I awoke the next morning to Yudhishthir shaking me awake.

"Sagarika, dear wake up. You can't be seen. " He whispered close to my ear.

"Five more minutes. "

"No more minutes my dear, run to the acloves. I'll come there soon. " He said, pressing a kiss to my temple.

I squinted my eyes open in the warm sunlight and saw him waking me up.

"Fine. I'm going. " I said, dragging myself off the bed. I quickly changed into another set of saree and came out to see him sitting on the desk.

"You'll become glued to it if you stay here all the time. " I said, massaging his forehead.

" I know... Go soon my love, I'll meet you soon. " He said, kissing the hand on his temple.

I sneaked out of the room, through the secret passage in the alleys which opened into the gardens.

I wasn't allowed to rest either. Yudhishthir told me that the day we were practising, he thought that there was something that moved behind us.

At first he assumed it was some animal or so, but after yesterday, he confirmed that there are people spying on us. I needed to find out who they are and if the two people after us are related or not.

I tried to recall every conversation I had, with whom, when, where, why.

Their were no answers but too many questions.

What does one do when that's the case?

We call upon the bhagwan.

So I sat, cross legged and closed my eyes.

" ऊँ भगवते वासुदेवाय नमः। " I repeated it, carefully calling upon our friend, our brother and our god.

" Sakhi, do you ever not call me? I was sleeping! " I heard a voice.

I opened my eyes to see a rather sleepy Narayan.

"Krishn. You've put me in this mess, you'll get me out of it. " I said, sitting by him.

" Sakhi, you must think carefully about all you've heard, even when you weren't a part of the conversation yourself. You'll find your answer. "

" But I did try. I did all of it. "

"Think again. I believe in you. I'll stay here until you find your answer. Don't worry. " He reassured me with a hand on my head.

Now as I closed my eyes, everything felt, a bit unusual.

My senses felt sharper, I could hear my own breathing, the chirping of a rather quiet bird, the hiss of a snake towards the end of the aclove.

" Keep your concentration sakhi, I'm right here. " He whispered and as he did, I saw him, in my mind's eye.

There he lay, in his Narayan avatar, regal and beautiful.

"This is the ocean of your mind sakhi. You must navigate it to find your goal. Your answers lie in your mind. Keep your focus on me. You must be focused. " He stressed out, in my mind, his voice reverberating as if it came through the depths of the ocean.

I could hear overlapping noises, conversations I've heard, statements I have made, people I've met.

There was one memory that stood out.

It was as I was a child, a one year old baby. I sat on the bed, while ma and baba were talking to someone.

I looked around to see another baby on the bed. A friend maybe?

I could distinctly hear noises near the door.

" Please hai Murari, take them! Take them away! " My ma cried.

" I can't mata, I can't take both. One needs to be here. But I can do one thing . " Krishn said, as he closed his eyes.

I heard a sound next to me and I looked around to see the child gone.

The scene shifted.

Devika's words to me from the other day struck me.

"They said that there are seven people in the world who look like you. Not all belong to the same time. "

I gasped for breath as I opened my eyes.

"You've got your answer haven't you?"

" I have. " I smiled, waiting for Yudhishthir to come.

" I'll take your leave now sakhi. The path ahead is hard, not only because you'll be fighting your own war, but also fighting for the good of Aryavart. I'm right here. I won't leave you in your time of need. " He said, standing up.

" Goodbye Keshav. I'll meet you soon."

"Not that soon I hope. I am a student in Rishi Sandipani's ashram... I can't keep coming whenever you call me. "
He smirked.

" Don't you dare use that excuse. You and I both know where you can go, when how and why. If I have a bad dream at night even then I'll call you. Rather if I burn my hand I'll call you. " I laughed.

" Well, that's all I've become now haven't I? Goodbye Sakhi, stay safe. " He said, vanishing in the cloud of blue smoke.

" Keshav was here? " I heard a voice and whipped my head around to see my husband with a plate of food, water and some more books.

" He was. I found the answers to the questions we seek. "

" That's great, tell me as we eat." He sat down and I saw he'd brought both of our food in one plate.

"Shall we? " I asked, raising a bite for him to eat.

He graciously had it, giving me one of my own. We fed each other the food, discussing the plan of action.

"Sources have told me that you were indeed right. AJ and Devika were attacked on their way back to Pragjyotishpur. Due to the guards we sent with them as spies, they came to no harm. They are both coming back and will reach the day after tomorrow."

" Why so? It can't take that long to return to Hastinapur."

" It doesn't, I have sent them on their own quest. I'll tell you that later. Before they could hold any of the attackers hostage, they dissapeared after dropping something which blew smoke when it was dropped. "

"A smoke bomb? "

"Maybe. Why are you so worried? "

"If they have smoke bombs... Then they're either dealing with someone from the future or they are from there. " I answered, looking up at him. I wasn't worried, but it was a matter of care to know who your enemy is.

" I also did some work to see if the attacker left any clues in our room, the day he upturned it. "

" Did you find anything worthwhile? "

"Just the fact that he broke and ripped all that you possesed, except for a painting-"

"Photo, because I don't carry paintings around with me. "

"Right, a photo. The attacker broke it all except for that one photo. It had you and a small child in it. "

" Oh yeah! That was my friend. I remember that day-" My heart took a standstill.

A photo of a baby and me? The one from the dream?

"Sagarika? What's wrong? What about the baby in the photo? "

"You know I went into meditation right? So when I was looking into it, I heard a scene, where Krishn was talking to my parents and they pleaded him to take 'them' away, which I'm assuming was us. Then he said, that he couldn't take both, but only one. The baby next to me vanished that very instant. "

"So, you are saying, that the one who spied on us and the one who raided our room, is a baby from your childhood? "

"Yes, but who and how is not what I know. "

He pulled me into a hug and I sat there, running the gears of my brain.

"Don't worry, we found as much, we'll figure the rest of it out too. "

"You seem very sure of that. " I said, looking up at him.

"I am, I know we will because we're here together. We'll solve this. "

"And you were about to send me away. " I said, squinting my eyes at him. He laughed, a true one, for when he does he has two little smile lines running right through the corner of his eyes.

" One of the greatest mistakes I could ever have made. Ah what would I do without you my wife? "

"For one you wouldn't be getting this." I said, raising my head to give him a kiss, one of reassurance. There was now a familiarity in it, one that said, yeah I know you. One that was about new beginnings and challenges, but the faith that I wouldn't leave him and he me.

" I have something else to tell you. "

"What? " I asked, breaking away to put my head on his chest. He held my hand and put it next to my head, holding on to it.

" I was looking through who and when enters our rooms, why and how and I found that the only person who came in was your personal attendant Latika. What do you think of -"

"Yudhishthir. Yudhishthir stop. I don't have a personal attendant. " I interrupted, dread settling in my mind.

He looked down at me in alarm.

"You don't? "

"I never have, I was so busy that I never had the chance to appoint one, even though I didn't want one but mata insisited. In fact, it's what I was supposed to do today, but Sagarika is not exactly, in Hastinapur. "

" This just became a whole different game now. " I heard my husband say, his usual calm demeanor did not betray him, but the worry in his eyes broke free.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

So... Who's the baby? Whose is the baby?

Why is the baby connected to Saag and who's posing as the maid....

Tell me how it was in the comments and do vote please.

Much love

Radhekrishn ♥