Vakṣaṇī Dharmā : The Song of Mahabharat

7| Clashes of Words

"Woman are not allowed in the training fields". Duryodhan walked in with his mace in his hands much to the annoyance of the Pandavas except Yudhishthir. The latter smiled and greeted him, "Pranaam Bhrata Duryodhan".

"Pranaam", he greeted back but Mrithika doubted it was anything but genuine.

He looked over haughtily back to Mrithika and said, "What is she doing here, that too with a weapon? Didn't your household teach you that women aren't allowed here"?

Mrithika gritted her teeth but gave him a strained smile and replied bluntly, "Oh pardon me and no they did not."

Duryodhan scoffed and retorted, " Of course they won't because they're not royal in the first place. You were obviously lying, Rajkumari".

"That's it, Duryodhan! You better apologise to Mrithika", Bheem said angrily, storming over to the Kaurava only to be stopped by Yudhishthir.

"Me? And apologise? For what, for revealing the truth? I've seen her around the palace for the past ten days and she's anything but a royal. Her behaviours do not match that of a princess at all, talking back to the elders, roaming around with Arjun, Sahadev and Nakul, calling them by their names and not titles, and now this!" He taunted, pointing at the bow at Mrithika's hands.

"And what about you Bhrata Duryodhan? You think you act royal much? It's obvious that Rajkumari Mrithika is from Kalyug and it's perhaps that in her timeline things must have changed, why do you care about it?" Sahadev shot back and it was probably the only time Mrithika saw him that angry, he was usually calm and composed like his elder brother.

"Oh really? We only know her as a princess by her words. What if she's from another caste and is just lying to us for equal status? You being the wisest of the Pandavas should know that better than us".

"Mind your tongue, Duryodhan. Madhav had himself clarified her origins to us then why should we believe that she's lying? And for your information, we were the ones who asked her to call us by our names instead of calling us by our titles, she still calls Jyesth as Yuvraj if you have doubts", Arjun jumped to her defence, his tone sharp as knife.

"It's true and we were the ones who invited her to the training grounds, so you have no right to ask about it", Nakul answered.

Mrithika knew where it will go next. The smug look on Duryodhan's face at the ensuing chaos conveyed a lot. She nearly forgot how he was the Ansh of the demon Kali. The demon of her yuga. And she had enough experience of how horrible the era is, but one thing was for certain.

Only a Kalyugi knows how to deal with Kali.

"Enough everyone," Mrithika's mellifluous voice stopped their commotion abruptly, she turned towards Duryodhan and smiled sickly sweet. The smile immediately gave Nakul and Arjun the jitters because they knew the storm it hid behind it's calm.

"Honestly, I don't care what you think. You believe that I'm a Rajkumari or not is none of my interest, I don't have to prove it to anyone. And if you are so concerned about one's caste, then why did you make Karn, the Sutputra, the King of Ānga? He's not exactly of royal birth nor does he know any etiquettes and yet you made him your best friend....or! What about Guruputra Ashwatthama? Even he was not a royal until he became the King of Uttar Panchāl yet you consider him as your friend"? Mrithika fired back, not giving even a gap for the Kaurava to answer back. The look she held after seeing Duryodhan's dumbfounded face was of pure satisfaction.

"Um — I— well", he spluttered before clearing his throat when he heard Nakul and Sahadev snickering , "Āngraj Karn is a proficient archer and that's why I decided to give the kingdom of Ānga to him."