Present Day. 8328 BCE

“Wait, Satya!” Uncle Madhava called.

Satya skidded to a halt in the middle of her run and turned around. A few feet behind her, the old man was bent over with his hands on his knees, panting hard. Forty minutes had passed since they started off from home on their ritual morning run. Her uncle was at his limit. Satya hurried back to him. 

Despite her plump frame, the eighteen-year-old young maiden sprinted with ease. The runs through the woods and the swimming laps in the river had left a mild suntan on her rose-coloured complexion, visible on her toned arms, shoulders and feet.

She wore ordinary, white, cotton garments, suitable for daily exercise, alongwith the uniform beaded trinkets in her ears, neck, wrists, and ankles, which were customary for all students of Satvikshila University. 

Sweat soaked her curly copper-coloured hair. A few stray locks clung to her forehead, temples and neck. Her thick braid, wound at the nape down to her waist, bounced off her back as she ran. 

Worry marked her pretty round face. She pursed her lips and knit her eyebrows in a frown over her mystical, deep-brown eyes.

“Uncle Madhava?” she asked, on reaching his side. “Are you alright?”

“The weather is not kind to my old limbs today.” He chuckled.

As he straightened his back, his old bones creaked. Yet, his muscles betrayed a strength that could rival the toughest warriors. 

Perspiration stained his plain, off-white attire in large random patches. Grey strands of hair lay flat over his forehead and neck. His thick moustache hung limp over the corners of his mouth. He dabbed the loose end of his upper garment all over his wrinkled face, wiping off the sweat. His sharp, grey eyes, shone with affection for his young niece.

Satya felt relieved hearing the jovial tone in her uncle’s voice. She shook her head, smiling. “You’re not old. Let me check your pulse.”

He shrugged. “Unless it’s the gourd curry your aunt cooked last night.”

She grinned. “Don’t blame the curry. You wolfed it down. The entire pot!”

“It was delicious, wasn’t it?” He grinned back.

“Come sit here and show me your wrist.” Satya gestured to a flat stone on the side of the dirt road. 

He settled down, folding his legs under him. Satya knelt before him and held his left wrist. 

“Tell me the truth, doctor.” He teased. “How much time do I have left?”

“Uncle Madhava, you know as well as I do I am not a doctor—not yet anyway—and your heart is perfectly healthy.” She let go of his wrist and stood up, stretching her sore arms high above her head. “If you like, we could skip the rest of today’s run?”

“I agree. I’m grateful to my poor old heart for staying healthy for so long. Time has been kinder to me than the weather.”

“Didn’t you say your father lived to be a hundred and five? Why do you worry? You will live long just like him.”

“And I’m sure your patients at the clinic would not agree with you. You’re nothing less than a doctor to them.”

“It’s not a clinic.” Satya rolled her eyes. “I told you. It’s just a chemist and druggist store. I only got permission from Acharya to treat basic ailments for free. I promised to send all emergency and serious cases to the university hospital. Acharya would never let me call myself a doctor until I finish my studies.”

“I spoke to him about that. Wouldn’t it be easier for you to get the license from the mayor’s office if we could rename the place to a clinic?”

Satya pondered in silence. Having finished her stretches, she squatted down on another flat stone, remembering the events that led to the opening of her own chemist store. 

Three months had passed since she and her family returned to Satvikshila from the capital city, Vijayanagar, where Satya had used her secret healing powers to save Anjalika, the dancer from Videha, who had been suffering from a fatal dark magic poison. In gratitude, Padmapani, the emperor, had bestowed a fitting reward of one thousand gold coins and a special imperial grant, enabling Satya to study at all the four universities in Satayu. 

Despite her hatred for the imperial monarch, responsible for the death of her beloved elder sister, she had accepted the special imperial grant and saved it for the future. However, she had been loath to use the reward money on herself or her family. The emperor was still her sworn enemy, even if he did not know her true identity. 

Accepting a monetary reward also meant taking money for medical treatment. That was out of the question, since she was still a student and not a certified physician. 

At first, she had tried to donate it to the university. Her teacher, Acharya Dhanwantari, had intervened and reminded Satya of something she had shared with him in her first year. Opening a free medical clinic still remained her long-cherished dream. Acharya had suggested putting up a free chemist store instead. He had also reasoned that the money was more than enough to cover store expenses for a long time. 

Satya had been thrilled. Using Padmapani’s wealth to give free basic medical treatment to his subjects seemed like a wonderful plan. 

Once she had made the decision, everything had fallen into place. Uncle Madhava had found a suitable shop on rent in the village market and had converted it into a medical store, as per Acharya’s instructions. Aware of Satya’s medical skills, patients arrived sooner than she had expected. For a little more than a month, the little store had been like a dream come true until Satya received a notice from the mayor’s office. 

It forbade her to run the place without a valid medical license.