THE FIRST LULLABY The absence of the confetti of stars didn't look just eerie that night but also there was something ominous about the third prahar of the night Foreboding coyotes had been howling all night as if to express the pain that the Queen Neelambari was trying to suppress through her gritted teeth. She had been in labor for four morning prahars and three-night prahars and yet there was no sign of a new life emerging anytime soon. Her body...