LOVE: To Infinity And Beyond

Madurai

Arjun moved southwards constantly, reaching Dwarka, his first hault, as per the plan... From there, Madhav joined him, and the two devised a devious plan and moved further south towards Madurai...

On the other hand, in Hastinapur, Duryodhan woke up in the morning, to find an anonymous basket of flowers in front of the door of his chamber. He picked up the basket to find a letter in it. He picked up the letter, which read like :

"Dear Bhratashree Duryodhan,

                                                               I am really moved by your honest greed and lust on Krishnaa. But trust me, I dare you to try to lay your, or any of your filthy allies' hands on MY wife, you, or your that filthy ally will no longer be left with your hands or even your dirty eyes. This is not any hollow threat, I mean every syllable of it. I, myself, will slaughter you with full responsibility and glory. I repeat : SHE IS *MINE*. You dare try it ever again, you will suffer a fate, worse that hell....

                                                                                                                                    Yours Lovingly, Arjun..."

The letter and the sugar-coated flaming threat in it, made Duryodhan literally flinch. Impossible. Harming Draupadi in Arjun's presence. 

Arjun and Krishna reached the borders of Madurai. Madurai was ruled by the anti-masculinist queen Alli. She was also a brave and valiant warrior, using which perk, she had captivated various princes of the nearby kingdoms and seized their kingdoms. Her mother had also visited a sage seeking for the cure of this extreme anti-masculinism of her daughter. The only solution which was available was to get her married. According to the hermit, some kind of black magic spell had been cast on her during her birth, which can be got rid of, only by marrying her. Even a simple mangalsutra or pinch of sindoor was enough. 

"Really Madhav.. I can't believe that none of these princes managed to put a mangalsutra around her neck, or a pinch of sindoor on her head...", Arjun laughed as they sat in a natural orchard in the western ghats. Krishna laughed back. "Really... And that is what you need to do..." The plan they had set, was simple and easy, atleast for the world's best archer. Moreover, there was no way he will be taking this so-called 'marriage' seriously. 

Next morning, Arjun and Krishna went to the Meenakshi Devi Temple, guised as sages. Arjun, however, put a coat of straw and threads to completely cover his Gandeev, and carried it along with him. Alli arrived with the pooja thali in her hand. She looked more or less, mediocrely beautiful, which made it all more easy to trap those men. The moment she entered the chief arch of the temple, she rang the temple bell and Krishna started playing his flute, signaling to Arjun, and also making Alli stand in her position for a moment. Arjun traced the exact location of the temple bell by the sound and shot his arrow just as much below as they had measured, by tallying the height of the bell and Alli's approximate height. The arrow head held a small sindoor box, lid opened. The arrow rotated when it reached the right position and the sindoor fell on Alli's forehead, precisely her maang, and the arrow hit the pillar in front. Alli stood there, shocked and speechless. Before she understood anything, she felt a gush of energy leave her body as she fainted. This worried Krishna, as he and Arjun decided to stay back in their camp till they received the news of recovery of Alli from the strong espionage network that they had already spread all over the whole kingdom. 

Alli's mother was indeed happy, when her daughter finally woke up, and she discovered that the dark energy had already made its way out of her. Alli, also was grateful to the man, who has achieved this seemingly, nearly impossible feat. She was so impressed with this exceptionally great archer, that she wanted to meet him, anyhow. She also declaared that she had accepted the marriage wholeheartedly and wanted to get in touch with her husband. "But dear, how would we know who he is..?", her mother asked, literally worried. "I know.. There can only be one person who can do this, and who would do this..", Alli said with a content smirk.

Arjun and Krishna were sitting on a hill slope near their camp. "But Madhav, how do we get the kingdom, now?? By declaring war??", Arjun asked with a frown. "No Parth. Simply by accepting the marriage...", Krishna replied with a subtle smile. Arjun looked at him, and looking into his dark eyes, Krishnaa's blue eyes floated in front of him. "There is no place of misunderstanding between us, any longer", Krishnaa's parting words rang in his ears. He closed his eyes, as her fragrance drifted him back into that magical trance. He nodded.

The next day in the morning, Arjun visited the palace with Krishna. They narrated the whole incident clearly to Alli's parents, instead of meeting her straightaway. They were overwhelmed. They insisted on getting them socially married, but Arjun denied the proposal gently. He wasn't ready to do all this drama over and again, when he had absolutely no feelings for her. Why should he drag her into the same drama..? Arjun even placed the proposal of providing her the freelance to deny this marriage and get married to any man she supposedly liked. However Alli herself denied to do this, and rather imposed that she would instead live with the acceptance of him as his husband. Arjun nodded. He wanted to talk to her separately.

"Princess, I can never provide you with the bliss of conjugal life. I am totally attached to someone else, heart and soul. I also have my cute daughter waiting for me back at home, and I need to return to her. Kindly, don't hold any grudge against me...", Arjun clarified to her. Alli nodded, as she understood his predicament. She was well satisfied having him as her husband. Just... Just one wish. "Dhananjaya, would you please invite me to Indraprasth someday. I am really too interested to catch a glimpse of your ethereally beautiful queen. The tales of her beauty attract me way too much to resist..", Alli requested. "Okay...", Arjun smiled in acceptance of the proposal. Suddenly his lips curved up into a wild grin as he remembered the letter he had sent to Duryodhan, and assumed how he and his respected Mamashri would have reacted to it....

Arjun's grin mirrored that of his daughter, who suddenly burst into peals of giggles, stunning Krishnaa and Abhi, who were also sitting with her in the Jalmahal. Abhi followed her cue as he also started giggling, suddenly. Krishnaa couldn't control her giggles at the antics of the kids...