ARYAVARTA

chapter 11

It's how I had imagined, the greatest nation in Aryavarta welcomed their new queen.
Flowers were showered on me , crowds chanted my name like a mantra, yet I felt bitterness. I had always imagined this day, but today I feel like I don't belong here or not with my husband. It still feels strange to call him as  husband when her heart belonged to someone else.but I will try to love him or maybe I am in love with him. I don't know but it's him who saved her even after knowing everything he accepted me . Now it's my duty to be with him , support him in his every decision not only as his wife but also as his queen Kunti .

The chariot entered the royal palace. Every one stood at the entrance to welcome their new queen.satyavati welcomed her after the rituals and the rest accompanied the new queen and the king to the palace.

She met all the women of kuruvansh. Satyavati blessed her and then told her about her duties and its importance expected from the lady who ruled Hastinapur for almost 2 decades. Ambalika blessed her and requested her to be with her son at each step of his life. Then she met Ambika and Amba. Amba was like she had imagined, she had dark eyes which reminded her of Veer .Atlast she met the princess of gandhar,the one who blinded herself to understand the suffering of her husband,her oath and fate of gandhar had spread to entire Aryavarta.
Then she met bhishm the patriarch of kuruvansh , Dhritarashtra and Vidhur

Pandu entered his chamber. He had achieved his desire to marry kunti. Today is a day that marked the fruitfulness of all his deciet and effort.
Soon he felt he stepped into something liquid on the floor. He looked down and soon stepped aside.
He saw a pool of blood on the floor.He called for the servants
"You,how did this happen why there is blood on my chambers" asked pandu pointing his fingers to the floor
"Maharaj there is nothing" replied the servant
Pandu fumed with anger on the audacity of the servant to lie, but when he looked to the spot he saw no blood. Pandu was shocked he didn't said anything to the servant and dismissed the servant with an action. He stared to the spot to check whether there is any blood or was it his illusion

Kunti was lost, she doesn't know at which section of the palace currently she was. She heard a giggle and went to the direction.she found a child probably six or seven months old playing with his toys.she knew who the child was, the moment she entered hastinapur she had heard about the adoptive son of gandhari.she moved towards him but stopped sensing the presence of someone else, it was Amba
" Kunti, what are you doing here have you come to meet karn" asked Amba
" I lost my way mata, but what are you doing here, I thought you had gone with mata ambika and jiji to the temple" replied kunti
" No,I thought why don't spend some time with karn.I had been very busy lately and hadn't spend some time with him"
" I think he loves to spend time with you"
" Yeah,but if gandhari is present he won't leave her"
Kunti bent down to meet the gaze of karn the moment she saw her she was reminded of the child she lost,he too be the same age of karn .she moved her hands to embrace him, but at that moment he crawled away from her. Kunti saw gandhari at the doorway  picking up karn. After addressing gandhari she left to her chambers with the thought of how her firstborn be like if he had been alive

Pandu,bhishm,satyavati,vidhur and dhitrarashtra were discussing how to face the new threat. Shalya king of madra kingdom, has cut the ties with hastinapur leading to a huge dip in necessary supplies that had been imported from Madra
" Shalya says that the price we pay for the goods are not enough, he demands more and we can't afford it.
He knows we are not even at a stage to wage war on them after our exploits in gandhar"said vidhur
" What should we do now,devrath do you have any idea"asked satyavati
" We should sent someone to madra for discussion,I suggest it would be better if Maharaj himself goes there so that shalya could understand the seriousness of this situation" replied dhitrarashtra
Though others didn't like the suggestion they understood what it meant,if pandu reject to go then he would be pictured as a king incapable to even do a treaty and if pandu himself goes it would mean that hastinapur has consider this threat with great importance.
" I agree with jyesht I will go to madra soon tAtashree sent a message today itself informing shalya of our arrival" said pandu.He left the chambers without even looking at others to inform kunti of his journey

The day has arrived when pandu leave to madra. After seeking the blessings of elders and saying house goodbye pandu begin his journey
But before stepping into his chariot pandu freezed seeing his horse.It was a white beautiful horse whose furs were covered with blood. Pandu closed his eyes and shook his head.he opened his eyes and saw the horse but it's fur were covered with blood.After sensing the gazes of others on him pandu stepped on his chariot and begin his journey