Hope Embodied | ✔

05 | Aftermath and Battles Begun

She laid where he had left her, naked and empty under the cold covers. It had been two days since she had paid the ultimate price to her captor, but she had not moved from when he left the chambers; despite the growling ache in her stomach and parched lips.

She simply laid back, mind empty yet swirling with a storm of thoughts that what remained of her will could not pierce. It was as though a hazy fog had descended on her, preventing her from feeling naught but an emptiness in her soul, as though in claiming her body, he had ravaged her soul and mind too.

"Jiji! Jiji, open the doors please!"

The worried voice of Aaradhika echoed from behind the doors, as there was a pounding on the doors not unlike the pounding of her heart and mind. Her sisters must have realised her absence the next morning after he...

And they had come in search of her once it was safe to do so.

A warm but faint feeling of sororal love bubbled up in her heart, and she found the strength to do what she had not been able to do previously, smile.

Past parched lips and a dry throat, she called back, "I am here, sisters."

There was suddenly a silence behind the doors.

"Jiji?"

She forced herself to be louder despite the hollow way air rushed in through her dry lips.

"I am here, I will be out soon. Give me some time."

"But Jiji, are you okay—"

There must have been someone taking Aaradhika's hands to silence her.

"We will await you, Jiji."

The soft footfalls seemed to fade away all too quickly. A sickening dread overcame the haze in her mind, and she rose from her sleeping position on the bed, only to be met by a blinding dizziness that took over her.

When she returned to herself enough to process her surroundings, the lush carpets beside her on the floor were stained with her vomit. Her head throbbed as she threw the blankets off of her, slowly making her way to the bathing chamber. With shaking hands, she prepared a bath for herself, instantly feeling unclean. Upon soaking herself in the lukewarm water, she sat there, numb for some time.

Then the tears came, and in the swirling tempest of emotions within her, she began to furiously rub at her skin with the soap, especially in the places where he had touched her. Her skin soon began to turn red from the incessant rubbing, especially given that the soap was not gentle at all.

With a cry of ununderstandable emotions, she threw the soap across the chamber, where it hit the wall and slid down in a bubbly mess.

The tears slid burning against her cold face, dropping into the clear water with an echo of drips.

The sudden sound of footfalls behind her made her panic, a heedy scent of him suddenly filling her nose. She stayed absolutely still, her eyes flitting from side to side and ears catching the lowest of sounds. But the footfalls were not the heavy steps of Narakasura, but rather the delicate and pained light steps of one of her sisters.

"Jiji?"

It was the soft voice of Aaradhika, her silks rustling as she bent beside her. She met the pained gaze of her sister, who had taken a single glance at her naked body and the haunted expression on her face and understood immediately.

Tears filled Aaradhika's eyes as she pressed a trembling hand to her mouth to prevent her sobs from escaping.

"Why, Jiji? Why did you have to do it?"

Seeing her sister's heart torn in two, she grasped Aaradhika's hands, who immediately squeezed her hand in return, the tears still rolling down both faces.

"I—I had to. It was for you all, my sisters."

"How much more will you sacrifice for us?"

She let a small smile slip on her face.

"As much as needed. My very life, if need be."

Aaradhika's eyes widened and she placed a finger on her lips, shaking her head.

She simply smiled a little more.

"I love you all so very much, you know."

And somewhere inside her, a little bit of her broken heart healed.

*****

The fortress had been thrown into chaos in the two days she had been away. After filling her stomach and reassuring her sisters that she was alright, she felt stretched as she began to hunt for new information that would update her.

She knew she was not alright, as every time someone's touch would brush past her, she would stiffen in memory; or when she was allowed a few moments alone the waves of guilt and self-loathing would crash onto her mind like a storm. But she pushed away her own pain to focus on the task at hand, her sisters were not free yet.

Currently, she stood above a cowering servant which was shaking miserably at the power in her voice.

"Tell me, foolish servant, what has thrown the palace into such chaos? Else I fear I shall have to take you before your master and order him to punish you. What is your choice?"

In a shaking but still harsh voice it spoke up.

"Krishna Vaasudeva of Dvaraka has been marching against our army, word has reached us too late. The spies were too discrete when they took the response of my master back to the enemy. We are preparing for battle, lady."

Krishna, she whispered the name in the corners of her mind, and suddenly she stood taller with power unknown.

"Good. Now, you shall scamper away and pretend that this conversation never occurred. Be forewarned again, servant. If word comes to me that you have breathed of this conversation to aught a living thing again, I will ensure you die a gruesome death. And do not believe that I as a lady do not hold sway over spies."

It bowed its head and sneaked away, the halls instantly eerily silent.

Back within the chambers of the women, the news spread as quickly as an inkblot does across paper.

"We may yet be saved!" and "Joy, joy to our saviours!" were heard echoing throughout the room again.

She took a deep breath. She hated to shatter the hopes of her sisters, but she needed to warn them.

"My sisters, please hearken to me. We may have ascertained that Krishna Vaasudeva will not keep us in captivity as our captor has, but there is still the matter of him being defeated. Our captor has a boon of near immortality that none should be able to kill him except his mother. And his mother is BhuDevi herself, and unless her incarnation takes pity on us and wishes to free us, this will not end well for us. I do not mean to destroy your hope, but you must be aware of this fact."

She noted that many were nodding, understanding the wisdom of her words.

But suddenly, a loud conch noise reverberated through the halls, startling the women but a pious hope rose in their hearts, as the vultures above cried out in dismay.

The conch sound of Vishnu alone is said to arouse a pious hope in the pious and righteous people's heart, and cause dismay and fear in the unrighteous.

"The battle is begun!" one gasped.

"To the highest towers then, my sisters! Pray, pray to every god that you know that our captor be defeated!"

Her feet found her racing to the highest towers that had a clear view of the fortress' ground and beyond, the name of their saviour and the conch sound echoing in her mind, bringing her hope anew that they would be saved.