Dhruva Nakshathra - The Game of Alliance ✔

T H R E E

Sikva, the capital city of Kavish

Blazing strokes painted the sky as the sun dipped into the horizon. The tip of Mount Gaja, the mountain of Lord Ganesha, stood magnificently behind small mountains far away in the west. Raja Vaithiyar Agathiyan, the royal physician stood by the window of his room with his hands behind him—observing. His eyes roamed over the city of Sikva and landed at the busy market.

Crowd moved in and out of the merchant market, closest to his house, grabbing essentials before they were closed. Among the crowd Agathiyan spotted a lady in an old tattered saree roaming by the side of the market walls who seemed mumbling to herself and looking disorientated. His heart crushed. She must be one of those ladies waiting for her man to return, his eyes welled up remembering the faithful day in the history of Kavish.

His teary gaze shifted back to the sky arresting his thoughts from dwelling further into the day and what followed after the chaos. A pigeon coming from the west fell in his vision line. Agathiyan's squinting eyes widened at the sight of the bird. The pigeon fluttered through the opening and landed on the table by the window. His thick wrinkled hands reached for the pigeon's feet and untied the note it brought along.

'To Mount Gaja. See you there. Good luck', he read. The message he was asked to wait had arrived.

He glanced out the window. The sun, no longer visible but only its last rays feathered the sky welcoming the night. The royal physician hurried out of his house and to the palace durbar. The journey to mount Gaja would take at two weeks if they were to take the horse and he would only reach on time if they leave the next day.

Taking the ratha vimana was out of question, he shook his head trying to shake off the option. The flying chariot might shorten their route but the king had seized its use outside of Kavish.

Agathiyan rounded the corner into the palace's main entrance. He needed the king's permission and an official letter with the royal seal to pass through the border, and he had to hurry before it's too late.

From a few score feet away, the view of the durbar door being dragged to a close caught his vision. "Wait! Hold on!" His yell went inaudible to the guards. The raja Vaithiyar scampered through the long corridor, ignoring the greetings of the noblemen who were leaving the court. When he reached the door, the guards bowed low. "Greetings, raja Vaithiyar, but the durbar is over for the day," one of them said.

"I need an audience with the maharaja before he leaves for his evening puja. Let me in and I'll speak to the king," he ordered, and the guards opened the door for the old man.

Maharaja Bavaneswaran, on his way out of the courtroom through another entrance leading to the royal temple, stopped in his track when he heard the doors opened. The royal physician folded his hands together as he reached the king. He was sweating profusely from the run and a tad bit nervous for the permission he wished to seek.

Agathiyan had been practicing hundreds of times in his mind, yet he was nervous to speak to the king for the first time in his forty years of service as the Raja Vaithiyar of Kavish. He cracked his knuckles in the process.

"Raja Vaithiyar? Weren't you supposed to be in your house? What brought you here?" Maharaja Bavaneswaran dismissed his servants with a waft of his hand and reached for the panting Agathiyan with a cup of water he fetched from the nearby copper water vessel.

"Your Majesty, apologies for causing delay for your evening puja, but I would like to get your permission, maharaja." Agathiyan's voice shook a little. His face gave away his anxiousness, but he masked it with a smile and took the cup offered by the king.