The half light was barely a few hours old yet the streets of Indraprastha harboured a bustling market. Merchants of all sorts of businesses hollered out prices with vigour hoping to impress enough patrons and bring in profits.

Leaning heavily on a wooden staff, an old man limped his way slowly through the path. His eyes gleaned over the goods. Utensils of copper, clay, silver, various beaded jewellery were laid out in rows. Some were selling their cattle and horses while some were pitching in on some games of luck. He steadily passed them all over to the farmers' side of the market.

"O grandpa! Will you only stare at the goods or even buy some?" A boy well into his teens yelled over the cacophony.

"What a well mannered boy you are, lad! If only you would sell your red sorrel as fresh as your attitude, then I would've bought some," grumbled the man as he tightened the heavy rags around his frame. "Terrible youths, terrible winters. Can't these old bones wish for a day of peaceful spring after a hundred and eight nights of winter?"

The boy immediately went red and his nostrils flared. Wrapping his arms in front of his chest, he turned away his nose high in the air. "Move along then, grandpa. You are holding up customers."

Hacking out a cough, the old man moved along grumbling more about terrible winters and terrible youths. Then he spotted what he had come looking for. It was just as he had heard.

Across the sacred fig tree, laid a lone narrow path that vanished between thick walls of shops. There were a few men selling their crops in front of it.

The old man stood and contemplated. Then he limped towards them. "Good lads, do any of you keep any good pointed gourds?"

"It is the end of winter, uncle," one man
answered.

"Do you sell pointed gourds?" The old man ignored the previous answer and asked the other seller.

Both of them looked confused. "Uncle, it is not the harvest season for pointed gourd. You won't get it anywhere," one of them replied.

"Oh you must look at my attire and think this old man mustn't have a coin on himself and refuse to sell me your vegetables. Discriminating against me! Terrible youths of today. I demand you sell me your pointed gourds!" The old man thunked his staff on the road for good measure.

His voiced words had drawn in a few more eyes and ears as nearby sellers and passersby all stopped to understand the situation.

"Respected elder, please understand that you will not find pointed gourds anywhere in this market or the next or any in the kingdom. The vegetable is still in it's stage of growing and hasn't been harvested," the seller folded his hands as he stood up.

The old man coughed once then cleared his throat. "Atleast one of you has some manners. Ah you must have heard wrong. I asked if you sell some bottle gourds."

"Gourds! Again gourds! Why must you want only gourds?!" The other man muttered under his breath. His fellow seller shot him a warning look before answering, "Again you have asked for something we don't have. The bottle gourd has not been harvested yet. Might we interest you in potatoes and pumpkins?"

"Pah!" The old man exclaimed. "My teeth are too brittle for potatoes and the pumpkin tastes horrendous. I must insist that you sell me something else."

"Brother why are we even entertaining this man? He seems rather out of his mind. Let's send him along his way or else our business will suffer," the polite seller's brother said grimacing at the poor start of their day.

"Who are you calling mad? Me? I will tell you that I am one of the mose learned scholars and warrior of my time. You terrible youth selling vegetables! You don't even know how to sell gourds! And you call me mad!" The old man was enraged as he raised his stick and moved forward to hit the seller.

But his attack was quickly thwarted. He was pushed back on the path by the seller's rude brother and fell down. People were now gathering around and mutters were soon heard against the violent behaviour of the youth.

"What are you all seeing? Don't you have anything to do? Go on your way or buy our vegetables, either way I don't care!" The angry man shouted at everyone.

"Enough of this," his elder brother said as he walked forward to help the old man. "Don't take out your temper unnecessarily on others."

"Uncle, are you alright?" He asked as he heaved the old man up, supporting almost half of his weight.

The old man coughed long and hard. "Terrible I am. This terrible winter and my terrible leg. One broken bone that never healed right and now I am an old mad limping man. Oh Deva! What more misery am I to see before you take me?" He lamented.

"Is your leg hurting always?" The elder brother asked after sometime once he had helped the old man sit down.

"Brother-" the younger one hissed.

"Ah yes. The rains and the chills of winter torment me as if my leg is breaking anew. Old injuries acting up are terrible, you see. On top of that, I caught a cold. Forgive this old man for burdening you," the old man said. He rubbed his leg to alleviate some of the pain as he observed the brothers closely. They seemed to be caught into a heavy internal argument.

"Ah, I must move along. I have troubled you both enough," he coughed roughly for good measure. His hand trembled as he hoisted himself up leaning heavily on his staff. "Here I thought I would be able to find some pain relieving gourds."

"Wait!" The elder man blocked his path. "Where did you hear about these pain relieving gourds?"

The younger man's eyes darted around them almost frantically.

"My nephew said so. He used to work in the infirmary you see. Good boy that one," the old man answered.

The elder one seemed to come to a decision then. "Look after the shop. I will be back soon." He told his brother and vanished into the back alley.

"Couldn't you learn to be like your elder brother more?" The old man poked his staff at the younger brother who kept glancing back. "He has such a pleasant demeanor."

The younger one glared at him but only muttered under his breath something about cunning old men and foolish kind hearted brothers.

After sometime, the elder one appeared with a small pouch in his hand. He handed them over to the old man and said, "This should help. Don't go seeking for gourds before spring sets in, Uncle. This will last till then."

"What a kind young man," the old man mumbled and untied his coin pouch.

"Ah, please uncle let it be. We don't have much so we don't sell to anyone. Consider it an apology for my brother's rudeness," The elder one said joining his hands.

The old man looked at them with bleary eyes and smiled drawing crow's feet near the corners of his eyes. "Kalyan ho." He coughed as he hobbled along taking his time to journey back the path he came from before he stopped near a shop selling red sorrel.

"Lad, are these fresh?" The old man asked.

The boy grinned. "You have come at the right time, grandpa. I have just the last lot for you. One bronze coin will suffice."

"Last one you say! Did anyone even buy any before me?" He asked taking a close look at the vegetables put on display.

"This is the hundred and eighth lot, grandpa. All others were sold out. Can you see any red sorrel left other than the one lot I am giving you?" The boy retorted cheekily handing over a thick bunch of red sorrel tied tightly together with some string.

The old man gave him the bronze coin and took his red sorrel. "Cheeky brats. Terrible, truly terrible," he grumbled as he limped ahead, one hand gripping the staff and the other wrapped around a small sapphire studded gold bracelet entwined around the red sorrel lot.

-------------ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-------------

Abhijishya folded the thin strip of parchment and let it float away into the sea.

"Good news?" Charu asked cautiously.

"Depends on how you look at it," she replied, looking towards the horizon where the heavens touched the azure ocean. The distant clamour and laughter of children presented her ears with a sweet background noise. It soothed her mind as she wrestled with her thoughts.

"Another piece of the puzzle has been unconvered, Charu," Abhijishya answered. "So far we know that someone in the palace is behind bringing in opium inside Indraprastha. Now we have people selling them or gifting it out of kindness. But most importantly, Ahim has been found."

Charu gasped. "That means he never left Indraprastha?"

Abhijishya turned towards her and nodded grimly. "It is a very sensitive situation." She could see the remaining questions in Charu's eyes. Protocol dictated she should report Ahim whereabouts immediately but she felt reluctant. It seemed too early in this game. Someone in the palace is influencial enough to keep Ahim's whereabouts hidden. Either Ahim is too important or still has use for their motives. Bringing in Ahim so quickly could be detrimental.

"Send word that for now they keep an eye on those brothers," Abhijishya said looking back at the sea.

Charu nodded, trusting her enough to never question her decisions.

The sky was dripping sweet warmth of the winter sun which kept them warm and toasty. The tandem of waves reaching for the beach in a continuous rhythm was threatening to lull Abhijishya into drowsiness when Charu softly announced Arjun's arrival.

Abhijishya turned around and folded her hands, greeting him appropriately. "Well, well, at last you finally got an interval to come see this humble one?"

Arjun laughed accepting her teasing good naturedly. "I could say the same for you. Why are you standing here while everyone else is busy taking part in various games?"

Abhijishya shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Today I wanted to be by the sea. As much as I love all the little ones, their indomitable energy is too much for me at times."

"That is true," Arjun said, turning towards the ocean. "Ah, I too see the allure of it. The unknown depths can draw anyone in."

Abhijishya glanced at the sky. "I don't know. The ocean is charismatic but it is the sky that fascinates me more. The oceans feel too finite in comparison."

He hummed neither agreeing nor disagreeing. They stood in companionable silence for some time enjoying the gentle breeze ruffling their clothes tenderly. Arjun then asked, "I have heard a few things about Indraprastha recently which have me concerned. There are rumours in the air that Magadh is somehow involved in infiltrating Indraprastha and setting our infirmary on fire."

He made his words sound like a question so Abhijishya chose a clear and crisp answer. "Evidence is still inconclusive. The main perpetrator remains unidentified. Ahim, Shreeman Jatasya's son is just an instrument. It is too early to tell really. If you are worried about war, then given the scenario it is almost like Magadh wants Indraprastha to be offended and initiate one."

"Alright," Arjun nodded which made Abhijishya wonder how he managed to control his urge to poke into the matter till he found out and understood everything. Or perhaps he didn't have the urge. Warriors were strange like that. Chain of command truly did teach one to curb their curiosity.

"Is this about Pushkar?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Ah well yes," Arjun smiled sheepishly. "We thought it would be good for us to visit Pushkar before my time to return comes. Although Nakul didn't say anything about joining us. Will you three be coming along? It would be nice."

"Not really. Given the circumstances, we should hasten our journey back to Indraprastha. It is not really about Ahim or Magadh related. It is more so because jiejie needs my help. As it is she has much on her plate," Abhijishya replied.

"Panchali does, doesn't she...," he trailed off, exhaling softly. All of a sudden Abhijishya felt like she was intruding on something that wasn't hers to see.

"I should be going now or else everyone will wonder where I vanished. Mata Devaki will be expecting me. Would you be joining me back?" She asked, moving back from the waves that were now slowly reaching out more to the land.

"Not yet. I think I will be by the ocean a little more," Arjun replied as the water washed over his feet. He seemed content to stand there letting the sand under his feet get drawn away by the waves.

As Abhijishya walked away, she called out, "Be careful, Bhrata Arjun. Don't get swept away by the high tide. You have yet to deliver stories from your adventures."

A smile tugged his lips and Arjun shouted back, "As if you all would let me drift away! Don't complain later that I talk a lot after I tell my stories atleast a hundred times."

Abhijishya laughed out in answer as she walked back to see what the rest of her family were upto.

A.N. - Really struggled to come up with this one for some reason. Anyways, Happy Diwali 🎇🪔 to everyone. I hope you all are blessed with happiness and prosperity.

Thank you for sticking with me despite my horrendous update schedule.

Vote and comment if you liked this chapter.

Until the next time,

Bye :')