Laxita - The Mage's Awakening

24 - These Feelings Aren't Going Away

Veer's POV

After that sparring session with Nakul, I avoided him like plague. I also tried to stay away from Laxita because I didn't want to trouble her. I had already went ahead and provoked Nakul for no reason. The last thing I needed was Nakul accusing me of eyeing his fiancé. I literally had two more years left before graduation and I wanted to spend them in peace.

Spending the days by goofing around with my friends was helping me in nursing my broken heart. But the heart wants what the heart wants. My stomach still fluttered when I caught a glance of her in the premises sometimes. It was as if my heart was not ready to move on.

Months passed and holidays arrived. The University was closed for the festive season and all of us headed home. Despite being away from my mother for the past few years, I still missed her a lot. So, I parted ways from my friends mid-way and headed straight to the Vedashikha Gurukul, which was on the outskirts of the kingdom. I made a mental note to meet the king later. He doesn't show it but he probably misses me.

My mother is a teacher at the Vedashikha Gurukul. When my father was alive, she was a soldier by occupation, personal guard of the queen to be exact but after he was gone, she left her position and started teaching at the Gurukul. There were two reasons for it - (1) Som Nagari was filled with my father's memories which was sometimes too much for her to bear (2) She discovered that she loved teaching young girls.

Vedashikha is a Gurukul which was established by the previous king of Somapura to provide education to the young girls from poor households. It was free of cost for the families who couldn't afford education at prestigious institutions like Gyanadeep.

My mother loved teaching at the Gurukul. I had spent half of my childhood here at Vedashikha and the other half at Som Nagari.

As soon as I reached the gate of Vedashikha, I received a warm welcome from my cute admirers which instantly made me happy. The little girls here liked me very much. Whenever I was home, I taught them a bit of my swordsmanship techniques which they learnt with full interest. After meeting each one of them, I made my way to my mother's cottage.

It was a small cottage but it was all warm homely from inside. My mother was standing with her back to the door doing something. I knocked a few times to get her attention. As soon as she saw me, her face lit up with a beautiful smile. Since, she was a soldier in the past, she can be intimidating at times but as you get to know her, you realize that she's kind and welcoming. She stretched out her arms and I ran to hug her.

"Mera chota Veer kaisa hai?"

("How's my little Veer?)

"Maa, I'm not so little anymore. I am already taller than you."

"For me, you'll always be a little boy."

I smiled and took a seat beside the table. I didn't know for how long we sat there, chatting about the current developments in our lives but it was soon nightfall. I went out and greeted the other Gurumaas as well. They were also very happy to see me. All of them pinched my cheeks and by the end of the day, my cheeks were beet red from their sweet assault.

(Gurumaa - female teacher)

I spent the next few weeks at the Gurukul before making my way to Som Nagari. I promised my mother that I will visit her soon and asked her to take care of herself. She had tears in her eyes when she bid me farewell.

When I reached Som Nagari, I received a grand welcome from the king. He was all too happy to have me back. I saw my two friends, Nitya and Chitrasen yet again. Raghav was a resident of Varshapura so we didn't get to see him during holidays. The three of us spent the rest of the holidays causing trouble in the palace. The queen called us three little troublemakers because whenever the three of us met, we turned the palace upside down. And no, we didn't get any punishment, just a little bit of light scolding that too from the mage association's head, Bhargav ji. He was tired of our tantrums.