The quietest thing on the table, and somehow the one guests pick up. Table Companions are four round coasters cut from white marble, each with the stone's own grey veining running through it: no two alike, because no two pieces of marble are. They sit under the chai, the coffee, the evening glass, and keep every surface they meet unmarked.
Marble has done quiet service in Indian homes for generations, thandai glasses on marble slabs, mithai set out on stone thalis that kept everything cool.