Eldest : Karna and Pandava

5.Hope

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Radha was in a dilemma. Will her son leave her now.. he had finally found his birth mother , will he forget her , a mere charioteer's wife . Karna was the son of the queen mother of Hastinapura and was sired by the glorious Suryanarayana. Radha's son was a demigod , and what right did she had to stop him from going with his actual family.

Radha's thoughts were everywhere, she could here the children outside, playing and making a ruckus with all the little squirrels , rabbits , peacocks and several other harmless creatures that visited them often. Their joy was infectious, but nothing could calm her aching heart. 'will her son really leave her.' she thought.

Maa.. Vasusena's voice interrupted her chain of thoughts. She hurriedly wiped the stray of tears that has made a path down her cheeks. Karna noticed it. He didn't needed his mother to say anything to understand her , she was his mother , the one who nurtured him when his birth mother abandoned him , the mother who hugged him closer every time he felt crushed under the weight of the unjust society. She has been with him through everything, and he can't imagine anything in his life without his Radhama , not even a day.

Maa .. this time his voice chocked out a bit , he hugged his mother close , without saying anything else, as tears escaped his amber eyes.
Radha couldn't hold back, she wept in her son's embrace. Her son was now here , and she would think of everything else later. She knows , nonetheless her Radhey was definitely a great son , and she raised him.
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Krishna was consoling an anxious Kunti , who didn't knew what to say to her eldest son. Whom she haven't acknowledged till date and was going to meet him for the first time since she left him in the waves of river Ganges.

What would she tell him ?! That she was afraid?! Does that reason justifies such a heinous act? NO. NO!! he will not forgive her . He shouldn't! She has done a terrible thing to her own child , she deserved nothing less than abandonment from her children. She had wronged all six of them , she had set them apart... She deserved all the taunts ..
Kunti's self criticism took a swelling negative turn . The wheat like complexion of the elderly lady has been painted with red ... She looked like a mess, her forehead was aligned with sweat even when wind whistled past her ears while the chariot raged ahead with a blinding speed.  Her petal like eyes were blotted and red with tears... fresh Salty strays of tears rolled down her soft yet slightly wrinkled face , her knuckles were red due to holding them crossed and closed for too long.
Krishna gently untangled her fingers from themselves and gave it an assuring squeeze.

Bua , I know you are anxious about your children. Being anxious is not gonna help. Trust me, your eldest son is forgiving and understanding. Tell him all your worries, he will decipher it without an ounce of bitterness for you.
Krishna assured his aunt with a sad smile.

Kunti tried to reciprocate a shadow of a smile .
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Vrishsena and Abhimanyu followed the chariot on their respective horses.
The friends had noticed how their grandmother was vulnerable to a point where it was painful for them to even look at her. Abhi has always seen his grandmother as a smiling and peaceful woman.
'Softest of smiles has faced hardest of fates I guess.' Abhi thought.

They entered the forest path in the meantime. Krishna tried to distract his aunt with all the beautiful nature around , he was half successful as well.
Vrishsena gently smiled noticing it.
'They are royals but they seem human as well afterall'. Eldest son of Karna has seen all the hardships his father has to endure. Radhey had shielded his family from all those pathetic excuse of a societal rules, but Vrishsena couldn't shake off the ill feeling that he always felt towards royals except for the royals of Dwaraka.