt that any land was going to lapse in rulership, they could annex it under their direct control and it, and it's people, would be subjects of the East India Company. To ensure that their good trade could continue to the benefit of the English.
[ It writhes, ugly inside her mouth, sheer contempt. ]
I was about a year younger than you, I think, when I bore my son. My Damodar. He... [ But then, there is nothing there to make it easier, even now. It isn't how she is - a listlessness, a vacancy. She looks at Kitty, and then past her, seeing and not seeing, the shapes of ghosts. ] ... Four months later, he was gone. The pride and joy of Jhansi, our subjects hope for the future. My husband wasn't a young man, and it broke him. A year later, he was on his death bed.
[ Those days were listless, helpless, fate like a cold hand that began to wrap around her limbs, shackling, binding, tipping and rattling, dragging her one way or another towards a single point she never could have imagined.
Or what that am embellishment? Something to comfort her for her own choices, that somehow destiny played some role in what was her own fault? She couldn't tell anymore, and she wasn't sure if it was ever going to be her place to say. ] We both knew what would happen if we didn't have an heir. So we followed the traditions of these moments that has been followed many times. We adopted a grand nephew of my husband's family. He became my second son, and I was named Regent. The British Officers witnessed the adoption, even as it was done quickly. The next day, my husband died, believing his duty done.
[ Her jaw sets, works, loosens, and she forces the words out. ] And a month later, they annexed Jhansi citing that they did not believe the adoption correct or legal, and under the Doctrine of Lapse, it was now theirs. I must remove myself, all my household from our great fortress, and submit myself to their rule absolutely.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-01-11 12:48 pm (UTC)It is a law, stating, that if the English felt that any land was going to lapse in rulership, they could annex it under their direct control and it, and it's people, would be subjects of the East India Company. To ensure that their good trade could continue to the benefit of the English.
[ It writhes, ugly inside her mouth, sheer contempt. ]
I was about a year younger than you, I think, when I bore my son. My Damodar. He... [ But then, there is nothing there to make it easier, even now. It isn't how she is - a listlessness, a vacancy. She looks at Kitty, and then past her, seeing and not seeing, the shapes of ghosts. ] ... Four months later, he was gone. The pride and joy of Jhansi, our subjects hope for the future. My husband wasn't a young man, and it broke him. A year later, he was on his death bed.
[ Those days were listless, helpless, fate like a cold hand that began to wrap around her limbs, shackling, binding, tipping and rattling, dragging her one way or another towards a single point she never could have imagined.
Or what that am embellishment? Something to comfort her for her own choices, that somehow destiny played some role in what was her own fault? She couldn't tell anymore, and she wasn't sure if it was ever going to be her place to say. ] We both knew what would happen if we didn't have an heir. So we followed the traditions of these moments that has been followed many times. We adopted a grand nephew of my husband's family. He became my second son, and I was named Regent. The British Officers witnessed the adoption, even as it was done quickly. The next day, my husband died, believing his duty done.
[ Her jaw sets, works, loosens, and she forces the words out. ] And a month later, they annexed Jhansi citing that they did not believe the adoption correct or legal, and under the Doctrine of Lapse, it was now theirs. I must remove myself, all my household from our great fortress, and submit myself to their rule absolutely.