A MAHABHARATA RETELLING
~~~
All the other flowers in the garden were brought up to envy the rose. Maybe shun it even. And admire it, too.
Unusual ways. Too-red petals, too-sharp thorns, too-sweet fragrance.
If only each flower did not have a mind...
Wise men once said, "Wild winds are death to the candle." A rose by any other name is a scandal.
~The Albatross, Taylor Swift
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Not the very next day, but after a few days, Valandhara had indeed gained the Chief Pandava Queen's audience.
Her hands had trembled with nerves as she had made her way into Indraprastha's most secured, most beautiful inner hallways. Although, inner was the keyword, it was by no way clumsy or any less spacious.
In fact, the further she had walked - escorted by her husband and an elite royal guard - the more beautiful every nook and crevice had gotten. More plants, more and more glass walls and larger windows to let in the sun, more artificial water bodies filled with cultured lotuses, whose fragrance resonated and mixed with what she had earlier identified as the Yojanagandha's own fragrance.
The hallways were even more spacious and the pastel colour theme that graced the lace and satin curtains and tapestries made it all feel like home. Like someone had touched everything with magic and spread the fragrance of home in every corner.
She had passed the ornate doorways to Lady Subhadra's and the Dowager Queen's quarters on her way to that of the Empress's, where elite royal guards stood on high alert. They had bowed to the Pandava prince who had given them nods of acknowledgement.
However, as soon as she had stepped through the doorway of the Empress's personal quarters, she had almost felt a shift in the air.
The Empress's fragrance thickened the air there and it almost felt heavenly. She had seen her husband taking in a long drag of air, greedily breathing in the fragrance, as if it was this air in particular that he sustained on, not any random air.
There was yet another expansive hallway that had two doors to two sides and one at the end of it.
All three doors were open and from within the one to the left wafted out the shrill cries of a child, followed by gentle soothing coos by a feminine voice. She identified that as Subhadra's voice.
Elite guards stood not only at the entrance to the quarters' hallway, but at every door. However, at the door of what Valandhara assumed to be the Empress's private suite, there stood only one guard, contrary to the pair of guards in front of the other doors.
The guard himself had captivating looks - grey eyes that glinted like swords and sharp, cutting features that deceived with their handsomeness. His hair was strangely light in colour - the colour of silver - and it went perfectly well with the rest of his exquisitely fair complexion.
It did not take her long to figure out that he was a foreigner indeed.
He bowed to the second Pandava, who asked him, "Would now be a good time?"
