Devika - A journey unbound by time

21: Planning

In the morning after breakfast, General Abhay took Devika and Veer for an outing in the forest.

He wanted to teach them the art of hiding in the forest in plain sight. He said, "There would be times in your life when you would have to face assassins or robbers on road. At that time you might not be able to fight against them due to various reasons. These tricks would enable you to remain safe until backup arrives. Commit them to your memory and remember them well."

Abhay showed them how to hid up in the trees. He quickly climbed up a tree and took the nearby branches and arranged them so that he was camouflaged. Then he took them to a muddy area, he laid in the mud and covered himself with mud and leaves. Only his eyes remained visible. After hiding himself thus to other people it would seem that there was just regular forest floor and nothing else. He even showed them how to hide underwater for long period of time.

After the demonstration, he suggested a game of hide and seek. He was to count till hundred and the two children were tasked with hiding in the forest with methods they just learnt. The two excited kids ran off to hide in the forest. Veer chose to hide in the mud and Devika climbed up a tree and hid herself well.

However all their efforts were for naught as they were quickly discovered by General Abhay, under two minutes. He forced them to play several rounds of the game until they got some basic idea on how to hide themselves. In the last try General Abhay had to spend ten minutes before he could find them. Usually in a battle, ten minutes can mean the difference between life and death. After the many rounds of game, all three were exhausted and sat down to rest.

"Father, this technique that you have taught us. It is useful for hiding when under an attack. But this same technique can be used to make assassination attempts." Veer stated his observation.

"You are right, Veer. This technique is often used to study the prey and attack them. Therefore you must also learn to observe things keenly. You should be able to judge where an assassin might be hidden." Abhay confirmed.

"We were definitely making mistakes when we hid from you. What were the few common mistakes we made?" Devika questioned.

"Little Princess, you never hid in the mud. I understand that you are from the royal family and you find hiding in mud to be beneath you. But you have to understand, that in certain scenarios life is more important than pride. Do not hesitate to hide in the mud, it might just save your life if needed." Abhay explained.

He then turned to Veer and said, "Veer, observe the trees around you. Even though we are in a forest the trees are not that dense. Sunlight is able to shine on the ground. You packed leaves too tightly around yourself that it appeared as if there was a bush on the tree. You need to pack them lightly or find a tree that has dense leaves." Veer acknowledged his mistake.

As they were sitting and discussing various things in today's lesson, a soldier came towards them quickly.

"General Abhay, His Majesty has summoned you back to palace. There is some situation and we need to return to capital at once." the soldier relayed the message after greeting them.

General Abhay frowned and then they made their wag back to the palace. After reaching palace, Devika was quickly taken by her maids to wash and dress up as they had to leave immediately. The next hour was a blur for Devika. It was only after she sat in the carriage with King Nanda that she got a chance to ask what happened.

"Father, what is the matter? Why are we hurrying back to capital? Is there some kind of problem that has arisen?" Devika asked concerned.

"Your maternal grandparents are going to visit us. They are royalty themselves. We need to make appropriate arrangements to receive them and make their stay comfortable." Nanda replied.

"Oh. Okay. Will... Will they be happy to meet me?" Devika asked him a bit of apprehension leaking in her voice.

As if sensing her emotions, Nanda turned to face her. He gave a smile and patted her head, "Why is my little warrior afraid of what other people think? It doesn't matter if they like you or not. What really matters is if you are comfortable with them or not. If you feel that you like them then you can spend time with them; otherwise we will just ask them to leave as soon as possible." Nanda's voice held a lot of doting for his daughter.

Devika thought about these maternal grandparents of hers. In her past life she had met them only once, when she was going to be married. Her grandfather was upset that Gayatri wanted to stay unmarried in Nala Kingdom, other than that he had no opinion on anything and had ignored Devika for most of the time. Her grandmother on the other hand had verbally stated her hatred of Devika. At first she had thought that it was because her grandmother was gender biased and would have preferred Devika to be a male child. It was only later that she realised that her grandmother thought that she had been the reason of her mother's death. In this lifetime, the actual killer had been found, so she didn't knew how this grandmother would react now. After Nanda assured Devika that he wouldn't let anyone bully her, she felt relief. She didn't really have a nice opinion of her grandparents and would have preferred not to meet them.

"What if they come here to take Aunt away?" Devika spoke up realising a new problem.

Nanda had promised his late wife that he wouldn't marry anyone until he finds her killer. Now that the killer had been found, he was free to remarry. Gayatri's parents can use this excuse to get Gayatri back home by stating that a new Queen would not like the presence of an unmarried female in her house. These thoughts created panic in Devika's heart.

Nanda frowned at her words, "Devika, your Aunt has a right to live her life happily. We cannot take away her happiness due to our selfish needs."

"But Father..." Devika wanted to protest.

"No Devika. This is Gayatri's right and it is what we owe her. Don't be so self-centred. This conduct is unbecoming of a Princess." Nanda said sternly.

It was the first time in both lives that Nanda had reprimanded her. It made Devika feel very bad and she fell silent. The rest of their journey was completed in this awkward silence.

'This is not done. I must get Aunt to stay here forever. I must... I must...' Devika was pondering on this question till they reached the capital.