(SEVEN YEARS LATER)
Seven years had flown by in a flurry of joyous and bustling memories. States have withered, families have extended, people have accepted the flow of 'change'
Yet in the course of it all, Rajputana stood untouched, unbothered... Its lanes enhanced by the lingering spirit of the Mewar festival.
The palace was full for that one time of the year when it all reunited.
Drucilla sat beside her mother gently fanning the three boys sitting in a line, their plates full.
Dev was the oldest among them, then sat Kartik Drucilla's only child, and at last sat the youngest of ma-sa's grandchildren, Randheer... the name given after a brave ancestor Shefali had heard a lot of stories about here.
The quietest was Kartik, the silenced was the youngest for his ever-talking nature and the respectful was the oldest.
Quite a combination.
Shefali had started this ritual of having food on the clean pavement in near contact with the land and air. The reasons she gave were true but what she didn't say was that she missed eating that way like she did in her family house. Luckily no one asked any further.
"You two, come back here!"
Shefali's voice echoed from within the palace door as the sound of anklets showered with the escape of the two daughters, running hand in hand.
The girls' laughter pleased the elderly while they stood under the sun, catching their breath and waiting for their mother to catch up with them.
"I will punish you now, no more running"
Shefali said, tucking her saree's anchal on her waist for the fifth time now. Eshant could not bring the proper cotton saree from the exporters like she asked him to... Anyway.
"They are grown enough to eat on their own. Why do you take so much trouble?"
Drucilla asked shaking her head lightly at the mother holding the plate of food approaching the girls to sit tight.
"Only if she listened. Or the girls"
Ekta said gently walking out of the door, sliding down beside Ma-sa holding her one-year-old son.
Drucilla shook her head at the remark with a smile eyeing the girls for the last time before getting back to fanning.
"Not like I get to have them both with me all year. Let me love them as much as I can"
Shefali said feeding Eashwara.
"Don't pamper Ekansha. She is already turning spoilt"
Ekta said about her own daughter.
The little Ekansha frowned at Shefali to check if she agreed.
"No one is as quiet and as well-behaved as my Eka"
Shefali said feeding an extra piece of sweet to her.
"Eashwara runs and she copies that"
Shefali said pinching her own daughter's cheek gently.
Eashwara laughed as if agreeing.
"Sorry Shefali, but my Dev has to get the credit for the most behaved of all"
Ekta said smiling at her favorite nephew, the first child she ever cradled.
"There is no going back on that"
Drucilla agreed standing up with the empty plate to bring some more chapattis.
"Me?"
Randheer asked in his broken language.
"For the moment, the latest of all"
Ma-sa said finally taking his plate and feeding him the rest.
The women laughed and so did the children.
Randheer was three years younger than Eashwara and two years younger than Kartik.
The men of the palace were out in the jungle.
Since Satyendra did not enjoy that, he has found himself a better spot in the palace, the bundle of books about astrology which once were owned by Eshant.
"Ma?"
Eashwars asked when everyone had left for their chambers.
"Yes?"
Shefali was on her way to wash her hands after the children were done eating.
"All of my cousins are going out to the village fair today"
She started.
"And?"
Shefali asked even when she knew what came next.
"Can I not sit with Acharya ji (teacher) today?"
The little girl hesitated.
"No Eashwara. On account of the festival, you have already not learned the third set of letters with him last week"
Shefali said turning away to turn back at her again.
"And do not try to run away again. I will not hide it from choti dadi-sa (Bindiya) this time"
Shefali threatened knowing the only person her daughter was scared of was Bindiya and her silent treatment.
"Please..."
She pleaded.
"Study today and no more lessons from tomorrow for a week"
Shefali explained politely seeing the group of children awaiting a judgment in the corner.
"No one has to do it other than me"
Eashwara puffed her cheeks.
"Bhaiya does"
Shefali said talking about Dev.
"Only he does... Kartik bhaiya-"
Eashwara could not finish.
"He will be an excellent swordsman"
Shefali tried.
"Why can't I be a swordsman instead?"
She asked in despair not knowing the weight of the words, the privilege she was given, unlike anyone in the village.
"Because you are going to be the Queen. No one wants an unlearned queen"
Shefali said.
"And an unarmed queen?"
Eashwara's seven-year-old brain thought of something Shefali had not considered earlier.
Shefali thought before words came out on their own.
"How about both?"
Three words.
The three words that paved the way for a future that was not welcome yet had no choice but to.
A/N
I tried, guys. I TRIED. I really don't know how to write an epilogueeeee😭
The next part will disclose a bit about the plot of the next book🪷
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𝟏𝟓𝟐𝟗: 𝐀 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐣𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐚| Indian Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 Ⅰ 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐀𝐉𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐈-𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐀 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘 Shefali Roy had lost her parents in a pandemic when she was just one year old. That was the first time she was orphaned. The next time she was orphaned was when she was seventeen. The army of...
