SEASON ONE!
The princess of Padmadurg was prophesied to be blessed and bring prosperity. However, throughout Tarini's life of eighteen years, all she had been feeling was cursed, unwanted, underestimated to be precise.
Tarini tries her best to pur...
"That doe, she is the one, perfect!" thought the crown prince of Aaranya, Arnav to himself, as he rode his horse at the speed of the winds behind a golden deer.
He was roaming around in the deep dark woods of Mrugsarovar in search of a deer whom he could gift to his dear mother.
His mother, empress Mayuri wasn't biologically his mother although she meant way more than that to him.
He deeply respected and obeyed her for two reasons - the first being that she was the Empress of Aaranya, the first queen to his father. She was the person his father trusted the most in the world, his most valued advisor and best friend. Whatever kept his father strong and sane even after so many responsibilities made Arnav feel obliged.
The second reason was that she had considered him as her own child when his mother, Sunayana, the love interest and second queen to his father died due to a terminal illness when he was just five years old. Mayuri had kept him in the warmth of her love despite having two children of her own.
He followed the doe deep into the forest trying not to lose track of her, but she seemed to be disappearing and when she reappeared, she ran so fast that he couldn't aim the anaesthetic arrow at her.
Either this is some Yogi's Maya or this deer is possessed by some magic. Nonetheless, I will try to follow this doe. She might lead me to the Yogi or I might finally be able to catch her.
Suddenly he lost sight of the deer again. Where could she have vanished? he thought.
He got down from his horse and ran towards the bushes which covered the view of the nearby waterfall.
His attention diverted when he heard a feminine voice coming from near the waterfall. The doe must have been a witch in disguise! he thought.
But the voice seemed soft and caring unlike that of witches, making him utterly confused. Maybe the witch in an attractive, enticing guise?
Suddenly the voice stopped. The atmosphere was filled with haunting silence for a while. Suddenly he heard a sound which sounded like the doe was drinking water.
Arnav considered this to be a good opportunity to kill the witch and maybe, gain coveted deerskin. He inched closer towards the waterfall as quitely as he could and took aim. But what he saw there left him astonished.
There was no witch but only a maiden drinking water slowly from the stream. The doe was standing beside her.
He couldn't see her face properly, her long hair flowed till the ground protecting her face from others' eyes. She slowly gathered some water in her palms and offered it to the doe who happily obliged.
"You must be very tired, my pet. I appreciate that you followed the tactic I taught you! Otherwise only the mother goddess knows what would have happened."
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Arnav stood there breathless. He couldn't grasp the situation properly. The doe he was chasing wasn't a witch, instead it was a friend of this mysterious girl who had taught the deer to escape hunters!
Confused at this information, he looked towards the woman in a daze. His bow fell from his hand creating a rustle in the bushes.
The doe noticed his presence and ran away as her first instinct. The woman stood up in shock and wrapped her veil around her. She peeked at him from the corner of her eyes.
"You don't look like a hunter." She commented almost inaudibly.
Arnav continued staring blankly towards her, noticing how she was covered with lotus emblems from head to toe. The orange lotus flowers embroidered on her veil, the golden lotus armlet adorning her right arm, the pink lotus gleaming from her hair.
"You don't seem like a witch either." He said in a dazed voice.
The woman scrunched her face, sparing him an angry look.
How dare he call me a witch!
Noticing his tranced state, she caught hold of a pebble and threw it at him before running away, deeper into the forest.
Arnav rubbed his chest where the pebble had hit him and frowned.
Where did the lady go?
She had disappeared and so had the doe when he was lost in a trance.
"God damn it!"
Arnav looked around for a while. He wanted to meet the girl and talk to her. She had charmed him to the highest possible extent. She might or might not be a witch but she had certainly and truly bewitched Arnav.
