Siyanshi: My beloved

27

"Will pitashree bring us gifts like sakhi Rama's baba brings her?" Arnima asked. "Maa told us that he would." Aurima said. 

"Ofcourse, why would he?" Prabhavati replied as she applied the paste on the twin girls' faces. "You know when I was young I once demanded that I wanted the chudamani that mata always wore." Prabhavati said.

"Yeah, why does she always wear that?" Aurima asked. "Because the chudamani along with her sindoor signifies that she is married to our pitashree. On their marriage pitashree had placed it on mata's hair, every married woman does that." Prabhavati answered.

"But you aren't married, jyestha. Then why did you ask for maa's chudamani?" Arnima asked. "I was a child and I didn't know the meaning or the significance behind neither did I understand it. I was very stubborn as a child-" "You still are very much." Prabhavan interrupted. "Shut up for once will you?" Prabhavati gave him an annoyed look.

"So after much demanding pitashree finally gave in. Though he didn't give me mata's chudamani he gave me these." Prabhavati said pulling out the small box and opening it, revealing a pair of payal. "These were my first pair of payals." she said taking out the payal that she held so dear and kept it safely. 

Arnima and Aurima stared at the simple yet beautiful golden payal. "It even makes the same cham-cham sound as maa's nose ring!" Arnima and Aurima exclaimed as they fondled with the payal making it chime.

"These are so small, it won't even fit on my or Rima. Why do you still keep it jyestha?" Arnima asked. "It is very dear to me, Arni. These pair of payal are the first gift that I vividly remember our pitashree gifting them to me." Prabhavati said.

"What are you doing?" Prabhavati laughed as she watched the twin girls hold the payal tight against their face. Prabhavan too chuckled seeing that. "Trying to feel pitashree." they answered and the laughter soon died down. 

"Maa always holds pitashree's angavastram near to her. She once said that it was pitashree's favorite angavastram, she does it to feel pitashree close to her." Arnima answered. The pain of separation that their parents suffered was no stranger to Prabhavati and Prabhavan. 

"How does maa do that? All I feel is cold." Aurima said looking at her twin with the cold piece of jewelry still against their face. "Just close your eyes and think about pitashree. Think about how pitashree once held that jewelry and now you are holding the very same thing. Your hands are holding the same thing, feeling the same thing, tracing the same thing, exactly how he used to." Prabhavan said as he released an arrow from the balcony to the garden where it hit the wooden bird's eye which was resting on one of the trees. 

Prabhavati watched him as her mind drifted back to the memory of her father practicing archery in the royal training grounds of Indraprasth. For a moment she could see her father standing there instead of Prabhavan as he carried the bow and let go of the arrow.

In terms of archery Prabhavan could be considered to be on par with his father, Arjun. All of Arjun's kids were seemingly born with passion and natural talent for archery, all except for Ruchiparvan who refused to even hold a bow. Being taught archery by Arjuna himself out of all his children and later Satyaki; a disciple of Arjun, the image of Prabhavan and his bow named Gandharva which produced a sweet sound and peaceful twang were almost identical to Arjuna and his Gandhiv.

Prabhavati focused back on the twin girls infront of her. "You know the silver bracelet our mata wears in her hand isn't actually a bracelet." she said gaining the twins' attention. "It's actually a payal. She once told me that matamah had brought it for her from a very far away land and it was her favorite since it was simple from faraway but had lots of intricate and small designs from up close. But she ended up losing the other pair so she instead wore it on her hand as a bracelet." Prabhavati said as she clipped the payal on both the twins' wrist. "So now whenever you miss pitashree just know that he is always there with you in your heart and his presence is near you." she said.

As Prabhavati continued to apply the paste on Arnima and Aurima's face a dasi had come in with a letter. Prabhavan took the letter and dismissed the dasi who left another scroll of letter for Prabhavati. He opened the scroll and frowned upon finding a peacock feather, he held it as he went to read the letter.

'Meri priye'

His heart thumped against his chest when he read the beginning. "Priye? Me, priye?" he spoke to himself as she continued reading the letter. Prabhavati upon noticing the other scroll quickly took it and opened it eagerly after telling her younger sisters to keep still.

"Finally!" she excitedly opened the scroll which she had been waiting for eagerly.

'Pranpriye Prabha'

Her smile fell upon seeing the unfamiliar handwriting and as she continued to read the letter her facial expression turned into something judgmental and weirded out. She raised her head up upon hearing her brother chuckle, she watched her twin as he smiled and read the letter in his hand as he twirled the peacock feather in his hand.

She quickly went and snatched the scroll from him. "Hey! I was reading that." Prabhavan said. "It's bad to read somebody else's letter." Prabhavati said, "Didn't mother teach you that, pranpriye Prabha?" She said cheekily as Prabhavan's eyes widened. Before he could go after her Prabhavati threw his scroll of letter at him and ran away to wash her face while giggling.

"Did you really have to do that?" Prabhavan sighed while looking at the letter from his friends but chuckled shaking his head as he looked back at the moorpankh in his hand and smiled.

"Meri priye." he requoted what he read and laughed as he finally started reading the actual which was meant for him. 

Arnima and Arunima just watched him and whispered to each other. "Is Jyesth bhrata okay?" Arnima asked. "Does he look okay to you?" Arunima replied.