The Time Traveler [Mahabharata]

3. Where is Aarohi?!

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"Mata? Mata! Mata, I can't find Rajkumari Aarohi anywhere!" Dushala barged into her mother's room, panicking.

"Calm down Dushala, she couldn't have vaporised into thin air. You know how she loves the company of silence- - she must be sitting alone somewhere." Gandhari tried calming her daughter down, except her assuring words weren't of much use. And to be honest, she was pretty worried too.

Where's Aarohi?!

It was the day of kalapradarshan and there was no sign of her since the night before yesterday. At first they thought since she wasn't well, she might have taken a carriage ride back to the palace. It was pretty late, so they thought she must've slept already and went to their own chambers. But oh how they wished they would have checked on her that night!

The next day came and everyone became busy in arrangements for the big event on the coming day, as the common folk were included too. They assumed Aarohi was more than happy to stay holed up in her room because of her injury and also because she wasn't a fan of socialising, that was pretty clear from day one so they didn't disturb her. But a few started to worry about her whereabouts towards the evening.

Mata Kunti had taken her sons to introduce them to Kahna's cousin, while a grumbling Arjun blurted out that he'd already met her hence there was no reason for him to come along, fearing she'd turn yesterday's whole situation and put the blame on him in front of his mata who'd scold him for her injury and his brothers who would tease him endlessly, if they learnt he'd helped her. Well... as if they weren't doing that already, continuously teasing him about meeting the princess alone, at which he scoffed saying she was cold and rude. Definitely not the type he'd be interested in, in fact the exact opposite.

They went into Aarohi's chambers, but there was no sign of the icy princess, which was extremely strange. Kunti instructed her sons, not to let this news spread except reaching mata Gandhari and their sister. She feared if something happened to her as she told them she didn't see her after the temple visit.

How could've she been so ignorant?

This even bothered Arjun a bit.

Where could the girl have gone limping around with a broken ankle?

He subtly asked around for her but to no avail. Until he found a particular maid, who was gossiping about how the princess had gone full panic mode, refused to enter the temple and instead borrowed her shawl and went away somewhere.

"Poor girl couldn't even talk or breathe properly. I wonder if her not entering the temple was more than her injury... You know, I haven't seen her since then!" She went on.

"Ha- - poor thing got scared of some stairs!" The small group laughed.

"Dasi! Do you casually spread gossip about our guests or do you find someone panicking particularly funny?" Arjun shouted as the group of maids disbanded, startled, bowing their heads to their prince apologetically. Even though he didn't like her, he found it disrespectful to make fun of a what could be a genuine problem. What could she panic so much about that she couldn't even breathe? He thought.

"Where are you going?" Arjun pointed at the woman who started the rumours.

"M-My Prince, I was only- -"

"Tell me exactly what happened." He commanded firmly. But apart from what he heard from the gossip, unfortunately there was nothing new.

He didn't know why he secretly wished she'd be back before his turn came in Kalapradarshan, but he did. He wanted her to watch him perform. Maybe because he simply wanted a reaction out of the haughty girl after she undermined his skills and talent.