kingdom of hearts | sumellika

• chapter five •

A month had passed since Amar and Madhuri's engagement. He had returned to his kingdom after the royal lunch at hers.

Now, he sat in his chamber, pulling out parchment paper. He picked up a peacock feather from nearby, and dipped it in black ink. Amar had recently come up with an idea for the book—he knew that he would never tell anyone about it because his father wouldn't approve of it.

Nevertheless, he sat and scribbled down words on the parchment paper when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," he said, folding the paper.

A servant walked in, and bowed. "The Queen wants to see you," the servant said.

Amar then got up, keeping his paper, ink and peacock feather aside. He walked out his chamber and followed the servant, all the way to where his mother was.

"Mother," he said as his mother signalled the servant to leave. "You called me?"

"Yes," his mother said, as she pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Remember how we decided that you and Princess Madhuri will spend around six months or so getting to know each other?"

Amar nodded.

"Well," his mother continued. "Me, and your father, think that it will be good if we invite Madhuri to stay here, in our kingdom, as a guest for some time."

Amar didn't know why, but as soon as he heard his mother's words, he had to restrain from breaking into a smile. "Okay mother."

"I wanted to inform you," his mother said. "I've told the maids to start preparing a room for her."

He controlled his urge to smile and gave another nod. Then he thought about something. "Mother..?" he began.

"Yes?"

"Could I...help in preparing a room?"

His mother raised an eyebrow, looking confused for it was a strange request.

"I'll supervise the preparation," he explained. "Could I?"

His mother seemed to ponder about his request then subtly nodded. "Alright then."

And so he began to recall everything Madhuri had said to him. Amar was invested in preparing a pretty room for her, he was even enjoying it.

He met her on a swing...

"What if we added a small jhula here?" He asked. He remembered that the one in the royal garden had vines wrapped across and some blooming flowers.

"They don't," she had said. "But I do." A sweet smile was on her face. "There's something that's so magical about them."

"Do we have idols of Radha-Krishna?" He asked. She would like that a lot, he thought.

He made sure that someone crafted a hand fan that was built with peacock feathers. He made sure that there was a chaise which had a floral pattern on it and was placed in her room.

Everything had to be in place.
For her.

And the day arrived. He was surprised to find himself anticipating her arrival. He knew that he had a new friend, and he couldn't wait to spend his time talking to her.

And they stood—Amar, his mother, father, the ministers and subjects—waiting for Princess Madhuri to come. And she arrived, in a deep red palanquin. Curtains were draped down from the top, preventing anyone from seeing the Princess.

She sat inside, clutching an embroidered cushion. The palanquin bearers stopped. She knew she had arrived at her destination.

Slowly, she peeked through the silk curtains, and her hazel eyes landed on his olive green ones. He seemed to speak so much through his eyes. She sensed euphoria in them.