Part 34 Destined to...
Chandrika and Parvathy were shocked to the core, not finding the sand clock at the place where they buried it.
"It's not here, Prince Chandrika," Parvathy said nervously while digging the spot deeper.
"Look there watchfully... where would it go? It must be here only" Chandrika was more nervous than Parvathy.
Parvathy almost dug the surrounding but they didn't find the sand clock. Parvathy sat on the ground sighing as she became tired.
"Where did it go?" Chandrika asked fearfully.
"I think it's really a magic spell. That's why it's vanished" Parvathy said.
"Is it a bad sign?" Chandrika asked nervously.
"How do I know? I was also with you only know?"
"That girl, Khushi seems more dangerous than what I thought" Chandrika fumed.
"What do you mean?"
"I think she must have gotten it through a magic"
"How do you say?"
"Didn't you see, how Prince Aparajith laughed with her in the court forgetting himself...? Not only that, she talked to him about how EXPERT she would be on the bed"
"Is it?"
"How cleverly she said Prince Aparajith can't fulfill her needs!"
"Is it?"
"Yes, which man would take it easy? Any man will try to show how skilled he is on the bed because it's about his maleness"
"How could a woman talk about such a topic with a man?"
"That's what I'm saying. She is a very dangerous woman. She knows how to get the man on the track" Chandrika emitted fire.
"Why not we tell the queen about her?"
"We can tell the queen but she will tell the Prince about it. He will kill us for sure" Chandrika said irritatingly.
"He will definitely do that as he is already annoyed with you"
"We have to wait for a good chance..."
Parvathy nodded yes.
The next day
King Chaitanya and Queen Medha were waiting for Arnav with confusion. They didn't know why Arnav sent them a message that he wanted to talk to them about something important.
"Did he tell you anything regarding?" Chaitanya asked.
"No, he didn't say anything to me," Medha said.
"Ok... let him come"
They waited. Arnav came after a few minutes. He touched their feet and got their blessings.
"I would like to tell you something, Father," he said.
"Yeah, tell me"
"For the first time in my life, I decided something about my future... without your consent"
"Arnav, you are the Prince of this kingdom... going to be the king...and most probably, I trust you. I know you will not make any wrong decision" Chaitanya said.
"Thank you for trusting me, father. What I want to say is, I would like to MARRY Khushi" Arnav said calmly.
Chaitanya and Medha glanced at each other shockingly.
"I love her... I want to live my life with her. I don't think I can accept anyone in her place"
"But, she is a foreigner... she doesn't know our culture. She is completely different from us, from the clothes to her behavior" Medha said.
"She is a foreigner but she saved our kingdom. She is ready to lead our kingdom's women by teaching them to protect themselves. She may not know our culture but, she knows to respect her elders. She doesn't criticize our culture nor does she try to change it. In fact, she likes our culture. Her behavior may be different from ours but it's not hateful. She is a straightforward and gutful girl. It's different from our kingdom's girl but it's not wrong. She looks self-esteemed because she can protect herself without anyone's help. It's important for her because she is an explorer"
"Do you think she will adjust you?" The King asked.
"WE will adjust each other, father"
"What about political point? Ashoka quit the war. From here on, all the under-kingdoms will rise. They will try to expand their borders. Many of our friendly kingdoms eagerly expect to get marital relationships with us. They will get angry with us if you marry a foreigner"
"Father, however, I can marry only ONE woman. So, we will have to disappoint others. Doesn't it make them angry? In fact, they will get angrier if I marry our friendly kingdom Princess because there are a lot of cold wars between our friendly kingdoms. Instead of touching their EGO, if I marry a commoner who is not a Princess, they may calm down."
King Chaitanya was speechless. He didn't know what to say because Arnav was not wrong. There were huge ego problems in between under-kingdoms. Others would get hurt if Arnav married one of them. Yet, he could not conclude.
"Please take your time and think about it... discuss it with the mother. I hope you won't break my heart" Arnav said emotionally.
That made Chaitanya nervous because Arnav never talked about EMOTIONS.
Arnav walked out.
.........
Arnav came to Khushi's room and knocked on its door. Kiran opened the door and stepped back, seeing Arnav. Khushi stood up from the bed.
"Let's go to the temple," Arnav said.
"Which Temple?" Khushi asked excitedly.
"Didn't you want to visit the temple the other day?"
"Oh... that one? Let's go"
Khushi walked with him.
Arnav jumped onto the four-horse chariot and extended his hand to Khushi. She clutched his hand and Arnav pulled her up to the chariot. Arnav flipped the saddle of the horses. The next second, the horses started running snickering. A chevalier troop followed their chariot to guard their Prince.
That was the first time, Khushi came out of the Palace. She watched the broad streets of the fort awestruck. There were many shops in the fort. Farmers sold cereals, potters sold earthen vessels, and a few men sold sweets and snacks. Khushi was watching them excitedly. The smell of those sweets hit her nose and made her mouth water. She could not hold when she saw a HONEY shop. She wondered seeing, a big honeycomb being kept in the shop. Honey was dripping from that and no one gave heed to it.
She scratched Arnav's shoulder. Arnav looked at her and asked what? She gestured for him to look at the honeycomb.
"Do you want it?"
She nodded yes. He nodded okay and continued riding the horse. Khushi crossed the shop all the way looking at the honeycomb.
"I will get it to you later," Arnav said.
Khushi nodded smiling.
"The temple was built by my grandfather. It's the biggest temple in our kingdom"
"Is it?"
"Yeah, you would like it"
They reached the temple. The guards surrounded the temple cautiously. There was no one in the temple. A few guards already evicted people for security reasons.
Khushi saw the temple and smiled as it was not so big.
They worshiped lord Siva. The Pandit of the temple gave them vermillion and flowers to Khushi. She kept a small spot on her forehead and clipped the flower over her right ear. Arnav smiled at her as she looked cute with a flower.
"How is our temple?" He asked.
Khushi ran her eyes in the temple.
"Is not it big?" he asked.
"It's not so small..."
"What do you mean?" He frowned.
"There are so many Temples in India in which you can keep more than ten temples like this inside it"
Arnav widened his eyes.
"Is it?"
"The Kings of different eras have built such temples"
"Oh..."
"Yeah... our lifetime is not enough to visit all the temples in India"
"That's great... by the way, how many kings ruled India after Ashoka?"
"Hundreds of Kings from many dynasties ruled India after Ashoka"
"But, there are not many dynasties in India now..."
"Many Kings would enter India through many invasions"
"Why didn't our kings stop them?"
"Because of lack of unity... many Indian kings joined hands with foreign kings because of their desire of POWER"
"Doesn't our country have something to be proud of?" he sighed.
"There are a lot... a day is not enough to talk about it"
"No problem. We have a lifetime to talk" Arnav smiled.
"Arnav, you are so adamant. You are not understanding my point"
"You are the one who is not understanding... in fact, you have not understood your own mind"
"what do you mean?" She frowned.
"You said you want to talk to your husband about anything under the sky. You said how you want to be with your husband, what will you do in bed, what's all that, Khushi? You already started talking to me about what comes to your mind. That means, you unknowingly started to feel free with me. Realize the truth... I'M THE ONE... I can bet, you can't forget me. You can't accept anyone other than me. Understand that"
Khushi was dumbfounded. The much she remembered, she never talked to anyone so freely as she did with Arnav. She could not understand how she talked to him about such a sensitive topic even though he was not as forward as her era guys.
"Let's go..." Arnav smiled as he understood she started thinking about her own mind.
At the same time,
The Palace became feverish as a powerful Saint, Sivguru arrived at the Palace to meet the king and the queen. The message of his arrival reached the king. He rushed with the queen to the entrance of the palace to welcome him.
"Welcome Guruji..." Chaitanya greeted him joining his hands.
The king and the Queen touched his feet all smiling. They were relieved as the Saint would give them a solution for Arnav's decision to marry Khushi. But, his question confused them.
"How could you be happy after LOSING your only son?"
Chaitanya and Medha looked at each other with confusion.
"What are you saying, Guruji? Whom are you talking about?"
"Who else? You have only one son... Arnav"
"Arnav? Why would we lose him? He is with us only"
"Whaaaat? How it is possible? He should have died by now"
"Whaaaat?" they were shocked.
"He destined to die by a POISONED ARROW... his life should have ended by now. There is no chance for him to be alive."
Chaitanya and Medha were shocked to the core and also confused.
To be continued...