Sudeshna Sut Pranayani

Everything is going to be fine

Vedangi glanced intently at the bracelet in her right wrist once again. "Yuvrani.. Yuvrani" Ardhika's voice made her startle. She smiled to hide the embarassment as she had zoned out, while in a conversation. "Yuvrani, the Vaidyaas who were teaching medicine since past week" Ardhika introduced a group of women. Vedangi greeted them with a smile.

"Yuvrani, we would take couple of weeks more to complete the workshop" their leader spoke.

"How are the twenty girls from our palace doing? I hope they are learning well" she enquired. Sudeshna had entrusted her with the responsibility of looking after the medical workshop, organised especially for girls and women.

"Sorry to disturb you Yuvrani, but Maharani had asked for your presence in her meeting hall, immediately" A soldier announced from the door.

"Ardhika, look after them, serve them some refreshments. I would be back in a while" she instructed Ardhika and left after greeting them with a polite smile.
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As Vedangi entered the meeting hall, she saw few important ministers seated in the hall. Hushed whispers echoed in the hall, Vedangi greeted them with joined palms and walked towards her designated seat. The seat besides her was empty today,the person for whom the seat was designated, her Shvet hasn't returned from Chandrapur yet and Vedangi had no idea, why did he leave for Chandrapur without informing her on the day of her baby shower.

"Attention! Maharaj Virat and Maharani Sudeshna are entering" whole hall stood in respect for the king and queen, so did Vedangi, but whom she saw behind them made her grin with happiness. Shvetketu, Shvet and Shankh entered the hall, following Virat and Sudeshna. As their eyes met, Shvet smiled reassuringly at her. Shvet and Sudeshna exchanged glances and greeted the ministers. Vedangi could make out from their expressions that something was wrong.

As Shvet sat on the his designated seat, besides her, she wished to throw her arms around him and ponder questions. But she masked all her emotions and smiled formally, expressing everything with her eyes. Shvet glanced at her with affection and brushed his fingers over her palm.

"Greetings to everyone present here. Few days ago, there was an attack on the frontier villages of Matsya Desh, the villages that share border with Kulinda desh" Sudeshna rose from her seat and addressed the hall. "Yuvraj, Rajkumar and some others visited these villages and they found out that Kulinda is planning an attack on our Matsya" Virat finished what Sudeshna had started.

Hushed whispers ran across the hall, curiosity was now replaced with concern. Vedangi caressed her bump and glanced at Shvet, who seemed lost in his thoughts.

"Just few days ago, Matsya was celebrating,but now we have to prepare for a war. Our spies have brought the information the Kulinda had started gathering their forces so we all should start training our soldiers, do you all agree?" Sudeshna asked. There was pin drop silence in the hall, all ministers kept glancing at each other with concern, disturbed by the sudden shock.

Shvet exchanged glances with his mother and father "Matsya is our motherland, our mother and we all owe the responsibility to protect our mother, our motherland. If we don't start preparing for the war now, the enemy would keep getting stronger. Are we all together in this?"A few seconds of silence was followed by a loud echo of "Yes!"

" Let's pledge to protect our mother and our motherland!" Shankh said raising from his seat. Vedangi kept staring at this, caressing her belly. Their child was to be born in two months and a a grave danger was hanging over the Kingdom! Tears blurred her vision, but she quickly blinked them away and forced a smile on her face, her hand clutching her belly tightly.
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Shvet glanced at the setting sun with exhausted eyes. The meeting continued for three hours straight, responsibilities were distributed. Vedangi and Sudeshna were currently discussing how to lower the expenses, so that adequate amount is spent on the war and it's preperation. Vedangi had took upon herself the responsibility to prepare the healer's team. The medical team that was called from Shivi for a small workshop was asked to prepare the women's team of healers and were asked to to call more of their team members.

Vedangi had took upon herself to supervise the workshop and organise qualification exams. She too was going to learn basics of healing to help in time of need, inspite of Sudeshna asking her not to do so. Shvet has took upon him the responsibility to protect the capital and the palace. He considered it was his responsibility as he was the Yuvraj.

"Yuvraj, your food" the dasi announced from the door. "Keep it on the table, I'm not much hungry" he replied nonchalantly and ran his fingers through his hair. He was tired from the long travelling and meetings, but he had to work more hard to protect the kingdom now!

He was about to get up, when he felt a hand run over his hair, he knew who it was. Shvet hugged Vedangi's waist tightly. "I am sorry, sorry for leaving without informing you" he mumbled. Vedangi smiled amidst her tears, "I understand" she rocked his head affectionately.

"I would not let anything happen to our Matsya, our family or our child, I promise" he held her hand, meeting her gaze. For a minute no words were heard, eyes did all the talk. "I trust you. I trust you with my everything. And being your ardhangini, I am with you, always! We would not let any harm befall our Matsya" she held his hands more firmly.
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Hey, my lovely readers, the next part is here.
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