One Shots on Mahabharat

9.Author- @Bree_Cloudburst

STEEL
(Part 2)

Subhadra's beauty had held her eyes captive.

With baby blue eyes, a complexion of rose-milk, luscious light brown hair pulled into a beautifulflower-sewn plait, and peach-and-pink gold-embroidered fabric matching her golden jewelry, she was a sight to behold. She had an almost angelic softness to her every feature.

Bheema had flashed her a brotherly smile that she had returned in kind, and Valandhara hadfinally understood why she had been feeling so left out since her arrival at Indraprastha.

She had understood the difference between her husbands' radiant smiles and cold demeanour.

Bheema was a man of the family. His family meant the world to him, and nothing was abovethat. Same was the case of each of his brothers.

They had even pre-planned to marry and share a wife - yes, it was another truth she had learnt.

When Vyasadeva had informed the Pandavas regarding Druapadi's swayamvar, all thePandavas had fallen headfirst for the mere description of such a Goddess on Earth andtherefore, it was a premeditated decision to win Draupadi's hand for all of them at once. Thestory of the mistake was fabricated to meet the standards of the world, and Valandhara had notknown whether to be horrified or awed - in the name of unity.

Indeed, for them family was above all, under any circumstance.

And Draupadi had all of their complete devotion and faith because she had become the deity inthe temple that they called family. She had become the backbone of the family, and Subhadrahad integrated herself into the Pandava family.
Subhadra's kind and welcoming smile had shaken her out of her reverie. She was indeed quitethe beauty. Like an angel on the Earth, and Valandhara had this childish urge to touch her skin
and see if it felt like satin and clouds.

Abhimanyu, as her lady-in-waiting had informed her, had clung to his father's neck the entireevening, rumpling up his blue silken attire, and continued sniffling and repeating only one word
over and again, "Mamma."
The word came out in such pitiful whimpers that Valandhara felt like she herself coul break intotears.

Arjuna continued rubbing his back in a soothing motion and whispering something in his ear,while Subhadra hurried through the hall to do the formalities as the hostess of the reception, inthe absence of the Empress. Arjuna's anxious gaze had followed his wife continuously, even as
she drew Valandhara into a welcoming embrace that made warmth spread through her heart.

"Poor kid, we know exactly what you feel like.", she once heard Nakula say to Abhimanyu with amixture of empathy and humour in his eyes. But Abhimanyu clung to his father's angavastram,his head buried in the fabric.

Bheema's eyes had narrowed, before suddenly all the brothers grinned, as if realizing aninternal joke, while Arjuna helplessly glared at his brothers.
"We better make a perfume of her fragrance if we hope to keep peace with the kids.", she hadheard her husband say half-jokingly, and that's when it had dawned on her.

Abhimanyu called the Empress "Mamma", and was crying because he had been taken awayfrom her for a while. He had been clinging to his father because somehow his clothes carried hisMamma's fragrance.
Valandhara had heard of the Empress being Yojanagandha, and she could not deny that therewere light traces of a strangely human fragrance all throughout the main residential palace ofIndraprastha. She had then known why.