Kunti was sitting near the window of her room lost in her thoughts. Never in her dreams, had she thought one day she would face this fate.

She was brought back to reality when she heard Tiasha whining and Subhadra and Dushala were trying to make her wear more jewellery.

-"No Bhadre, I told you multiple times I don't like wearing jewellery."

-"No Didi, you have to. At least for this evening, everyone is going to be there."

-"Everyone has already seen me Dushala, and that too without jewellery."

Kunti smiled as the girls kept arguing about wearing heavy clothes and jewellery.

-"Putri Tiasha, you are going to meet all the princes officially this evening, at least wear a few more, we just want the beautiful princess of Bengal to look gorgeous."

-"You know very well Mata, I am no princess." Tiasha sighed.

She hates it when someone refers to her as a princess. It's a lie that bothers her the most. She feels the most uncomfortable when Gandhar Raj eyes her suspiciously every time they are in the same room.

Kunti came and stood behind Tiasha and said, "You are right, you are not a princess, you are a queen, the brave queen who made her way around the world alone."

Tiasha saw the three royals smiling at her reflection as Kunti put a golden necklace around her neck. She then turned Tiasha towards her and touched her chin.

-"You don't need jewellery to shine. We just try to dim your shine a little bit under the heavy ornaments. Or else your shine may burn who comes in your way."

Tiasha just smiled and looked down.

A Dasi came in and greeted the four women in the room.

-"Ranimata, the Kumaras wish to visit you."

-"Let them in."

Subhadra moved Closer to Tiasha and Dushala towards Kunti. Dushala was excited to see her brothers after so long.

However the same could not be said for Subhadra. She was excited as well as nervous as she was going to see her beloved Kumar up close for the first time.

Tiasha was excited to see the Pandavas, whom she had read so much about. She was the most excited to meet the Madri twins. I mean she is a Surgeon and they were the sons of the Ashwini twins.

Kunti couldn't wait to see her sons. All of them had seen the princes in the arena earlier today but Kunti just wanted her sons back on her lap. She just wanted to hear them calling her Mata again and fighting for her attention.

The Pancha Pandava entered the room and immediately went to touch their mother's feet. Kunti stood them up and touched each of their cheeks.

At first, the five princes were so absorbed in the feeling of seeing their mother that they didn't notice the others in the room.

Bheem was the first one to notice the three girls standing behind their mother. He recognised Dushala, their dear sister but he didn't recognise the extremely fair and beautiful girl in the pink dress standing beside...

Bheem's body went rigid and he became angry seeing the same girl who disrespected him in the arena for that Suta Putra.

-"Mata, what is she doing here?" Bheem asked angrily pointing towards Tiasha.

Now everyone noticed the three girls. Arjun's eyes were stuck on Subhadra. Subhadra felt the gaze of a certain pair of obsidian orbs on her and moved even closer to Tiasha. Her face became red and she ducked her head down holding on to her sister's arm tightly.

Tiasha just smirked at the pair.

Unaware that another pair of hazel orbs were set on her.

Yudhishthira was beyond shocked to see her in his mother's room. The same girl who started residing in his heart rent-free from the moment he first saw her. He was a little annoyed when Bheem pointed his fingers at her. It is very disrespectful to point your finger at someone like that, let alone her. He took a mental note to talk to Bheem about this later. He was curious about who she was instead of what she was doing here.

Kunti scolded Bheem, "Bheem, is this what you have learnt in Gurukul? To disrespect someone like this?"

Bheem argued, "But Mata..."

-"No Bheem say sorry to her first, she is our guest, and she is going to be your..."

Kunti stopped herself from saying the last words. She scolded herself internally for letting it slip. It's only her wish and she is not sure if anyone will agree with her decision.

The princes and Tiasha both frowned as Kunti didn't finish her sentence. Tiasha let that pass. Although the Pandavas except for Yudhishthira were a little uncomfortable with her presence they didn't want a scolding like Bheemsena yet.

Tiasha sensed their discomfort and said to Kunti, "It's ok Mata, there's no need to say sorry. I think we can manage the rest of the sringer by ourselves, We do not want to interrupt your time with your sons. We should take our leaves now."

Dushala protested, "But Didi I want to spend time with my Bhratas."

-"Dushala you will have plenty of time to spend with your Bharatas, for now, I think they want their Mata only. And if not you two then who is going to do my sringer?"

Subhadra who was looking down the whole time perked up at Tiasha's words. Dushala too beamed, "Really Didi?"

Oh no what have I done, why sometimes I do not think before I speak, Tiasha thought. Tiasha gave them a troubled smile and then looked at Kunti for help.

Kunti smiled at her mischievously and said, "I think your Didi would love that."

Both the girls took hold of Tiasha's arms and dragged her outside.

The Pandavas are watching the interaction as their frown turns into amusement.

As the girls went out of the room Kunti took a seat in an asana and her sons sat near her feet as she caressed each of their faces.

Bheemsena had his face turned the other way. Kunti smiled, "Bheem, won't you look at me, I have made your favourite Ladoos, especially for you."

Bheem's ears perked up at the name of his mother's Ladoos but he again turned his head away, "You cannot bribe me, Mata, I am not a kid anymore. We met after so long and instead of hugging me, you scolded me. That too, for someone who disrespected your sons."

-"Bheem, look at me, She didn't disrespect you today, she just voiced what she thought was right. And it would be best if you too didn't disrespect someone older than you like that. Imagine if a Brahmin, disrespected me or your father in the name of caste, how would you feel?"

-"I would not hesitate to break his neck, even if I obtain the sin of killing a Brahmin."

-"See, you are angry, you are saying you would kill the said person. So what she did, was it wrong?"

-"But Mata, she has no relation with him..."

-"That means she has a big heart which doesn't discriminate people as her own or not, that is what a royal's behaviour should be towards their Praja."

Bheem laid his head on his mother's lap and said, "I am sorry Mata..."

-"No, there's no need to say sorry to me, say sorry to her, when you see her next "

-"Mata what were you going to say, before you stopped?" Arjun asked curiously.

Kunti smiled towards Arjun and looked at Yudhishthira, "Don't you have any questions, Putra?"

-"We recognised Dushala but who were the other two, Mata? Especially the one you are speaking so highly of."

Kunti noticed Yudhishthira's gaze linger towards Tiasha before she left the room. She understood her sons well enough to know that Yudhishthira had taken a liking to Tiasha, the individual she wanted as her putrabadhu.

Kunti couldn't help but tease her sons, "Oh so now the young girls are all your concerns hah? No time for your old mother? None of you even asked me how I am doing?"

All scooted near their mother and set their heads on her lap.

"No Mata, we love you the most, We didn't ask any questions about those girls." Nakul and Sahadev hugged Kurtis's legs.

-"We were just curious Mata." Arjun mumbled.

Kunti caressed each of their hairs and laughed. Hearing her laughter all five Pandavas looked up. Kunti said, "I am only joking, putro, I know you are just curious about them."

She continued, "The fair one, in the pink dress, she is your cousin, my Bharata Vasudev's daughter Yadav Kumari Subhadra."

-"The other one, She is your cousin Krishna's sakhi, Tiasha. She is such a young vibrant girl but her life is so tragic. She has no family, Her father was the king of a small kingdom in the southern part of Banga Pradesh. After her father's death, Her relatives took away her land and cast her mother and her out. She endured all this alone. She moved to Mathura but couldn't go with her Sakha to Dwarika because her mother was ill. She took care of her all alone. Her mother also passed away a few weeks ago. She set for a journey to Dwarka but she got in the clutches of some robbers. Fortunately, a kind man and his family found her and she came here with Subhadra."

Arjun gasped, Nakul and Sahadev were almost in tears, and Bheem snarled in anger. Yudhishthira just looked down.

-"Those people deserve to be punished." Bheem said angrily.

-"Now do you understand why I speak so highly of her?"

All of them nodded.

-"But Mata, she didn't look older than Yadav Kumari and Dushala, why were they calling her Didi?" Sahadev asked.

-"Well she is a little older than them, and you two as well. She is around Arjun's age."

They looked at her bewildered. Kunti cackled, "She is a lovely and brave girl. And you saw her today at the arena."

-"But Mata what were you going to say before?" Nakul asked

Kunti turned to Yudhishthira and cupped his face in her palms.

-"Putra Yudhishthira, now you will become the Yuvraj of Hastinapur, and before that, I want for you to bring a beautiful putrabadhu for me."

Yudhishthira's face turned red, "As you wish Mata."

Kunti smiled, "Well I have someone in mind..."

Yudhishthira looked up at his mother. Kunti saw the plea in his eyes.

Bheem asked, "Who Mata?", smiling wide along with the younger ones.

-"Kumari Tiasha."

-XX-

Hi, all my lovely readers. This is your author here. Thank you so much all for showing this much love to my story. Honestly, I never thought I would reach 2.3k reads and 139 likes. And all the lovely comments I get. I just jump up and down when I see all your lovely comments.

Please tell me how you like my story so far, Do you have any suggestions? Do you want me to make any changes or anything? I would love to hear and would try my best.

Take care, bye-bye guys.