After three weeks, Nakul returned to Indraprasth. He went to another Kingdom for finalising a treaty proposal and returned after securing another ally successfully. He met Sahdev at the entrance and moved inside hurriedly, his eyes searching Drisana. But surprisingly she was nowhere to be seen. He reported back to Yudhisthir and went in search of her. He was annoyed at her behaviour. Here, he had returned after weeks and she was missing instead of welcoming him at the entrance only.

Upon enquiries, he got to know she was in the garden. Nakul went there only to find her sitting under a Nandi flame tree. Nakul smiled remembering the particular memories they had under this tree. He silently took slow steps in her direction from behind. When he stood just behind her, he took out the string of jasmine flower and removing the sirovastra, put it on her hair.

Drisana who had already felt his presence, silently sat with a beautiful smile playing on her lips. Before leaving, Nakul had asked what he should bring for her while returning. Well, Drisana realised what she was going to say, wasn't still available in this time period though it was very simple and easy to get at kaliyug. Nakul would have to go to Indralok to get that. So, she told him to bring something else.

"Bring me a garland of mallika pushp (jasmine flower)." She had replied.

"Why is that? There is no shortage of jasmine flowers here. I can bring something precious and special for you Hridi." Nakul had asked in surprise.

"I know you can. But I don't carve for precious and special things. Those are nothing. What I carve for, is your love Nirmay. Precious jewelleries or special gems is only pretentious and I won't feel special in showing off the expensive gifts you bring me. I will feel special only by the simple and regular things, you do for me. Besides I don't want you to waste your time in choosing gifts. I want you to come back to me soundly as soon as possible." Drisana replied with a smile.

"You know, for a princess your maintenance is very low." Nakul said teasing her and received a slap on his chest.

"You should be grateful that I find pleasure in simple and cheap things rather than demanding expensive and rare ones." Drisana said with a pout as he chuckled.

"You, my Hridaya is the most expensive and rare thing in this whole universe to me. And in front of you, everything loses its magnificence." Nakul said hugging her from behind.

Drisana came out of the memory as she felt him placing a necklace on her.

"I forbade you." Drisana stated.

"Yes. And I abided by your words. I didn't go searching for it. Instead it came searching me and said, 'Oh, Rajkumar Nakul! I'm only made for your Hridaya. Won't you take me with you?' And you know how soft-hearted I am. How could I ingnore the call of a beautiful object?" Nakul said with an innocent expression and took a kesar laddoo from the side table. He held it to her lips for taking a bite and then put the rest on his own mouth.

"Probably this beautiful object knew, you're going to receive a very pleasant news after coming back. So it followed you." Drisana said controlling her smile. Nakul looked confused. Drisana motioned him to look at a side. Looking at the pointed direction, a frown appeared in his face. He went near to the object of his frown and became more confused. Before he could turn to ask what's the meaning of this, Drisana whispered something in his ear from behind making him freeze in his place.

Nakul turned to Drisana slowly and asked with awaited breath,

"Really?"

Drisana nodded smiling softly with a blush adoring her face. A broad smile crept up on Nakul's face slowly and he took her in his embrace tightly.

The object of Nakul's confusion was a hanging cradle in which a little toy sword was placed. And what Drisana whispered in his ear was the most pleasant gift of their married life.

Earlier this week, Drisana suspected something amiss and called her handmaid, Lalima to examine her. Lalima who also had knowledge of healing, gave her this amazing news that she was pregnant.

Nakul cupped her cheek with one hand while his other one was still wrapped around her waist. He placed a long kiss on her forehead, savouring this feeling of euphoria. Drisana was going to be the mother of his child. He was going to be a father. They were going to be the parent of a little soft bundle, the symbol of their love.

"This feels ----. I don't even have the words to describe. We're going to be parents Hridaya!" Nakul said wondrously.

"I know. I feel you Nirmay." Drisana said chuckling. "I was speechless too when I first came to know."

"Does everyone know?" Nakul asked still embracing her tightly.

"No. I wanted you to know first." Drisana replied hiding her face in his chest. Nakul gave a light chuckle of pleasure.

"You know, I always wanted you to be the one to tell me this. And you made my dream come true. How do you always know the ways to make me feel like the luckiest man on earth?" Nakul asked in amusement.

"Because you're the luckiest man on earth. You have me!" Drisana said it with a straight face and rounded eyes making him chuckle again.

"Jiji? Panchal prasthan k liye sab tayyar hai? (Jiji? Is everything ready to leave for Panchal?)" Drisana asked coming inside Draupadi's chamber.

"Haa. Aab bas main yeh tyai kar rahi thi, ki Shikhandini Jiji Ko kya uphar mei du. (Yes. I am just deciding what to gift Shikhandini Jiji.)" Draupadi replied with a smile.

"Parantu maine to uphar samagri purb hi le liye the. (But I have already taken the gifts.)" Drisana said in confusion.

"Jo tumne liya hai, woh tumhari bhabhishree k liye hai. Indraprasth ke oor se Panchal aur Dravida ko vivha ki bhed. Kintu main Jiji ko kuch bises dena cahti hu. Ek behen ki taraf se uski Jiji ko.
(What you have taken is for your bhabhishree. Gift for the wedding from Indraprasth to Panchal and Dravida. But I want to give something special to Jiji. A gift from a sister to her sister.)" Draupadi said smiling softly remembering Shikhandini.

Shikhandini had been kind of a mother figure to Draupadi when she was in Panchal. When she had first heard about the alliance, she was hell shocked. Not only her, but everyone else was surprised too. That was rather unexpected.

Draupadi wasn't going to go anywhere while Arjun remained on exile. So, at first, she thought to send her regards with gifts. But then Drisana convinced her saying Arjun was allowed to take hospitality of other Kings during his exile period. If she didn't want the luxuries of Indraprasth, that's okay. But there was no reason, she should extract herself from her sister's wedding which was going to take place in another Kingdom. After contemplating on that, Draupadi relented. She also didn't want to leave her Jiji alone at such an auspicious event of her life. Who knew in which state of mind she was!

Draupadi sighed remembering the time when she mentioned Shikhandini's marriage in front of her father before her swayambar. She remembered how scornfully he laughed it off saying Shikhandini wasn't born for those things. Her purpose was different than Draupadi's.

Purpose.

Every child of Maharaj Drupad was born to serve a purpose of his.

Even through the hard exterior of Shikhandini's face, Draupadi had noticed the forlorn look in her eyes. She tried to talk to her about it later. But Shikhandini shut her down saying their father's decisions were only for the betterment of Panchal. And she agreed with whatever her father wanted for her.

"That's a very nice thought, Jiji. So? Have you decided what to gift her?" Drisana asked bringing her back from her musings.

"That's the problem. I can't decide what to gift her, what she will like." Draupadi replied in dejection.

"If you want, can I suggest something?" Drisana asked after thinking something. In reply, Draupadi nodded with an eager smile.

In Panchal:

"Bhukamp! Bhukamp!!! (Earthquake! Earthquake!!!)"

"Bhukamp nehi murkh, ashwa se gir gaye ho tum. Aur ashwa pe beith kar, usi ki bhati soo jaoge to giroge hi na! (It's not an earthquake, you idiot. You've fallen down from the horse. And if you sleep like a horse while riding one, of course you'll fall.)"

Daiwik lifted his head to see Dridhaksh and Devyajot glaring at him. Both were seated on their horses and Daiwik's horse was grazing nearby. They were behind from their troupe because of him only. Who knew coming behind slowly while enjoying the views of Panchal meant riding the horse slowly with closed eyes.

When his brothers were busy in glaring at him, Daiwik yawned loudly irritating them more. Devyajot threw a look at Dridhaksh.

Translation: 'What was the need to drag this idiot here?'

"Let me tell you. Bhrata Dridhaksh has this misconception in his head that, his wedding is going to be the first normal wedding in our dynasty to happen without any hitch. But when after so many tries even Drisana's wedding didn't happen normally, then how can his be? So, there's a bet going on between us. And he dragged me here to see his normal wedding." Daiwik replied Devyajot's unspoken question. Dridhaksh scowled at him.

"Waise bhrata Dridhaksh, yedhi aapko sach mei sadharan roop se hi vivha karna tha, toh aapne Panchal ko kyu cuna? Yeaha kuch sidha bhi hota hai?!
(By the way bhrata Dridhaksh, if you really wanted a normal wedding, why did you choose Panchal? Is anything normal here?!)" Daiwik asked looking mockingly confused. Dridhaksh frowned at him as Devyajot looked elsewhere suppressing his smirk.

"Priye Anuj, Aab tum aapne ashwa pe charoge, yeah main aapne ashwa se utru? (Dear little brother, now will you get up on your horse or should I get down from mine?)" Dridhaksh asked sweetly.

"Aap kyu kasth lenge bhrata! Main aata hu. (Why will you take trouble bhrata! Let me come.)" Daiwik said showing a toothy smile and taking the reins of his horse, uplifted himself on its back.

"Dekha bhrata Devyajot, aabhi se kitne utable ho rahe hai bhrata Dridhaksh, bhabhishree se milne ke liye. Yeh toh pouche huye nikle----ashwa par. (Have you seen bhrata Devyajot, how excited he is being to meet bhabhishree! He has reached heights [in cleverness]-----on his horse.)" Daiwik whispered at Devyajot. Devyajot covered his chuckle with a cough.

"What are you mumbling? If your antics has ended for now, let's move fast. The troupe must have reached the palace by now and we haven't even reached the city." Dridhaksh said glancing behind at them.

The troupe included their Pitashree, Maharaj Drishadvat, Maharani Mangalya, Rajkumari Priyala and little princess Prisha with their army and servants. Yuvraj Dwijendra was left to handle the kingdom in his father's absence. Rajkumar Dheemant remained to help him. And Rajkumar Dhritimat had gone to leave Dwijendra and Dheemant's sons to gurukul.

"Hum bhi pouchenge bhrata. Aap markdarshan to kijiye. (We will also reach bhrata. Please lead us.)" Daiwik said again. And this time Devyajot was unable to contain his laugh.

SURPRISE !!!!!!!!!!! 🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆

They were only waiting for Yudhisthir to pave the way....now one after one will keep coming....😂😂😂

Dravida troupe has already reached Panchal...now only wait for Indraprasth...and then...

💣💣💣

Hope you enjoyed it...

And if you did, Don't forget to............

Yeah that.