Indulekha: The Sister of The Pandavas • Mahabharat

66. To My Pretty Brothers, Stop.

Day 3

Kurukshetra

"BRO!"

Indu's scream was heard as she fell from her horse, an arrow stuck in her forearm. Arjun, busy battling the soldiers around him, turns around after a few moments. He sighed, knowing this would be something he had to take care of during the war.

"Coming," he mumbled after launching a few arrows. He requested Krishna to take them near Indu, while she was lying on the ground awkwardly. He got off and helped her.

"What took you so long?" She asked, sitting upright on the mud with his help.

"The fact that you called for Nakul, instead of me."

Arjun got her on his chariot as Krishna looked at the scene with amusement. The two siblings help one another, the older one with a nonchalant attitude towards the injury and the younger one trying to act tough.

"Jealous much?" Indu replies

She raised her eyebrow, trying her best to be joking around instead of letting the tears leave. She gripped tightly on the arm, putting pressure on the cut, unsure whether she should remove the arrow or not. She looked up at Arjun to ask about it, but he nodded a 'no'.

"I wouldn't be jealous. But you called for him when you were in trouble, despite me being closer to you." He shrugged, grabbing a few arrows from his quiver, which rested on the chariot beside Indu.

"He was here a few moments ago!"

"He ran off, and yet, you called for him, which was kind of hurtful because I was right there! Right, Madhav?" Arjun ranted. Kanha, who was ignoring the two bicker while he drove to chariot back to the camp, shrugged.

"See, he agrees! It was hurtful! Plus, I'm older than him! You can go crying to him when you get a pimple or have a bad hair day or something." He rolled his eyes.

Indu groaned, getting tired of the argument. "You know that's not all he's good for, right?"

"Yes, BUT I WAS LIKE RIGHT HERE!"

"Alright, alright. If you keep screaming, my head's going to hurt more. Just call him to treat this. He said that any injury I get should be treated by him, for some reason." Saying so, she closed her eyes and rested her head on the chariot.

"But-"

"Stop."

"Stop what, Indu?"

"Using your vocal chords."

He sighed, dissolving the argument and sending a message to Nakul.

The three soon reached the camp, taking Indu straight to her tent. The two stayed there for a while and left after making sure she was fine. Smika stayed beside her mother for a few moments, after leaving once the maids asked her to. Indu rested there for a while after the arrow was removed, clutching her arm like her life depended on it.

"So, I heard you called for me instead of Bhrata Arjun," Nakul entered, with a frown on his face, but still trying his best to keep a smile. Indu rolled her eyes at the statement, something she found herself doing a lot these days.

"Oh, dear heavens! You're sweating a lot." His frown grew and so did hers. "Stop being dramatic!"

He chuckled, grabbing a few supplies and sitting next to her on the bed, facing her as she leaned on the headboard. "You feel warm, perhaps a good amount of blood loss. Why'd Bhrata Arjun say you seemed fine?"

Indu replied with a shrug to which he pinched her non-bleeding arm.

"Did you pretend to be all tough in front of him, again?" He asked, cleaning the wound with a sterile cloth. She nodded, wincing as he put pressure on her arm. "You and your obsession with the elder ones thinking you're invincible." He muttered, seeming like he was complaining to himself rather than her.

"At least, you're comfortable around me." He shrugged. "If you tell that to them, you're not going to last the whole 18 days of this war, alright?"

He chuckled, before completely internalizing her words.

"Wait a minute, 18 days? The war's going to last for 18 days?" His eyes widened while Indu stuttered, feeling like she had given away a major spoiler.

"N-no, no. Not at all. That's, uh, what Bhrata Arjun predicted. Just an assumption." Her awkward smile was enough to tell Nakul that she was lying, but he nodded and decided to keep mum. He wrapped her arm up with clothing after applying a few pastes on it, letting her rest.

"Is it fixed, Bro?" Indu asked, analyzing her arm.

"Do you seriously not use your brain sometimes?"

"Stop."

"What?"

"Talking."

Nakul smiled, obeying her as he cleaned up the area and the supplies he threw around. "When can I go back?" She asked, not bothering to open her eyes to see him.

"You've had a good amount of blood loss. What you need, for now, is to sleep."

"So, I take the day off while my nephews, brothers, husbands and god knows, what other people are constantly fighting? Just because I got hit by some stupid arrow?"

"Yes."

Indulekha narrowed her eyes at him. "Plus, it's not some stupid arrow. It belongs to the royals of Gandhar. GandharRaj, his brothers or kids aimed this at you. We'll take care of it."

She grumbled but soon accepted, the exhaustion forcing her to give in.

"Well, did I look good while falling?" She smiled, hoping to get a compliment.

"I wasn't there but if I was, I would've gotten it painted. I bet you'd look so dumb."

"Alright, yeah. How could I expect you to compliment someone other than yourself?"

"Whatever," Nakul ruffled her hair, a sign of affection which meant way more to her than his compliments. He stood up, after making sure she was well rested. He walked over to the tent's entrance, ready to leave, but he turned around.

"Did it hurt?" He asked, letting his somberness show.

"When?" She asked back, her smile still there.

"When you fell from-", the horse was the rest of this sentence, but he was interrupted by Indulekha.

"Heaven? Yeah." She chuckled and he nodded.

"Of course, it must've hurt. They surely banned you from up there."

"Wait, that's not what- NO."

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