She faced her head towards me and ambled towards me as she clutched her uttriya which was encompassing her wrist while proceeding towards me. She walks with royal dignity when her eyes are spranged with choler. My paw was locked in the chamber of her hand as she tugged me along with her till the palace. Her steps were seized in the mid-way to the palace. She pulled me up--gripping me in her arms. Her eyebrows which were curved in a scowl were relaxed as her hands fondled my forehead. Her blistering eyes reflected an adequate concern as she scanned my body throughly to pull out for any scratches.
"Couldn't you say no when he kept forward a deal like this? If the arrow would had been tilted in a slight angle in targeting, it would have periced your tender body. You were successful in dragging a real sword from it's sheath which is prohibited but was possible due to your stubborn nature doesn't signify that you excelled in it to bear such a harsh blow!" Her tongue was chanting the darts of fury yet her humble eyes were displaying vigilance.
I clasped my smile tight in the room of my mind by examining the double shades of my mother. I furrowed my eyebrows as I uprooted my head down, towards the ground which displayed my guilt. I pressed my ear tips and plastered a defrosting look. My mother attempted her best to maintain the same standard of cold nature but failed miserably. She was a queen in making in the royal court but she was a pretty good friend and simple natured woman for me.
I quickly shredded the expression of twinkle and draped a grin of greif and disappointment but to my amusement my mother gasped in disorientation as gloomy and strained clouds hovered her face.
"What's this wound?" She persisted a question while brushing over the white cloth which draped my wound and I hissed in a low voice.
I opened my mouth for justification but a cunning plan brewed in my mind. I giggled in delight as my creepy idea rolled out my tongue in an exaggerating way. She's still lingered to my decision of practicing sword. It was probably a wooden sword yet due to the push of my curiosity, I tried to grab a real one which is acknowledged by māṭa yet she isn't aware of the the slash which was the consequence of my impulsive act.
"Māṭa, I had it in the verandah of pitr̥ṣvēśa's cottage." I wrenched the truth according to the heat of the situation.
My statement was perfectly authentic. I had it with me when I was in her whare but I acquired it yesterday in the sword arena. The wound can't be healed in a mere day. The trait of mishandling the words of mine was well acknowledged by my mother but the present waves of affection and concern dumped her rational and logical side.
My eyes were kneely inspecting for my father. I sighed in despondency and hobbled to the chamber of jyesthă. I sneaked through the tiny space behind the door to find pitr̥vya Kr̥ṣṇa even.
"You aren't gonna get any butter here to steal that you are peeping in like you do in kitchen." The voice of pitr̥vya Kr̥ṣṇa rang in my ears as he crept a pleasant expression on his face.
Regardless of maintaining the formal relationship, I hopped towards him.
"You wrapped your work then where's pitā?" I questioned as my eyes hoped for a valid answer. " Probably, taking the class of Abhimanyu. It's his responsibility today. So, I got leisure time." He resumed. I furrowed my eyebrows in upset.
At an instant, his fingers brushed over the wound of mine making me hiss in pain. I whined at the harsh blow.
"Sorry, sorry. Wait, does bhratrijāya knows it?" He arched his eyebrows in a questioning way.
I forwarded an unwavering grin with a tinge of impish shade in my eyes, my eyes gleamed with unknown hush. He snickered and whispered in my ears.
"Is anything going in your mind?" He asked me in a hushed tone to which I nodded perfectly.
Jyesthā shook her head at the scene before she spoke. I realised the cobweb of her insecurities just yesterday. Totally valid they were.
"Pitā, is it really necessary to get trapped again? All the eyes shall be gazing at us if she gets caught." I received a slight, friendly whack from my elder sister.
Pitā wasn't less in these cases. But it's a golden opportunity for my younger father who always gets into the mess in which he isn't involved and being his carbon copy, jyesthā becomes the scape goat.
"Rēkha, what's the matter? You are lingering around anuja, today." I could perceive the voice of my father. I hopped in his embrace as my eyes spotted him.
Now, he would probably try to extract the reason for skipping my dinner, as per māṭa's instructions, so.
"Why to consume ample of butter and what's the need to skip the food? And what's this job of mine to enact as if I am berating you for skipping your dinner, in front of your māṭa?" My father seemed a bit frustrated this time as he walked towards the chamber with me in his arms--playing with his hair.
My teeth penetrated the upper layer of skin, leaving a mark behind before he could loose his calm. He whimpered in a hushed tone and he shifted his gaze towards me.
"It was a way harsh, you and your nibbling!" My head was pushed forward due to the force applied by my father. I whined at his action while his sight captured the white, worn out cloth.
He wiggled his eyebrows as he scanned the slash and brushed smoothly over the crumbled surface of the cloth.
"Is it paining?" He questioned as he blew over the wound. His heart swell with care and concern. "How and when?" He questioned.
I faced my head down as I embowed my eyebrows in dismay. I plastered an expression of distrust and distress at his question.
"Leave it, you aren't gonna belive, baba." The call mine in the language of braj had alerted his senses.
His concern well played in his eyes. I aparted my lips to assert my knitted truth to my father.
"Me and Abhi were in the way to pitr̥ṣvēśa's cottage and he boasted regarding his skills in middle. I was pissed off due to that behaviour and asserted my inner feelings that he didn't excel in any one of the weapon yet, so it's unnecessary and quality of an egoistic person to boast about his skills and he dragged me till the varendah! He placed an apple on top of my head and my feet stumbled due to fright yet I composed myself. I had it with me, there ." I justified the truth that happened and the fact which I conveyed to my mother.
I appreciated my ability to spill out truth. My father's orbs stiffened as he shutted his eyes for a penny of second. He gulped down the tornado of words that struck the walls of his vocal cavity.
"He would be punished for breaking the respect and rules." He mumbled in dismay and anger.
GLOSSARY:
Baba: The term used to address father in braj.
Bhratrijāya: Sister in law.
Pitr̥vya : Father's younger brother.
Braj : a region in the ancient India on both sides of the Yamuna river with its centre at Mathura-Vrindavan.