The King's Shield

Chapter 31 - The Old Home

The moment she realised he might be getting ready to barrage her with questions, she managed to slip away. She was not ready to face him. The journey itself was tiring enough.

Bhumi letting them inside and letting them stay was a little bit of a shock to her. Three years is a long time. The slaps were deserved, she thought, it could have gone much worse.

She came downstairs and picked up a lamp that was kept at the end of the stairs. Three years... it had been three years since she'd seen this place. Not much had changed. The same old walls, same floors, windows and doors, the familiar smell, baskets and nets, spears and harpoons were kept neatly at the end of the main room. She grazed her palm across the wall, the known texture felt homely. She walked around the entire house, guilt weighing down her heart.

Bhumi and Varah had accepted her into their family when she was fifteen years of age and she had experienced love and security for the first time in her life. This place was her fort, no judgments and no inhibitions had restricted her here. For the first time, she had experienced what her life would be like living among the people who loved her and cared for her. And she loved them dearly.

She walked towards the dimly burning hearth at the end of the room. The area beside it was warm and cosy. She lay there on a rug, curled up and felt like she was home.

The sun shone bright on her in the morning, she didn't know when she had slipped into slumber. She was still curled up near the hearth but someone had covered her with a blanket. She sat up, stretched and looked around, there was no one. She folded the blanket and kept it neatly aside. Bhumi was a neat freak, a little disarray of things, and she would take a fierce form; Shiva wouldn't dare to cross her. She washed herself and freshened up. A sense of ease permeated throughout her after a long time.

When she looked out of the window she saw the king was near the cow shed. What was he doing there? She hurried her way out. He was sitting near a cow and looked confused.

" My king, what are you doing here?" She asked.

" Bhumi put me up to this," he said.

" Have you done this before?" She bent down to him and asked.

" Do I look like I have milked a cow before?" He asked, frowning at her. Accidentally he spurt milk on her face. " Sorry, I didn't... It was an accident." He said and scrunched his nose.

" Then why didn't you tell her the truth?" She said wiping her face with her palm.

" After I woke up, I came downstairs to look for you but you were fast asleep near the hearth. So, I didn't wake you. And I, umm, couldn't say no to her ... honestly, I am a little terrified of Bhumi. I don't know her enough to gauge her reaction if I denied her. " He confessed.

" What?" She couldn't believe it.
" You? The King... Afraid of her?" She raised her eyebrows. There was another spurt of milk on her face.

" Now that was...on purpose." He smirked at her. He had decided to vex her this early in the morning.

She was exasperated and stood up straight wiping her face. She opened her mouth but couldn't say anything.

" When did you wake up?" She heard a child's voice behind her. She turned to find, little Ravi and Raji standing behind her.

" A little while ago," she said. She knelt and called both of them for a hug. "Look at you, you have grown so tall," she said, looking at the boy.
" Do you remember me, Raji?" She asked the girl standing a few steps away from her.

The boy immediately hugged her.
" Why did you leave? I asked Mother every day, and I asked her when you were coming. She did not tell me. You didn't tell me that you were leaving," he asked. He looked adorable, he hadn't changed. Leaving them was the hardest part for her. When she had left them, she thought about both of them for days. Raji was only three, so she might not have remembered her, but Ravi was five years old. And from his reaction, she guessed that he was upset with her.