A String Of Pearls

The Svayamwar

Bhanumati held back a sigh and plastered a broad smile on her face as she stepped into the Rangamanch, where her Svayamwar was to be held.

Her eyes took in the arrays of Kings and Princes all dressed to the nines, hoping to win her hand in marriage.

She had always known that she was to be married off one day, to help her family build an alliance. Any King or Crown prince she married today would guarantee Kalinga an extra army and in these times when all of Aryavarta seemed to be in turmoil... military and financial support was very welcome. Well. Military and financial support was always welcome, but especially now.

Even though Svayamwars were supposed to be self choice ceremonies, where either the princess chose her groom or the groom was selected based on some task they completed... it was not uncommon for the Kings to tell their daughters to choose or not choose a specific suitor, behind the scenes.

She had wondered if her father would do so as well, but he hadn't. She might have preferred if had, actually, since then the weight of this very significant choice would not have fallen on her.

Bhanumati knew she was beautiful, with fair skin and wide hips and a curvaceous body. And as any other princess, she had been dressed in her best clothes made of the richest fabrics for her Svayamwar. (She was escorted by some of the dasis cum spies her mother had prepared to accompany her to whichever Kingdom she went to.)

As such, she could feel all the stares on her, some admiring as they should be, others more... hungry, lustful. But that was to be expected. She took note of all who looked at her the latter way so that she would know not to put her garland around any of their necks.

In her survey, she noted two rather large men, towering above the rest, sitting on the opposite sides of the arena. And she knew that the Pandava Prince Bheem was not here so he must be even larger, which was... somewhat alarming. Internally shaking her head to clear it of such useless thoughts, she turned back to her current objects of interest.

Looking at the first of these men made her nose wrinkle. He looked very strong(with that size, it was hard not to)and he might have been good looking once but now...He was... old. Too old. Honestly, he was probably older than her father. Why was he even here? Was he accompanying a son or nephew? She looked around him but.... she genuinely couldn't be sure if he was an escort or if he had actually come here expecting to win her hand.

The other one... this one was rather handsome. He had bronze skin and strong, well muscled arms and a rather beautiful face but... he also had a rather arrogant look about him, like he considered himself better that most people.

But right now, all his attention was on her and as he met her eyes, a corner of his lips tilted upwards. She looked away.

Beside him sat a fair skinned, beautiful warrior with a large bow, but unlike most, he didn't seem the least bit interested in her and she wasn't sure whether to be insulted or not. This was her Svayamwar after all. By the way the latter leaned to his side to speak to the former with a smile on his face, it seemed that the two might be friends. A rare enough sight since even friends weren't really friends at a Princess's Svayamwar, if they both came hoping to win her hand.

As she looked at the rest of her suitors... well. She found some of them to be rather pretty, though she was certain most of them would loathe the use of that word in regards of them.

She wished she could be marrying someone she actually knew and cared about at least a little, but... very few princesses had that in their fate.

Honestly, she had no idea on what basis to garland her to-be husband. She knew about their Kingdoms but nothing personal about any of these men present. Should she ask a question or?...