Satataharitam - Short Stories On Narayana

Parthachyuta

A/N: I've taken some creative liberty here, regarding timelines and allll-

Idk. Something I've done 😭

Enjoy

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"What do we tell them, sir?"

"Tell them that their Partha wants to meet them."

×××

I saw Dau walk up to me in all his glory even this late at night, beaming as soon as I was in his sight. "I barely recognise you!" he laughed, before hugging me in an instant.

"The irony, Dau!" I hugged him back. "I'm sure this voice seems familiar."

"Very familiar, Jishnu!" Dau pulled away and looked at my face, before glancing up and down at me. "Wow, you look nothing like the Jishnu I know."

"It is me!" I cried in protest.

"I know, I know!" He rolled his eyes. "It's all because of this massive beard!"

"And my messed up hairstyle-"

"Agreed." He seemed to have said that just for the sake of it. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the palace. "Took you long enough to consider gracing our house with your presence."

"Do away with the fancy sentences, please!" I pleaded. "Where's Madhava?"

Dau turned slightly grimmer, and shrugged. "Must be sleeping by now."

I raised my brows. "This is evening in his schedule. He doesn't sleep this early!"

He raised his brows incredulously, his expression asking me if I thought he didn't already know that.

"But-"

"Wait, you do know what happened, don't you?"

I pursed my lips and looked down for a moment as we strolled down the corridor that led to a guest room. "I do. I'm not sure of the details, but I do vaguely know."

He quietened, seemingly preparing himself to tell me all about it. All I knew was that Madhava's son was missing.

We walked into my room, and he closed the door and locked it. "We try not to bring this topic up, usually." he said. "But yeah. Pradyumna," A fond smile adorned his face albeit with a hint of sheer pain in his eyes. "Rukmini and Kanha's son, got kidnapped by an Asura. Was just about ten days old."

Evidently, he was barely holding back his tears. It was obvious that he loved the boy, but it was also obvious that he couldn't see Rukmini and Madhava in such grief.

I held his hand before he continued. "The painter started making a painting of the boy," he began, ponting to the artwork, smiling sadly. "It's incomplete even after months. We don't know when it'll be complete. We don't know if it'll ever be complete-"

I narrowed my eyes in disbelief. "Of course it will! What are you even saying?"

"I keep telling Kanha it'll be okay," Dau pulled away the hand I was holding and gathered himself. "But I wonder if my belief in that statement will ever be enough to convince him that I'm not lying."