At the traveller's inn in the Lalitavanam

It had been a long time since Dhruva had a worriless journey to Mount Gaja. Every year it had been a painful travel while his mind and heart stayed back in Durja with his devastated people. This year pilgrim tax reduction was a small relieve to the people and he, with his little savings had lessen the burden by another quarter of the amount fixed. Dhruva had paid for the people who needed it the most in a hope to have the tax abolished in the coming year.

Durja's procession to Mount Gaja was a rather small convoy. It was a result to the implementation of unfair tax; people of the town and villages had refused to join the procession. He respected their choice and it made him to realise even deeper their agony living in Durja. Although the realisation held him back from enjoying the travel, he wanted to look past the pain for a short while.

He stared at the bonfire, a blooming flower of flame that opened heavenward, generous in golden spark as the wood crackled in the heat. Dhruva for a moment wished if he could escape from the tie of responsibility, to live without a worry, to a place people wouldn't recognise him and to build something ordinary. He chuckled at the thought, it was foolish of him to wish to untangle himself from the responsibility given to him but a spark of intention lit in the core of his heart. Dwelling in the spark, careful not to have it go too wild in him, Dhruva did several cycles of deep breaths.

With him around the bonfire was his personally selected troop of twenty-four trained soldiers, each one a devout to their job. He had named them Yujyagana which meant united troops. Dhruva had carefully handpicked them after months of observation from his visit throughout Durja. He did it with one thoughtful note his mother left, to have the law and order upright he required more than one loyal aid by his side and with Durja's ministries a marionette to the queen, a few wasn't sufficient. However, he considered twenty-four to be a good number to begin. 

At the night of their fifteen-day travel, he had the thought again. The spark was still in him and the flame grew bigger. They were about two days away to Mount Gaja and he was having a difficult time resisting his crave. A grip on his shoulder broke his focus.

Viswanathan, the brigadier of the imperial army, one of his Yujyagana, his close friend read him with a slight confusion.

"What?" Dhruva asked when the stare went a tad bit long.

"You are lost," said Viswa, his eyebrows jumped as he spoke. "What are you thinking about?"

"You might not want to know. It's against the rules," whispered Dhruva leaning close to Viswanathan.

"Hmm... what did you do in the past that goes by the rule," said Viswa. "Come on, I'll not tell anyone. What is it?" he whispered back.

"I want to go to Mount Gaja," Dhruva said in a hush with a mischievous smile.

Silence brewed between them while Viswa processed his prince's words. "You are on a journey to Mount Gaja, Your Highness," the perplexed soldier reminded.

"I know but I want to be there a day before. Of course, it doesn't make any difference in a day but I wish to go."

"I get it, it is your weird wish as always but whether you go a day ahead or a day later it's going to be the same Mount Gaja, the same temple, same prayers, same offerings. Nothing is going to change in a day," argued Viswanathan, fighting hard to understand his crown prince.

Dhruva agreed with a nod yet added while folding and unfolding the blanket he had on his lap, "but there is one thing. The presence of Kavish. I just want to see how it is with the people of Kavish up there."

He was either too loud or his Yujyagana had sharp hearing because as he said it, the troop had shifted all their attention to Dhruva and Viswa. They were equally surprised to hear it and muttered their thought to each other. One among them quickly offered his support to Dhruva.

"Well, if you really wish to go, you should. Why do you wait? You can use the travel document with Haridra's seal, right?" He chirped enthusiastically

"Are you crazy? Who will answer the king and queen when they find out he is missing?" hissed another soldier.

They might not even notice his disappearance, Dhruva thought but held his tongue. "Just tell them I have left ahead to look into the preparation. That will not make them suspicious," assured Dhruva.

"Oh! If that's the case then I'll come with you. Two men are more believable than one." Viswa volunteered not to only make it look believable but to make sure of his crown prince's safety as well.

*--**--**--**

Foothill at Mount Gaja

The heavenly music of the nadaswaram and thavil played at the base of the mountain and in the temple travelled in all eight directions. Smile stretched across their faces as they reach their destination. They had taken a three-hour diversion to arrive at the designated entrance gate for the northern pilgrims and disguised themselves as local merchants from Haridra wearing earth coloured tunic and pants with a headscarf and hid their faces with a huge fake beard they got from a local stall in Takash. Having one final check on each other they nudged their  their horses to trot with their acquired travel document from Haridra in hand.

With the sight of the mountain right ahead of them, Dhruva couldn't take his eyes of it. Standing majestically large in size and height covered in green of various trees one can have the glimpse of the path carved through the gaps of the trees, if they were lucky. The winding mountain pass had been there for centuries, he wondered how they managed to do it back then. As he beholds the beauty of the mountain, he was reminded of the magnificent Yajanta Bhavan, a guest house with two large elephant tusk on either side built between Mount Gaja and a hill next to it. Soon the distance reduced and the entrance gate came into view.

While having sure they have all they need handy, nervousness crept as they neared the gate. Guards in white dhoti and iron armour stood by the entrance, a spear in each one's hand, ready to charge if need arise. Dhruva inhaled sharply. If they were caught, he was sure they will be locked behind bars and be dead in Haridra's chilly weather.

Nevertheless, his own horrifying imagination came to a halt as they jumped off their horses and presented their documents to the awaiting officer. Unfolding the new document sheet, the officer skimmed through with concentration. Shortly after, Dhruva and Viswanathan trotted on their horses with an entry seal on their document and a thick white thread around their wrist. An indication of their country of origin and to be worn throughout the celebration. Similarly, every country had their own assigned colours and of all Nava Rajya, Durja and Kavish has the most vibrant colour, yellow and red respectively.

"Why do I have a doubt that you had already planned for this three years ago, Your Highness?" asked Viswa.

"I did not. We are just fortunate that things happened in our favour. Thanks to queen Naavarasi for that." Dhruva flashed his travel document they had acquired from his maternal queendom, Haridra, after requesting the queen to grant them a travel document for their relentless service to the country before keeping it back securely. As the only grandson of the queen of Haridra, Dhruva had an opportunity to serve as a prince in two countries at once, he was both privileged and tied. 

They walked their horses through a lane where temporary stalls were put up for the celebrations. People from the nearby villages gathered for their yearly sale selling freshly fried fritters of variants, sweet delicacies, homeware and refreshing drinks. The festive and its crowd had also attracted the attention of merchants from all around; selling their collection of goods like fabrics, jewelleries, glassware and home decorative from various countries around Mayavathi.

After a quick stop for refreshment, they ambled towards the foothill. Sound of hand bells rolled in their way with the divine smell of sambrani and incenses filled the air. From a distant, the numerous Ganesha statues brought by the kingdoms kept under the century old banyan trees came into view. Priests were seen finishing their puja to the deities and proceeded to offer prasadam, the sacred food for the aged and disable devotees who were not in a position to hike up the steep hill road.

Some  pilgrims sat under the banyan tree with their eyes closed and wearing a radiant smile while some surrounded the tabla and mridangam players, singing devotional songs. Attracted to the divine surrounding and peaceful ambience, Dhruva and Viswanathan joined the group and indulged in the devotional folk songs. Something, the crown prince had always wished to do ever since his first visit at the age of six but restricted to the title he held.

After the group have dispersed, they began their hike up the hill with many others by foot leaving their horses at the temporary stable. Along the way, they had the privilege to join a group of pilgrims from the land of Kamakshya located on the north of Lambodara. While tramping with the pilgrims, the tour guide of Mount Gaja shared various history related to the mountain and one in particular sounded too good to be true.

"When Lord Ganesha saw his bhaktas spend their nights on this very rocky and muddy land." The tour guide gestured at the uneven ground they stood as he spoke. "He called the great architecture of the Devas, Lord Vishwakarma to build something that will make his devotees' stay less difficult. The Deva obliged to Lord Ganesha's request and presented the Yajanta Bhavan, the House of Worshipers."

The guide herd the pilgrim to a pitstop. "The beauty of the Bhavan can be seen from here. Follow me to edge and look up. Here it is, the humanly impossible three building with ten floors each and over nine hundred rooms bridging two hills." The tour guide stood at the edge of the mountain pass and pointed up where one could see the underside of the triplet building.

Spellbound as he has always been each time, he sees the guest house. Dhruva drank in the spectacular view of the Yajanta Bhavan. The magnificent triplet building made of white marble looked like bridges connecting two peaks with vines creeping its exterior. The vibrant red flowers on the vine stems added a splash of colour to the white guest house. 

*-*-*-*-*-*-

"I would risk to climb high up the mountain to find cordyceps mushrooms but will not marry a man from a kingdom that wants my family dead," fumed Nakshathra, her eye burned in rage. It was night, it was dark, it was cold but all she could see and feel was red and heat as she stared hard at the royal physician, Agathiyan, who was also her mentor.

Agathiyan had summoned Nakshathra for a private talk shortly after the puja, he put forth his request and tried to persuade her to marry the crown prince of Durja to dissolve the vendetta between the two kingdoms. It was for the same reason he had wanted to bring her after he received the message from Kovalan. The request wasn't mere duty given to him by Lady Alli from Durja but also a desperate need to retrieve his own family from her captivity. He had been trying for years and prayed his effort would pay off this time through Nakshathra. Hence, to make it happen he had to continue to persuade her with all way possible even if he had to be on the wrong side.

"Rajakumari, I'm putting forth this request keeping the people of Kavish in mind. Aren't they important to you?" he asked, a line appeared between his grey brows. "Don't you think you should do something for your own people? Do you only spend your time with them to ease your troubled mind because of your so-called difficult father but won't think for them?" disputed Agathiyan.

"That is not true. I—I don't go to them for my problems," flabbergasted Nakshathra stumbled with her words as if raja vaithiyar had slapped her with reality. For a second, she happened to agree to his statement.

"Really, rajakumari? Remember I have asked you to study the people? It is so that you will understand the alarming problem. Those who are unhappy are not just who had lost their loved ones sixteen years ago. They are also of those who have lost their family member in recent years. The numbers are increasing."

"What are you talking about? No one reported about the increasing number. I don't remember any event of killing happened in recent times."

"No one goes around announcing these horrifying events. Things are being handled discreetly but here I am, telling you about it, rajakumari. You need to make a decision. I'm sure you are well aware that it is near impossible to gain their trust and retrieve our people for their aggressive nature. The only way to merge the two kingdoms is through marriage. Give a thought about it, princess. Your choice will decide the happiness of your people," Agathiyan enunciated, he held his hands behind his back.

Angry and feeling helpless all of a sudden Nakshathra took her leave with heavy heart and trouble minded. "Why should there be only a handful of choices to mend things between kingdoms? Why? Build trust or marry a prince. Er... why me? Why not the other princesses?" She grumbled as she ran down the rocky steps, tears brimming in her eyes.

As she took the last step, her blurry gaze fell upon a child holding a shiny object. A child alone and unattended, Nakshathra ran to the kid who had a dagger in its hand. "Where did you find this?" she asked carefully taking the sharp object away from the child's hand.

The child pouted and simply pointed to the other side of the temple before whisking away from her. "How did no one notice the dagger in the child's hand? What if the child gets hurt or hurt another?" muttering to herself, she made her way to the closest office to hand it over.

It was often said, whenever one fears of a particular event and thinks of it, alas it would happen. And it did to Nakshathra. On her way to the office, crowd to the serving hall begin to grow and she struggled to weave her way through the opposite direction. As condensing crowd pushed her to fight against the current, Nakshathra held to the dagger tight afraid not to have hurt anyone but when her foot slipped, what she feared happened.

The man she had unintentionally hurt winced in pain as he held his bleeding arm. Panicked, she rushed to him with every possible treatment she could offer in her head. "I'm so sorry. Sorry, please follow me, I'll get some medication for the wound." Nakshathra pulled them both out of the crowd and inspected the wound. It was a deep and long cut, she silently chided herself for not being careful enough. "I'll be right back. Please stay here."

"Damn you dagger. I should have been careful," Nakshathra huffed as she ran to find the medication box. "Where on earth is the box?" She rummaged the small office only to find nothing of use to clean the wound.

"Great." Nakshathra sprinted to the nearby garden, plucked a few neem leaves, rushed to the kitchen, took a few pinches of turmeric and fetched a bowl of clean water from the nearby pond. By the end of her medicine quest, Nakshathra was drenched in sweat and her troubled mind was put at ease—at least for a moment.

"Sorry, I took a while, couldn't find available medication but this will help for now," she said breathily as she sat next to the man.

"Slow down, devi." He spoke for the first time since their bloody encounter.

His voice carried a deep western accent. It was then Nakshathra took the opportunity to notice him. He had an angular face, skin in shades of fired clay, radiating warmth with his smile.

Her shoulder relaxed knowing he truly wasn't mad at her. She washed his wound then crushed the leaves with the turmeric between her palms and drizzle the juice on his wound. He winced.

"The irritation will go off in some time," she said as she squeezed more neem juice on his wound. "I am really sorry, I should have been cautious," she made a painful grimace, avoiding as much eye contact as possible.

"Don't worry and it was a dense crowd, it's not your fault. This just a small cut, I am fine," replied the man calmly.

"It's bleeding, not a small injury," she protested while she dapped the coarsely crushed neem leaves on his wound and spread them evenly to cover the cut. She then untucked her cotton handkerchief from her waistband and tied it around his arm securing his wound.

"You don't need to do it, devi. I'll be fine without the bandage." The man declined politely.

"I have wounded you, the least I could do before leaving is to make sure the wound does not get infected. It's a clean handkerchief, by the way," she assured and left with another round of apology. 

Nakshathra had something else to deal with and she could only offer that much time to the stranger she had harmed. Agathiyan's suggestion found its way back to haunt her.

**---**--**--**--**

"You came a day earlier to get wounded?" asked Viswa while gobbling the kozhukattai, a favoured sweet of Lord Ganesha made of steamed rice flour dough with coconut and jaggery stuffing.

"Shut up, Viswa. It was an accident," jested the prince in disguise who had eventually lost his fake beard somewhere in the crowd and he cared less about it already. No one recognised him anyway. Dhruva snatched a kozhukattai from Viswa's plate and stuffed the big piece of the sweet in his mouth at once.

"So, tell me about the girl. How did she look like? Where is she from? What's her name?" nagged Viswanathan.

"Viswa! I don't know anything about her. All I know, she comes from Kavish. No, she did not tell me that, I saw the red thread on her wrist and she is a physician, I think, that's all. It was dark, I couldn't see her face either." Dhruva lied; he did catch a glimpse of her round face from the lamps lit around the place. She had a pretty pleasant pair of eyes, that was all he noticed but he wouldn't tell it to his friend. Viswa would bug him non-stop.

"What a waste? We could have potentially found you a bride right here. General Hemavant told that Maharaja wished to find you a bride soon now that you are twenty-seven years old." Viswanathan pouted as if he was sad to have missed his opportunity. "We could have made it easier for him but still that won't be possible, she from Kavish."

"Shut up!"

Dhruva left his annoying friend and sauntered around. Neither the talk of potential bride search nor the girl from Kavish should disturb him. Dhruva led himself to appreciate every bit moment of being a commoner. Acknowledging the change to come in a day, he roamed freely around savouring the moment for the next time that might not come around. He relished the breath-taking view of the magnificent temple and the comfortable atmosphere he experienced with the presence of Kavish for the first time.

They were warm and welcoming, unlike Durja. He hated to compare it with his own country but he couldn't help it. The difference in treating their respective people were evident. They were caring and considerate. Dhruva's dream was to make his kingdom as warm as other kingdoms in the future. 

**--***---***---***--

After handing over the dagger to a guard, Nakshathra rushed to her room in the Yajanta Bhavan. Despite the short accidental interval with the stranger, her conversation with Agathiyan continued to lurk in her thoughts. The harder she fought the prominent the agitation grew. Closing the door behind, she paced around her room. The turnout of her meeting with Agathiyan went sour, he had asked her for the impossible, 'consider marrying the future king of Durja to settle the enmity between Kavish and Durja?' She did not fancy the idea but Agathiyan had trapped her. He had used her emotional bondage with the people to bind her to his request.

Nakshathra flung the window shutters open, cool breeze whooshed into the room. She stared at the pitch-dark view of the hills. Heavy weight seemed to crush her from within at the thought of sacrificing herself for her people.

"Am I supposed to sacrifice my life for my people's happiness? Is that what anyone would do for their land? Is that really the only option left?"

**--***---***--*