"Maa, shhhh... don't make any noise. They'll find out I'm here!"

Draupadi chuckled as she felt the beautiful daughter of Arjuna crouch behind her, as she was seated on the armchair in her room, using her mother's skirt to hide her petite frame.

Subhadra who was walking around the other corner of the room, rocking a baby Parikshit to sleep, turned towards the other two ladies with a smile.

"Hiding away from training again, Mitra?" she asked while trying to mask the grin on her face.

Mitra popped her head out to the side from behind Draupadi and raised her eyebrows at her Subhadra Maa.

"Me? Hiding away from practice? Pshht!" she snorted. "It's not like I'm scared that they'll come take me."

Draupadi faked clearing her throat as she replied, "If I'm not mistaken, and my hearing is still intact, I thought I heard you specifically say THEY'LL FIND OUT I'M HERE!"

Mitra let her gaze lift up to meet her mother with a frown on her face.

"Exactly whose side are you on, Maa?"

Draupadi could not help but chuckle as she pulled Mitra up to sit beside her. She cupped her cheek with a smile on her face.

"Which teacher are you running away from this time, sweetheart?"

Mitra rolled her eyes as she replied, "The Ashwineyas."

This time, both Draupadi and Subhadra could not hold back their laughter as they burst out laughing, causing little Parikshit to wake up screaming. As Subhadra tended to Parikshit while stifling back another laugh, Mitra was amazed to see her elder mother still clutching her stomach and laughing heartily.

"What? This is funny for both of you?" Mitra pouted.

Draupadi with tears streaming down her cheeks from laughing so heartily, struggled to catch her breath.

"What do you think, my dear?"

Mitra huffed as she knew the answer to that question. Training with the Ashwini twins was nothing short of drama. Nakula and Sahadeva were definitely the strictest when it came to physical training with swords and showed no mercy. Until Mitra ends up with a slight scratch, let alone an actual cut. Then all strictness and focus flies out the window, and the Madri twins spend the rest of the session fussing about her 'so called injury.' With Sahadeva devastated that it may lead to an infection, while Nakula is nearly reduced to tears as he worries about a possible scar marring the beauty of the princess. That was training with the Ashwini Kumaras in a nutshell!

"Princess, Prince Nakula and Prince Sahadeva have asked me to escort you to the training arena," called out one of the guards as he entered the room, shaking Mitra out of her thoughts.

Mitra turned her head to glance at Draupadi with puppy dog eyes, as she silently pleaded with her mother to save her from training.

Draupadi smiled at Mitra and held her face between her palms.

"Putri, what answer will I give your Baba if he comes to know that you abandoned your lesson? You do know that your father wants you to excel in all forms of warfare, right? You are the gem and pride of this dynasty."

"Fine I'll go," Mitra mumbled as she walked towards the guard with a pout on her face.

"You look like you are being sent to the prison, and not to the training field, my dear," Subhadra laughed as Draupadi shook her head with a smile, silently witnessing her dear daughter's antics.

Mitra turned around to face both her mothers, with a thin-lipped smile and arched eyebrows.

"Trust me, Maathas. Prison would be way better."

"Can we please take a break now, Uncle?" Mitra managed to gasp breathlessly, as she blocked the striking of Nakula's sword with her own, resulting in a loud clang.

They had been practicing non-stop for almost an hour, and Mitra felt her arms burning with pain. Prior to this, Mitra had practiced wielding the axe with Sahadeva for a good half hour.

Nakula spun his sword in the air before bringing it down with lightning speed towards Mitra again.

"Is this what you will be asking the enemy? How will you protect yourself on the battlefield when you get tired, my wish-fulling pari?"

Mitra met the forceful strike of her uncle's sword with a sharp counterattack of her own shining one, as she replied, "Right now, the only thing I'm desperately trying to protect is my arms from falling off."

Nakula frowned at his dear student's reply, as Sahadeva chuckled at her style of delivering responses dripping with sarcasm. As Nakula finally relented to take a short break, Mitra dropped both her sword and herself to the ground, trying to catch her rugged breathing. Despite being the youngest of the Pandavas, the Madri twins tended to be the strictest when it came to training. Uncle Nakula not only had the handsome looks, but one of the most awe-inspiring strengths when it came to wielding the sword. The effortless ways in which he would twirl the heavy metal in his hand, made it appear as if though it weighed the same as a flower. Uncle Sahadeva on the other, was a completely different avatar on the training field in comparison to when he was in the presence of his family. It was nearly impossible to identify the soft and calmly composed prince in the body of the mighty warrior, spinning the axe at a speed which would easily make one fall dizzy to the ground.

She swore it hadn't even been five minutes, when she felt Sahadeva's shadow loom over her from above.

"Break time over. Time for you to practice attacking and blocking both mine and Nakula's attack with the sword," he grinned down at her.

Mitra stared up exasperated at her Uncle as she exclaimed, "It hasn't even been five minutes, Uncle! This is not fair!"

"All is fair in love and war, my child. Why don't you wish yourself away from the field, like you were about to wish my mirrors away?" Nakula snickered as Mitra turned her head around and stuck her tongue out at him.

Sahadeva lowered his hand, offering it to Mitra as support to raise herself up as he asked, "Mitra, Putri you do know you won't be able to ask for a break if you are attacking or fighting off an attack from an enemy, right?"

Mitra grimaced as she accepted his hand, and hoisted herself off the ground to a standing position before him.

"Yes, Uncle. But you do understand that I won't even be able to face an enemy in the first place if I do not have arms, right?" she countered back, causing Nakula to laugh and Sahadeva to smile as he shook his head at her hard-headedness in supporting what she felt was right.

"Definitely a trait you've picked up from your father," Sahadeva muttered to himself as his thoughts took him back to the days leading to and during the great battle. His eldest brother, Karna, was very similar in this way where he stood unyielding to anything against what he felt was right. He truly believed his loyalties laid with Duryodhana, hence he turned his back upon what he acknowledged to be morally correct to stand by his dharma to his friend and saviour. Similarly, his daughter had picked up traces of that hard headedness when it came to defending herself and her actions. 'Like father like daughter,' Sahadeva thought as he smiled. Seeing these similar antics in his niece made him miss his eldest brother even more today.

"Okay, come on you little natkhat! Time to practice," Nakula called out to Mitra grinning, simultaneously pulling Sahadeva out of his memory lane and back to the present.

Another few minutes flew by as the three of them engaged in a mock battle, with Nakula and Sahadeva simultaneously wielding their swords down in an attack on Mitra, with the latter attempting to block the attacks, while throwing in a few of her own counterattacks which she had learned over her previous training sessions.

Sahadeva brought down his sword on her in an unexpected angle, and Mitra responded by twisting her body away from the attack, causing the sword to whiz by, a couple of inches away from her neck. Then she spun at lightning speed and counter attacked his sword from the other side.

Sahadeva smiled proudly as he regarded her.

"You remembered from last time, I see. You've learned well, my dear," he mentioned making Mitra beam with happiness.

"I learned from the best!" she chuckled as Sahadeva beamed with paternal pride.

As they continued their training, Mitra focused hard on the swinging of the swords, knowing well aware of the consequences of losing focus with one of these weapons against her. Just after she administered one of her attacks on Sahadeva, Mitra was shaken out of her deep concentration, as she heard the horns being blown near the main entrance to the palace. 'Baba, was here!' her mind thought excitedly. Arjuna had left to the nearby Kingdom regarding an important stately affair, and Mitra was eagerly awaiting his arrival over the past couple of days. Yes, some years had passed since her arrival in Hastinapura, and she was not the child she was anymore. Yet, she still needed her Baba – from waking her up with a morning kiss to tucking her in at night with a goodnight kiss. The entire palace still could not get over the father-daughter duo, and all were witness to how the mighty Gandivadhari was wrapped around the tiny finger of the dainty Vijaya Nandhini.

"Aahh!" Mitra yelped as she felt a sharp scrape of metal against the hollow of her neck where it met her shoulder.

Nakula's face lost its colour as he hastily let his sword, with its tip tinged with a drop of red, drop to the sandy ground, as he sunk to his knees beside Mitra.

"Putri, are you okay? No, you're not okay, what am I saying? I'm so sorry, my child," he stuttered as he gently placed pressure on the cut to stop the blood from oozing out.

That's when she realized that it was her uncle Nakula's sword that had made the cut, when he made his move. She was supposed to have focused in order to block the attack, but her concentration had slipped when she heard the sign indicating her father's arrival. Mitra carefully observed her uncle, as she witnessed his pale features and the tear glazed vision, as his fingers shakily pressed against the side of her neck.

She gently placed her hand on his and whispered, "Uncle, I'm okay. It's just a small cut. Why are you apologizing to me?"

"No, you're not okay. Look blood is oozing out. Nakula, we need to take her to the medical room right away and apply ointments on this," cried Sahadeva, amazing Mitra as she heard panic coating the voice of her usually calm and composed uncle.

Mitra remained silent, well aware that no amount of convincing that she was okay will work, as her two younger uncles, nearly reduced to tears, rushed her to the medical room.

"Ahh," she winced holding Nakula's hands tightly to bear the burning sensation, as Sahadeva gently dabbed one of the ointment pastes on her now dried cut.

Tears blurred Nakula's vision, as he witnessed the apple of his eyes wincing in pain due to the cut that was caused by him. I should have made sure that she was ready and alert before striking down an attack on her, he thought with guilt.

"I'm so sorry, Putri. I know this must burn, but I need to make sure this cut does not get infected," murmured Sahadeva with tears in his eyes, as his hands shakily dabbed the ointment on her skin, blowing air on it in between to ease the burning.

Despite the pain she felt, Mitra smiled amusedly at the reaction of her uncles as they treated her wound.

"Uncle, to be honest, I think it's paining both of you more than it's paining me," she chuckled softly, while simultaneously struggling to hold back another wince.

Sahadeva chuckled as he caressed her head with his free hand. While Nakula, with tears in his eyes, gave her a fake frown and stuck his tongue out at her, making Mitra laugh as she regarded her uncle mimic her usual antics.

"This is why I was against training her with actual weapons," Nakula muttered as he wiped away a stray tear that had escaped his eye. "That way, we would not have had to risk seeing her get hurt."

Mitra pretended to be in thought as she rested her chin on her palm.

"That's true, Uncle. But instead you would have possibly been met with two other risks."

"What is that?" Sahadeva questioned with curiosity.

Mitra turned to him with a smirk on her face as she replied, "One - me running away from my enemies, unable to defend myself. And two - you having to face Arjun Baba's wrath when he finds out that you two used toy weapons to train his warrior daughter."

She glanced between the two of them as they smiled sheepishly, before concluding, "So with all points considered, I believe a small cut is better than possibly facing the above-mentioned risks. With that, I rest my case, your honours."

"You are as strong as your father," Sahadeva murmured softly, causing Mitra to go numb again with her father's memory. It's been four years since she lost her father, but it still felt like some days ago. As much as thinking of her father brought her a sense of happiness that he was always with her, it also brought about a fresh heart ache which was very painful to bear. Usually, when this happened, she would run off into Arjuna's arms till her heart calmed down again. But, with him not beside her at the moment, Mitra did not want to take that particular trip down the ever so familiar rabbit hole again. 

Noticing both her uncles almost reduced to tears in thoughts of their eldest brother, Mitra decided to lighten the atmosphere.

"You may be right that I'm strong like Baba. But that doesn't mean I'll forgive you both."

Nakula's tearful gaze snapped up to meet Mitra's, as guilt swarmed him for his actions, while Sahadeva stared curiously at the child.

Mitra stared between them with a pout on her face as she exclaimed, "Well look at this cut. It's going to leave behind a hideous scar and that's going to make me look ugly!" she cried.

That was enough to change the depressed look in Nakula's eyes to one of utmost fear, as the words 'scar' and 'ugly' reached his ears.

"No no! I will not let that happen. I will create a special ointment to apply on the cut daily until it heals to prevent any permanent scarring. No bloody scar will steal the beauty of my angel."

"Okay okay! I forgive you!" Mitra laughed as she witnessed the hysterical reactions of the eldest son of Madri in response to her statement.

Her gaze dropped to her lap as she felt something being placed on it. She looked down to find a golden box with beautiful rose designs encrusted on the lid.

"What is this?" she asked absolutely awe-struck by the beauty of the box.

"First close your eyes!" both uncles commanded at once.

Huffing, Mitra closed her eyes, as she eagerly awaited to see the surprise in the box. She shivered slightly as she felt a cold metal rubbing against the skin of her upper arm, right above her elbows.

"Remember your fear about your arms possibly falling off?" questioned Nakula.

"Well, let's hope these will help keep them secured in spot," chuckled Sahadeva.

Mitra's eyes flew open to witness her uncles finish securing a pair of beautiful golden armlets on her.

"We had these made for you in Madra last week when we had gone to visit our maternal family," Nakula answered the question that had sprung up in her mind.

"Do you like them?" Sahadeva tentatively questioned, with hope shining in his sharp yet beautiful eyes.

Mitra, completely awestruck by the love of her uncles, was at a loss for words as she stared at the beauty of the dazzling pieces of jewellery now adorning her arms. From the minute, yet detailed roses made of ruby, encrusted along the golden band, to the diamond stones – each and every detail was breathtakingly beautiful.

"I love them! Thank you so much for this gift, Uncle Nakula and Uncle Sahadeva. You two are the best!" she exclaimed with pure child-like innocence, as they pressed a kiss on either side of her head.

Now, you have no excuse for tomorrow, as your arms will be securely in place. So, I expect you to be at practice in the morning, my Shishya!" Nakula smirked ruffling her hair, as Sahadeva nodded with a grin.

Mitra returned their grin with a sarcastic one of her own as she replied with a mock salute, "I will be present, Gurudeva!"

And that's Chapter 6 of DaanveerPutri! Hope you all loved the light and joyful moments depicted in this chapter :) Enjoy it while you can, before your dear writer friend here pulls you all back into emotional chapters again haha!! 

Please do comment your thoughts about the chapter - I love going through your responses and replying to them!  Please do vote if you feel it's worthy. 

Thanks a bunch for all your love and support for DaanveerPutri - it means so much to me :) 

Loads of love,

Geitha