Tantra - a Dwapar yug adventure [Ongoing]

Chapter 9

Dushasan took the colour from the clay pot and walked down the palace hallway to see his mother. Gandhari mata stood up with her thali and applied red powder on her son's face and fed him a cashew sweet. Dushala ran through the entrance and hugged Dushasan from behind, startling the poor brother.

"Ma! This here is the devil not my sister"

"Aha, let's see how this devil drenches you in colour again"

"Children, stop fighting. When will you grow up?"

Tantra hugs Gandhari ma and says "Never!"

Gandhari pulls her cheeks and hugs her, Duryodhan enters the room in a dazed manner. 

"Where were you bhaiya?"

Duryodhan looks up to give a snarky reply to his sister, he realizes that Tantra is present and becomes starstruck.

"Hello? Bhaiya?"

Everyone looks at the now lost Duryodhan in amazement, Tantra smiles looking at the effect she has on him.

"Oh, umm.. nowhere. I was just applying colour on Yuyutsa"

"Ah okay, come on. Let us go eat. I am starving", said Dushasan

Dushasan pulls Duryodhana towards the kitchen, poor Duryodhan kept looking back to see if Tantra was following.

To his disappointment, Tantra was not following him to the kitchen. The girls had decided to venture to the common room where the Pandavas were playing a game called Dhayam.

Bheem signalled them to join their teams, Subhadra joined Yudishtra's team. Arjun happily asked Tantra to join his team to equalise the number of players.

Yudishtra's team took the lead and scored the first few points easily, to their advantage, they had Nakul who got the dice to land on the number they needed luckily. Tantra, Arjun and Sahdev looked at each other worriedly. Tantra whispered a couple of words to the two of them and asked them to follow her lead. Sahdev screamed 'Ladoo!' which caused Bheem to get distracted, Arjun distracted Yudhishtra and Bhadra. Tantra took this opportunity and overturned the board, messing up the game.

The distracted players returned to see the game lost and decided to chase the culprits, Arjun and Tantra ran towards the forest whereas Sahdev ran towards the stable.

Arjun took Tantra's hand in his and pulled her towards a secret entrance leading them to the river. Tantra saw their joined hands and looked up to see Arjun with a glowing smile. He plucked a couple of berries from a nearby tree and folded it into his angvastra, he placed it on the river bank. They dipped their toes into the flowing water and ate the sweet berries. 

Arjun spoke to her about wanting to travel to Dwaraka and see his mother's family amongst other things, Tantra told him that Krishna had written to her saying that he would visit them soon enough.

They enjoyed the scenery for some time before deciding to return to the palace by sunset, they bid each other good night and left for their rooms. Arjun turned back every few minutes to imprint her presence into his memory. She had not turned back but he was determined to show his love for her neverthless.

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Love,

A