The happiness bestowed upon the family, akin to the flourishing of leaves on a luminous summer day, disappeared gradually, akin to the advent of autumn.

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It was not long before that Devanya once again left the solace of her home, and went to rule the kingdom that had been bestowed upon her by Chandra Dev's promise. Over the course of the next couple years, Devanya became a beloved ruler of the kingdom, famous for her generosity and quick intellect. But she constantly felt the overbearing lack of her home. It's not that her family wouldn't visit, but they too had their own issues to handle within their place. Whenever Karna would come, she'd ask him to bring Radha Kaki as well, but Radha Kaki was worried that people would not approve of the queen associating herself with lower people. Devanya lost some of the motherly love she could have gained, but was embraced by her kingdom. They held immense respect for her, but they also embraced her childlike nature.

The kingdom later combined with Dwarka, creating yet another empire, one that would go down in history forever. With the weight of ruling off her shoulders, she felt at ease. She became Dwarka's beloved Rajkumari. But in the future, little did she know that she would once again, step in the role of a queen, a highly powerful one at that.

Devanya stepped from her silver chariot to the familiar land of Hastinapur, along with Subhadra. While she had been in the city often, this was her first time stepping into the palace. She looked at her charioteer, who had begun to speak. "Let me take my leave now, Rajkumaris."

Devanya nodded softly and arrived at the palace. Subhadra smiled widely towards Devanya. "Didi, look at the palace!"

Devanya laughed. "Palaces are palaces Subhadra. I'm interested in watching the competition."

"Watching the competition, or watching the handsome princes." Subhadra cheekily said.

Devanya looked at her in shock and began to cough. "What! That is something you would be interested in." 

 They halted their conversation as they finally reached the entrance. There they were greeted by Maharaj Dhritarastra, Maharani Gandhari, Devi Kunti, Vidur, and Dushala. Both Devanya and Subhadra went to take the aashirvad of their elders, who showered them with blessings. Kunti looked at both of them. "You both have turned into such pretty women." 

Vidur smiled. "Yes, that is true. But the journey may have been very long, it is time for them to rest for a while. Why don't you guide them to their rooms, Dushala?" 

Dushala eagerly nodded. She took the sisters to their room and began eagerly telling them about the competition. 

After a while, they headed to the stadium, where this grand pradarshan between the princes would take place. After everyone took their assigned seats, the competition began. Dronacharya started by bowing down to the king, and then explained the rules of the competition. 

"I have kept a wheel of all the names of the Kuru princes. My son, Aswatthama will shoot an arrow in the direction of the wheel. Once the arrow strikes a name, that person will appear for the duel. Whoever remains till Sunset, will be the Vijayata. No one may cause blood to draw from their opponent. If this occurs, then they will be disqualified." 

Aswatthama began to shoot the first arrow. To no one's surprise, the first name it landed on was Duryodhan. A loud cry of an elephant was heard, as Duryodhan arrived on a majestic elephant with his mace swinging from this hand. He tossed the weapon in the air, as he jumped off the elephant and caught the mace, before striking it on the ground to demonstrate its power. 

The arrow struck the name of Nakul. Suddenly, the cry of an eagle could be heard, prompting everyone to look at the sky. There, dangling from the feet of the eagle was Nakul, a strikingly handsome man who had adorned his two hands with swords. A sword pierced the ground, and Nakul touched the floor. He folded his hands and bowed down to his mother. 

And thus, the fight began. After many clashes between the two warriors, Nakul was defeated. Dhritristara and Shakuni were extremely happy to hear this, but Kunti smiled at her son's attempt. 

Next Sahadev came, swinging his axe in fierce speed. However, he too ended up losing. Next Yudhishthira arrived from the air, doing a backflip and landing with his spear pointing towards the ground. The fight between Duryodhan and Yudhishthira was very close, with no clear victor. Duryodhan, upset at his own inability to win, resorted to dirty tricks

Duryodhan sneered towards his elder cousin. "Do you even have Kuru blood flowing in your veins. Your mother is characterless." In a fit of anger, Yudhishthira lost his calmness, and pointed his spear towards Duryodhan. However, his sense of Dharma stopped him from continuing the fight. 

"If I fight you after I have lost control of my anger, that would be adharma." Saying such, Yudhishthira walked away from the fight. However, the coward Duryodhan attacked him from behind. Even though this was injustice, it was allowed. Yudhishthira went to take his mother's blessing. 

Next, the arrow struck Bheem's name, and an earthquake could be felt. Bheem arrived, dragging his mace through the ground to demonstrate his power. A powerful fight occurred between both mace holders. However, Bheem lost his temper, drawing blood on Duryodhan, and thus being disqualified. 

Finally, Arjun was arriving. Ashwatthama went to break the entrance, but was stopped by Drona. Drona himself went to break the entrance, and many rocks began to fall. A tear escaped Kunti's eye but suddenly an arrow emerged from the debris and caught it. Arjun emerged from the rocks and immersed the tear on his head. (A/N: lmao wth)

He fought against Duryodhan, covering him in ice, as Duryodhan found himself unable to move. As Duryodhan's weapon dropped, Arjun was announced the winner. He went down to take the blessing of his guru as Dronacharya's eyes shone in pride. "Arjun is the winner! He is the best warrior among the Kuru princes. Not just Kuru princes, but he is the best warrior in the world!"

The crowd hailed the name of Arjun. But suddenly an arrow was shot, melting all of Duryodhan's ice. 

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(A/N: Please check out my other story, the light of the madrinandans)