Aditha's Queen

Sunset At Sunrise

Kadambur Palace had come to a standstill for a stretch of time in the wee hours. A part of it was wolfishly consumed by flames while the other parts remained serenely calm like a mural. The sun had dawned before the fire was wholly extinguished and every one of the palace inmates was woken up to the sad reality that they had lost the crown prince and co-ruler of the Chola kingdom to sabotage by arson. His queen and baby son had also perished with him. All that remained in the crown prince's chamber were bones, ashes, tarnished and distorted ornaments strewn here and there, stone floors, walls, pillars, ceilings and sturdy metal structures.  And inside a metal vault, Aditha's chola manimagudam and  his love letter written by Nandini in its metal casing stood intact and untouched by the fire.

Never had a tragedy of this magnitude struck the chola royal family before. Sambuvarayar went into a state of shock. Gandhamaran was in disbelief and denial. The crown prince's security chief was suicidal as he assumed responsibility for failure to protect the future king. They did all that was humanly possible to protect the crown prince, didn't they? Did they somehow miss a long-brewing and deep-seated conspiracy? Had they unknowingly nourished perpetrators and were bearded in their own den in the end? How were they going to reveal this heartbreaking news to the king?

Nevertheless, the security chief and Gandhamaran proceeded to Thanjai with the devastating news.

Parthiva and Dharini arrived at Kadambur Palace with their son in the morning. They had visited Ponmaligai to check on Nandini in the late afternoon the previous day and had come to know of everything that happened from Niraimadhi and Poongodhai. They had panicked that something was gravely wrong and had immediately started to Kadambur. But they had to stop overnight at a travellers' inn due to the pitch darkness of the night.

Parthiva swooned as soon he heard the heart-wrenching news and regained consciousness only after some time. Dharini was inconsolable after she knew what happened to Aditha, Nandini and Kannan. Parthiva lost his dearest friend and only brother. How could anyone have killed my invincible Aditha if not by treachery? Aditha's death was more painful to him than his mother's death. Dharini had lost her best pal and sweetest sister. Nandini, my dear! What will i do without you? Mahendra too had lost his little best friend. The couple lamented and wept their eyes out. Their only solace, if there could be any, was that the lovely family passed away together. Parthiva and Dharini realised that life in Kanchi would never be the same again without their dear Aditha, Nandini and Kanna.

Madhurantakan arrived in Kadambur with his family in the afternoon. He had started from Thanjai in the morning to see his newborn son and to celebrate his naming ceremony. He had not even imagined that Aditha would visit Kadambur; to know that he was killed in Kadmbur was a bolt out of the blue. He now knew that the divine will was for Aditha to die young and for himself to ascend the throne because of that. He felt sad but he had the spiritual disposition to view life as a transitory existence. And he never got to see Nandini after knowing that she was his biological sister.

Sundara Chozhar and Vanavan Maadevi were sitting on the throne when they received the traumatic news of their eldest son deceasing along with his queen and son in a deliberately lit fire at Kadambur palace. The parents wailed pathetically and uncontrollably. Arulmozhi, Kundavai and Vandiya Thevan, who had moved to Thanjai to stay until Vanathi's childbirth, were summoned to the royal court. They rushed to the court and heard the unbelievable news. The family wailed, whimpered, wept and cried in pain.