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Agni: Oh you poor baby! c'mere! *Pats Indriya on the head*
Indriya: :3
Chapter 19
Indriya dreamt she was near the fountain again, the milk white shadow was bathing in the soft incandescent moonlight. She could smell the faint smell of roses and wet grey stone that lay beneath her feet.
“Hello Indriya, you have grown up.” A familiar angelic feminine voice called out. Indriya looked sideways at a beautiful woman black haired woman with piercing eyes and sharp features.
“Oh look who's here, the woman of my dreams!” Indriya smiled mockingly at the woman.
“So you knew it was me all along, Indriya?” She asked quietly.
“Of course not, I just realised that every time I drowned in one of my dreams I heard the same disembodied voice and obviously I did not know it was you. Wait, who are you again?”
The lady frowned slightly at her impertinence. Indriya knew better than to apologise, this lady was haunting Indriya’s dreams from when she was young, and drowned every single time.
Indriya almost gasped at the beauty of the woman she saw and her eyes made Indriya feel like she was fortunate to be seen with those angelic eyes and the face that seemed to be that of a goddess. Those eyes were not warm golden speckled eyes, but dark black unyielding ones. She was sizing up Indriya, taking every detail.
“My son seems to be training you well, Indriya. Well, after all he is my son.” She smiled, but Indriya didn't, in fact Indriya was awestruck and she couldn’t move a damned muscle.
“What...what the hell are you saying, woman? YOur son? You are Samanvita Tamas! Agni’s mother!” Indriya’s voice became very cold and hot at the same time.
“Now is not the time, Princess. I am here to ask you for a favour.” She said as she walked around Indriya.
“Too bad you will have to find someone else to do it, I know better than to do the dirty work of some dead Queen.” She asserted.
“How typical of you, Princess.” The Queen was smiling. “Would you not do it even if I told you it would help Agni and Bilvani?”
Indriya was tongue tied, she did not know how to react to the Queen's request.
“No...I cannot interfere with your family life. Besides, can you not do the work by yourself?” Indriya was desperate to get out this dream, she wished Agni could wake her up, but nothing of that sort happened.
“Don’t you think I would do it if I knew how to, Indriya?” The Queen glowered at her, but Indriya didn’t flinch.
“You can do it just the way you did it for me?” Indriya blurted. She knew she should not disrespect the dead but the Queen was not being especially nice to her by haunting her dreams anyway.
“Princess, I cannot penetrate into the minds of either because they do not have a mind like yours, they do not have a gift of transcendental awareness, like you do. You will have to help for the sake of Nirvana, for the sake of the world.” The Queen implored in a cool musical voice, rather soft for a Queen. Indriya pitied the Queen, she could sympathize with her, although, not entirely, but she could understand what drove her to walk out of her realm and come here.
“Ok, if not for Nirvana, for Agni. Agni who you love…” The Queen was talking but Indriya interrupted her.
“I don’t love your son! We are only… friends.” Indriya was surprised as she hesitated to say those words although it was the reality. All the more she continued.
“Queen, I understand what you want me to do, but you do not realise I have no army or kin that has one. How will I help you if you don’t?” She pressed her lips together.
“I understand, I will gather all the help you need to prepare your city for battle only if you promise to tell Agni about the librarian tomorrow.” Her voice held a vow, a burden that was well beyond Indriya’s age but she knew she would have to do it one day or the other.
“I’ll do it, but only on one condition, that is if you warn your son something is going to happen in his life that would make the ground disappear beneath his feet.” A wide abyss yawned somewhere between Indriya’s stomach and heart. Agni is going to hate her, Bilvani is going to hate her. But if this Queen keeps her side of the bargain then Chag, Mythri and most of all Agni will be saved from going against the King of Bhadra.
“Yes, I would have done that either way, even without mentioning, but now that you proved that you care about your people I will mention your name too. Thank you Indriya.” The Queen admitted heaving a sigh in the end. “I will have limited time to spend with him, he is not as ...accepting as you are.” She explained.
“It’s cool, I get it. Be safe though, his head is a labyrinth or rather should I say, it became a labyrinth.” Indriya informed her by throwing her hands up in the air. “I know my son Princess, I know what he needs and what he has done instead.” The Queen gave her a pointed look.
“And, I almost forgot, Princess, Happy Birthday to you! That is why I was here in the first place wasn’t I.” She said with a stunning smile.
“Thank you, Matha.” Indriya smiled back.
Then the Queen vanished in less than a fraction of a second.
Indriya opened her eyes, she heard her phone singing to her, a birthday song. She pushed the thought of the dead Queen from her mind, she did not throw it but she just put it aside like putting aside a photograph of a loved person.
It was singing a happy birthday song for her, so she woke up smiling and screamed “Yes, Happy birthday to me.”
Indriya brushed her teeth, put on her earphones and played her favourite songs.
After a while she just couldn’t sit still, so there she was dancing and singing so loudly that the dead in the cemetery miles away could hear her.
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Chag woke up startled when he heard someone singing loudly in the building, he realised it was Indriya because it didn’t sound like someone was choking on their food (courtesy of Mythri. She was a terrible singer.)
Just then someone knocked on his door and he let out a deep guttural grunt to allow the person inside. To his surprise it was Mythri, she looked just as startled and grumpy as he did.
He reached for his spectacles as he sat up on his bed, “Whoa, what’s with her today?”
“Don’t know, do you think we should find out?” She asked worriedly.
“Hang on, what is the date today?” Chag checked his phone. “Oh shoot! it is her birthday today.”
“Mythri, go get some cake and a necklace or something and get a gift you want to give her.” He nearly leapt out of his bed and rushed into the washroom.
Chag couldn’t comprehend what else he should give his cousin, he knew the huge fight his friend and Indriya had the day before, so he came up to a logical conclusion that he should give her a necklace instead of the portrait he made of her. Honestly, he did not like the portrait because his cousin looked absolutely flawless and his portrait was not very...convincing.
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Mythri was in the bakery looking at all the cakes, she was so puzzled at having so many choices that she honestly thought she should have made a cake at the bungalow kitchen instead.
She asked the baker what the best choice of cake would be for a teenager who was obsessed with books and music and he looked at her like she was mad.
“Young lady, I think you should know that, you look like a dork yourself.” The plumpy baker replied, smirking at her pointedly. But Mythri considered cutting his wrist open with a knife and healing it again just to see how he would like to ‘reconsider what he just said’. But she simply smiled and said “Pack the Red velvet with this written on it.”
She handed him a note that said ‘Happy birthday Indriya/Princess.’ Yes, with a slash on it.
Mythri bought a blue sapphire chaplet necklace after bargaining with the shopkeeper for a hell lot of time. She even threatened him that she would press charges of treason against him, after which he gave the necklace for half the price. She was on her way home, when she realised she had to get her gift.
So she sat down on one of the benches and thought about all her memories with the Princess. She pulled out each one of her memories one by one and assessed them, every detail for how she spoke to what she wore.
Thanks to Mythri’s mechanical brain, this side of her always puzzled her, the kind that had to assess too many human emotions. The part of her that strangely made her cold rigid heart feel warm and calm, sometimes it even seemed to...flutter when she was around….
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Indriya took a relaxing bath and walked out of her bathroom draped in her towel and drying her wet hair. Warm water trickled out of her wet hair onto the floor. She opened her closet to find the half saree that had beautiful lotus blossoms embroidered in its indigo silk, a gift from Mythri. She had given it to her when Indriya had arrived in Nirvana.
She put the dress on and she assessed herself in the mirror.
It fit her like a charm and she looked like a...complete stranger. She sat down in front of the mirror to find a jewellery box resting atop the table. It had the royal symbol of Bhadra, the lion with two swords crossing behind. It was from the Queen of Bhadra.
She opened the box to find a beautiful golden beaded necklace that reached her chest. It gave her a dignified elegant look. Just afterward she found an envelope right beside the box which she assumed would have come along with the box from the Queen but to her surprise the envelope gave out a strong scent of night jasmine, Agni’s scent.
When she opened the envelope she found a nose ring, a Nath. She put it on effortlessly and examined it, the way it’s small bead fell on her upper lip making her lips look full and beautiful. She didn’t braid her hair, she decided to give herself a full Indian Queen look. So she put on a golden hair piece called malle moggalu (a crescent shaped hair piece) that held the front locks of her hair behind in place. The rest of her hair rested on her back in a flurry of slight swirls.
She completed her look by adorning the classic Champasara (chain like structures that are attached along with the buttalu, mostly worn by South Indian brides) along with her buttalu (the traditional earrings that look like toppled baskets).
Now, she looked like a Queen, a woman capable of not only fighting but also protecting, a woman who could not only care and nurture but also destroy and hate. That woman who was capable of creating and destroying worlds. Indriya realised why she was called Princess for the first time.
She looked inside the envelope to find a piece of paper, it was a note from Agni and was written in neat, concise letters. ‘I will be waiting for you near the entrance at five o’ clock in the evening. Yours, Agni.’
She did not know how to comprehend his note, he was going to wait for her, he was going to take her somewhere. Something tightened in her chest all of a sudden, Bilvani…
A knock on the door distracted her.
“Come in.” Indriya shouted in reply.
“Happy Birthday lil’ sis, I mean you're seventeen but that doesn’t mean you're not younger than me.” Chag gave her a dazzling smile, along with him stood Mythri in a stunning white half saree with gold dots all over, she beamed at her as she examined Indriya.
“Happy Birthday, Princess! I pray you win your Kingdom back and also win a Prince’s heart who would love you to Vaikuntha and back, and live happily ever after in the bliss that shall be your rule.” Mythri hugged Indriya in a bone crushing manner and she got a whiff of the Almond oil that Mythri used. Mythri’s loosely tied braid almost touched her hip.
“You look stunning, Indriya.” Chag admitted. “Mythri sure does have a good fashion sense, she was the one who brought this dress for you.” Chag smiled at Mythri and the healer, to Indriya’s surprise blushed, she was pink and red all over the place. Suddenly Indriya had an innate feeling that she was third wheeling, but this was her room and they came to wish her so, all three of them felt quite awkward.
After a moment of silence it was Indriya who broke it, she hugged Chag and kissed him on the cheek. Chag looked mildly surprised at the gesture but he too kissed her on the forehead and wished her again.
“Oh! By the way, this is for you.” It was a Chaplet of Sapphires. She adorned the necklace and it fit her neck like it was a part of her; it brought out the shape of her neck and her collar bones.
“And I didn’t think it was good,” he continued, “But Mythri said you would like it, so…” His voice trailed off as he handed her a wrapped object. Indriya tore the brown wrapper very carefully; she became curious with the opening of each fold.
Her heart stopped for an entire minute and her eyes dilated with surprise as tears swam in them. It was a painting of her on an actual canvas, a painting of her sitting on an intricately carved throne. She looked up at Chag in utter speechlessness. Indriya now understood the meaning of the word ‘speechless’.
She didn’t even know how to react as she saw the piece of artwork, the way she sat, dressed and looked, so lifelike that Indriya could have sworn it could be a mirror. She looked slitghly older but there she was seated on the Throne of sapphires and gold. The Throne of Nirvana. The peacock throne of Nirvana with the feathers of gold fanning around her. Her indigo silk saree looked so surreal as though she could touch it through the picture.
“Chag...this is...this is the most beautiful gift I have ever received in my life. I can’t…” she hugged Chag again, burying her face into his chest. She didn’t know how else to express what she was feeling, she had received gifts in her life but none this precious or beautiful.
“I understand, and thank you.” Chag whispered as he hugged her back, hand on head in a protective manner.
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‘Thank you, Mythri. You are a lifesaver.’ The Prince seemed to say as he held the Princess.
‘The pleasure is all mine, Prince’ She beamed at him. And he smiled back at her, Mythri fought the urge to yank him closer to her and embrace him. She was feeling something that she never felt before, a pain of not being able to be close to him and a relief that he was not too far away. She had too many emotions to comprehend, maybe a little too many to handle. But she was handling them just fine and maybe it was because of him.
Mythri knew what Chag was to her, there are limitations to what she can be to him. He was that kind of person who wouldn’t mind cuddling up with a person just to read a favourite book, a kind, gentle person who enjoyed simple things despite the luxuries offered. A person who had offered her more than just a home to live and food to eat. He had given her education a job and most of all friendship.
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Mythri was staring at him from the time Indriya hugged him, Chag felt slightly uneasy, not because he was hugging his cousin but because Mythri was looking at him like he was a pervert. So he pulled back and smiled at Indriya once again who looked at him like he was someone who just saved her life.
Women were strange to Chag, sometimes he felt like he understood them completely and the next minute they would frown because you ‘do not understand them’. They were practically the only subject he thought he would never understand.
He did not know why Mythri was staring at him and he certainly did not understand why Indriya had tears in her eyes, it was only a painting.
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“Thank you! I love this and I am going to keep it with me in my room no matter where I am.” Indriya said finally, looking into his kind honey eyes that showered affection on her.
“Don't you want to have breakfast? I sure am starving as hell.” Mythri interrupted. “Oh! And this is for you, Princess.” Mythri handed her a neatly wrapped object, Indriya understood what it was the moment she touched it, it was a book!
For years now books have remained her favourite gifts, either to give or to receive, she beamed at Mythri and opened the wrap absolutely very carefully.
It was a book with the name ‘The Decapitator’ a mystery, crime, romance novel so typically Mythri, but unusually even Indriya’s type of book. She opened the book to read the first few pages, but then Chag tapped her shoulder slightly and said “I am starving. I didn't even have coffee, we should go and eat.”
“Wait, where is Agni?” Indriya asked, suddenly gripping his wrist.
“He..is...he went out...he said he has some errands to do so…” Chag replied as he looked at Mythri smiling at her, and then as though realisation had dawned upon her she said “Yes, the Prince said that he was going to look for spies in the town so he is not here.” Mythri said, making up the story in her head.
“You two are very bad at lying, you should learn for the best.” Indriya flipping her hair in a mocking manner.
“No, Indriya we are not bad at lying, you are just too good at finding out. So yes...I guess we should learn from the best.” Chag chuckled.
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Indriya was reading the book Mythri gifted in her balcony when someone knocked on her door. She got up from her seat and walked toward the door. But then she heard a whisper “Shh, she can hear us.” Two familiar female voices. She very well knew who it was but she decided to act normal, by normal she meant to act surprised, flabbergasted even. She was already surprised that the sisters were here but then they were planning to surprise her.
She opened the door and she saw Soma and Yamya standing on the doorstep with a cake and a huge bag beside them.
“Surprise!” Both of them shouted in unison as they walked in and set the cake on the table, alongside them entered Chag and Mythri who already started singing for her.
Indriya put up a good show of being absolutely surprised. She raised her eyebrows, dilated her eyes and clamped her mouth shut in surprise as she heard and saw them sing terribly, save for Chag who had perfect pitch and modulation. She gave a warm hug to each of the sisters and even gave them a birthday cake facial, while she dodged all their attempts to do the same to her.
She laughed the whole time they were in her room and time flew like a kingfisher diving for food.