Lightning Strikes

10

Welcome back to this story. Potential hazards for readers include death by cheesiness or death by taking offense. I would appreciate if the latter doesn't happen.

It turned out that Parvati was an excellent cook. What else could one expect from the literal goddess of food? The food was so good that Aru had to stop herself from getting up for the third time to get a few more of the sweets. Despite all of this, Kartikeya actually looked a bit upset.

"What's wrong?" Aru whispered.

"She didn't make my favorite," he pouted. "It's honestly not fair. She made all of Ganesha's favorite foods."

Aru laughed and then got back to eating. Part of her felt for Kartikeya. She knew what it felt like to be rejected, to have the entire world against you.

Eh, whatever. The food was awesome regardless.

"Really, I'm full!" Aru told Parvati, who kept insisting on serving her more.

"You won't even have the thinai payasam?" Parvati smiled mischievously.

Kartikeya perked up immediately. "Thinai payasam? Really?"

Ganesha laughed at his brother. "Good to know that you still like it."

The sweet millet porridge was amazing. Kartikeya helped himself to plenty of it. Aru would be lying if she said that she didn't have just as much. Ganesha chuckled at the two of them.

Parvati looked at Aru. "Are you sure that's enough?"

Aru nodded and got up. "Thank you."

Parvati smiled fondly. "Nobody leaves here without a full stomach."

"You can say that again," Ganesha said. "Am I right, bro?"

Kartikeya nodded. "I completely agree."

Aru had a good night's sleep despite sleeping on the hard floor. The gentle breeze helped her drift off. Piper had crashed much earlier, and Aru found her arms around the other girl when she woke up that morning. She blushed furiously and moved away, careful not to wake Piper.

She looked up. The sun had not yet risen, but sleep was eluding her. Aru walked out of the cave that they had slept in. She was surprised to find Kartikeya and Ganesha, sparring with each other. Ganesha had his axe in hand, and he was trying to fend off blow after blow from Kartikeya's spear.

The fight looked far too serious to just be a sparring session. And it was clear to Aru that although Ganesha was a wonderful fighter, he just couldn't match up to the natural talent of Kartikeya.

Kartikeya landed a series of rapid blows on his brother before knocking Ganesha down. He pinned Ganesha down with his foot and held the spear to his brother's throat. "I should kill you right now," Kartikeya spat.

"Get over it!" Ganesha said. "It was just a little thing, all those years ago. Over the mango and the title of 'first to be worshipped'. Look, you just lost, okay?"

"That's not the damn point!" Kartikeya insisted. "It really isn't! I don't care about the damn fruit, I don't care about the damn title! I organized that bloody thing to prove that you were worthy of it, for heaven's sake! And then everyone was just against me. Dad literally kicked me out!"

He panted, and Aru noticed that he was glowing red. This was getting out of hand.

"I am literally going to kill you right now," Kartikeya said, raising his spear. "My vel will be the last thing you ever feel."

"No, don't do this, brother, please!" Ganesha cried, but it was too late. Kartikeya was about to strike.

Aru leaped out of the bushes and tackled Kartikeya just before he could stab Ganesha. When they both got up, Vajra was in Aru's hands, ready to go. Kartikeya was glowing red.