In the Wake of the War

Chapter-8

Vrushali stepped into her(and once Karna's as well, she thought with a pang) assigned chambers in the palace.

The first thing she was hit with was wrongness.

It was very silly, but after having grown accustomed to the widow's white, shades of ochre and on rare occasion fawn or sand coloured attire on most women, (and in case of them Royal ladies, copious amounts of gold as well), the vibrant, bright pink of Draupadi's sari and the sunny yellow of Subhadra's almost seemed wrong.

Even Mata Gandhari and Parashivi had been wearing dark, dull colours since the war and the servants' attire never had colour this rich. The vibrancy of the attire of these two Royal women spoke of their victory. Vrushali had to blink a few times to adjust.

"Greetings Didi." Draupadi said, getting up from the divan and folding her hands before her, bold as ever, to dare address her as such.

Beside her, Subhadra did the same, but merely said "Greetings," clearly thinking it wiser to test the waters first, however not addressing her as Angarani either.

"Greetings to you two as well. Now I heard you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, we did." Draupadi said. "We welcome you to our Palace and we hope to get to know you better."

"Indeed." Vrushali said. She sat down on the cushioned chair facing the divan and other two resumed their places.

"Shall I ask ask the servants to fetch some refreshments?" she asked.

"Certainly." Draupadi said with a practiced smile.

She did so and then turned back to the younger women.

"Well then. What does the Samrangi want from me?"

"Not the Samrangi, didi. Merely your sister in law."

"I am your sister in law, only if you accept my husband as your brother in law. And of all people, are you ready to do that Draupadi?"

"There's nothing to be ready about. It is what it is, and it must be accepted."

"I mean, you could always choose not to accept something. After all, that is what Queen Mother Kunti did."

Draupadi's eyes hardened for a moment before returning to normal. It was clear that she bore the woman great affection, despite her being the reason of Draupadi's division among five men.

"We know what she did was wrong. But please do not insult our Mother in law." Subhadra requested.

"It was not my intention to insult." Vrushali said. "I am merely stating the truth. And the truth is often unkind."

"Yes, it really is, isn't it." Draupadi said, staring hard at Vrushali, the meaning behind her words clear.

"If you mean to say that the truth about my husband being the eldest brother of your husbands is unkind, then I concur."

Subhadra spoke before Draupadi could say anything. "What would you have done if it had not been the case?"

"Well I would have hoped that the wives of the Kauravas would be allowed to visit us in Anga and we would have to convince Radha Ma and Adhirat Baba to come to Anga." Vrushali said.

"Oh, speaking of which, Vrishaketu is probably going to ask the Samrat if they might be allowed to stay in Hastinapur's Palace now. They've grown quite old, you see."

"Oh certainly, Arya will allow it." Draupadi said, narrowing her eyes. "I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that it may cause some tensions to rise."

"Well, we'll just have to do our very best to avoid it then, won't we?" Vrushali said pleasantly.

"I'm sure we can manage it," Subhadra said.

"Yes, clearly, that's why the war took place." Vrushali knew it was unkind, but for once, she couldn't help it.

Draupadi stood up. "Need I remind you why the war took place?" She asked, her eyes burning.

"Certainly not." Vrushali said. "Speaking of which, I believe I must apologise to you." She told Draupadi, standing up as well.

Draupadi blinked.

"For my husband's terrible, offensive, abusive words to you on that day. He regretted them later, but it does not make a difference. He never should have said them."

"That is correct." Draupadi said.

"As a woman, it made my blood boil, hearing what happened to you that day. As a wife, my head bowed in shame at my husband's part in it. As a mother, I worried what I would tell my sons when they were old enough to understand. I made sure to tell them what their father did was wrong, and so did Karna."

"I cannot forgive your husband." Draupadi said bluntly.

"And I will not ask you to forgive. It is not easy to forgive after all." Vrushali said with a small smile. She had been repeating those words quite often lately.

"Regardless, it was my responsibility to apologise."

Just then a maid walked in with a plate full of sweets. Vrushali and Draupadi both resumed their seats.

Once the maid left, Vrushali said "Now, you said we should get to know each other? How would you like to proceed with that?"

"How about we play a game?" Subhadra suggested, steering the topic far away from what it had been.

"I find a good game of Ashtapada to be very refreshing." Draupadi said, seemingly willing to drop the matter for now. "You don't mind strategy, do you?" she asked Vrushali.

"Certainly not." Vrushali replied.

I am not very happy with this chapter. This was the Hardest Chapter so far. But it is what it is.

Ashtapada is what the most ancient version of chess was. Eventually it became Chaturanga during the Gupta Period and then became Shatranj when it was adopted by the Persians around the 6th Century.

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