Sikva, capital city of Kavish
Darkness all around her. Absolute silent engulfed her. Eerie stillness surrounded her. Tiny little pin, thousands of tiny little pins prickled her body here and there, everywhere.
She moved forward; hands outstretched. There was nothing she could hold on to. She stayed in the realm of unknown darkness for hours, perhaps days, not knowing how long she had been stuck in there.
From a distance, murmur of chant waves rushed to her from all four sides. The voice so faint, she could not catch whose does it belong to, it kept coming, louder. She swatted something moving on her body, a kind of tingling sensation circulated throughout her body; from the tip of her head to her toes.
In the pitch-black room, like a ray of hope came a ray of light in violet. She minced towards it as the ray grew wider and brighter. The ray blast, blinding her for so long, she woke up in a jolt. Oblivious to her surrounding, she stared hard at nowhere in particular.
Her vision focused to a table in a distance. Vials, pots, baskets of herbs spread on it. The room was filled with nutty aroma—ghee, coconut oil, sandalwood along with smell of mixed herbs. Those smell reminded her of arogyalaya. She snapped her eyes open, indeed she was in the arogyalaya, surrounded with her close ones.
Her mother was the first react, pulled her close to her chest weeping as she murmured a silent prayer of gratitude, the maharaja as always remained stoic and nodded to her when their eyes met. While her brothers and their wives were all smiles with tear-streaked faces, the physicians and their juniors heaved a relieved sigh as they animatedly spoke among them. Everyone around her appeared exhausted and dishevelled.
"Your Majesty, I must say. For someone who had gone through a terrible fire accident..." The royal physician gestured Nakshathra. " . . . an absolute miracle. I have never seen one cured at this rate. It must be the intervention of the divine," the royal physician said. "For your knowledge, Your Majesty, Rajakumari did not show any improvement three days before. It's a wonder to my medical experience." Raja Vaithiyar Agathiyan gazed Nakshathra with amazement.
"It is no doubt, Rajakumari Nakshathra is a strong lady both mentally and physically. It's certainly have been her willpower and your relentless care that have quicken her recovery," the King said in his formal kingly demeanour. "Maharani, the princess has just woken up. Allow her to rest and all of you can see her later," the King suggested, turning to the physician for his agreement.
"Yes, His Majesty is right. We will do a basic check-up and send Rajakumari back to the palace for her to rest," concurred the physician. He then turned to give out instruction while the royal members cleared out the arogyalaya.
Nakshathra sat there somewhat unable to catch what were they trying to say. She could not put her finger on why she was in arogyalaya in the first place. "Anna," she called out Nakul who was about to exit the chamber with Nathan in tow. "Stay with me." Nakshathra gestured to both her brothers while the rest slowly made their way out.
"I thought she had forgotten us. She looked lost," whispered Nathan to Nakul and merrily greeted his sister as if she did not hear him. "Nakshathra, how you doing? Feeling better?"
"I heard you, Nathu." She gave him an annoyed stare.
Once they were left alone in the arogyalaya, Nakshathra began to question her brothers. "Can either of you tell me what happened? I simply can't remember how I ended up here."
"You don't remember anything?" Nakul's concern evidently visible.
"No. Maybe I need a little push or sleep over it. All I see is blank. I can't recall a single incident." Her hands caught her head and slid down to cover her face. Emptiness, every time she closed her eyes, empty memory greeted her.
"You were caught on fire at the Durga temple." Her old brother took the lead.
"You were in a bad condition when they brought you here," Nathan added, lines of worry marred his forehead.
Staring at them agape, she had to blink several times to come to a sense. "Fire? If that's true, I am supposed to have burnt and charred skin, right?" evidently perplexed, looking at her ever smooth dusky skin.
"Half cooked actually," Nathan stifled a giggle when Nakul shot him a glare.
"How? I am as good as I last saw myself." Nakshathra checked her arms and legs. "Not a scratch on me let alone scorched, swelled, blistering skin. Are you sure?"
"Absolutely," the brothers affirmed in unison.
"Except for one thing," Nathan mumbled to himself.
Nakul took in her tired form, slumped against the wall, he knew they should drop the talk of the topic. It was mentally exhausting her. "You should get some sleep, Nakshathra. You might feel better." Nakul suggested.
"Oh, look. On cue! The carriage is here. Come little princess, let's get back and put you to sleep." Nathan jumped off the bed and carried her to the carriage like he used to do when they were younger.
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Somewhere between Sikva and border gate of Kavish
His horse trotted in a reasonable distance. He didn't want to be noticed any time soon. Thus, he followed quietly observing them. The moment he heard the news of their departure, suspicion rose in him. Why would they leave in haste when one of them still healing from the fire injury? The idea of them decamping early left him in an unsettling state of mind.
Did they cause the fire? Did he had an ill intention to be in Kavish apart from his mentioned reason?
Parthiban grew anxious as time went by. He had his sister whimpering in unconscious state, his brother-in-law was to arrive at Sikva in a few days and now the prince of Durja leaving Kavish in hurry. He weighed the importance of his presences; Nakshathra has the entire family more so Nakul and Nathan by her side, Abhimanyu's arrival did not bother him as much as Dhruva's departure. He took the call to trail them with two of his trusted guards, hours after Dhruva left Sikva.
During his journey towards the border gate of Kavish, Parthiban had expected Dhruva to come out of his niceties he had be faking. However, Parthiban witnessed a rather confounding act of Dhruva from a distance. Dhruva and his guard stopped when they spotted an aged couple of pottery makers who was seen pulling a cart full of different types of pot and plates ahead of them.
Parthiban observed as he waited for Dhruva to unleash the usual arrogant prince behaviour he knew most possess. Much to his surprise, they dismounted from their horses, spoke to the pottery makers, inspected the cart and a while later Dhruva brought one of the two horses to the wagon. He then attached the horse with a bridle he found in the cart and turned it to a horse-pulled cart.
From afar, Parthiban made out that Dhruva suggested them to get on the back of the cart as he helps them to their destination. The aged pair's destination happened to be a market where everything was sold; eatables, decorative, toys, cloths and flowers. The prince of Durja and his guard did not only help them reach to the market in a short span of time, he had also stayed and got their potteries sold out.
Parthiban clearly did not expect Dhruva to be humble and kind enough to help just anyone seeking his help. To say Dhruva had impressed Parthiban could be an understatement, he was swept of his feet when Parthiban heard the conversation between Dhruva and the aged pair in their house that night.
"We thank you from the bottom of our heart. Never in our lifetime did we managed to sell all of our potteries in a day. It's been the happiest day of our lives with your help. You both worked your charm in our village today." The man in his shaky voice poured his gratitude with his palms joined together before him.
Certainly, Parthiban bit back a laugh when he saw the prince and his guard using all their magnetism to attract crowd that afternoon. Young girls had swamped the stall and couldn't help but be swayed by their alluring talks, buying more than needed. With young girls at their stall, they attracted young boys too which got them double-triple the sales.
The prince of Kavish hid himself in the shadow as he continued to eavesdrop their conversation, peeping through a small window of their mud house.
"Please," Dhruva held the man's hand in his. "It's our pleasure to help you. You are like our grandparents so, don't thank us."
"Then take our blessings, son." It was the lady who spoke. "Bless both of you and your families."
"That will do," Viswa exclaimed joyously.
"Here take this, ma." Dhruva handed a sack of coins which Parthiban assumed to last for a month perhaps more.
"No. No, son. We don't need them. Our earning today is more than enough." The man refused, vigorously shaking his hands.
"It sure is, but take it as a gift for your slick work in pottery. Or consider us as your grandsons, please."
Dhruva had been different than what he heard and known of the Durja's. There had been several times he heard 'Durja prince is arrogant and ignorant' in gatherings with other kingdoms. Here he seemed to be amiable, caring and generous. Is there more than one prince in Durja?
The journey had all been about learning who Dhruva was as oppose to what he heard. The next day too had been another display of his benevolence. When a pregnant lady had accidentally spilled a pot full of churned milk on him, she fell on her knees apologising for her mistake. Dhruva disregarded his wet clothes and helped her up on her feet.
"That's alright, akka. I am at fault too. I should have seen."
There again, Dhruva got to his horse, stood there for a few minutes as if thinking and reached for a small pouch of coins. "This is for the spilled milk," he said handing the pouch to her.
"Thank you but it was my mistake and this is too much for a pot of churned milk." She gave it back.
Instead of taking the pouch from her, he asked her to take care of herself and told her to cook a good meal. "Happy tummy. Happy baby. Happy life," he phrased it. Dhruva's generosity and thought behind it impressed the prince of Kavish who had been watching them from behind a huge tree. Even if the prince of Durja had been faking kindness, one cannot withhold for this long without giving away his true nature. Parthiban even had one of his guards to keep a watch on Dhruva when he had doubted the latter had noticed his presence. The reports been the same, loaded with goodness and nothing less.
For obvious reason, his brother-in-law, Abhimanyu came to his mind as Parthiban recalled a similar incident.
Back in his first year of marriage when he had gone to visit his in-laws, Parthiban had a chance to mingle with Abhimanyu. It was the first time he had spent long days with the Pareen royals and he did not enjoy much to say the least. In a similar manner, a ropemaker accidentally bumped on Abhimanyu while he fixed his tangled ropes looped around his shoulders. Raging at the audacity of the ropemaker, Abhimanyu caught the man by the collar of his shirt and slammed him on the nearest wall.
"How dare you bloody scum? Do you think you can get over by a mere 'sorry'?" The prince of Pareen fumed, intimidating the ropemaker.
"My mistake, Your Majesty. Please, forgive me this one time. I'll never cross your path ever again." The poor man cried, falling on his knees.
"That's right. You knew your mistake. You shouldn't have used the distinguished road to pass through. And for that..." Abhimanyu pulled him up. "You deserve punishment," his voice dangerously low.
Parthiban had never felt bad for anyone as much as he did for the ropemaker. "Prince Abhimanyu, let him go. Forgive him for once." He tried to defend the poor man.
"No, mama. It's an offence, he needs to bear the consequences," Abhimanyu argue.
Parthiban returned to where two of his guards waited with his horse. At least Dhruva isn't like Abhimanyu. . ." He paused on his track, giving a second thought. Maybe it won't be that bad of an idea. . . if I suggest an alternate for Abhimanyu.
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