Chapter 17

The chapter starts with Anand three days after the last chapter. He is given a guide, Govinda who shows him around and answers his questions. One day Anand notices that Govinda keeps saying if Anand because an apprentice he can do this or that. When he asks Govinda about Govinda only says that he will become an apprentice later if he wishes. And when Anand asks about Nisha and Abhaydatta Govinda says that nobody is allowed to visit them. One night Anand awakes to Nisha calling him from the doorway. She tells him her plan to see Abhaydatta and he agrees. They manage to find Abhaydatta and tell him all about their adventure and when they reach the part where Abhaydatta disappears he finally speaks and tells them how he transformed himself into the mongoose to battle Surabhanu in his snake form and then how he lost sight of his human personality and became the mongoose. Then he tells them how their story jolted his personality back to him.

This was a boring chapter like i predicted the author needed to have a happy ending so she used Abhaydatta as a victim of unnatural memory recovery. I think that his memory coming back like that is absurd because all the master healers tried and they couldn't do it but some kids who don't even know what they are doing can? I think that the author was getting a little desperate for ideas at this point but i don't blame her because she wrote an excellent book and she deserves a break from criticism.