A Different Path

Son

Oh! And the palace that had been constructed in his honor now lay in ruins, incurring the wrath of Duryodhana who had torn down the place with his bare hands. He had destroyed every single reminder of their friendship, chucking them into the fire that didn't possess even a tenth of his rage.

Karna was very sad to see the inside of the house that had insects roaming freely on the floor, broken pots tossed to the side and cheap, wooden furniture having succumbed to the overwhelming perseverance of termites. The windows were broken, and the kitchen was flourishing under the hegemony of cockroaches and rats. Karna sighed. It was going to be a long night.

After carrying earthen pots full of water back and forth, he knelt down and got to work. The insects fought back bravely but finally capitulated to the herbal paste that he had made from the plants and roots he found in the forest. His mother used to prepare it often since their house was more susceptible to insects, being so close to the woodlands, and he thanked his lucky stars that he actually remembered the technique. He scrubbed on the floor hard, trying to get layers and layers of dust out, ignoring his own blackened hands. After what felt like eternity he had managed to well somewhat clean up the living room to the point where he could at least spend the night there. He brought out an old mat from his mother's room, then sighed when he noticed that the mice had chewed it out to the point of no return. And he hadn't even begun to clean his and his parents' room. Dejected, he fell to the floor in exhaustion.

All he wanted to do was to go to sleep, but his stubborn mind refused to accommodate this one very simple request. He contemplated hitting himself in the head with a log of wood enough times to render him unconscious, but he figured that he might miss waking up in time for the puja where he would undoubtedly be humiliated yet again. And who doesn't enjoy a bunch of people throwing insults at them left, right and centre?

Karna tried to relax himself but there were still a few ants crawling on the floor and his limbs felt as if they were filled with lead and his head was threatening to explode at having to labour for close to five hours after undertaking a journey of eight whole days. Still, he closed his eyes and allowed darkness to engulf his mind.

A few hours had passed before Karna awoke at the feeling of wetness at his feet. Annoyed,he sat up and rubbed his eyes, cursing the damn rats who had probably overturned one of the pots of water. But when his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Karna found that he was mistaken.

It wasn't a rat but a person. And those were tears, not water.

"Lakshman!" Karna exclaimed, seeing the boy bent at his feet. Duryodhana's son stared at him with eyes so distraught that Karna could hardly breathe. Instinctively he moved towards Lakshman, enveloping him in a hard hug and Lakshman all but dissolved into his arms. Karna ran a hand through Lakshman's dark hair, the gesture so natural, and he just sat there holding him and wondering whether Duryodhana's children had taken an oath to break his already broken heart every time they saw him.

'My child, what are you doing here?" Karna asked. It was still some time before sunrise. He rubbed his hand on Lakshman's back in a vain effort to ease his pain.

"I went to see you but....Bhavin told me what Grandmother had done so I....spent the night looking for you. " Lakshman managed to spit out as his breathing slowly returned to normal. "I am so sorry Uncle...I had no idea."