[NEED TO REWRITE MOST PORTIONS]Shikhandini

Seeping Darkness

Shikhandi stared at the silent lake in Utkochaka. The sun had barely risen.

Almost a decade had passed since he had last seen his sister. He was happy to know of her growing prosperity, but he could not help but take each news with a pinch of salt. After all, he had seen the emptiness behind it all, the darkness lurking behind her glittering house. He turned around, at the click of utensils, to find his wife setting down his breakfast.

They smiled as their eyes met. Even after so many years of partnership, Shikhandi still felt a wave of freshness wash over him every time the pure yet resolute face of Dasarni swam before his eyes. He had not realized when they had gone from a marriage of compromise to being each other's best friend.

Dasarni stood before him with her habitual calmness, "Something is bothering you, my Lord. You have been lost in your thoughts ever since your return from Indraprastha."

"She's alone, Dasarni! The Pandavas have isolated her. She is bound in unwanted marriages and forever separated from her love. She is so alone!"

"I understand. my Lord, but there's nothing we can do."

"I know, but we led her into this. We were the ones who let our unassuming sister marry into that family! Tell me Dasarni, my poor sister- what did she ever do to deserve such misery?"

"I know what she did!" Shikhandi turned around. Queen Prishati stood at the door. He looked at her, puzzled.

She continued, "You all celebrated those divine children! Do you know what I did? I went back to the priests and asked. Do you remember how your father gushed over that woman? 'I don't want to know who she is!' He said with such gusto! Do you know why she was born? Your father never asked for her! That boy might be destined to kill Drona, but the girl will bring down an entire civilization! Wherever she'll go, death will follow. All of this! Everything that our ancestors have built, she is set to destroy everything!"

Shikhandi stared at his mother. It was as though he was staring into the eyes of a stranger. A stranger, who held nothing but hatred! He felt a strange emptiness engulfing him.

"I would have killed your father and then myself! The only thing stopping me is the knowledge that if he dies today, his brat of a son inherits the throne. It should've been you, my love! Those usurpers! He took your place as the heir, and the girl stole your father from me!" She screamed, "I was supposed to finally be the mother to the child we truly wanted! I would have finally made something of my life, and then he cast me away like I was nothing!"

Shikhandi reeled back, almost laughing in the face of the Queen's accidental revelation, "Is that how you truly feel, mother? And I thought there was at least one person in this whole wide world who loved me for myself!"

His mother shook her head, backpedalling, "No, my love! That is not what I had meant to say!"

Shikhandi almost ran backwards, out of the room, "It's alright, mother. I had to find out somehow. Excuse me."

"No, Shikhandi, don't go! I love you. I always have loved you! I promise I'll do better! I'll even teach myself to love those two, please don't leave me alone. I am weary of them calling me all sorts of names on account of my inadequacy! I just wanted to be an actual mother!" The Queen fell to the ground, sobbing, as Dasarni tried to comfort her.

Shikhandi walked out. At the gates of the mansion, he found a royal messenger. The envoy panted, "The King requests immediate attendance. Bad news comes from Indraprastha!"

---

Shikhandi and Dhrishtadyumna hurried into the palace of the Kurus in Hastinapura. They had rushed out of Panchala immediately upon hearing the terrible news. They had ridden non-stop for three days until they had reached the city. Alas, but, they were too late.