"I thought I can be so powerful, with all the knowledge I had at my disposal I thought I was unstoppable. I thought I would be a force to reckon with. But I overlooked somethings, some things like the air we breathe, unnoticed but so profoundly inextricable from our lives."
In the mellow light of the evening sun trickling in through the canopy of trees, the speaker of the aforementioned words cast a worn down look at the listener.
"Who said you are not? You changed every prophecy, every vision I had."
She laughed ever so softly, it was hard to decipher if it was laced in sarcasm or sorrow. The handsome listener had known her for many years and while he could, for most of the times read her like an open book, each day there would be newer and trickier chapters added to the book. It was hard to keep up but it didn't displeasure him to do so.
"And what has it left us with Sahdev?" she quirked a neatly trimmed eyebrow his way.
"Empty tranquility maybe" he answered, his voice carrying a matching dolefulness as hers. He sighed and idly picked the end of her saari and began scratching off the drying mud clinging to the heavy golden zari works.
"Or a beguiling calm before the battering tempest arrives."
"My visions are blurred now Monami."
Silence churned the moment so quietly save for their long drawn breathes. Both their faces had evidence of being visited by lines of worry and age and eyes that were hazy with old painful memories but also sharp by years of experience.
"Or your headache is making your mind foggy" she answered in a lighter tone, breaking into her characteristic warm smile, "Let me give your head a good massage."
"How do you know?"
"It's something all women possess by birth but even the finest of healers have to learn it in their lifetime" she teased, gently trailing the tip of her index finger on his forehead, "That is astute observation."
"But that may not be proper Monami...."
"You didn't think of propriety when whisking me out here dear Deva"
And she laughed. Sahdev watched, his eyes dancing in admiration for her. She pushed back her head, letting her laughter ripple freely as her chudamani glinted in the soft light creating the appearance of a half sun on her head. Sahadev stared, every element in his body trying to greedily soak in the warmth she exuded just then.
YOU ARE READING
Teardrops on Roses
Historical Fiction"I am the eldest daughter in law of the Kurus and barring my husbands and sons, I await their complete annihilation." "Draupadi please don't do this, please don't say this." "Why?" "Because I am the eldest daughter in law of the Kurus" A Mahabharat...
