Malvika sighed and smiled. “I love what I am into, father. Weaponry is my passion. Warfare is the mantra of my life. I can’t sit in front of the mirror doing my hair all day or pamper myself with precious stones and jewels!”

“I see. I understand.” Kaivalya was having a hard time keeping himself from chuckling.

“Yes! What else… my ears pain when mother attaches pendulous earrings to them. And the necklaces, don’t even go there. They are a real nightmare. They don’t let me breath!”

Malvika’s rate of breathing was fast and shallow when her father’s merry laughter reached her ears. She frowned at him but soon joined him, chuckling along.

“Malvika, remember, you chose water and not the mirror,” Kaivalya said, “and that is what makes you exceptionally beautiful, dear.”

The princess did not understand yet decided to stay silent. Her ears yearned to hear more from her father. She had surrendered herself completely and was ready to imbibe anything and everything that Kaivalya had to preach.

The king continued, "When you look at the waters, you see yourself in nascent form, in raw or the purest form. You don't make yourself up or embellish yourself with silks or jewels before peeping into it, do you?"

Malvika nodded her head from side to side.

"And when does someone look at a mirror? It is to check whether all the faculties that make up this body have been aptly beautified or not."

Malvika was progressively getting fascinated by what was hitting her tympanum.

"A mirror shows who you are, but water shows what you are. It accepts the originality in you without gaslighting you about the looks."

Malvika was Arjuna and Kaivalya, her Krishna.

"When you glance over the water, you look at its depth. You become one with the exuberent life it hosts, with the energy it radiates, with its innate nature. You become the water, my child."

"Hence I advice you to appreciate and assimilate the qualities of water, Malvika, as you are not very different from it."

The princess now looked at the reservoir with discrete eyes and emotions. She stroked the glassy surface and felt it in delight. She felt close to it, closer than anything else.

"I have chosen water over mirror. This is my life and I am up for it," Malvika uttered with a sense of pride. She was happy to be herself, at last.

All her questions had been answered, all her distress got vanished. The knots in her mind had been opened up in the best way possible.

"I shall serve this land and its people till my last breath. And lastly, I will keep my practice on, you know, to stand out always." Malvika smirked.

"And that is what makes you exceptionally beautiful, dear!"

~♡~

The End.