Natyam | A Mahabharata Fiction

27.

"Priye." Arjun whispered. His arms were around me. We were back on our bed in our own home.

"I missed you." I whispered in his ear.

He hummed in response. "I am here. I am here now."

His arms wrapped around my frame and I let our foreheads touch. Ah yes, this felt right. Perfectly normal.

"Do not ever go." I breathed.

He promised me he would not.

One moment we were on the bed. The next we were dancing.

Arjun, face shining and smiling, manoeuvred us in an awkward shuffle. The move made me laugh. There I was, completely content and happy. Completely in love. My heart was full. So full.

"So many years of marriage and you are yet to teach me properly, Rajkumari." Arjun teased as he shifted.

"What can I do? You are too busy shooting your arrows."

His laughter was full. Loud and carefree. He closed his eyes as he laughed. I watched him with a fond gaze.

When he was done laughing, I taught him the steps until we were both like two waves, moving in time. Life was a breeze. I was a princess with her own purpose. I was a princess with passion. I was a princess in a happy marriage.

*****

I jerked awake, heart hammering and with tears in my eyes. The familiar surroundings of my room in Vrikesh came into focus. I glanced at my bed. There was no one beside me. Arjun was not here.

"A dream. It was a dream." I whispered to myself.

I exhaled, resigned myself to the comforts of my pillow and recalled the warmth of his touch in the dream. It had felt so...real.

I remember not being able to sleep that night. I remember sinking my face into the pillow in an effort to find sleep. In fact, I did not sleep well ever since that night. Arjun was on my mind through all my days and nights. I thought about him, about us and everything that had happened.

Then the most eerie thing occured.

I was standing in the balcony, an empty gaze surveying the greenery before me when the wind picked up speed. It blew against my face, a gentle but fierce breeze.

The trees swayed under the effect, leaves beginning to rustle.

Arjun. The leaves seemed to sigh, like they did all those years ago. Arjun.

Dearest reader, allow me to remind you: very little alarms me.

But this did.

I gasped and stepped back as the wind picked up its pace.

Arjun. 

One moment I was alarmed, the next I was crying! I reached the parapet, resting my palms on it and cried.

Arjun, the world breathed the name.

"Arjun." I mumbled with the trees and the wind.

*****

After that incident, I decided to leave. To find Arjun. To be with him instead.

Yes, I know. How terrible of me. How dare I just collapse all mental restraints in a fit of love and set off to see my husband?

Ah well. I did. Shameless Mrinali. I can, however, provide some explanation for my move.

I am human. Not a god, not a kshatriya male who pretends to be god. And as a mortal human, I am susceptible to a change in plan, change in heart, change in mind.

Even better, I am a woman. We women are famous for changing our minds, no? That is exactly what I did. I changed my mind.

There needs to be no justification, no reasoning. If anyone has a problem with that, I suppose they should look in the mirror and remember all the moments that they changed their minds on a whim.

Lastly, I was in love. Married and in love. A heart in love knows no rules; it remembers no promises made to anybody else. All is, certainly, fair in love and war.

Therefore, I left.

Blindly, following whispers of rumours about the adventures of the brilliant Rajkumar Arjun, I left in search for him. There were lots of little gossips about where my husband had gone off to after leaving his family. No doubt, he had been frustrated by the lack of action and decided to un-tether himself from the clutches of familial life.

Some say he had gone to the south and journeyed upwards. On the way, he had married a lot of women. I did not like that.

Oh well, I would take it up with him when I met him.

Anyway, onward I went. Moving through cities, villages and forests, I stumbled through almost every landscape. I walked with some gold and the simple sari on my back. I rested wherever I was provided shelter or on thick branches of trees.

I walked until the skin on the soles of my feet gave out.

I don't know how long I walked. Maybe a few weeks? Months? It was really hard to tell.

Only one thing kept me going. Arjun.

One evening I was hurrying through the jungle, parched. Practically scarmbling across the forest floor in search for water.

My throat had dried up completely.

Every single sense of mine was alive to the environment in the hope of finding relief. There was the sound of gushing water. Immediately I turned to the source of sound and ran towards it.

Each step was an effort as my vision started to blur.

"Water," I mumbled.

There was a pool! A refreshing looking pool. Tripping over roots and twigs, branches scratching my face, I made it to the pool and collapsed at the bank.

"Water." I breathed again.

I dragged myself forward, dunked my face in the pool and drank.

I have never felt as relieved as I did in that moment.

I drank to my heart's content and when I finally withdrew from the water, I yelped upon seeing what was before me.

An arrow was stuck in the mud before me.

I looked up to find the owner of the weapon.

And there he was. Bright against the setting sun. His body still strong and streamlined. His face rugged but still handsome.

"Arjun!" I coughed, sitting up on my knees.

"Mrinali!" He dropped to his knees in front of me.

Before I knew it, I was enveloped in a tight embrace. I hugged him back until we were both lying down in the soil, hugging each other.

"You're Arjun." I told myself, not sure whether I was seeing correctly, my eyes closing.

"Arjun, yes. Your Arjun." He breathed in my ear. I sighed in relief and sank into his embrace completely.

In the flurry of emotions, we both began to cry and rejoice. I told you: there is nothing as sensitive, as soft as a heart in love.

*****
Aha! I am back! Amazed?

Finally, our couple have been reunited. I must say I was very relieved to bring Arjun back. I missed him terribly.

What do you think? Let me know.

Happy Parsi New Year to you all!

Love.