Forging The Sun

One

A/N: Some non-English terms are defined at the end of the chapter.

Amidst the ruckus of the disciples of her father, a little girl quietly sat intently looking into the water.  The pond is adorned with pink lotus flowers, large and small green leaves overlapped to form a blanket over the water, and flowers swayed with the wind.

It's been almost half an hour she has been sitting there looking into the water. Suddenly her eyes lit up "Yes I found it!!" she squealed in her baby voice and picked up her lotus leaf bowl that she had already prepared and immersed it in the shallow water to catch a fry.

Holding a much larger leaf bowl in her small hands she ran towards the music pavilion carefully not spilling any water from it so fry won't die. Her little feet leaving prints on the soft dirt.

"Look mother I have brought something" she interrupted her mother who was teaching sitar to her disciples. Her fingers stopped on the seven-stringed instruments as she smiled at her daughter.

"Show me what have you brought," her mother said with a sweet loving smile. 

She pushed the bowl forward "Look it's a baby fish".  

Her mother gasped, "You brought a fish in the bowl. That's not fair go and leave it back in the pond"

"But mother it's so beautiful and small. I want to keep it" her face fell

Some fifteen or sixteen disciples included both girls and boys formed a circle around her to see what she had caught and cooed in silence at her innocence. 

Her mother, Katyayani widely smiled, "But if you will keep it, won't its mother miss it?"

"Really? Will she?" she pouted

"Yeah!! If you go somewhere won't I miss you" she caressed her daughter's raven hair.

"You are right, mother. I will leave it back in the pond" she walked out of the music pavilion and walked toward the pond.  

The place was bustling with chatter of people working in Gurukul and disciples reciting their lessons in other classrooms. She paid no attention to any of them and walked carefully so as not to fall down and kill fry.

"Suruchi !! Suruchi !!" Daksh called her. 

"Brother I will talk to you later. I have some important work to do" she still didn't turn around. The fifteen year old boy ran up to her and sat in front of her blocking her path. He wore handsome swoon-worthy features, "What important work?"

"I have to leave this baby fish back into the pond. Its mother will miss it if she won't see it around" she talked like an adult, nobody could tell that she is less than the age of four if they didn't look at her face.

"Ooh!! so you are doing 'important work'" he chuckled. 

Suruchi noticed a bow in his hand and quiver tied on his back. "Are you going to kill that lion?" she asked. He nodded. "But won't his mother miss him if you kill him?" she asked again

Her father who was looking at them from a few meters away approached them, "It's killing the villagers. It's not bad to kill a beast that has killed so many people. Villagers must be saved"

Suruchi nodded as if she understood everything. Daksh stood up and greeted his master Atreyacharya acknowledging his presence,"Gurudev".

Atreyacharya, "Let's go now"

A royal palace guard came and greeted him, "Acharya Atreya, His majesty has invited you to his palace"

"We are going to kill the beast right, now inform the king that I will come tomorrow" he said with a firm baritone voice.

"I apologize but you have to come with me" the guard said

Atreyacharya, "You do understand that killing the beast is more important right now, it is killing the villagers". Although guard is just following orders, he also had no other way apart from saying it to the guard.

Guard said in a polite manner, "I very well understand Gurudev but I'm just following his majesty's order".

He sighed and turned around to Daksh, "We will go later on".

"Father! Father! may I come with you" she pouted looking up at his tall figure.

"Okay" her father agreed. She couldn't believe her ears, every time he went to the royal palace she bugged him to take her with him but he refused every time.

She jumped in happiness, "I have to leave this baby fish back in the pond please wait for me". She ran towards the lotus pond.

She gaped at the beauty of the palace. The palace stood wide and tall. Inside the campus of the palace, the main pathway is made up of white stone tiles, many idols of beautiful fairies adorned at each side of the pathway holding a torch that was ignited at night to light up the pathway and gardens at each side. 

The wide corridor has over forty pillars with rose flower carvings, gave the illusion of a never-ending corridor decorated with gold plated vases.

She held her father's finger as she tried to match up with his pace. She was astonished by everything. Looking at all of this a feeling of deja vu struck her, "Father, have I come here before?"

Atreyacharya honestly replied, "Yes you have"

Suruchi was surprised, "Oo" after a little more thought she asked "But you have never brought me here before"

Atreyacharya, "I used to bring you here a lot"

Hearing this she jumped on her feet in disbelief,  "When? I don't remember" 

Atreyacharya, "You used to come here to play with the princess, you were friends with her"

Suruchi, "But I don't remember playing with her"

Her father replied, "Because you were small back then"

Curiosity was boiling in her and her father's concise answers fueled it more. She asked everything at once, "Why have you never told me this? Why am I not friends with her anymore? Does she not like me anymore? Why don't I come and play with her now? "

Atreyacharya, "Because she had died about a year ago"

Little girl render speechless.

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1. Gurukul: A gurukul was a type of education system in ancient India with disciples living near or with the Guru in the same campus. So it was like a boarding school.

2. Gurudev: I guess most of you the meaning of Guru but anyway, It means "Teacher" and "dev" is the suffix used to symbolize respect, it roughly translates to "diety".

3.Acharya: An acharya is a preceptor or instructor in weapons training, religious matters, or a highly learned person. It can also serve as a title affixed to the names of learned people e.g Atreyacharya.

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This is my first book. English is not my first language so plz go easy on me.

I'd love to get some feedback.