Dhruva Nakshathra - The Game of Alliance ✔

FORTY - SIX

Mahina, capital city of Durja

Mahina was a city no one has ever spoke about in Sikva. No one has ever been to Mahina nor talked about, even if they did, it was about the cruelty the kingdom had done to the people of Kavish. Despite all the gruesome image given on people of Mahina, Ramani found them to be just fine, minding their own business, not bothered about anyone neither the new nor their own people. She watched as a middle-aged woman dragging her young son away from helping a man who had slipped his leg and fall. While on another episode, she caught a man stealing from a barely well earning old couple selling fruits.

Those were incidents she saw on her way to the city. Ramani, Arunya, a guard Nakshathra had sent with them, Dharani, the captain and his assistant were told to leave for Mahina and wait for them there. With no Nakshathra, they had a liberty to move in an open chariot giving them an opportunity to get a glimpse of the forbidden city. As they rode into the city, Ramani stared in awe at the whitewashed palace standing tall and wide as a backdrop to the many short but large sandstone buildings in the city. Coffeehouses and taverns were widely spread in the city while temples were seen one in every four directions. Bells from the shrines echoed. The streets were of baked blay bricks arranged in the similar fashion of a wall. Neat and simple.

The chariot rode them deeper into the city. Various smell from the manufacturing houses along the way filled the air; mostly of charcoal smoke. The most talked about landmark, the tree with vivid purple flowers, the Dhumra Droni tree came into view as they crossed a building with several sentinels at the front. A flute player sat in the shadow of the tree playing a melody of the Arocana Ratri a famous ballad sung in most of Lambodara. A ballad everyone in the chariot loved but Ramani couldn't hear anything but one old phrase.

'You will see your father shamefully hung on the Dhumra Droni tree if you defy me'

The words told to her many years ago resurfaced at the sight of the tree. Ramani shut her eyes tight, she waited for the sound of flute to fade and for the chariot to move further away from the view of Dhumra Droni. The chariot crossed narrow clay brick roads and a bridge crossing a waterway, bringing them to The Arana Square, a place for all the visitors to stay.

'Once they take you to Arana Square, find for the farthest inn from the bridge that's connecting to the city. In case of emergency, we can use the waterway to get out of the country.' It was an order from their princess. After scouting for the perfect place to stay, Dharani led them to a guesthouse nearest to the waterway located at the end of the Arana Square, just as Nakshathra had instructed.

It was one of the largest guesthouses in Arana, whitewashed with intricate paintings of animals and humans in the colour of the soil on the walls inside out. Furnished with wooden furniture and large sized pots in gold, a huge chandelier hung from the ceiling, one could use a fortune to pay for a night. Ramani drank in the spectacular guesthouse. Never once lived in a place as luxury as the guesthouse she fell into a day dream of owning one as such in the future. Ramani was awestricken by the appearance of the guesthouse she almost missed the conversation happening between Dharani and the woman at the front desk.

"Yes, we will get two rooms. One with two bed and the other with three."

Dharani's words finally hit her ears. A shared room with Arunya? She gave her head a faint shake, disagreeing it silently before she let herself talk.

"But I would like to get a single room for myself."

Five heads including the front desk who was working on some papers to get their rooms turned to her with a confused look.

"What do you mean? Do you have a problem in sharing a room with Arunya?" Dharani took a few steps and stood before her.

"Not that I have a problem. I just cannot because I like my privacy." She shrugged and tap the table to get the front desk's attention back but instead faced Dharani again. "Anyway, I am sure the fare for a night is quite reasonable. I am sure, you were given enough money to spend, were you not, Dharani?"