RUDRADAMINI

Rudra marks Damini

POV Saudamini

Her arrival brought festivities to the kingdom. She seemed like everyone's favorite. The morning she arrived was nothing less than a festival. I could see her through the massive palace gates, riding the majestic white horse. The only woman, leading an entire battalion of men. She had emerged victorious. Sitara told me the previous evening, how she had volunteered to go to the problem hit south, which was no less than jumping to one's death-hole. She had managed to diffuse the situation there with her excellent Raajneeti convinced the Dravidian king to be a part of the Simhakshetra empire, without the loss of a single soldier's life on either side. Her soldiers admired her for it and were ready to die happily for her, I heard.

She alighted the horse and took in all of us standing above the staircase. If she looked tiny from up here, it was soon proven wrong. She was almost 5 feet 11 inches tall, holding a sleek sword effortlessly in her hand and started walking up the stairs. She wore a black kurta, sleeves folded till her forearms and a red dhoti. 

I found myself staring at her intently. She looked incredibly handsome. She had sharp facial features, broad shoulders and I could bet defined abs and biceps. She looked like she'd walked out of a girl's dream hero and stood infront of us. As she bent down to take her father's blessings, I noticed her sleeves moving up her elbow, her forearm bearing bruises and cuts. Looking at them, I winced. She intentionally wore black to hide them. 

How thoughtful of her. 

After Maharaj Rudrabhanu asked her to get some rest, she turned and was talking to her siblings when her sight fell on me. I could feel the blush creeping up my neck to my cheeks. She stared dumbfounded at me, seemingly looking at all of me. Her eyes stayed a little too long on my waist chain and I shifted timidly on my other hip. Her best friend and brothers and sister were already teasing her for looking at me. I blushed hard. I kind of wanted her to keep looking at me. Not stop. 

Her brother introduced each other formally. Rajkumari Rudrashwini Simhika Suryavanshi. She was every bit like her name, I felt. She looked like a fierce warrior, Rudra, while leading her army, reminded me of Lioness with all the cuts on her forearm and a slightly serious one on her neck. I let the name wash over me silently as I repeated it in my mind over and over again. 

My name on her lips felt beautiful. For the most of my life, I was ladoo to my parents and JiJi and Choti JiJi to my siblings. Others formally addressed me as Rajkumari-sa or Rajkumari Saudamini Ranawat. 

For the first time perhaps, someone had taken my name. Only my name, no titles and she repeated it....Saudamini....I felt butterflies in my stomach and goosebumps on my body. 

Her siblings teased her endlessly, finally Jijaji asked us to disperse. During all this, her eyes never left mine. It was as if she was trying hard to conceal at the same time reveal something to me. Her room was in our bhavan, more so, in the floor I was staying, I felt excited for some reason. I turned to leave with Jiji and I could hear her friend asking her if she thought I was beautiful....

Bohot.....I heard and I instantly felt my heart race faster and I walked from there, giddy.

She had sparked an interest for her, in me. I was with Jiji and Sitara almost till the entire evening. I knew people would tease me if I asked anyone about her. Still, I was curious. 

Sitara...why wasn't Kunwarisa with us in kanyapaath?. I asked her slowly. I could see Sitara smiling at Jiji mischievously and smiled back at me. 

Jiji was always interested in the art of warfare and politics. And once when Jiji was 6 years old and Shaurya Bhaisa was 8, Jiji encouraged Bhaisa to go horse riding with her. She stealthily took him to the stables and said to have tamed a giant horse, which was Jiji's current horse's parent. So Bapusa decided to encourage her to pursue things she excelled at; Warfare, politics and stuff. So she attended gurukul with my brothers and guruji himself taught her too, Sitara explained. I was in awe. She had a go getter attitude since the beginning.