In the Wake of the War

Chapter-32

The door to Arjun's quarters burst open. He was startled, before looking up to see his brothers and wives storm into his bedchambers.

Subhadra had a sort of mild expression on her face while Draupadi's was... well... fiery. 

Bhrata Bheem looked stormy and Nakul and Sahdev looked upset and Jyesht had a frown on face.

"Is this an intervention?" Arjun tried to joke, feeling nervous. 

"This is not funny Arya!" Draupadi glared.

"What did I do?"

"What did you do?!" She exclaimed in outraged. "Did you not request to spend the Vishwakarma Puja in Anga instead of Indraprastha?"

Arjun felt himself flush. "I--I did."

"How could you do this Arjun?" Bhrata Bheem asked, scowling. "I understand that you've been trying to make progress with Vrishaketu and I've heard that you've succeeded to some extent, but this is too much. You are not even planning to spend Vishwakarma Puja with your family!"

"But Vrishaketu is family too!" Arjun protested, conveniently choosing the one part of the accusation he could actually confidently respond to.

There was a brief silence.

"Yes, alright, but you don't even know him that well and you're going to spend Indraprastha's most important festival in Anga?!" Nakul exclaimed hotly.

Arjun's thoughts felt jumbled and not even completely clear to himself. Just how would he even begin to explain? And unlike Madhav, he had never been the most eloquent.

He took a deep breath and braced himself before turning his gaze back on his family. 

"I love you all. And I know you love me. We've been through so much together and I know that no matter what we'll always be together. And of course I want to spend time with you. I always want to spend more time with all of you. But we already do. And we can do it whenever we want. We can celebrate next year's Vishwakarma together as always too. But here's the--"

"Arjun!" Bhrata Bheem burst out. "Yes, we can and will spend next year's Vishwakarma together, but we must spend this year's together as well. Don't you see, this is the first festival since the War. We should be together. Our people at Indraprastha will be happy seeing us together!"

"Bheem--" Jyesht Yudhishtir started but Bhrata Bheem said, "You know I'm right!"

And yeah, he was, but Arjun was starting to get a little annoyed now. They didn't even let him finish speaking.

"Alright listen," He started again but was interrupted by Sahadev now.

"Listen, Bhrata Arjun. Why don't you go to Anga for the celebration next year? This is the first festival being celebrated since the War. You should definitely be with us!" Sahadev said, clearly trying to reach middle ground.

"But--" He began again but Panchali had perked up at Sahadev's words.

"Arya Sahadev is right! That's what you should do. Or maybe, next year too, you could stay in Indraprastha like Arya Bheem said, and instead invite Vrishaketu and Angarani there!"

"Will you all please just let me finish!" Arjun exclaimed.

Yudhishtir sighed. "Yes, we're sorry." He looked pointedly at the others.

Arjun took a deep breath again and started from where he left off.

"It's not about Anga. I thought that would be fairly obvious. I don't want to go to Anga for sightseeing! And... what's the point...the King is dead." Arjun whispered the last part, shuddering.