INSEPARABLE I

XIII

A couple hours later after the Prince's third maiyan (haldi/turmeric ceremony), Prem sent Noor the message to meet in the small private garden near the King's Chambers. The garden was always empty because it was in the section of the palace that only a few exclusive guests had permission to be in. They met with great passion and found themselves seated on the grass floor in one end of the garden immersed in deep conversation in no time.

Prem's father, Ajit Singh Dhaliwal, had just finished a meeting with the King when he joined Hakam outside the chambers. They knew Noor's father was meeting with the King next and wanted to leave the area before he arrived. Hakam was covering for one of the Senior Dhaliwal's bodyguards for the day. He walked behind the Ex-Chief of Kurral in silence until the elderly man came to sudden halt. Hakam traced his eyes down the hall to find what left his boss's father so gravelly concerned and thought his breath would leave his body at the sight. It was a window displaying their Chief resting his head in the lap of Noor Sandhu in the garden outside.

"Unbelievable." The Senior Dhaliwal muttered rushing towards the window. Hakam followed him closely expecting him to break open the window and burst out at Prem. Instead, what he saw left him astonished. The Ex-Chief crossed the window and reached for the rope to free the folded curtain above. However, just before his fingers could touch the string, another elderly hand grabbed it. They both looked up see to Noor's father, Arjan Singh Sandhu, with one of his bodyguards. Seeing the enemy at such a close proximity had them both straighten their postures before slowly tracing their eyes to the garden outside the window.

After a few moments of silence, "tell your son to stay away from my daughter, Dhaliwal." Spoke Noor's father in a stern voice.

"Naturally." The Ex-Chief of Kurral eyed him, "I would be the only one doing any telling when it comes to our children as your daughter isn't exactly known for her obedience..."

"My daughter is exactly what you blessed her to be days after she was born!" Arjan Sandhu interrupted his opponent in a lowered tone. "What was that?" He asked reminiscing the long forgotten past. "May she fearlessly follow her heart and..." He struggled to recall the next words.

"...rule millions of others," slowly added his enemy.

"May she fearlessly follow her heart and rule millions of others." Repeated the father of Noor Sandhu. "That's exactly what she's doing, Dhaliwal. Following her heart. You uttered those words in the most sacred place of Doab and she's been living up to them since then."

"I wasn't the only one uttering blessings that day, Sandhu." Ajit Dhaliwal countered. "That..." he pointed out the window, "is the manifestation of your words. Your son and my daughter will be perfect for each other, isn't that what you said?"

There was silence for a few moments as both the fathers watched their children laughing in awe.

"I wasn't wrong..." the Senior Sandhu began, "but I would have never wished that upon our children if I had known you were the Dhaliwal of Kurral." There was defeat in his voice.

"And perhaps, I wouldn't have showered blessings on your newborn daughter as if she were my very own if I had known you were the enemy they would introduce me to during our first assembly as Chiefs." Ajit Dhaliwal revealed.

Hakam stared at the ground realizing the rumors he had heard about the two enemy Chiefs accidentally crossing paths on a journey and becoming the greatest of friends were true. They were said to be travelling to the sacred shrine as commoners to pray for the wellbeing of their children and were strictly forbidden from disclosing their identities for security purposes.

The Ex-Chief of Basher sighed. "My daughter hasn't spoken to me in two years."

"And neither has my son to me." Ajit Dhaliwal looked out the window once again, "quite generous of them, if you ask me. After what we did, we don't deserve to be looked at, let alone spoken to."