Ephemera- Of Fire and Ash

Erstwhile

I am extremely sorry for the delay in the update.

Target for this update- 25 votes and 100 comments

I shall only update once the target is reached.

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The duties of the household increased drastically after the rajsuya yagya. Now a days, they all rarely got time to be with each other. Karn's children were sent to gurukul and his youngest daughter, became extremely attached to the pandavas. Prativindhya, a few months old baby was usually with his mother, requiring her complete attention.

The kaunteyas usually had their breakfast in bed, then they headed straight for the court, the only place they actually saw each other even though it was as emperor and his officials.

Today they 5 had gotten time to finally sit and talk to each other. They were talking about the multiple futile attempts made by duryodhan in the recent months to build a similar palace.

"He'll just drain the coffers of Hastinapur," Arjun said, "and then burden the people with unjust taxes."

"Maybe they'll get so fed up, they'll rebel and depose him," Bheem said.

"Maybe they'll set up one of his saner younger brothers to become crown prince," Nakul said.

"No chance of that!" Sahadev cried. "You know how blindly our revered uncle dotes on Duryodhan."

"Uncle would never remove duryodhan from the crown prince position, I have knows both of the, plus shakuni would never let it happen." Karn said.

The five of them guffawed on it until Yudishthira finally put an end to it.

Yudhishthira's pov

One question has haunted me from my marriage with Draupadi, Even when Draupadi was with me, I felt deep in my heart that she had not come to me actually. I wanted to ask her a question, 'You had love for Arjuna, admiration for Bheema and affectionfor the twins. What did you have for me, Draupadi?' I knew it was not easy for her to answer and I never had the courage. This question exposed all my insecurities about her. We have a child but we don't have the affection a husband and wife share.

One day I was desperate to ask her that. There was no one around. I suddenly grabbed her by the left arm and pulled her into our armory. She was extremely surprised to find me in an absolutely different mood. I never took the lead in our relation, it was always her. I locked the door of the room from inside and walked towards her—not to make love but to get a clear, bold answer from her! She was feeling uncomfortable, if not scared. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Who could it be?

I had prepared myself since our marriage to ask this question, but I never had the courage. Angry, I flung open the door. It was Arjuna! He had to enter our room to take weapons for helping some poor Brahmins whose cattle had been taken away by some dacoits. We had stipulated separate times for five brothers to have Draupadi's exclusive company. It had been agreed upon that while one brother would spend time with Draupadi, others were not to invade their privacy under any circumstance. Anybody failing to observe the rule was to be punished—and the punishment was as harsh as an exile for twelve years! I knew Arjuna had no intention to disturb us and he bravely put the ideology of a true Kshatriya above any fear of punishment. Moreover, it was my mistake to choose a place like the weapon room for private talks. I was genuinely ready to forgive him, but the righteous Arjuna was too adamant to accept my clemency and imposed the exile on himself. He was away from Draupadi and us for twelve long years.

That question remained unasked. I cannot tell how my other four brothers felt about this marriage; but for me it was something like being fastened to a burning pyre that scorched me throughout my life, disallowing me even the liberty to free myself into death. I suspect that the marriage was not as difficult for them.