Kairavi

Chapter 108

A couple of months later :

It was an idyllic summer day, with a deep blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. A breeze blew softly, slightly rippling the water as it carried the heady scents of late springtime through the air.

Honeysuckle, jasmine, ripe pungent river mud and sunflowers felt like a breath from another world to those who took the liberty to bask. Birds and cicadas sang from the treetops as the leaves danced to the quiet wind.

Yudhishthir was by the river, praying to Surya dev while the three brothers indulged themselves in their weapons' practice. While Vrikodar rounded up his laps of arm curls with an astoundingly large log, the twins swung their swords towards each other in a mock duel.

Kairavi watched them from the hut where she and Draupadi had been slogging away since the daybreak.
Her hands swept the broom around lazily as she gawked at them just like a child does to a playground.

Panchali smiled. Anyone could tell by the look on Arni's face that she was dying to join her husbands in their practice. She looked around, pondering for a while, and then sighed. She could handle the rest of the work by herself.

She put a hand on Kairavi's shoulder, meeting her desiring eyes. "Go, you need to practice or your sword will rust."

"But this-"

"Don't worry about it. I'll ask Arya to help me." Chandreya grinned like a goof at her words. Wiping her hands on the edge of her saree, she stood up and jogged towards Nakul and Sahadev.

Panchali chuckled seeing her enthusiasm. She picked up the dirty vessels from the ground and made her way towards the back of the hut, where Arjun had dug a pond for her to bathe.

Every time she saw it, her mind would fill with a bittersweet glee. All the precious moments with Vibhatsu would float behind her eyes, and she would allow herself to be carried away by the memories for a few moments before the burden of reality replaced it again.

It had been well over ten years since he had left for the Indrakeeladri hills to perform a strict penance in order to please the almighty Pinaki.

But Yagyaseni was not worried; for she knew her husband was capable of vanquishing the devtas of holy roots and even the asurs of the strongest breeds. Nobody could kill him unless he wished for death.

Little did she know that he would return with not only the Pashupatastra, but many other potent weapons and skills.

She smiled reminiscently, bowing down to scoop water into the utensils to wash them clean. As she was scrubbing the dirt from one of the containers, a sharp gust of wind flew by her ear. She tensed up.

Was it what she was thinking?

Her eyes snapped towards the tree in front of her. An arrow had pinned the white flower, that had been hanging from her earlobe, onto the bough.

The way it had neatly sliced it from the ornament without letting as much as the hair on the end of her skin stand erect, could only be done by one person.

She inhaled an unsteady breath and let it out as a sigh of exclamation. "Aryaputra Arjun?" She whispered, slowly getting up on her feet.

A discouraging silence followed as her copper-hued eyes rushed to places, searching for him between the towering trees.

A handful of arrows swooshed past her and disappeared into the bushes near her feet. The impact had the leaves trembling, which scared the butterflies and they fluttered into the sky around Panchali.