MAJOR REWRITING !!
Kaivalya Bannerjee and Mariam Baluch have dreamed of joining ARCANE-the most prestigious and secretive council of historians, archaeologists, and agents-since they first learned of its existence.
When they finally get their chance...
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"Who is Jodha Bai?" Kaivalya asked for the hundredth time.
"I don't know," Mariam replied, also for the hundredth time.
The air conditioner at Starbucks did nothing to cool their nerves as they sat sweating with files, papers, and laptops in front of them. The aspiring historian and her loyal assistant, who once had a glint in their eyes as they typed happily on their laptops and sorted files, now played with the straws of their drinks, eyes droopy and gloomy.
Kaivalya Banerjee was an aspiring historian with two degrees and a PhD to her name. A Nalanda University graduate, she now swatted imaginary flies while her hijabi counterpart yawned with tears flowing from her eyes.
Mariam Baluch had shaken hands with Abdul Kalam and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. One gave her a prestigious award for her thesis about the Indus Valley civilization, and the other asked her what Khilji looked like during those days. She, too, was a Nalanda University graduate, hailing from Agra.
Despite their current frustration, both had dreams that flowed like a river. Their common goal? To become members of ARCANE.
In this universe, the world is different from ours. Kaivalya's world is still ruled by monarchs despite being in modern times. After fighting off the British oppressors in a deadly Fourth Battle of Panipat in 1945, twenty years after the colonizers attacked, the kingdoms decided to create a chain system of government to rule the whole country as one.
Yet the states remained as kingdoms with names different from our world's. India remained India, but the landscape, states, and many things changed. It wasn't democratic. The country itself was ruled by a board of government formed by the rulers of the kingdoms; their mutual agreements and disagreements happened in Darbar meetings at the country's capital, Pataliputra.
