The Village Girl

Chapter Three - [Aaryan]

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The naming ceremony went very well. Quite a lot of village folk turned out at the tiny little shrine that was Seetha's village temple.

The people who stood at the front with us were Seetha's family, the priest, as well as the woman that villagers referred to as the 'village crazy,' Lalitha. Seetha wanted her to be here, claiming she was like an aunt to her.

I remember seeing her at the fort all that time ago. She brought us food and no one took her seriously.

Today, she was looked at differently... maybe because she was treated so kindly by the wife of the Prince of Chandraba.

Anyways, the ceremony went well. We officially named Aathiraavanan, his Royal Rudrarajah clan name being almost the same as my father's. The only difference was that my father's common name was Aadhithyan, whereas my son's common name was Aathavan.

When Seetha suggested Aathavan, I was happy with the name. When I told her he needed a royal name and she suggested my father's name, I was touched. I had not realized she respected him so much. To that, she mentioned that it would be nice for this future king to be named after a loved, past king.

So after we shared his name with the gods, asked for their blessing, casted away any evil presence, we returned to the farm.

And soon it was time to go home.

We had stayed in the village with Aathavan for two months and it was becoming a little too long. I had responsibilities to tend to and I could not push them back any longer, no matter how much I wanted to.

When I told Seetha, I could tell that she was dreading this moment. She knew it was coming and dreaded it. Of course, she did not complain or argue. She said yes and mentioned that she was ready when I was.

Though I knew this had to be done, I still found myself feeling terrible.

Seetha was obviously happier here, with her family and her friends, with more freedom and love. Though I tried, I could not figure out how to bring that happiness back to the palace. If there is one thing that I learned while spending time with her here, it was that no matter how hard I tried, or how much I loved her, I could never make up for the longing she had for her family.

So as we packed our things, I did not complain about how slow she was going, though that did not stop me from wanting to do something to ease her mind.

"Seetha," I called after getting her carriage ready and connecting to the Bhumi. The gift that Aayu gave Seetha for our wedding was certainly useful. "Bring Aathi and come, love."

She looked at me a little worriedly and I knew that the first thought that flashed through her mind was that we were leaving right now.

"Let's just go spend a moment together alone," I clarified.

"Okay," she said, now smiling. She lifted the sleeping Aathi from his little hammock and walked over to me. I helped her into the carriage, which had an open top and plenty of comfortable cushions, and then I got up onto Bhumi, tugging his reins and motioning him into a slow trot.