Yujyagana's temporary settlement
The dawn came with the clouds diffusing the daylight into a lazy morning. Most of the Yujyagana stayed inside their tent catching the remaining sleep in their cosy makeshift bed, getting as much rest as they could before they leave for their home. The day had come, Dhruva would return to Durja after more than six months of travelling through the northern terrain to Kavish.
His mission to bring the fugitives from Ilyadari forest to their families has been accomplished. They will return with the prince of Kavish back to their homes in some time, the survivors' bright faces expressed their excitement as they conversed with some of the Yujyagana in ease.
Prince Parthiban joined him at the small hilltop looking over the settlement being cleared up. The cold breeze brushed pass the princes as they silently watched the soldiers of Durja and the people of Kavish talk and packed their camps in a peaceful manner. A pleasant sight they had never seen in years.
Parthiban cleared his throat as if signalling his companion for attention. "It had been the dream of my brothers and mine, to bring peace to our kingdoms without bloodshed but it never happened. Kavish had its own trouble to solve, retrieving the missing people was and is a major part of the problems. Today as I stand here, I can see the start of two things. Peace and retrieval." The prince of Kavish turned to face Dhruva; a warm smile played on his moustache covered lips visible through his sparkling eyes. "We are grateful to you for the effort you have made to bring them back to us." He motioned his head to the Kavishians. "We are in debt to you..."
"Please don't," Dhruva interrupted. "It's us who have wronged you. It was someone from my country behind this heinous act. Bringing them back safely was my responsibility and finding the rest will be my duty as well. It's a promise." Dhruva assured, placing his palm in his chest as a sign of pledge.
"It was no joke when they said one could find a friend in a group foe. Just as how Vibhishana stood for Lord Rama against his own brother to uphold righteousness. I have found you and as a sign of the beginning of our friendship, this is for you." Parthiban took off a golden bracelet from his hand and put it on Dhruva.
Parthiban was convinced, the prince of Durja was a man of his words, a genuine person and deserves to be called as a friend. Although he had not discussed with his brothers, Parthiban believed they would agree to do the same when he tells them about the prince of Durja.
Dhruva stood stupefied as he watched Parthiban placed the bracelet on his wrist. The bracelet had intricate designs on either sides embedded with emerald stones in between it and a bull emblem in the centre. Moved by the action of the prince, Dhruva engulfed his new friend with a profound brotherly love. He was bestowed with a bond he had never expected to gain in the trip to Kavish.
Parthiban patted his back, laughing. "Alright, don't make me too emotional or I may ask for my friendship token back," he said with a pretentious scowl.
The prince of Durja nodded, acknowledging Parthiban's friendly warning. "If there were anything to happen between us during this exchange, this..." Dhruva gestured them and the bracelet on his wrist. "This would be the last thing I would have anticipated. A friendship, a new beginning for Durja and Kavish. Thank you."
As the clouds parted ways for the sun, it witnessed the children of the two kingdoms defied the term of revenge in their own way and forging a fresh path to peace and happiness without a war. When their elders had taught them revenge and rage enmity, what made them go otherwise? For Dhruva, he had the grace of his maternal grandmother, Queen of Haridra, who taught him every possible quality a warrior, a man should possess. Today as he stayed humble and righteous, the credit goes to Maharani Naavarasi of Haridra.
How did the princes of Kavish have their perspective changed completely? What made them disregard the king of Kavish's anger towards Durja? Dhruva had asked to Parthiban, who in return smiled and gazed at a distant.
"My sister, Madhuvahini, Nathan's twin." Parthiban announced gloriously, his head held high with pride.
"When we were young, we were often reminded about the eruption that took place in Mount Gaja and how Durja had badly treated us without hearing our side of the story. The enmity was fed since young by the ministers, by the caretakers, by the king and queen and even senior soldiers. Our ten-year-old Madhu was the first to think otherwise. Whenever, we, the brothers talk about the atrocities done by Durja, Madhu would politely request us to think of better ways to solve the problem instead of choosing violence. We disregarded her for she knew nothing about it ..." Parthiban paused, he heard a faint sound of drums beating from a far.
"What made you change your mind?" asked Dhruva, fascinated at how the princess of Kavish, Madhuvahini, did her magic. He would lie to himself if he did not anticipate Parthiban to mention of Nakshathra, he wanted to know more about her too. Nevertheless, the conversation gave a glimpse of the princess he never got to meet.
"Madhu persisted her preach on peace subtly influencing us to see beyond the surface of revenge. In the earlier years after the Mount Gaja incident, invasion of Durja army in villages of Kavish frequented. Our ten-year-old Madhu insisted we go see the people and perhaps help them physically instead of sending aids alone. It was then she made us see the horror, the pain, the lost and the destruction which were left behind after the onslaught." Her point of view had channelled their anger to empathy towards the common innocent people.
Parthiban quoted Madhuvahini's statement which started to make sense as he encountered the scenario again and again. 'Why should the poor people pay the price for a fault done by the rulers? Grandfather may or may not have intentionally thrown the sword to kill the Royal Advisor Dilipan but what we are doing is an intentional harm to the innocent people. Tell father, he would listen to you. If you want to settle this, do it in the battle ground and not in the villages of both the countries. It will be even better if it's done without bloodshed.'
"That's a wise sister you've got," smiled Dhruva.
Privileged were the Heramba brothers to have such a thoughtful, kind sister and it made him a little envy of them. He wished his siblings too were as loving as the Herambas. His unfortunate fate, not one of his three half-siblings were close to him.
Parthiban caught a glance of Dhruva staring far into the distant wearing a sad smile. He wondered, what had bothered the prince of Durja? But before Parthiban could say a word, the sound of the drums grew louder and closer. From a distant they spotted an elaborated procession moving towards Kavish. A decorated elephant with a howdah on it, surrounded with men on horseback and soldiers on foot. Soldiers on foot carried trunk boxes covered in royal blue silks, the men on horsebacks adorn in shades of blue, Parthiban instantly recognised the party.
It did not take long for Dhruva to guess whose procession was moving towards the border gate of Kavish. The blue flag with an image of an alligator clearly paraded the royal procession of Pareen but who exactly sat on the elephant, he knew not until Parthiban's guard came in with the news.
"Your Excellency, crown prince of Pareen, Prince Abhimanyu's procession is passing the settlement as we speak," the guard informed.
"Very well. Have you sent a message to the guard at the gate to halt the prince?"
"Yes, Your Highness. I have sent a word to hold the prince's procession to wait for your arrival."
Parthiban assents the guard and ordered to prepare his horse along with the twelve Kavishians for their departure. He had estimated Abhimanyu's procession to arrive at the border at the same time as him.
"Is there a celebration taking place in Kavish?" Dhruva asked, curious as he watched the procession moved in merry with sound of drums and villagers dancing along following the parade.
"This man can never move in silence," Parthiban mumbled under his breath and turned to Dhruva to respond. "Yes, we are celebrating the Rati Festival. It's a ten-day celebration of different kinds of love," chuckled Parthiban as he shook his head thinking of the various scenario might take place during the celebration.
"Wow, sound amazing! Hmm... I wish I could stay to join the celebration but I have been out of Durja for too long."
"Now that you have said, why don't you stay a little longer. A few days won't do any harm, isn't it?" Parthiban encouraged the resolute prince. "Furthermore, my brother-in-law Abhimanyu is here not only to attend the Festive of Rati. He is here to fortify the promise my father had given to his father, the king of Pareen." There was a hint of satire in his tone which Dhruva did not miss to notice.
"Ah, it must be of something to strength the ally, isn't it?"
"Something on that line. For a help the King of Pareen offered during Madhu's wedding, my father had given the word to get Nakshathra and Abhimanyu married. It's been almost a year and a half; the prince is here to seize the alliance with a formal engagement." Parthiban held the hilt of his sword tight, sworn to himself to not to allow the engagement to happen.
Dhruva's mind had seized to work, everything around him stopped, Parthiban's words went inaudible. He got into a devastating trance as he learnt about the real reason Abhimanyu had come to Kavish. Out of so many capable warriors and men out there why did the king had to choose Abhimanyu as Nakshathra's groom, his mind revived with the question. His throat went dry, his eyes moist, his hands shivered, Dhruva turned around to avoid Parthiban catching a glimpse of him in such state.
"I'll have to leave now. Have a safe journey. If there is anything, send us a message and vice versa." Parthiban engulfed the stupefied Dhruva in an embrace and left to the border.
*-*-*-*-*-**-*
Sikva, capital city of Kavish
The city's main market hosting the largest number of stalls bustled with activity in the morning as usual. The gloomy morning brought in grumpy vendors as they complained to each other about the weather threatening for another heavy downpour. Despite the hazy chill morning, the market was merry as ever. People moved in and out with their purchases, sellers lured customers to their stalls yelling the cheapest price; it was a cacophony of chatters and yells.
Nakshathra, Arunya along with a few junior physicians made their way to the market to meet a foreign merchant from the northern part of Kamakshya, a neighbouring country of Lambodara. The merchant who was known by the name of Brahcchloka had been the talk of the town for the past couple of days. He was said to have herbs, roots and medicines for every disease exist in the world even for the rarest blood related disorder in Kavish.
As the news stirred and reached the princess, Nakshathra decided to see for herself. If it was worth it, she would make sure they have enough supplies on the medicine for her people suffering with the problem. As soon as they entered, Nakshathra was swamped with unexpected crowd asking her about the news of her marriage that had somehow spread in the city. A keen observer wouldn't miss a detail, some had even guessed the groom would come from the Pareen kingdom.
Nakshathra was speechless with the sudden interrogation by the people. She, herself wasn't informed about the marriage arrangement being made in fear of her rebuke, how was she to answer them. She had been avoiding the marriage talk to keep her sanity in check and hearing the crowd asking about it was pushing her to the edge. Nakshathra grabbed Arunya's hand in effort to stop her from answering them harshly, they are not to be blamed for they cared for her. Nonetheless, the repetitiveness annoyed her, her nails dug into Arunya's skin as she controlled her anger.
Arunya's whispers of pain went inaudible to her friend.
To Nakshathra's rescue came one of the junior physicians. "Whatever the news is, you will be informed officially. Do not disturb the princess with such questions, she will address you when the time comes." Ramani, the oldest and toughest among the junior physicians barked and made way for the rest to move.
"Are you alright, rajakumari?" Ramani asked as soon as the crowd dispersed. When the talk about the visit to market surfaced, Ramani had been the first to show interest. She loved to move around and when opportunity as such struck, she did not let it go.
"I'm good. Thank you, Ramani."
Nakshathra slowly let go of Arunya's hand as she got herself diverted to something else. Nakshathra watched Ramani keenly as they perambulated to the inner part of the market locating the herbal merchant's stall. Aware of Ramani's selective performance as a physician, Nakshathra took an effort to ask her about it.
"I don't not like to be ordered to do things and I only take up work that doesn't need me to oblige to people," she said, shaking her head side to side.
As she called the event happened a while ago, Nakshathra offered a solution for the brave girl. "Why don't you join the Bhavanisena? Although you are still required to be commanded, I personally think Bhavanisena will be the best fit for you."
The princess's question staggered Ramani as she stared for a moment comprehending the question. "Bhavanisena?" she mumbled. "No..... my father.... doesn't approve of it." Her voice cracked as her throat felt dry, she cast her gaze to the ground to avoid Nakshathra's.
"I'll speak to your father. No lady should be denied her rights to choose her profession. I know people of Kavish have had a custom of no woman should take up weapons but situation demands otherwise at present. And your heart longs to be in the army, I read you." Nakshathra's enticing smile and her encouraging nature made Ramani adore for her princess more. "Rest assure."
The small group of physicians surrounded the herbal merchant, Brahcchloka's stall. The man hailing from the north, many miles away from Kavish surprised them when he spoke to them in their native language. When asked, he replied he had to learn languages so he could make sells or he would end up without an income as he travels to many places.
Nakshathra let the others do the talking while she surveyed the herbal plants in Brahcchloka's stall. There were some plants which were also available in Kavish, a few around the vicinity of Lambodara and a number of rarest plants which comes from his motherland, Kamakshya. The leaves of the plants were in an unusual colour too; black.
"What are these?" Nakshathra pointed to the plants with black leaves.
"These are called the Rimyama, a rare species recently found in Varmohin. They have been used only by the locals but now with the help of Brahcchloka," he pointed to himself, "people of Kavish too are fortunate." He laughed sighting the fact many are in need of better medicines which he possibly owns at the moment.
"Is that so? What diseases does these plants cure?" The physicians engaged in an intense question and answer with Brahcchloka. They got to learn a few methods in extracting the medicines from roots and purchased some of those too.
Once done, they then decided to take a short break before they head back to the arogyalaya keeping in mind, they would be swamped with work later on. They stopped at a mandapam built for shelter close to the market. With Nakshathra opted to stay, the rest had gone to get some fresh coconuts for refreshment while she waited for them to return.
Sceptical of the plant and its origin, Nakshathra's thought continued to hover on they purchase especially on the black leaves. However, her thoughts were distracted by the thuds of a stick hitting the ground at a regular interval as the sound approached her. Nakshathra turned to see Achi Mangalam behind her lumbered with a big smile on her face.
She greeted the aged lady. Achi Mangalam's happiness was evident as she caressed Nakshathra's face with her callused palm and embraced her in an emotional warmth. "I'm relieved to see you alright, Kavi."
"It's a miracle, Achi. I am not supposed to look this flawless after the fire accident. No one knows how this happened either. Anyways, come sit down." Nakshathra guided Achi to the mandapam.
Achi Mangalam had wanted to tell her about the night she came to arogyalaya to heal her but the time and place wasn't suitable, she remained silence as Nakshathra spoke about her miraculous healing.
"What do you have for me today, Achi?"
"Blessings and prayers for you to success in whatever you do."
Nakshathra's eyes widened in amusement. "My friends have gone to get tender coconuts. Looks like they are going to be late. Can you read my lines to see what is in store for me in the coming days?" Nakshathra who had been chirpy upon meeting the old lady, turned gloomy in a matter of seconds just like the weather. "I fear the worst but I would like to know." She put out her palm facing up towards Achi Mangalam.
The wise lady pulled the princess's hand closer and closed her eyes. Silence fell before she spoke again. "Fear is nothing but an illusion, my child. It is created by your mind. Good times ahead, be prepared to welcome it." Achi Mangalam placed her hand on Nakshathra's, she gently pressed them to assure the sulked princess. "There is no need to sulk, isn't it, Kavi? It is good time indeed."
My uninformed marriage announcement? Nakshathra let out a long-exasperated breath, the world gradually turned colourless. The pain within pricked her a little more than it did before, the news might be good to the king but will it be good for her? Will her plan succeed? She turned away to avoid Achi to catch a glimpse of her glazy eyes. Achi, instead of letting the princess dwell in her worry, she held Nakshathra's cheeks in both her palms and looked into her eyes. "You have something in your mind, you want to do it. There is no need to doubt so much, Kavi. Just do what your hearts says."
The princess blinked away her tears and replaced the sorrow with sparkle of hope, Achi's words had elated her ached spirit. The image of Abhimanyu running away from Kavish played in her mind. Even Dhruva had made an appearance in her imagination coming back into the city. She shook her head to clear off the picture.
Not so long later, the young physicians return with one tender coconut for Nakshathra. Waiting on the other side of the Mandapam, Arunya alone had come to give the coconut to the princess. She also whispered to take leave from her, the messenger from the arogyalaya stood behind the girls with a message for them to return soon. While the girls picked three small pots each in their hands, Achi Mangalam noticed the rare plant carried by Ramani.
The usual calm Achi transformed to an onset of anger, she glared at Nakshathra. "How did you get it here?" she demanded, her voice of shivered in anger. "It's not supposed to be brought out of its place of origin!" Achi Mangalam glowered at the Rimyama pot held by Ramani and tapped her staff on the ground aggressively.
Nakshathra followed Achi Mangalam's gaze and derived the latter's anger was on the Rimyama. She ordered Ramani to leave the plant pots there and sent the rest away from them. As soon as the plant touched the platform, the furious lady grabbed the pots and rambled away muttering fury incoherent words.
"What's in the plant? Why she had to be so angry on seeing it here?" The clueless Nakshathra tailed the chiromancer with growing heaviness in her chest. "Achi, wait."
*-*-*-*-*-*