|| ArjunaPriyā: Flames On The Waves || ✔️

|| Trayahpanchashat: Wound Of The Heart ||

"That's a wonderful idea, Putri! I will gladly take care of my grandchildren, don't worry about them. Anyway, I'm not alone, I'll get much help, and their fathers other than Bhima will also be there. You can be completely relaxed."

"Thank you, Mata." Krishnaa sighed softly and left Pritha's chamber but not in the condition she was when she had come inside. Her head was extremely heavy and she was feeling needles all over her body. Tears were not coming to her eyes but still her eyes were burning. She had become so fragile and devastated that no thought came to her mind, nothing but blankness. She didn't know if she was breathing or not.

Her steps became weaker and she knew that she would start stumbling soon. She clutched her forehead with her palm and tried to move towards the wall for support but before that, she lost balance over herself. The last thing she saw before her vision blurred out and blackened was an unclear glimpse of Arjuna's concerned face. He had obstructed her fall as she lost her consciousness, and took her name repeatedly. His mother and the attendants who were around came rushing and were shocked to find Krishnaa unconscious in Arjuna's arms.

"Call for the physicians!" Pritha instructed the attendants who hurried away from there. They shifted her to Pritha's chamber which was the nearest to that place. Arjuna stared at his palms, they were almost charred. She was burning furiously like the lava from a volcano. The whole time he was holding her, he could feel himself standing in the midst of fire.

"Whenever she experiences intense shock, if she is unable to accept it, such a fever strikes her. We had noticed this symptom before," the Rajavaidyaa explained after checking Krishnaa. "This might be happening when she refuses to spend her emotional strength on any strugglesome issue. All that burden falls on her body instead, and it develops into something very fiery. Her origin from fire must be the reason for that, though we cannot figure out that exact process because it's not medical, it has something to do with the energies."

"But how will she be cured?" Pritha questioned worriedly, changing the wet cloth on Krishnaa's forehead.

"I have given her medicine and I hope that it works, Rajamata!" The physician took her leave after giving specific instructions for Krishnaa's care.

"Arjuna, it will be better if you leave too!" Pritha said, her tone deliberately mechanical.

"Mata, I cannot leave Krishnaa in this situation. Please let me stay here. I can cure her fever. I've done it before!"

"What?" Pritha exclaimed. "But how?"

He took Krishnaa's burning palm into his cold one and placed his other palm on top of hers. Pritha watched silently as he sat unmoved in his place for an entire muhurta, his palm entwined with hers and his eyes shut. When Krishnaa's eyes started fluttering open, Pritha checked her temperature and it was astoundingly normal. Arjuna too sensed the movement and opened his eyes, sighing in relief. But when Krishnaa opened her eyes fully and registered her surroundings, and realized that Arjuna was holding her hand, she immediately pulled her hand away from his hold.

"Krishnaa..." he stopped when she showed her palm to him, her face rigid and solemn. She closed her eyes once and opened them, clearing her vision.

"I know that you have healed me, Arjuna, I know that you have that power. But you could heal my fever but not the wound in my heart. I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to see you!"

"Krishnaa, listen to me once...."

"No, I said no! I'm tired of listening to your explanations. Please leave me!"

"Arjuna." Pritha held his arm and led him away from there. "Healing her illness was your responsibility. Leave now. She needs rest. She is getting hyper and it's not good for her health."

"Fine, Mata!" He left the chamber with a heavy heart and reaching Subhadra's chamber, he found her waiting for him.

"Subhadra, you are going to Dvaraka to spend the period of pregnancy there." He uttered without any premonition, making her dumbfounded.

"I didn't say that I want to spend my pregnancy period in Dvaraka."

"I want you to go to Dvaraka."

"What do you mean? At first, you used to employ a requesting tone at least and now you are directly ordering me!"

"Because the situations are like that, Subhadra. Try to understand. I can't put Krishnaa through all of this."

"I think I've understood enough. I'm not going anywhere. It's your child that I'm carrying. Why should I go anywhere?"

"I had made you sacrifice your pride but I never made you sacrifice your happiness no matter the stress I had to deal with. I'm asking you to go to your natal family and not anywhere else!"

"If you did not want to make me sacrifice my happiness before, why are you doing it now? Any girl would want to spend such a crucial period with her husband only. Bhagini has to accept the truth, how long will she avert her face from the truth? It won't help her too in the long run. Svami, you do realize that there's nothing wrong in this, it's normal. Then why is she reacting like this? She only has kept you at distance, right? Otherwise, she too could have carried your child. For her decisions, we cannot be made responsible. I was ready to be subservient to her to earn her acceptance but I'm not going to be this much submissive either."

Understanding that Subhadra would not leave Indraprastha, Arjuna walked away from her chamber without another word. Everything was seeming blank for him as if an all-consuming darkness was hovered around him. It could have been a very trivial issue, a simple issue, a mere domestic issue, only if he could see Krishnaa in pain and still not feel anything.

He could feel her pain in his very bones. No, he couldn't afford to put her through such pain ever again! No, he couldn't see her falling sick like that ever again! No, He couldn't bear her avoidance and that aversion in her words again! But he was trapped in the consequences of his own actions. But why weren't those consequences hurting him alone, why her? Why were they hurting him through her hurt? How fair was that?

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