Karna: the lost prince

First Meeting

Vasusen had collected his name tag from the office , proof that he was a servent in the palace now,thus given free access in and out.
He was searching for dushashan's chamber to report for duty but seemed to have lost his way and wanted to ask for direction but no one was around ,he heard footsteps and someone laughing, turning around ,he saw Pandavas in front of him.

Seeing Vasu in front of them, all five stopped and curiously stared at him ,
Yudhisthira looked at him with neutral expression, Bheem was ready to draw weapon along with Nakul, sahadev was curious and Arjun looked intrigued.

"Pranipat Pandava rajkumaron , I am Vasusen, I am mahahim's charioteer adhiratha's son. It is my good luck to meet you."said vasu immediately not wanting to let them think that he was a threat.
Pandavas relaxed.

"Mahodaya , you have given us your introduction but not the reason of your presence in the palace and why are you covered like this?"Asked youdhisthira.

"Yes,do tell ,I was about to attack you thinking you were an Assassin." Said Bheem.

"Assassin....... ha-ha ,you really think an Assassin will come in Broad daylight and like this, where everyone could see him? "teased Vasusen.

"Mahodaya Vasusen is right , Bharata bheem, think before using force ,you like fighting and showing off your strength way too much." Laughed Arjun.

"So, I show off my power, ok ,then let me show you, what my real power is." Said bheem.

"It is not eating enormous amounts of ladoo in one sitting , right Bhrata bheem."said Nakul with a mischevious glint in his eyes.

Bheem tried to grab both Arjun and Nakul ,who started to run around to save themselves from Bheem. Finally, bheem got hold of the ears of his younger brothers and they started to apologise.
Sahadeva was trying to help Arjun and Nakul without getting hurt himself ,while yudhisthira was looking at his brothers ,somewhat embarrassed and thinking how to stop them without giving direct order.

All of them stopped ,when a laugh resonated through whole corridor, they looked towards Vasusen laughing and unknowingly they all smiled ,a feeling of content and happiness evolving in their hearts.

Vasu stopped laughing and saw the princes looking at him all smiling,he felt his ears getting hot and cheeks red ,he immediately started to apologise but was stopped by yudhisthira ,who asked him to answer their previous questions.

So ,Vasu told them why he was covered with dark clothes and what he was doing in the palace and how he got lost.he also showed them his identity tag.

They all nodded and felt sad for Vasu, not only because of his condition but also because he will have to serve dushshashan,they knew dushshashan was an arrogant and spoiled prince ,he never treated lower class people humanely.

Yudhisthira told Vasu to come to him ,if he needed anything.
"Come, I will lead you to Bharata Duryodhana' s chambers ,mostly dushshashan hangs out with his brother ,you will be able to find him there" Said Sahadev.

Vasu took his leave , following sahadeva.

After showing Vasu the way to Duryodhana's chambers.
Sahadeva told Vasu to be at ease with him and treat him as a friend. Vasu thanked and went inside. After one longing glance towards Vasusen,
Sahadeva returned to his brothers.
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Dushshashan frowned ,his so called pitamah had sent him a servent,that to someone who had to hide his face because of deformities, what was Mahamahim even thinking sending someone like that to him, may be he is suffering from an infectious disease,what if he gets that disease, no,that would not be the reason, Bhishma will not put all the people in palace in danger,just to make him ill,that would be stupid.
May be this Vasusen is a spy of Bhishma,yes that must be the reason.
Whatever the reason was , dushshashan decided that he hated his new servent and would treat him so badly that he would resign from this job by himself.
He smirked in an evil way.

-

Vasusen was trying his best to find out about Sakuni's evil plan ,while working for dushshashan,it was clear that dushashan hated him, not because he had done something wrong ,no.... Just because he existed.
Dushshashan would ask him to do random and weird tasks ,sometimes meaningless and impossible tasks like fetching him drinking water from the river ,asking him to polish all his shoes at once, making him stand as a target for his shooting practice, asking him to drive his chariot very fast or very slow,etc. ( which he did with ease, and dushshashan was angered even more)
He would punish Vasu by not allowing him to have food for the day or even having him do manual labour like carrying boulders from one place the another place,he would mock and insult vasu.
Sometimes Vasu wanted to punch the arrogant prince in the face....but it was also truth that all this harsh treatment was nothing new to Vasu ,in his childhood he had been through situations worst than this,he had been mocked , insulted, hurt not only by other people but by his own family too.
He has learnt not to let these things hurt him anymore and focus on the bigger picture.
He knew his aim is to protect humanity and he will do just that not for fame or wealth but because it is the right things to do.
He also have his Gurudev, maiyaa and Vrushali ,who loves,care and values him so much that he feels contented and happy.

Everyday Vasu would do his job from morning to evening , keeping an eye on sakuni and Duryodhana as well ,he would also have small talks with Pandavas , whenever he believed both sides enjoyed. He liked Pandavas down to earth nature.
In the evening, he would go to his brother's shop and repair chariot there.
He would eat at the palace kitchen along with other servents and slept either at the stables or at his cave hideout.
At night ,he would sometimes go do his work as Aditya,according to the information acquired by shanidev's celestial crow, it was easier to travel between places without being absent for a long time because of the mantra given to him by lord Yama.
Aditya was an invincible warrior .
But Vasusen was just an illiterate servent without  any weapon knowledge,whose only duty was to do as ordered by his master,so he behaved accordingly both the times... not to put any suspicion upon himself.
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