Karna: the lost prince

Family

"What are you saying ,Putra? How did you come to such conclusion?" Said Drithrastra panicking.

"Tell...me...It is the truth,right? you always speak truth ,let me know if what I heard is true or not?" Asked Duryodhana.

"Yes....he is our jyestha." Said yudhisthira.
Duryodhana's face went blank and he his grip loosened from yudhisthira's shoulder,he let his hands fall to his sides,an expression of pain came to his face and he asked emotionally hurt,
"Why didn't you all tell me anything about this,why?....I thought our relationship was getting better ,but turns out you all still don't trust me."

"No, it is not like that Bharata Duryodhana,we were just waiting for the right time to tell everyone." Said Bheem.

"And when this right time was going to come, or were you worried that since he is older than all of us,I will try to hurt him, for the sake of throne, because let me tell you it would never happen.if I had not listened Mitra Vasu and mata Kunti's conversation today ,I would have not known .how long..how long have you all known about him." Said Duryodhana.

"Not long...we came to know about him right after the Lakshagraha incident and we have been searching for him ever since , we come to know that Mitra Vasu is our jyestha ,only few days ago, during the Asura attacks."said Arjun.

"How...how did you find out that he is your brother,my Anuj had another son,how did no one knows about him?" Asked Drithrastra.

"Pandu's bow and arrow that he picked up , could only be picked up by his eldest son, not even any of the pandavas could pick it up." Said Bhisma.

"So,you also know about this and I seems Mahamantri Vidur too. Who else...why kauravas were the only one's not trusted."demanded Duryodhana.

"It was me ,I asked them not to tell anyone, they wanted to announce to everyone ,the moment they came to know about me.....
I am sorry ,Prince Duryodhana for keeping this as a secret from you but it was not because I don't trust , there are some other reasons....I am sorry." Said Vasu ,who had arrived for his day job and listened to everything.

Duryodhana turned around and saw his friend standing their ,his eyes looking really apologetic.
He went towards Vasu and said,
"Tell me ,tell me everything."

So the whole family came to know about Vasu,Kunti, Pandu and Pandavas whole truth.

All looked shell shocked after learning the whole truth.

"Kunti ,how could you do such a thing?" Said Gandhari.

"I always, thought of you so highly, you were hiding such a secret from all of us." Said Drithrastra to Kunti.

"Please let's not blame anyone,and I am the one most hurt in all this and  I don't want anyone disrespecting Mata Kunti, the past should remain in past and let us believe that whatever happened was Destiny and move on. "Said karna requesting everyone to not belittle Kunti because he did not wanted his mother to be disrespected in any way.

"Mitra.... jyestha Vasu is right , let us be a happy family, Pitashree." Said Duryodhana.

"Agreed and we are sorry for misunderstanding you all those time that  we did, I promise you anything like this, would never happen again. " Said yudhisthira looking towards Duryodhana.

"Let me hug you, jyestha." Said Duryodhana and hugged Vasu.

"I don't think we should disclose jyestha identity right now......with danger in the form of kakasura looming over us,if he finds out that we have an elder brother,it would put vasu's life in danger and even though he is brave and wise ,he never had any proper training in weapons and warfare, we need to make sure his is safe...until kakasura is taken care of." Suggested Duryodhana.

"I think Putra Duryodhana is right ,we should do as he suggested ,let everything go as it had been going on so far." Said Bhishma praising Duryodhana,he was astonished with Duryodhana's conduct today.

Everyone agreed and though Vasu had more then enough knowledge and power to fight kakasura ,he remained silent ,he was not ready for his truth of being Aditya or his real identity as kauntey to come out ,not yet atleast.

-

Days passed the brothers loved each other even more ,all pampered Vasu kauravas and Pandavas alike ,even though he was the oldest and asked his brothers to not to make any special efforts for his sake.

Vrushali also accepted the respect she was given but she still felt awkward about it.
She and Vasu continued to gather information about kakasura but we're not able to found anything useful till now.
The brothers dispatched soldiers to gaurds the borders and were training many more to be able to defend Hastinapur.
Yudhisthira and Duryodhana as Yuvrajs had many meetings with their Allied kingdom representatives to prepare them for upcoming events.

In free time the princes would hone their skills with weapons and even taught Vasu ,how to fight and use a weapon not knowing that Vasu already knew all that and could even teach them.

Kunti was very happy ,not only did she got her eldest back but on Vasu's request/ order all her other sons were also behaving nicely with her ,almost like the old times before she told them the truth, since Vasu had forgiven her , they had too.

Sometimes Vasu would disappear for hours and his brothers got worried so they would go and ask Vrushali where he had gone , she would have to make up an excuse because she knew that he had gone to protect people as Aditya but could not tell the princes.

-

Kunti felt like she had found new energy in herself today, she was practically flying , she had wake up very early today and went to the kitchen, despite maids tryimg to not let her do anything ,she ordered them to only help and she prepared the breakfast herself today ,she also made kheer as today was a special occasion.

Today was karna's birthday,first time he would be celebrating with his family,with her.
She wanted to make food and feed it to him with her own hands today and wish him long and happy life.
He never once had food with the family,and she wanted to change that today.