The Unventured Passions

Heir to the Throne (1)

The giant, stone-cold palace of Raipur had been devoid of the happiness of a child's birth since Rudra Narayan. The young prince was the last to toddle the hard corridors of the palace, filling the void with his priceless princely giggles, pouring motherly ambrosia into the barren hearts of the Mounis. Rudra was indeed the last one, none married ever since, none gave birth, and as time passed, even though Rudra grew up to be the mighty sacrosanct Satyakirth, somewhere he still remained that little toddler to the elderly Mounis, his childlike antics still remained the same to some extent once he'd be inside the stone cocoon of the palace walls.
He was the heart of the palace, the soul of the kingdom, and the son to all those loyal devoted women who could never bore a child of their own!

That morning too, as the entire palace was busy with the preparations for the upcoming Mahasurjograhan, Satya sat on the monolith pedestal at the middle of the grand palace courtyard, in full theatrical display, busying himself with his old and new fire 'toys'. He had pulled out all the guns from the royal artillery, the big barreled shot guns, the imported automatic ones, the German ones, the red Russians, and then the hunting pistols, the revolvers, all of them, as with meticulous perfection he sat on the rock platform, cleaning them one by one with rapt attention, his bare body shining in the soft morning sun, and his beautiful long curls fluttering artistically in the mild winter breeze tickling his neck and forehead.
Satya flexed his muscles alluringly to remove a naughty lock of hair from his forehead and the sight made Raimoti smile from afar.
The day was different for her, a lot busier and engaging that she had been accustomed of. Raipur was no Calcutta, and the palace was match to the concrete urban Raybahadur palace where she had grown up. There, she was the precious lonely, moody daughter of the rich man, whom everyone would keep their distance from, in fear mostly, but here, in Raipur, she was the beloved RaniMaa, the motherly saviour who had arrived to drench their thirsty souls with love and compassion. And, needless to say, Raimoti was acing it beyond expectations.

"Maa, you called."
Karthik bowed infront, breaking Raimoti's gaze from her precious, as she quickly lowered her eyes and then looked up at him smiling.
Kartik too noticed the slight tint of blush on her cheeks.

"Raja Saheb does that rarely these days." He too looked at his beloved companion, his king and let out a soft sigh.

"What? Playing with guns?"
Raimoti asked, stealing another glance at Satya, completely oblivion to the grand sight his antics had offered to admiring eyes around.

"Yes. He said it's his day off." Karthik smiled.
"That he would do since we were children... he'd call a day off and would just be lost with either guns or crossbows or horses... He says it's his way to connect with life."

"Finding himself..." Raimoti sighed and smiled at the same time.
"I understand this Kartik, i once used to write poetries to find myself."

"And now?"
Karthik asked, as the duo walked past the open corridor and entered inside the library where Raimoti had set up her new office.

"Now?" Raimoti smiled, "now I don't need poetries to find myself Karthik, for i find myself in everything that surrounds me." She closed her eyes and pulled the loose end of her saree to cover her bare shoulder.
"I find myself in the song of the birds that sings on the palace window, I find myself in the first hymn sung for RadhaMadhav, I find myself in those sign language of the Mounis, and I find myself amidst these fat ledgers." She picked out a long blue ledger and handed it to the man. Karthik smiled too.
"Where else would I look son, what else do I have if not these... If not you all!"
Raimoti's eyes glistened at her own words, and Karthik lowered his gaze and nodded his head.

"We're lucky to have you Maa... Some good deed, some good work that our ancestors did, that you came to save us in our times of need."

"No Karthik, it's quite the opposite. May be my mother did some good in her life, that I'm here today, amidst you brave people." She looked at him and smiled, and the giant man sat down on the floor kneeling infront of her chair.
"You've given a lot to the land son, and today I'm going to ask you for one more."