"Pranipat Rajkumari Medhasvini, Rajkumari Subhadra. Arre, Putra Avyukt, you are here?", the king of Kushasthali personally came to greet them.
"Pranipat, Maharaj", the sisters greeted back.
"Pranipat, Kakashree. I accompanied the princesses here, and you know Devika, she threatened me to come attend Revati's wedding.", Avyukt answered after taking his blessings.
"Oh, so bhratashree, you wouldn't have come to my wedding if sakhi didn't threaten you?", Revati came out from behind the door with a chuckling Devika behind.
"Um..I...mea...why wouldn't I? You are also like a sister to me...", Avyukt stuttered nervously.
"Aur bolo, bhrata....dar gaye?", Devika jested with innocence.
(Tell me, brother, you got scared right?)
"So you see....us woman can be scary even with a smile on our face. Be careful with what you do to us. Now take my advice and run from here.", Medhasvini whispered from behind him.
And run he did.
"You must be Arya's sisters?", Revati now had her attention on them.
"Pranipat, I am Subhadra! And this is our elder sister, Medhasvini. Can I just say, you are really pretty!", the ever chirpy younger Yadava princess rambled in one breath.
"Thank you", the soon-to-be-bride blushed at the compliment.
"You really are, Balram must be really lucky to have you.", Medhasvini agreed.
"Na, jiji, I am lucky to have Arya."
"Sakhi....the wedding is a day later....you are calling him Arya already?", Devika teased playfully.
"Devika!", they started running after each other, leaving the three of them at the entrance.
"Who will say this girl is getting married?", King Kakudmi shook his head.
"It's fine, Maharaj. Only few girls are allowed to be themselves, others are made to be 'proper' from a very young age. The fact that she can be comfortably be her around us proves that she has had a good upbringing.", Kridha complimented.
"You have given me the relief that she is being married off to the right family. You both must be tired after the journey, your things have been sent to your room, the soldiers will direct you there.", he sighed, and went to look after other greetings.
Freshening up, Medha changed into a simple fuchsia coloured lehenga. With a plain skirt, intricately crafted blouse and sheer dupatta, it made her look elegant.
She slowly brushed through her long hair, starting from the bottom and working her way up. She never did like anyone touching her hair except her mother, so she styled it simple while doing it herself. After parting with from the middle, she remembered the gulmohar flowers still kept with her things. She took it out and carefully put it behind her ear, pining it up.
"If you are done admiring yourself in the mirror, can we get back to the star of the show?"
"Kahna", Aadya turned around with her hands on her waist.
"Balram!", she walked towards them gave the groom-to-be a tight hug.
"Jiji...jiji! I need to breath...", Balram wheezed out.
Kridha did leave him but proceeded to pinch his cheeks.
"When did you all grow so much?", her voice got a bit teary.
"Jiji, I think you should leave him. He...he needs to attend his wedding still.", Krishna tried to intervene.
"Should I pinch your cheeks then?", Kridha asked with mock seriousness.
"No..no..Dau has softer cheeks..", he took his words back.
"What is this betrayal, bhrata krishn?", Subhadra entered the scene.
"Thank you! Someone gets me at least....", Balram threw his hands in the hair indignantly.
"Don't try to butter me, Dau. I will drench you in turmeric tomorrow."
"Worth a try."
"Ok, ok, tell me everything.", Medhasvini sat down, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
Dau turned dark red as the younger ones giggled at his state.
"Haso, haso, samae anepar hum bhi hasenge.", he mumbled.
(Laugh, laugh, when the time comes even I will)
"You said something?", Medha looked up from where she was folding her clothes, still anticipating an answer.
"Nothing", the three of them replied without hestitation.
"Why aren't you sitting down?", she stared at them weirdly.
They did so instantly.
"Where'd you get that?", Balram frowned at flower in her hair.
"This old thing? It was...it was just lying around in the garden.", she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.
"There are no gulmohar trees here."
"Ok, sherlock, you already know so much about this place.", Medha smoothly changed the topic without missing a beat.
"Yes of course, Revati and I walk around the garden every night.", he told absentmindedly, only realising what he said after feeling their gaze on him.
Medhasvini bit her cheek to stop herself from laughing while the other two did so shamelessly. Poor Balram hid his face behind his hands.
She removed his hand from his face and blinked at him reassuringly.
"That is very sweet of you, Rama. Appreciate her, that's all a woman wants."
"Also can you promise me something?", she turned serious.
"Without a doubt.", he could sense the change in her mood.
"You will not let a kanyadan happen. A kanya is told to be the Lakshmi of a house, both her father's and her husband's, and you can't dan Lakshmi. She chooses where to be. Just like that, Revati is choosing to be with you, but not at the cost of severing the ties with her family."
"I promise, keeping Narayan as witness, that I won't let a kanyadan happen."
A wistful look took over Krishna's features. But it was overlooked amidst the resumed conversation and repartee.
"And this where we sit to talk and just catch up with each other.", Revati ended the tour of the palace, motioning Isha to take a seat.
"This is beautiful", she commented.
"We are really glad you could come.", expressed Revati.
"I am happy to be here."
"Pranipat!", she looked up to see a young girl, with Kumar Avyukt behind her who was looking.....anxious?
This is the girl from morning...his sister. What was her name again.....Devika, right? , the gears twisted and turned in Medha's brain.
"I am Rajkumari Devika! You did see me in the morning, but we couldn't talk much then.", her resemblance to Subhadra made Kridha automatically grow sisterly feelings towards her.
"I am Medhasvini.", she formally introduced herself.
"Oh I know, bhrata talks about you all the time in his letters. But when I told him to introduce me to you, he refused. So I came to do that myself.", she went on like a bullet train.
"Devika...no.", Medha could hear Avyukt's faint attempts to get her to stop, very sibling behaviour.
"I can assure you, whatever he said is false.", she chuckled.
"Surely not, you are just as gorgeous as he said you are."
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A specially curated cliffhanger for my lovely alligators as a gift for the 100 votes....(please don't kill me)
I think it was a little predictable, but what happens next? Any guesses? Let me know in the comments.
Subho Dol Purnima and Adios.