“This isn’t about me! It’s your life we are talking about,” Chandra continued her tirade. “A chance has come for you to be happy again, for Sarun to have a father figure he can look up to. You should grab this opportunity with both hands.”
“That’s exactly why I want to do this,” said Kalpana, stubbornly standing her ground. “I know the last seven years have been hard on you, Princess. You may say otherwise, but I know how much you still yearn to change the past, to get back into your father’s good graces, to be accepted by your family again. Don’t you understand, Chandra?” she pleaded, softening her tone. “Even if I agree to marry Girish, I can’t be happy until your name has been cleared.”
Chandra seemed to choose her words carefully, watching her friend without blinking. “Nothing is going to change with your revelation, Kalpana,” she said. “I’ve an equal share in the demise ofthat man. I’m already paying the price for it. But if you reveal your part in it, the only end I see for you is swinging from a noose and leaving Sarun an orphan.”
Kalpana paled at the dire future predicted by the princess, but she didn’t back off. “Motivations behind murder count, Princess,” she argued. “You did what you had to, to save twoinnocent lives. Not out of hate or to avenge your kingdom like the world believes now. Don’t you think the prince might change his mind once he knows the truth? At least it will clear up some misunderstandings between you and your husband.”
“I don’t give a fig about his good opinion if it means you will suffer death!” said Chandra, fists balled. Fear for her friend was evident in her voice.
Chandra could pretend to the world that she didn’t care for her husband, but it wasn’t exactly true. It took Sameera a long time to build enough trust with the princess, to get her to share that truth.
“You should, Princess,” Kalpana said sternly, as if she had already made up her mind. “The life of one person should never come before the honor or security of a kingdom. You’ve been taught better. I did a great disservice, to not just you, but the kingdom as well, by keeping quiet all these years. My son’s life and happiness blinded me from what should have been my duty.”
Sameera watched the two friends facing off against each other. Chandra tended to be dominant and forceful, but Kalpana was stubborn in her own quietly obstinate way. She wore that look on her face that said she wasn’t convinced by the princess’s explanation.
A knock came at the half-open door. A guard stood there, awaiting permission, his face impassive as if he didn’t just bear witness to a row between friends. Chandra bade him to enter with an imperious hand.
“Pardon me, Princess. But Guruji has arrived early with some visitors and requests your attendance immediately,” said the guard, bowing.
The argument temporarily forgotten, they sprang into action. Sameera poured water so Chandra could wash thehennapaste off her hands, while Kalpana bound her hair into a loose plait.
“Pardon me again, Princess, but I took the liberty of bringing back this gift from your sister,” said the guard, placing a box on a short table by the entrance. “She has refused to accept it.”
Chandra glanced at the box, and her movements stilled, her face blank. Sameera knew she had chosen the toy lute inside the box with great care after hearing her eldest sister, Aswini, had just delivered a girl.
Ever since her father, the king, banished Chandra from the capital city of Amaravathi, the rest of the family followed his suit in ostracizing her. Except for her half brother, the crown prince of Amaravathi, who didn’t really abide by his father’s decree. It had been seven long years since any of her family spoke to her.
Kalpana, ever attuned to the princess’s mood, said nothing. But Sameera saw the outrage on her friend’s behalf.
Sameera hated that their only free day after several delays ended in arguments. She swallowed her sigh and started putting away the bangles she had brought. Chandra had always been partial to them and was usually on the lookout for unique designs and colors. It was something they had bonded over the first time Sameera met the princess.
Six years ago, when the queen of Rajgarh had asked Sameera to become the princess’s confidante and find out about the events of the past, she had agreed, mostly to flee from the mess her life had become. She had no idea she would end up staying in Amaravathi all these years.
Or that she would come to care for Chandrasena like a true friend. But if the rumors she had been hearing about unexpected visitors were correct, things would be changing from now on. Whether it was a change for the better or worse was something to be seen.
* * *
Chandra gazed absently at the horizon. The sedate Narmada meandered around the hills, winking in and out of view. A solitary catamaran steered by a fisherman was slowly drifting along the current, its sails flaccid, a silvery net trailing behind.
Her life in the temple city of Devarakonda was slower compared to Tripura, the capital city of Amaravathi, but she didn’t regret it. Much. Being here meant she could train more, spend time with her mother and friends, and not waste her time in unnecessary rituals and duties expected of a princess. She didn’t have much patience for such things and could only wonder how her sisters tolerated it.
Her mouth turned down when she recalled how Aswini had returned her gift. She had hoped that she at least, would have forgiven her. They were close, once upon a time before the incident that changed Chandra’s life forever.
The full moon hung fat and globular in the twilight sky. She raised her hand and tried to make it fit in the circle created by her thumb and forefinger, her mind on the recent failed mission in the Borderlands. Perhaps they might have had better success if she’d gone instead of her bodyguard.
Her thoughts then turned toward the man they had unexpectedly caught, who had managed to escape them. In the middle of a thunderstorm, no less. Her intuition twinged, as if her subconscious was trying to tell her something.
“You used to do that when you were little,” came a fond voice.
She turned around, dropping her hand. A smile broke across her face seeing Guruji. She came down from her perch on the parapets and touched his feet in blessing. Although he was getting along in years, he was still unbent, his mind sharp asa blade. A three-strandedrudrakshachain with an unassuming pendant was his only adornment on a plaindhotiand shirt.
“May you have a happy family, husband, and kids,” he said, brushing his hand over her hair in blessing.
Chandra froze. Guruji knew the true events that happened on her wedding day and yet he never changed his blessing, even knowing it was an impossible dream.
“What news from Thianvelli, Chandrasena?” he asked as she straightened. “You came empty-handed, that must mean Queen Gauri Devi refused our offer of asylum.”
Chandra nodded sadly, but she wasn’t surprised he already knew this. Guruji’s sources were excellent.
