"Pruthvi! Pruthvi!"

Pruthvi's heart leaped up hearing Leena's ringing screams that penetrated tearing through the air. He unwillingly dropped his connection with Tyrell and lost his focus on his stone. He spun around and ran uphill towards the temple. He felt pushing himself beyond the endurance, his breath felt rasping and he hated himself to walk away to this amount of distance leaving her alone.

"You scared me half to death!" She continued shouting.

Pruthvi netted his brows in confusion. It sounded like a friendly warning, but she was still loud and sounded shaky. It took a minute or two finally reach the hilltop and he straightly headed towards trees where she had slept earlier. He found Leena standing against the person seemingly in black robes. Her hands were directed towards the ground, knees slightly bent, she was ready to attack with her newly mastered command.

"Gee! Calm down, Princess. Who would have guessed that in these crucial days a Samagraha could actually sleep?"

Hearing the voice, Pruthvi slowed down. He jogged upfront, and then gave a sudden halt to his momentum finally recognizing the voice. He now stood completely motionless right behind Leena, gaping at the profile of the person lost in the shadows. The short and green well known parrot circled in the air above the man's head. The man slowly walked nearer coming out of the shade of the trees, carrying a notable smile on his face. Surprise followed by fury lit Pruthvi's insides, as he finally got a proper look at the one he was forever indebted to.

"Shourya?" he said with a reproach, taking a step forward, "Have you been spying on us?"

"Oh no," he said, shaking his head. He lifted his hand up, letting the bird sit on his finger. He slightly leaned over and whispered in its ear. "Go!"

Maruti might hardly have ever looked so discreet and quiet. Lack of Nazira to pet it seemed to have depressed it immensely. Pruthvi watched it in skepticism when it silently flew over and glided down to sit on his shoulder.

"Aren't Hayden and Nazira returning day after tomorrow?" Shourya said, and then pointed his finger at the parrot that had it head buried in its wings, "Just trying to unite the lost friends."

"You sound pretty sure about their return," asked Leena, her voice shrill.

Shourya scoffed. "It's Hayden Mackay. Shaytan Rup might kill himself unable to bear his curious mind."

Pruthvi gently caressed his sister's bird realizing that it had come close to him for the very first time. Two days and a night had to yet to elapse before he got to see them-Hayden, Nazira as well as Tyrell. A month might not have seemed a long time, but now, at this moment it felt like an eternity.

"How do you know we are still here?" He asked, incredulously.

Shourya gaped, his eyebrows slanted inwards. "Even after you knowing very well about me, you still have that tone of surprise," he said, sounding insulted, "Wasn't I the one who sent you here in the first place?"

"Yes," Pruthvi answered, glancing sideways at Leena who didn't once look at him, "That happened more than two weeks ago."

"Oh, I know about Panchayat's notice," he said, calmly, as if it was a matter of indifference.

Leena's mouth dropped and she looked at Shourya, desperate and bewildered.

"Damn!" Pruthvi exclaimed, before she could, "Is there anything you possibly wouldn't know? Hayden judged you so right, you are...omnipresent and...know-it-all."

"Well, say thanks to him for me." He smiled mischievously. "Anyway, I just wanted to lend you Maruthi, and tell Nazira I miss her." His smile faded, and he barely seemed to contain his eagerness. "Now that I am here-Pruthvi, what did you think about my request?"

Pruthvi made a face. He suddenly found himself torn between frustration and annoyance. He was already feeling overwhelmed by the burden of everything he had gone through with Zarina about his enormous role in ending Shashi's reign. In addition to it, the zeal of his upcoming meet with Tyrell, the unpredictable outcome, was hardly letting him enhance the feeling of serenity.

"You seriously are not asking me this right now," he said through his gritted teeth.

Shourya clicked his tongue. "I am not leaving it until you accept."

"Why me?" Pruthvi yelled, "Go look for someone better."

And Shourya had an instant answer. "Nothing can be better than the best, and you are the best."

"Alright listen," Pruthvi said, stepping forward. Leena folded her hands and walked aside, letting them talk. "I have a lot of things going on in my mind right now. I am nowhere concerned about your clan at this moment."

"What is going on in your mind?" He asked, "Want to share it with me? What did you find out in the Temple?"

"That I have a killer in me," Pruthvi muttered, and Leena let out a loud dramatic sigh of exasperation. He fathomed a huge wall of tension lingering between them. His lower lip trembled in sadness. He had never detected its existence, not since the day he had conveyed that she has a special place in his heart.

"You killed Zarina Khan?" Shourya said in amazement and then chuckled noiselessly. "Hayden is going to be so proud of you. How about the Garg guy?"

"I killed him too," Pruthvi said and bit insides of his cheek. He didn't even know why he was casually spilling everything out to Shourya.

"Well done," he cried, and clapped his hands, "Can Nazira any more be proud of her brother now."

Pruthvi stared with his mouth agape. "Huh, what?"

"What has Nazira got anything to do with him?" Leena asked, speaking after a long time.

Shourya raised his eyebrows and gazed at both of them one after the other. "Oh, you guys haven't found out about her past yet?"

"You tell us," Leena asked, sounding extremely desperate. "Please, for heaven's sake."

Sensing her inner turmoil, Pruthvi chanced to look at her. A temptation to hold her hand momentarily stirred his veins. The bird on his shoulders suddenly flapped its soft wings gently stroking his cheeks. He immediately resisted to go along with his impulse and stuffed his hands inside his pockets.

All those brooding five months they had spent with Nazira in the academy, perhaps even a single day might not have passed without Leena making an attempt to know his sister's past life. Queen Premila's death- the one sensitive topic he reluctantly had to deal with, apart from Hayden's depression that our friend's absence had caused. Pruthvi, as an elder brother, had formally asked Nazira once or twice about it. She had said nothing but cried all day long. Gotten miffed, he had left the topic. But Leena never let it go, and the one, he always knew but never cared to acknowledge, who had kept pushing her to ask was Hayden.

"Okay look," Shourya said, taking a huge sigh, "This is going to be difficult but here is the thing..."

Shourya laid the details bare and never once nagged to the questions raised. At that particular instance, there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere. The rising sun hid behind the lazily drifting clouds. Streaks of rays penetrating through the gaps of leaves disappeared, overtaken by a grayness. The temperature around them dropped several degrees. Pruthvi and Leena felt the chills and it had nothing to do with the temperature. Every word that came out Shourya's mouth felt like icy pins and needles, raking their skin over and over again.

By the time Shourya was done, the sun was fully risen up, rays glimmered down towards them. A stunned Leena had her face glistening with tears and shock, mouth hung open aiding her to breathe.

"Oh my god!" she then cried in distraught, before fully turning to see Pruthvi, "I am scared for Lithika. What has she done!"

"Well, you should be," commented Shourya, "And I won't tell you I told you so."

He looked back at Pruthvi who stayed too quiet to get unnoticed. Pruthvi was feeling uncomfortable standing at the spot. He needed something hard around to resentfully smash it with his bare fists. He had his hands clenched and felt his heart rate increased. He blinked the moisture in his eyes away. He couldn't help himself from picturing his fourteen-year-old sister witnessing the horrifyingly wicked deeds each and every day that might have probably become a reason for her to grow a faint-hearted.

The bird flew suddenly and landed on his other shoulder.

"When did you find her then?" Pruthvi asked, his voice sounding too hoarse, "How is it possible that they let her live?"

"Had I not reached on time," Shourya said, "you would have lost your sister too, Pruthvi. Noticing me as someone unknown arriving, they decided to leave her alone. Probably they wanted to take care of this unfinished task later, I have no idea. I was in dilemma until them, to become a guardian to Zarina's great-granddaughter was full of risk. But watching her in that position... I was crazy to even think to have a choice."

Pruthvi and Leena glanced at each other before Shourya continued with a dull voice. "I still remember the day, when I first saw her crying over the queen's body. A girl, who is supposed to lead normal happy childhood, she went through such a distressing experience."

"Thanks to you for giving her a life," whispered Pruthvi, watching Leena wiping her eyes. "Me and my sister, we both owe you."

"Well, I also want to let you know," said Shourya, "King Bhupathi Garg, he is one greedy person and he works for Shashi."

Pruthvi sighed. "Why isn't that surprising?"

But Leena's expression stated otherwise. She gawked at Shourya, unbelievably. It was obvious to get petrified, as she should be for her twin.

"I know," Shourya said, and took a step back, "Before I go, here is another information. It is Shashi who wants Rawat for himself, Bhupathi is just acting as a middleman between him and Panchayat to legally make Shashi's wishes come true. It so happened that as the King and as a member of Panchayat, Bhupathi sent you that notice. There were no third-degree interrogations, it has nothing to do with Rahu Keranza's streaks of attacks. They were just trying to keep you away from the temple where Zarina was hiding."

Before Pruthvi or Leena could comment anything on it, Shourya turned around to leave but Pruthvi shouted to ask one last question now that he had found the opportunity. "Where is he hiding his tomb?" he asked, watching Shourya go, "Is it in his lair?"

"I have no idea," Shourya replied, taking slow steps away from them, "Even I recently came to know that it has always been in temple except during the month of the fest. Where he chose to hide it now, he never told anyone. Nobody knows where he disappears to in this whole month. If Hayden is successful in killing Shaytan Rup, then obviously the tomb is never returning to temple. You do probably have another impossible task of figuring its location out."

"But how would I..."

"Good luck, third generation Samagraha," said Shourya, walking quickly away from them and waving his hand. He seemed to have no intention to stay with them any longer, "Safety of Paramarashtra is all in your hands now."