In the Wake of the War

Chapter 41

When he told Madhav of his decision, of who his choice of person to speak to from beyond the grave was, the man just smiled knowingly at him.

It was a little annoying sometimes, how he seemed to anticipate everything.

Arjun simply asked, "When? And where?"

"Well, the when can be adjusted based to the time it takes for you to reach the where." Madhav replied.

"And that 'where' is?" Arjun asked, suddenly with a terrible foreboding.

"I think you can guess." His best friend said sadly.

"You cannot possibly mean that I have to go to the exact site of his death." Arjun asked, with mounting horror.

Did that mean he would have to stand at the exact place where he had killed his unarmed brother?

And what if he had chosen someone else? Would he have had to step to the exact place within the battlefield Abhimanyu had been slaughtered?(Arjun didn't even know that location.) The exact place he had forced his Pitamaha to lie on that terrible bed of arrows?!

"No!" Madhav said, with a wince. "No, that would be too cruel. But.... I believe there must be some proximity to the initial place of death. The edges of Syamantapanchaka should suffice, I think."

Arjun sighed deeply.

Of course, if he were to talk to his brother, well... There were other people who deserved far more the chance to talk to him. Vrishaketu and the Angarani. And while he wasn't certain how much the rest of his brothers may or may not care for it, Jyesht Yudhishtir would very much desire to speak to him as well..... As well as their mother....

He asked Madhav just that. If he could have other people with him on the journey.

Madhav sighed. 

"The exceptions I make for you, Parth...... Very well. I will do my best. But only if you can be absolutely certain that Angaraaj Karna's spirit would very much want to speak to those people as well."

Arjun almost snorted. Well obviously.

But he supposed this would probably exclude his mother and Jyesht from it.

"Alright." Arjun said. "Alright, but I still can't believe how this could possibly be real!"

Now..... how was he to make his nephew and elder sister-in-law believe that this was real?! Because it might very easily come across as a very horrible, taunting joke.

He didn't think Panchali or Bhrata Bheem would approve of it. Then an argument could start about it with Jyesht Yudhishtir and Mata, supporting him. But then they would want to come and Mata may be terribly hurt by the fact the Madhav said only those other than him who he was sure the Angaraj would definitely want to see could be there and Arjun was pretty certain.... that the man at the very least, did not want to see their mother again. And he couldn't very well take his brother and then refuse to take his mother.

Of course, there was the fact that his late brother's spirit would probably not want to see his killer either but.... well. 

If he could even let Vrishaketu and Angarani Vrushali have a last conversation with him...... Arjun would manage to satisfy himself with simply standing back and observing from a distance, no matter how much he yearned to talk to the man who might have loved him and who he might have loved in another world.

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