KRISHAVYAYAM

69. Pansies Through Chasms

The lush grass drenched in serein was her querencia for Dvaravati's gates were too far off. Holding Vasudha closer as her sand-hued eyes slowly fluttered before a sweet sweet slumber enticed her, she was cradled in the flames and the oceanic waves. Kamalnayani rolled slightly, burying her sweat-glazed visage against her mother's chiffon saree who immediately took notice and cracked a beam. Something in Kokila's heart jumped as her usual motherly warmth coursed through her, her hands tenderly memorizing her daughter's ever radiant features.

Kanha's Hridayaa was nubivagant again, as her muses continued to flood her. Devi Yogamaya's delineation came back, and she was not fleeing this time. She was bracing herself with mettle, snatching the Gandhara machiavelli's saccharine smile as her mind stayed glued to the lord who resided in the canyons of blueth waters on a multi-headed serpent. Lotus-born she was ; destined to float on the sludge and resist it even though she resided among the adversities fate had in store for her.

Ekanamsha, the girl who was exchanged for her Kanha on that fateful night and then departed to reside on the Vindhya ranges had been apologetic and acerbic at once. Kamalnayani wasn't entirely sure what reaction would be normal to this predicament following her steps, so she was just very sheepish and patient (the latter could be a lie seldomly). This was bound to end in chaos, and she was quite used to it.

"In a way, your actions no matter calculated or not, have come back to you," the deity of tantric Vaishnavism had said, smiling intently at her. She was flummoxed, but then it descended to her.

By Devi Yogamaya's assistance, someone had seized the memories of the mortals of certain events - something that benefitted them. It took her a little while to calculate. Kanha's and hers marriage was one of the many incidents, and now the maya of the Mayapati was surrounded by illusions that appeared agitating and bewildering.

'I wish against this union,' she had cried, and the universe had remembered her laments. The spell and the opportunity and the duplicity coalesced in one.

She had sown the seed of this conspiracy, unmindful and far from her transcendental self. A warrior in maroons, a victim of fallacies.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" Arjuna ecstatically yelled, grinning from ear to ear as his golden-white soggy upavastra tickled her before his hands reached to ruffle her hair.

"Don't you dare!" She yelped, putting her hands over her head and dodging his merciless charging. Kokila laughed in mirth when her youngest child sat up, petulantly glaring at her brother-in-law. "You touch my hair and I shall have your bow melt away in thin air. Choice is yours, Gandivadhari.
Forget not, the Agni who bestowed upon you your darling armament is my father. And I am also the favorite child of my mother as well as yours, it isn't just you."

The archer with unkempt hair and copper eyes -or perhaps yet another illusion- pouted at her before snorting indignantly and she sighed in relief when he shuffled away.

Arjuna was not supposed to be here. Not just yet. Kamalnayani frowned, trying to fathom if it would be respectful to the goddess if she'd breach her way through the phantoms plaguing around her. She had vowed not to peek into the future as well, and it unambiguously wasn't helping. A dream, a nightmare, an elusive slumber had declared to her - "As the sun and the moon meet on the third day of the Margashirsha's Krishna Paksha tithi, this spell shall enchant you and all. Forget not, Kamalnayani, you too are a mortal in this form."

What exactly would bring everything back to normal, Svami? How can the memories be restored?

'Worry not, princess, Partha should be here in the course of a few months. Moreover, smartness does not have to come with dissociating from reality and putting stress on your wits all the time,' her significant other answered, licking butter off his crimson finger tips. His lotus eyes then squinted, minutely teasing her, 'They shall be suspicious otherwise. Her majesty seems not to be in proper health.'