The Broken Bond

Just A Random Day

Indra's servants left the city, and Yudhishthira immediately felt that his young kingdom was still standing on loose river sand and would collapse if a stronger wave came.

Khandavaprastha was a deserted land, and although now the rains regularly irrigated the fields and pastures, and people no longer had to fear the attack of the Nagas, the means of subsistence remained very scarce. In fact, only what they took from Hastinapur, and these stocks were rapidly dwindling, and their replenishment was not expected. It was still a long time to pass before the land would become generous in response to hard work, but They would have to live now. At the same time, it was not worth waiting for help from Hastinapur, except for the cows promised for the puja. Only new people came from there, who also needed shelter, clothes, food. Yes, they all brought something with them, but no one brought supplies for the year ahead.

"If it goes on like this, my lord, I'm afraid people will have to starve." Draupadi placed in front of him tablets with lists of supplies from warehouses, very short compared to those that Vidura had once brought him. "I managed to save wheat and rice, but this is not enough."

She had just been relieved of her burden, and had it been Yudhishthira's will, she would have rested in her chambers, knowing what it was like to be a mother. Had it been his will, he himself would have been doing the same, getting to know this amazing little creature - his own son.

But Yudhishthira was a king, and his kingdom was like a barely sprouting sprout that tries to take root on a rocky slope without falling into an abyss and without drying out from the poverty of the soil. And no power could force Draupadi to indulge in idleness at a time when her husbands worked for the benefit of their subjects. Yudhishthira had no doubt that for this she would be condemned in other lands, but now he could not afford the luxury of refusing the help of his wife. As never before, Yudhishthira was imbued with the old truth that a woman brings prosperity to the house.

But she was right, and even that was not enough, and with half a year left before the collection of taxes, Yudhishthira doubted that this first collection would bring anything significant.

"My lord, has Arjuna returned yet?" And did he bring any booty? It would be a little easier if we had more cows," Draupadi continued.

Another problem that Yudhishthira faced was the constant raids of neighbors who clung to the kingdom like a flock of horseflies - a bull. Indraprastha's army was small, barely enough to patrol the borders and maintain order in the city, and this misled many. The fact that Indraprastha had the bow of Arjuna and the mace of Bhima, as well as the poison of the nagas and the art of Nakula and Sahadeva, the neighbors, who wanted to profit at someone else's expense, for some reason forgot.

"Arjuna has not returned yet," Yudhishthira replied, and seeing Draupadi's eyebrows move, he added, "He's all right. I would know if it wasn't."

And Sahadeva would have known. Not to mention that Yudhishthira simply did not believe that in any of the neighboring kingdoms there would be an army capable of withstanding Arjuna.

Draupadi still frowned and, after a slight hesitation, Yudhishthira carefully placed his hand on her wrist. She raised her eyes, black and fiery, and smiled a little guiltily.

"I know I shouldn't be so worried, my lord. Being afraid for Arjuna is like being afraid for an elephant going out against a pack of dogs.against a pack of dogs."

-"Everyone is afraid for their loved ones. There is nothing wrong with that," Yudhishthira replied and decisively banished from his mind the question of whether she would feel the same way if he had to go to the war himself. He reproached himself for the doubt that offended Draupadi, who generously gave him her loyalty and love.