Indulekha: The Sister of The Pandavas • Mahabharat

38. Training.

After 15 rounds across the river, Indu was panting. Her training was going smoothly but her muscles hurt every night. Her brothers realised so, even without her telling them, and they were always at her aid. She wanted enjoy their company and take use of their teaching while it lasted. They had a plan to separate way after 1 year of teaching Indu all necessary warfare and weaponry skills. After all, they only had a few years to please the gods and attain further knowledge.

"Do I really need to practice with a wooden sword?" Indu questioned, still panting, rolling her eyes at her brothers, Sahadev and Nakul. These two got the most love from her. After Madri's death, she was always there for them when Kunti couldn't be. Despite being younger, Nakul and Sahadev loved her as an elder.

"Yes, you do. Perhaps you'll realise how heavy that is."
"Oh, come one! It's barely anything." She said, picking up the sword and seemed to regret her words the next second.

"Never mind, it's heavy." She grumbled, turning behind to look if the others were there yet.

Behind them was their little hut. It was large enough for them to sleep in but yet so much smaller than the royal chambers they got used to. Perhaps they keep getting reminders that they came from the forest. The Varnavart incident and now the vanvas. Among the trees and the chirpings of the birds, among the lakes and puddles. It was all where they belonged.

"Try to use your size to your benefit," Sahadev said, taking the sword away from her. She raised her eyebrow in confusion. It had been only 2 weeks since her training had started and she was completely lost. She remembered bits of skills she remembered in Kaliyug but it never helped. She, using the phone she sneaked in to the vanvas, searched up videos on sword fighting but it was all too complicated for her. "Now, take this and attack."

Processing what she was told, she lunged forward. She hit Sahadev with sword but wasn't able to break through his defence. She, instead of being direct with her attack, had a spar with him. They kept going at it for a while, before she was thrown to the ground.

"Well, you didn't understand what I said, did you?"

Indu nodded. "Maybe if you would explain it better." She shrugged, sitting up.
"There's nothing to explain, it's as simple as I said it." He extended his hand which she grabbed and stood up.

"Spar with Bhrata Nakul."

Nodding, she fidgeted with the sword in her hand until she got the perfect grip. She aimed for Nakul's torso but glided underneath his sword and hit him on his leg instead. That was the first time she had been able to touch him with her sword. "Better, maybe not aim on the bone with a sword but on the muscles. It would cut through easier,"
She nodded, wiping her sweat.

"That's it for today," Saying so, the two brothers left her near the lake. Indu smiled, sitting down on the shore. She unfolded the cloth she found in her pile of clothes. It was red and seemed pretty old. Her white rose. Its petals wrinkled and barely holding onto the stem, the thorns blunted out and its greenish colour turning brown and yet, it looked mesmerizing.

"The white rose was still in my hands. To say I was fond of it was the least, I was in love with it. And I definitely have to hide this from my brothers, or else Bharat Bheem and Bhrata Nakul will tease me, asking me to marry the rose. I can clearly see it happening."

She had never missed it ever since Satyadev came into her life. She would clutch on its petals and she finally let go when she met her lover. Guess she did marry the rose. Her white rose.

A smile came to her face, thinking of her beloved. She tore the petals from the stem with one small gesture and let go afloat in the river. Maybe those petals were a important part of her life, when her brothers were away from her. With no homely feeling. But she didn't need it anymore. She had her family, and she was not going to lose it.

"Indu? Indu!" was the last thing she heard before she fainted.