There are two primary choices in life : to accept conditions as they exist or accept responsibility for changing them - Devakinandana Vāsudeva Krishna.
"You know what is right and what is wrong, husband," She said softly, looking into his dark eyes...
Radheya glanced at the child, his former arch nemesis Arjuna's son, sprawled on the ground bleeding from various places. His beloved wife's words, spoken when he broke down in front of her after he found out his birth truth, played ceaselessly in his mind.
Her voice had been firm and unyielding that day. She had given him the strength he had needed to make the decision to stay with Duryodhana till the end. But...this?
He gulped, wondering if he could watch his nephew's death, so near to his eyes. Should he interfere? But hasn't this boy killed his beloved Laxmana?
'Whatever actions you take, remember you would be liable for it,' Radheya thought, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips.
Closing his eyes, he made a decision.
He just hoped his darling wife would support him in this, otherwise, he had no idea how he would deal with the mess he was about to create.
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"Satya!" He called the moment he entered his tent, giving specific instructions to his trusted soldiers outside to not allow anyone in for at least an hour, "I think I created a problem!"
"When do you not?" asked an amused voice as a gorgeous female came to stand in front of him, "What have you done now, Vrisha?"
"I abducted two children," Karna said sheepishly and watched as his wife's eyes widen.
"What?" said Ira, surprised voice turning into fury, "How could-"
"One was about to be killed while the other was almost dead!" defended Karna, as he stood aside to show her. A startled gasp escaped her lips, as a calloused feminine hand touched her heart, "Mahadeva! Who is he? And...Isn't that Laxmana? Our Laxmana?"
"Can you heal them?" He asked, ignoring all other questions, "So they could live?"
Ira glanced at him, before nodding resolutely, "I can. Wait here, Vrisha!"
Karna tapped his feet continuously as he paced the small area inside his tent, his anxious gaze not leaving the two boys.
Ira arrived from further inside the tent, a bowl cradled in her palms carefully.
"What salve is that, Satya?" asked Karna, eyes watching as she gently kept it on a table.
"Sanjeevani," she informed as she gestured him forward, "Help me remove these armour of theirs."
Karna and Ira worked diligently over the hour. Gently removing the armours of the boys, he continued to clean each wounds as she continued to rub the salve carefully. He was forced to keep either of them in one place, as they moved too much due to immense pain, while she continued the work. Though once the salve started being applied, it worked immediately.
As he watched the wounds slowly healing without leaving a single scar, he smiled.
Ira huffed as she got up, "Done. Two more times and the much deeper wounds would also disappear."
As she turn around, her eyes widened. She asked at once, "Who are you, putri?"
Karna glanced towards where she looked. His dark hazel orbs met similar chocolates, as the owner, merely a child in her late teens, adorned in all signs of a married woman (though without any jewels of a traditional royalty), stood there with a tear-streaked face.
He shared a glace with his wife when she did not respond to Ira's question.
Ira handed the bowl over to Karna, going forward cautiously to plant one of her hand's on the shoulder of the child, "Putri?"
"Please, please, don't kill him, I beg you!" The girl sobbed out at once as her eyes stayed glued to the boy, mere five years older to her, whom Ira had treated just a few moments back.
She sighed, putting another arm around her, bringing her into a comforting maternal hug.
"Calm down, putri," Ira said, "He is alive, your husband is not dead. He will live."
"Alive?" The girl said in wonder, eyes finally flickering towards Ira's calm orbs, "He is alive?"
"Yes," Ira assured her with a soft smile, eyes reflecting understanding and an unknown pain, "Come! You can stay with him."
"I can stay with him?" repeated the girl dazed.
She slowly walked towards the cot where a handsome youth lay. She was about to fall on her knees, beside him, when Ira gently steered her towards a bamboo chair. She sank onto it without flinching, as she slowly extended her hand towards motionless hands of the youth. She grasped them tightly, tears escaping her eyes. As sobs racked her body, she bend to touch her forehead to his hands, trying to muffle her sobs and relief at her husband's continuous rhythmic heartbeats.
