Anger flickered across Zimbara's face—he had fed on fear for ages; joy and courage were bitter, unfamiliar foods. He drew from the ruin's stones a cluster of black thorns and hurled them, each one sprouting a mirage of a villager's doubt. Children in the square shrank as their doubts became monstrous, but Bheem and Krishna acted in seamless rhythm. Bheem, with raw strength, smashed a thorn into pieces; Krishna, with a soft word and a note, returned each frightened villager's memory to them, knitting their courage back into place.