She felt every woman's eye on her as she and Satyabhama fought, striking and parrying.

Satyabhama's voice was little more than a breathy whisper as she said, "Breathe, Lilavati. You must be aware of your opponent more than your surroundings, but be aware of both at the same time."

Lilavati took her instruction to heart as Satyabhama backed away, her sword glistening in the sunlight. She ignored the women watching her carefully and studied her lord's warrior wife.

She breathed heavily as she watched Satyabhama.

The third queen of Krishna was seemingly lax, her poise relaxed, if it were not for the slight frame of tension that seemed to hold her body stiff. Her lips were curled in a smile that had a small edge of a smirk, and Lilavati's eyes drifted to her neck.

She recentered herself.

This was not a struggle for life—in some way, yes—but Satyabhama had chosen her to demonstrate to the women of Dvaraka self-defence, and Lilavati had been chosen in particular because she had some... experience.

There had been a wry smile on Satyabhama's face as she had explained her reasoning.

Lilavati had had to hold in her giggle at that.

But now, she positioned herself, took a deep breath and moved towards Satraajiti.

Satyabhama did not move from her relaxed stance until the last second, until her sword flashed and parried Lilavati's attack. They began to fight again, but this time Lilavati was studying Satyabhama closer, looking for an opening, a weakness.

The two of them moved in a near dance, Satyabhama gracefully deflecting her moves and countering them with attacks of her own in the motion of a warrior who had many years of practice.

Eventually, Lilavati thought she found an opening, but frowned momentarily as she noticed Satyabhama's movements. It was as though Satyabhama had left her left flank unprotected as she fought, as though she was doing it on purpose.

Lilavati could see the satisfaction on the warrior queen's face as she processed all of this, and then she made a split second decision to attack her through that opening.

Her sword flashed in the sunlight again as the blade darted inwards, and it took some force for her to push Satyabhama's blade outward, and Satyabhama let her push it out of her hand, and it clattered to the ground.

There was a smattering of applause from the women.

Lilavati stood tall, breathing heavily for the exertion.

Satyabhama smiled, and said softly, "Congratulations, Lilavati."

Lilavati frowned, and then asked, "Jiji, why did you leave your left flank unprotected? You taught us that we must seek to protect every part of our body from injury if possible."

Satyabhama laughed, and spun on her heel to address the women and her alike.

"That is a wonderful question, Lilavati. I left my left flank unprotected because an enemy may seek to do that at times. By leaving one part of their body unprotected, they may seek to deceive you from any attack or move they may be planning. If you are hyper-focused on that one weakness, you may not notice the enemy's other moves until it is too late. Does anyone have a guess at what other moves the enemy might make when your focus is directed?"

There were calls of some answers from the crowd, and Satyabhama nodded and acknowledged the answers, while correcting some.

Lilavati asked again, "Jiji, why did you let me win?"

Satyabhama paused, and studied her carefully. She walked closer to Lilavati and answered.

"Sometimes an enemy may seek to let you win because they have something else in mind. Just because you disarm or incapacitate them does not mean that it is over. Most times, it is. But if you are fighting against someone who has backup, for example, they might let you win just for their backup to swoop in and incapacitate you, or capture you."

Lilavati nodded.

That made sense.

"Alright, my ladies! I believe we may call it a day for now! Go rest."

Satyabhama waved her hand and the ladies began to disperse.

She came closer to Lilavati and smiled, striking brown eyes that reminded her of the rich mud in farmer's fields glimmering. Satyabhama then came to murmur something, "Sometimes the opponent lets others win just to boost the morale of others watching. You did well today, Lilavati. I am happy with your skills, no matter how you acquired them."

Lilavati could not hold in her snort at that.

~

"Priyatama?"

Krishna was walking with her, as he had taken to doing with her in the evenings, whenever his schedule permitted it. Lilavati had begun to feel more comfortable calling him something more than lord, and she knew that it signified something growing in their still young relationship.

Her husband lifted his head to look at her but said nothing, and she knew from the look on his face that he had been thinking about the previous night.

She had woken up with a cry from a nightmare where her victims had been chasing her, seeking her death, and Krishna had been there, holding his hands out to her in solidarity, as she wept, trembling, and apologised over and over to her victims.

The ghosts of her past had still danced around the edges of her vision, but their presence was no longer filled with an angry bitterness but something else akin to pity and understanding.

Lilavati pursed her lips.

She did not like to speak of her nightmares, though she was willing to do anything for her lord.

His voice was soft with the palm trees rustling and waves rushing in the background. "I had a dream yesternight."

"Oh."

His lips curved downwards, if only a little, but she could see he was hiding a small smile at her mannerisms.

His smile then faded and he raised his head to look at their surroundings as they walked barefoot on the beach.

He had told her this was one of his favourite pastimes with his wives, as the presence of Prakriti was always soothing.

It meant something to Lilavati that he was doing the same with her.

"I will not speak of the dream itself, but you must know one thing, Lila: the balance of your karma must be righted soon. It may cause disarray to the scales of karma itself, if it continues."

There had been an otherworldly glow to his frame as he said the words, but then it faded just as quickly.

She frowned.

"Do you know what that means, Natha?"

"I... do not. It seems the knowledge has been hidden—perhaps of my own choice—from me for now. Though I may certainly guess."

"Kanha? Lila?"

Holding her saari in her grasp, Nagnajiti was making her way towards them, almost at a running pace, and the both of them turned to meet her.

"Satyaa? What is the matter, Praneshvari?"

Lilavati could see worry on Nagnajiti's face as she came closer to them. She said nothing in response to Krishna, instead approaching Lilavati.

She took Lilavati's hand in her own, and looked her carefully up and down, her eyebrows furrowed and eyes searching for something that wasn't there.

The worry on her golden countenance did not abate.

"Satyaa?"

Their husband's voice was laden with concern.

"It must have been a waking dream..." Nagnajiti muttered to herself, closing her eyes.

She remastered her expression, and set her lips to a kindly curve.

"It's nothing, Natha. Just a... flash of something."

Her eyes were still on Lilavati as she said that.

Lilavati could only wonder.

Krishna took Nagnajiti's hand, the concern on his face still apparent. She must have noticed his worry, and they spoke mind-to-mind, and then she leaned in to kiss his cheek, murmuring, "Don't worry, I'll be alright."

He gave her a nod and a smile, but Lilavati could tell he meant to ask her more about it later.

"Jiji, are you okay?"

When she finally spoke, Nagnajiti looked at her and dipped her head.

"It was something unpleasant, but something I don't even remember now. Don't you worry too. I'll see you around!"

Nagnajiti turned and waved at them.

Lilavati and Krishna shared a bewildered look.

~

The air was heavy with... something.

Lilavati could not place it.

She focused on her feet, breathing deeply.

There had been a lot of laughter at dinner today—which she had taken to attending after some coaxing from Nagnajiti—and she was still smiling. Her husband's usual antics were even more funnier today for her as she watched Rukmini Jiji chase him around the hall just for her rasgullas when he had stolen one from her hand just as she was about to eat it.

She clutched her head, feeling light-headed.

A hand closed over her mouth, and something pressed on her neck and everything faded to black.

A/N: For this-book purposes, please believe there's some sort of chemical/drug that can float in the air and knock people out without much lasting damage. There are chemicals that can knock out people, such as carbon monoxide or hydrogen sulphide, from a quick Google search, but if inhaled too much will be fatal. And they leave nasty side effects too.

So yup. :)

Oh, and I found this post on Tumblr and reblogged it with my own tags and I wanted all my readers to see it: