LOVE: To Infinity And Beyond

The Perfume

As soon as she stepped into her chamber, as the first rays of dawn filtered into the corridor, the scent hit her. Her head whirled as she tried hard to remember where she had once caught a whiff of it. She ran into the main bed-chamber to find the kids in their respective places and Malini and Nitambini sitting on her bed. Malini quickly and silently ran to her and held her hand in dramatic delight. "Oh Sakhi, you won't believe this, but they didn't even stir for once! When did you make them so utterly well-mannered..", she whispered, as Nitambini giggled very softly. Krishnaa, however, wasn't listening to a single word Malini said. Her eyes were fixed on the tiny glass bottle peeking from behind Nitambini's fingers wrapped around it. 

The two Sakhis were soon aware of their Lady's fixed gaze on the small glass bottle in Nitambini's grip. Nitambini's eyes traced the line of Krishnaa fixed stare and was startled to find it ending at her hand. She opened her fisted palm, exposing the tiny perfume bottle within. Krishnaa arched a suspicious eyebrow and Nitambini extended her arm silently. Krishnaa slowly reached out to and picked up the small glass perfume bottle within. Her Sakha's words rang in her ears, "Be patient, don't rush things..... Follow your heart. Suspect what your heart asks you to suspect.." Blindly following her instincts, she turned the bottle upside down. At the base of it was that formidable symbol which she can never ever forget, not in one birth -- not in a hundred thousand births. That coiled snake... the same which she had seen on Kafeer's ankle-band. Ever-so-quickly, she even realized where she had caught a whiff of this perfume -- at two places -- that night at the palace garden, when they had spotted Nitambini with 'him' and .... in a different era, during a vicious duel. How had she not connected the dots before? Her eyes nearly dampened at the thought of someone cheating on her dear friend. She continued staring fixedly at the symbol. The very symbol that had ruined their perfect love story. The symbol that has now broken its silent promise of refraining from the path of evil; and was back to feed its wrong-perceived notion of revenge. The Naagas. Rekha. Uloopi! But, Rekha and Uloopi are undoubtedly not involved in all this mess. 

"Maai!", Kirti's voice broke Krishnaa's trance. She quickly turned to look at her son, his soft brown curls bouncing from the jerk of sitting up so suddenly. The other two kids were also stirring. Krishnaa slid the small bottle into the inner pocket inside her dhoti's waist rim, and went to the kids. 

"Hey kids!! Good morning my sweethearts!", she chimed, successfully suppressing any kind of expression of the shock wave still rippling through her. Malini and Nitambini were frozen at their places with shock - they had no clue what was wrong with the perfume, or with their Sakhi, for that matter. Krishnaa nudged the three kids out of their sleep, and began the proceedings of their daily routine. 

Krishnaa has finally found out a great way of resuming her own warcraft practice -- by teaching the kids. Thus, the first things the kids had to do after waking and freshening up in the morning, was to go to the practice-zone with their Maai. Krishnaa reached the practice zone with the three kids to find Abhi, Priu and, to her surprise, Subhadra already waiting their. In other situations Priu and Abhi would have run to her and hugged her, but the well-taught kids knew better than that. No hugging right before or during practice sessions in the morning. Krishnaa and Arjun always tried to make sure that the kids received the right ambience always, so that they won't face much problems once in Gurukul. Priu and Abhi were almost five, Kirti was just three and Pragati and Veer were just one-and-a-half years old; too small to even pick up a wooden sword. Thus, they used to just watch their Maai.

Subhadra had heard from the kids, while waking them up, that their Maai looked like the 'War Goddess' during the practice sessions. She wanted to laugh and ask the kids when their Maai did not look like a Goddess, but after catching a glimpse of the Mother Goddess at night, she couldn't control her excitement over catching a lucky glimpse of the War Goddess in the morning. Thus, she decided to accompany the kids to the practice zone, much to their surprise and delight. Krishnaa was still in the same attire as the previous night, but the first difference that Subhadra notice was on her face. Something was different. Her flawless face wasn't as soft as yesternight, there was a ferocious hardness to it; which made her look a bit detached and of course boosted the confidence factor on her face; but it wasn't cold or arrogant. The way she carried her lithe and perfectly fit posture was always an enticing blend of queen-like and warrior-like. Subhadra stood staring at her, yet again. Krishnaa greeted the three of them with a formal Pranipaat, and the kids quickly greeted back - they knew the code of behaviour very well. Subhadra greeted back too, but just a bit late; as Krishnaa mentally regretted not being able to greet a sweet good morning to the two kids.