If love had prevailed (Ponniyin Selvan AU)

Kanavugal

Translation: Dreams

"I still don't get why you didn't tell me about the halwa", Aditha grumbled as they walked side by side, "The best in Thanjai and you-"

"We're going now, aren't we?", Nandini shot back.

He grabbed her shoulders, causing her to gasp, "But this entire time- AH"

Nandini shook the hand she had punched him with, a smirk playing on her lips, "Stop scaring me Ilavarase"

"Fine, fine"

The two teenagers were walking into the city that was slowly bringing itself to life with waking people, opening shops and the dawn of the day's trade, as the sun rose behind them. 

And despite the venomous tone of the words flying between them, wide, blatantly lovestruck grins played on their lips. 

If that wasn't enough, their intertwined hands most certainly were. 

Nandini couldn't have been happier, despite him leaving tomorrow, the next time the sun behind them made its ascent into the sky. 

Now, Nandini couldn't be sadder. 

His absence had left a gaping hole in her, clawing through her soul and growing every minute they were apart. 

Which would now be forever, for she was forbidden from interacting with him. 

She wasn't even allowed to see him when he returned from war. 

All because of that prejudiced princess. 

Yazhini had told her to stop thinking, dreaming of him, but how could she?

Memories of him were a drug she couldn't withdraw from. 

But it hurt like the depths of hell, as every daydream, every fantasy was a reminder of what she couldn't have. 

Yet, she cherished them, for that was all she would ever have of him. 

Rage burned beneath the sorrow. 

That prejudiced princess. 

Nandini had never been the one to become aggressively angry, but in the last 2 months, rage so maddening thrummed under her skin and coursed through her veins, it took all her will not to curse everything in this world except her loved ones. 

The mist of the rain that had just stopped pouring clung to her skin as she sat at the gates of the Vishnu temple and danced Shiva's thaandavam inside her head when a man and woman passed her. 

"The royalty deny us everything, as though they are above us when they depend on us for existence"

The fury in the young man's voice mirrored the one in her head. 

And she knew, she had no business knowing anything about another person's problems, that girls like her should keep to their own lives, that she would reveal she had been eavesdropping. 

But before she could stop herself-

"Excuse me, would you mind me asking what happened?"

The man and woman turned, noticing the young girl sitting at the footsteps of the temple. 

A flash of recognition and triumph lit up their eyes, but Nandini didn't notice, for all she saw was the righteous anger of a man against an unjustified royal family. 

Opinions poisoned by love gone wrong. 

"Sure, child, why are you asking?", the man, whose curly hair was long enough to be put in a bun, replied, the light in his eyes covered with a veil of curiosity.