Kairavi

Chapter 88

"Weird ointments?" Nasatya voiced his confusion to the couple, who was smiling lovingly at each other.
Sahadev's chuckle distracted him however, making him shift on his foot to look at him.
His raised eyebrows demanded a reason from him.

"Well, she has claimed that she used to make medicines and pastes with random herbs in her gurukul days. Without any prior training.
And she showed me some, and they were effective, not gonna lie." He nodded, winking at his wife.

The Kumars cleared their throats loudly.
The three of them picked up on the hint quickly and halted their flirtatious acts.

"That sounds pretty interesting, Chandraputri.
If you don't mind, can we have the privilege to watch you prepare those ointments too?" Dasra folded his hands and said that in an authoritative voice.

Arni felt like she was sitting on clouds. The Gods of Medicine had asked her to show them her skills.
Nervousness mixed with enthusiasm cut through the blank in her mind. She nodded slowly, gaping at the physicians, open-mouthed.

"The choice of the landscape is excellent though, putra." Nasatya clapped his hand on Nakul's shoulder, who in turn, shook his head.

"Credits to my brother." He gestured towards Sahadev, who grinned back, acknowledging his respect for him.

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"Holy grail!" Dasra whispered to his twin, who was gawking at Kairavi with wide eyes.
"How come we never thought of this?" It was hard to tell whether the tone in his voice signified surprise or shock.

Kairavi's adept fingers chopped and ground the ingredients swiftly, like an eagle hunting a mouse.
She broke a few distinct twigs with her hands and threw them inside a small vessel perched on a mud stove.

"Do you know witchcraft?"

"That's rude!" Kairavi rebuked Nakul, who playfully poked her side.
An empty mind is the devil's residence, they say.
He was yawning while watching her brew her potions in the cauldron, so automatically, his brain began concocting mischiefs.

"Stirring the mixture continuously prevents the paste from clumping in the bottom which can-"

"Stick to the wound after drying?" Arni was cut off by Dasra, who finally spoke after a long time.
It almost seemed like a cat had got his tongue, as he sat there motionless, dreamily spectating his daughter-in-law.

"Correct!" Kairavi snapped her fingers.

Their amused orbs flickered back towards the bubbling vessel.
Some impurities had surfaced up in the form of foam which she skimmed out with the help of a banana leaf.

After doing all the necessary examinations over the medicines Chitrakshi had prepared, the Ashwinis smirked at each other and nodded, speaking with their eyes.

"It is hard to believe that you came up with it all by yourself. Well done!
A lot of thought and clever acumen went into these along with the various herbs; which leads me to the conclusion that your better half is very inventive."
Chandreya blushed at Nasatya's remark and smiled at the ground.

"But on the battlefield, you don't have all the time in the world to sit down and cook, as you did just now.
From the moment the war starts, injured soldiers will start flooding into the camps and you have to provide them something quickly, otherwise, they shall die."
The three students nodded, listening intently to their fathers, who sat beneath a banyan tree with their legs folded.

"So, what is a nimble alternative for this? Anyone?" He inquired, looking hopefully at the tapasvis.
They looked quizzically at each other and nobody seemed to have a satisfactory answer.

"Mantras.
Divine mantras that you can chant, to turn anything into a healing paste. Even sand."
One of them scooped up a handful of sand in their hand and closed their eyes.

Muttering some cryptic words, they unfolded their fingers to reveal a slimy paste smeared on their palm.
"Or water."
The other one proceeded to wave his hand over the vessel of water that Kairavi kept for him to drink.

It began to give out a golden light.
The radiance died down as quickly as it came into existence, leaving behind a green liquid in its place.

"This is for minor injuries, like the ones you have on your palms, Nakul and Sahadev."
He passed it over to his sons, who sighed while pouring it over their wounds in turns.
"Our injuries are minor, Sahadev." Nakul's voice was glum, and so was the youngest pandav's face.
He made sure to enforce his message clear to his fathers that he was disappointed.

"But the ones on our hearts are deep." He shook his head.

"We don't have time, or the patience to stroke your fragile feelings, sons." Nasatya taunted, making Arni snort out a peal of laughter.
The sound was funny.
It made all of them titter for a while before Nasatya scolded them again to focus on their studies.

Kairavi silently estimated where her Arya Nakul had got his strictness from.

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Over a course of five years, Nakul, Sahadev, and Kairavi mastered the art of divine therapeutics and physiology.
Under the guidance of their celestial fathers, the twin sons of Pandu could materialize placebos from thin air, thus enabling themselves to treat people when they have nothing at hand.

However, the Ashwini Kumars were highly impressed by their putravadhu.
She was passionate about the domain and meticulously followed whatever they said, enabling herself to catch on to the methods way swifter than her husbands.
Undoubtedly, she had become her teachers' pet.

"She is way smarter than you, Nakul." Nasatya would often tease his son, making him scoff like a child.
That was not a surprise to the Madreyas however, for they knew Arni was an uncut diamond.

Chandraja would wake up earlier than everyone else and sneak out of the hut to gather plants for the day's sessions so that her husbands did not have to take the pain.
Many-a-times she would encounter carnivorous beasts in her search, but oddly enough, they did not see her as a threat.

On crossing paths with her, they wouldn't even snarl or try to defend themselves.
Perhaps it was because of the boon, or the unspoken trust she had built with them.

She used to feed a few animals with leftovers from the previous night. Kairavi also treated them multiple times after they hurt themselves

Although she did not have any meat to offer them, still they respected her like she was their benefactress.
Soon the creatures of the woods developed an amicable rapport with the daughter of the moon.