Mistress Asthana

CHAPTER ELEVEN: FAMILY FUED

Fannah

"Come on, you know that's not even possible. The king ordered that I remain in the palace for security reasons so there's no way he'll let  me  go camping with you" I explained to Huda who was hell-bent on convincing me to go camping with her.

I couldn't comprehend where the sudden interest in camping came from. She said the palace was boring since we couldn't go out. I remind her that it was me who was placed in house arrest not her, but she cheesily said she can't do without the Love of her life, alias me.

"We don't have to leave the palace to go camping, This palace is very huge and has a lot of space. We even have our own little camp house right here in the palace so we don't need to leave" she said with her hands on her hips. Well, I didn't know about that. I rolled my eyes at her for not mentioning that earlier. Since they had their own camp house right in the palace, there was no possible way I could have refused her.

"Okay fine, I'll agree only if the queen agrees. Let's ask her first, if she says yes then it's a yes from me too" announced. She squealed excitedly and was about to give me one of her murderous hugs before her mother came in.

"Salam Alaikum, What is it that I have to say yes to before you say yes?" The queen asked as she entered the room. I muttered a silent greeting to her and she missed in acknowledgement.

"Oh mother, I've been trying to convince her to go camping with me, but she says until you say yes, she won't agree to it" Huda reported to her mother. The queen seemed to be thinking for a while, then she smiled widely at us.

"Camping, that's actually a nice idea. No one will know where you are and so no danger will be able to locate you. So it's a yes from me" the queen announced. Huda jumped around the room in excitement. Sometimes, I think that Huda would have loved to be a frog instead of a human being, she jumped too much.

"But, you guys won't go now. You'll have to wait till night so people won't see you guys going. I'll arrange for the place to be cleaned and arranged. I'll pick you guys up in the night and you'll need more guards than you usually take" the queen explained. Huda and me, unanimously nodded I'm understanding.

"Yamini, come in" the queen ordered.  a young lady about my age walked in wearing the maids' uniform "Fannah, this is Yamini. She'll be your handmaiden from now on. If you don't approve of her you can tell us and we'll change her okay?" The queen said. I smiled at yamini and she smiled back.

The Queen made her way to leave but then she paused and turned around, as if she remembered something.

"Fannah, the interior decor of the house you'll stay with your husband will begin tomorrow, so I want to know if you have any design in mind" the queen asked. I shook my head, no.

"No ma, I don't have any design in mind. You can choose any design you like. It's fine" I replied sincerely. Who was she kidding. I had been living in a poor old fashioned house all my life, so what would I know about interior designs?

"Okay then, I'll choose the very best design that there is. I trust you will like them" she smiled.  She bade us a good bye and left the room.

So the prince was going to live outside the palace after the wedding? It didn't  make sense to me though. I mean what was the need since he was gonna to have to come back to the palace when it's his time to rule the kingdom. But then, maybe he wanted to make my life miserable without the interference of anyone. I thought.

At 9:00pm, the queen came inside the room and asked us to follow her quietly. I, Huda, Tabassum and Yamini went quietly downstairs and got into a car the queen showed us. The driver started the car after we had all taken our seats.

If the Camp house was in the palace then why did we need a car? I wondered. Huda had refused to tell me anything about their camp house. All she said was that it was a house. Of course it would be a house since it's called a camp house.

After a five minutes drive, the car stopped in front of a little house or should I say, a fancy log cabin. It wasn't big, but it was still very beautiful.

"We're here now, make sure you have a very nice stay girls. Call me if you need anything okay?" The queen said. Huda kept blowing kisses to the air as the car backed away.

"So this is the camp House you've been wanting to see Fannah, what do you think about our camp house?" Huda asked as soon as the Queen's car was out of sight. She took my hand in hers as we walked into the cabin, leaving our duffle bags for Tabassum and yamini to carry.

"Wow! That's just all I can say for now, until I find my words later" I answered. She smiled at my response.

"You must really love camping for you to even have this beautiful house built for you" I commented. She didn't say a word, instead she looked around the cabin with a sad smile.

We entered into the living room, it had two large plush sofas and three rattan chairs, there was a medium sized rug and a peacock design wall clock. The decor was very simple and beautiful as well. Huda heaved a small sigh and plopped herself on a sofa while dragging me down with her.

"This cottage here was built for my other sibling. Aas didn't like living in the palace with so many people, so I requested that this cabin here be built so we could get away from the palace noise. We used to come here frequently and have a lot of fun together. I can't even remember when I last came to this place, since Aas left, I never came here again. I couldn't do it" I caught her wiping away tears once or twice.

I didn't know there was another santalma apart from the three of them. Was it a boy or a girl? And why did they leave?

"But, where are they now? Why were they not here? Did they perhaps die or something?" I blurted out. I immediately regretted the words as soon as they came out. I have to get rid of this terrible habit of saying things without thinking, I reminded myself.

"What!? No, my Aas is very much alive. Aas got into a close relationship with the last Asthana son, Mahmud Asthana. My parents were strongly against the relationship because the Asthanas and Santalmas are sworn enemies. Aas didn't think it was right to keep fueling the age old enmity between the two families, even I didn't think it was right. The two families pressurized the two of them to stay away from each other. The children were as stubborn as the parents. The pressure got too much for Mahmud and Aas, so they left Toure." Huda was crying profusely when she ended her story.

I hugged her tightly and rubbed soothing circles on her back. I didn't know what to say to comfort some one who's sibling was out there in a foreign country all because of a senseless family feud.

I was sprawled out on the sofa with a large bowl of fries. Huda was busy with her phone beside me and was stealing from my bowl. I threw the fries absent-mindedly as I thought about many things.

My mind wandered from one event to another and then it finally settled on Huda's sister Aleena. I remembered how angry she was at me for taking Jasi's place. But who was even Jasi? Ahmad's girlfriend perhaps.

"If I may ask Huda, please who is Jasi? I heard Aleena talk about me taking her place the other time" I asked, as I sat up. Huda glanced at me with a questioning look.

"You don't know Jasi?" She asked and I nodded yes. "really? How is that even possible? Do you live under a rock or something? I mean Jasi is literally a celebrity in Toure, everyone knows her. I have never come across a person who doesn't know Jasi, you're the first." she rambled. She looked really shocked. Even I was surprised that I had never heard of this jasi, but whoever she was, I was sure she was a big shot.

"My brother, Ahmad and Jasi were supposed to get married before your incident, Jasi is now like family and she sees the both of us like her siblings. she was very close to Aleena so that's why she's just being jealous. It's a phase and I'm sure she'll get over it"  she shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing.

It felt really sad to know that two people who have been in love for a long time will be separated just because of some silly incident I was involved in.

I layed back down and went back to the ocean of thoughts in mind. It was then, that I realized, that being a royal is far from what people think it is. On the one hand, a Santalma child was being forced to marry a person he has no interest in, while the other was away from their country all for the sake of a Stupid family fued.