An interlude to Sunset

The Part where the Eldest is tested - Yudhistira

This is a Mahabharata Fanfiction mostly based on facts we see in Star Mahabharat. The Mahabharat in its entirety holds a lot of facts and is a complicated and marvelous creation, but this is just a fanfiction. There are several facts which were not included/ not correct in Star Mahabharat but I am specifically basing my fanfiction on the serial with some changes. So there will be several anomalies. This story is just meant as an entertainment and there is no intention to hurt anyone's feelings, religious or otherwise. I have just borrowed the characters to weave a storyline.

As always it may take some time to come up with the next chapter due to health reasons and work pressure. Kindly bear with me as I really intend to take this story to a conclusion.

Thank you all for the kind comments and I will always welcome comments and suggestions. I am feeling quite overwhelmed. You all are truly great readers and encouragers.  

Thank you and regards. Take care everyone. 

11. Yudhistira

"These are not the roots Prince Nakul asked for, did he? He clearly asked for Ashvagandha, but I do even know what you have brought!"

"Begging your pardon, S-Samrat. Kindly forgive us, we will get the correct herb right away. B-Begging your pardon."

It was only when Yudhistira realized that the attendant who standing before him was shaking and stammering that he realized that he had been yelling at the poor man for no real fault of his; it was so unlike him to behave akin this way and far from his Dharma. Instant remorse filled his heart and Samrat Yudhistira shook his head.

"I did not mean to be so harsh about all this.. Kindly get the correct root at an earliest as time is of great essence. My sincere gratitude to all of you." 

The attendant looked as if he would have preferred the verbal blasting to this unusual humility from a Chakravarti Samrat and he exited the room most swiftly after offering the required salutations.

"You should rest for a while, Jyestha..." Nakul's soft voice permeated through the haze Yudhistira has been lost into. He looked over at his anuj and shook his head.

"Not before Sahadeva and Bheem gets here."

It had been just moments back that a soldier, monitoring the palace expanse from the roof top, had brought in the news that Yuvraj Bheemsen and Prince Sahadeva had been sighted entering the Hastinapur doors. All of them had been expecting Sahadeva but not Bheem. Yudhistira was not sure why his brother had left Indraprasth defenceless and refused to come to any conclusion before speaking to him.

There was now a restless eagerness and anticipation in the air around and the surroundings. But there was not a speck of happiness or even hope. Yudhistira had never seen Nakul look as disheartened as he now did. In the earliest hours following dawn, just after he had convinced Pitamah and Gurudev to leave for a while and to freshen up a little, there was a moment when Arjun had started seizing severely and little by little his breaths had grown shallower, till a time when they had stopped completely. Arjun's heart had stopped breathing; there was a moment when his brother was technically dead. 

Lord Indra's son, the third Pandava and Krishna's friend, dead.

Then Arjun had breathed again, and it had taken Yudhistira great restraint not to just drop down on the ground and shed tears of grief and relief. He had instead caught Nakul in an embrace and had held his sobbing brother, accepting and shielding all his tears. Nakul has been so exhausted by then that he had nodded off in his Jyesth's embrace and Yudhistira had gently moved him over to the bed and bade him to lie down beside Arjun for a bit. Nakul had only managed to sleep for less than half a prahar before Arjun had had another attack and since then it had been often, but never as severe as the first time.