A Time to Change

Chapter Two

Krishna gave a sideways glance at his best friend. Arjuna was concealing it well, but he was worried out of his mind. Only someone who knew him as well as Krishna could see it.

"Don't worry so much," Krishna murmured, putting an arm around his shoulder. "He'll be fine, I promise."

"How can you promise that?" muttered Arjuna and Krishna sighed. He was simply trying to make his friend feel better. He could not bear to see Arjuna like this.

"Where could he have gone?" burst out Arjuna.

"Have you asked his brothers?"

Arjuna nodded. "They were playing hide-and-seek in the garden and they could not find him. They thought he had hidden well, but only after searching all the usual places and not finding him did they think of informing the dasis."

"Did those usual places include the rather large tree that stands near the wall?"

Arjuna blanched. "It is the jungle on the other side! My God! If he fell-"

And he was off, running towards the garden, like an arrow shot from a bow. Krishna sighed and followed at a brisk walk. Though he wished his friend would be less impulsive, he knew that he would not wish to change him for the world. Krishna would never say it, but he missed Arjuna. Indraprastha was a great city, but it tended to get cold, especially at night.

They were brothers-in-law now, and that had made them circumspect about their passion for each other since neither of them wanted to cause Subhadra any pain. But that did not mean they stayed away from each other. Krishna sighed. They were a mess, to be frank. It was bad enough when they were cousins and best friends, but then Arjuna had gone and fallen in love with Krishna's little sister and Krishna had helped him to abduct and marry her.

None of that nor his missing Arjuna was going to help them find his nephew, thought he. And he ought to be thinking about that instead of trying to figure out their complicated and messed up love lives.

So rapt in thought was he that he bumped headlong into someone rounding the corner.

"Whoa, watch where you're going!" Suyodhana grimaced. "First your friend runs past, without even paying attention to his guests, now you are in such a hurry, you just bump into me! What's going on here?"

Krishna shrugged. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you."

"That doesn't tell me what's happening?"

Krishna looked at the other man. "My nephew is missing," he said.

"Abhimanyu? He's my nephew too." said Suyodhana. "What happened? And who is looking for him?"

"I don't know, I'm going to find out. You're welcome to join me."

"Lead the way," said Suyodhana.