Ephemera- Of Fire and Ash

Journey to Hastinapur

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You said I have to trust more freely
But diesel is desire
You were playing with fire

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"We have an invitation for dice from hastinapur." Karna announced as they all gripped their seats nervously. The room of the atmosphere changed quickly as they looked at each other, hoping one would speak up. When no one did, Karna looked at yudhishthira hoping he had something in mind.

Feeling the piercing gaze of his elder brother, yudhishthira squirmed in his seat. Sometimes, he wished he wasn't the decision maker. 

"Yudhishthira what do you say about this?" Karna asked him in a gentle voice.

"I don't know Bhaiya. I have no idea." Yudhishthira voiced his confusion as his 4 younger brothers and elder brother stared at him, if he had no idea, what were they supposed to say? 

"What do you think anujo?" Yudhishthira asked his younger brothers to voice up their opinion. 

"I say we must reject it." Bheem said firmly, nothing was going to change his decision. The affirmation in his voice assured that. "I don't even see the need of discussing this. I don't trust Duryodhan." Bheem continued.

"He could have anything up his sleeve, we have no idea. It is just not safe." Arjun said frowning when he noticed yudhishthira wasn't ready to decline.

"I have a feeling it has something to do with dhriti." Sahadev whispered softly making everyone's eyes go wide. Everyone fell silent and kept their eyes turned from their brother's face. Yudhishtira frowned. But they avoided his gaze, dhriti's mystic disappearance affected him a lot.

"They have to be linked, it can't be a coincidence that she disappears and then we get such a invitation." Nakul said slowly gauging every reaction in the room.

Slowly, Yudhishthira said, "Surely, the game of dice is the crux of this invitation. And I fear it will tear the sons of Dhritarashtra and the sons of Pandu further apart."

"How can you still worry about them bhaiya, You are being too soft hearted, they are here hatching a treacherous plan and you are worried about us and our cousins growing distant?" Arjun said frustrated.

"It's called compassion arjun. Look up its meaning in the dictionary." Yudhishthira snapped back running a hand through his hair. He had no idea why he suddenly felt so frustrated as he took deep breaths to calm himself down. Maybe hunger was making him feel frustrated, maybe the thought of hastinapur having dhriti or likely a mixture of both.

"This dice game will ruin us. You have no idea what they are capable of." Karna said staring at yudhishthira. 

"It will, but we have to go. I am a ksatriya, I cannot refuse an invitation to to dyut." Yudhishthira whispered staring at sahadev.

"They did not hesitate to kill us by burning us or giving us a barren land to make a kingdom, I fear what their next step will be." 

"You are not obliged to go there bhaiya. You are no vassal of Dhritarashtra's and a son need obey his father only if the father treats him as he should. Dhritarashtra has not treated us like his sons." Sahadev said trying to stop his elder brother.  But it was vain.

"I know this will ruin us, but some decisions are not in my hands We should go and-" Yudhishthira hesitated here "And it is fine if you don't want to go there, I must go, even if it has to be alone." He decided. Now, it wasn't their brother speaking but the king speaking and nothing they could do can change his decision.