Dhruv Tara: An End To a Long Wait

Chapter 12 - The quiet before the strike

Bhabosa was standing in the courtroom, besides the throne. A smug expression on her face. The ministers sitting on their usual designated places, with few more audience as well, some guests. The palace was a little more decorated than usual. There were soldiers too, guarding the throne, the crown, the courtroom. Some she knew, some looked different than the usual courtroom guards, too many of them, too. She couldn't see Sona and Chandi there. They were with Shaurya, she assumed. This time, even Sona Chandi seemed to be much more mellowed down. They both understood it too. To her surprise, they had tried to help her. As much as they dared, they had tried to talk to Bhabosa, but she would not listen to a word. Meenakshi couldn't believe this was her mother.

She couldn't help but think of just how much this situation was hurting so many people. Messing up with so many lives. Just today, Bhabosa had almost killed Dhruv! And this wouldn't have been the first time his life had come in danger.

Meenakshi kept controlling her anger, and her desperation to stop it. She had tried. Tried her level best to convince Bhabosa and to stop her from doing this. But Bhabosa had gone beyond it all. No one could possibly reason with her at this point. She had always tried to understand Bhabosa's feelings, her situation. They all had. Even Dhruv. Everytime, they all had been very considerate. Forgiving her for all of her deeds. But this was going too far.

She had tried to find Shaurya, too. She was shocked when Bhabosa said Shaurya was willingly ready for the Rajyabhishek. That too without any involvement from any of them, even Tara. Something was fishy. What had Bhabosa told him? Did Shaurya know of what was going on? Of what Bhabosa was doing. It didn't look like that. One thing she knew for sure, the child was confused. He was being pulled from all sides, dragged into all this mess for no fault of his. Getting dragged into all this politics because of the adults around him, were making all the wrong decisions. Being too involved in their egos and ideologies, principals and politics, to notice how it was affecting the child.

When she had tried to meet Shaurya, she was taken aback when the guards outside had stopped her from even entering. Those were Bhabosa's most trusted guards. She had tried ordering them, requesting them, but still none.

Dhruv and Tara had come there too, to talk to Shaurya, she assumed. While Dhruv stood behind, Tara went ahead and tried to enter the room, to take him with her but the guards had stopped her too.
"Hume abhi issi kshan Shaurya banna se milne diya jaaye.", she ordered.
The guards didn't move.
"Kya aap jaante nahi hum kaun hai? Ranisa hai hum. Humare aadesh ka paalan kiya jaaye."
They still wouldn't budge.
"Hume Bhabosa ke sakht adesh hai, Yuvraj ko kisise milne na diya jaaye. Aapse bhi nahi", one of the guard stated.
"Aapka itna dussahas, ki aap hume humare putra se nahi milne denge!", she said, absolutely seething.
She was left aghast and furious when they absolutely did not budge, and refused to let her meet her son.
Hearing the commotion, Sona and Chandi came out towards the door. Tara told them to get Shaurya out.
"Shaurya banna ko humare paas leke aaye", she demanded.
They had something to say, they seemed hesitant at first. When Tara called them again they finally responded.
"Shaurya banna bhi aapse milne se inkaar kar rahe hai.", Sona said, hesitant.
Tara was stunned hearing that. She couldn't believe it. She, yet again demanded she be let in the room, even more so now that Shaurya had said that. But to no avail.

While Tara was left seething with the whole encounter, Meenakshi couldn't help but find it a tiny bit interesting, watching it all play out. She knew it was wrong, but it was ironic, wasn't it. She saw Dhruv standing behind, and it got more cemented. Hadn't Tara kept his son away from him, too. And here she was, being stopped from meeting him, too. What goes around , comes around, she had heard. She was worried of the situation, and felt bad for both Dhruv and Tara, but she couldn't help but think that of it.

Meanwhile, Dhruv stood behind, looking over it all. He wasn't acting out, saying anything, not really doing anything at all. He looked worried, but not really shocked by the happenings. He had a look on his face which said he had something in his mind. His brain was running at a high speed. She looked at him, and he met her eyes for a moment. And something in his eyes was reassuring to her. There was one person here, who was in control and it gave her hope.

So currently, she stood there, watching the proceedings. The preparations were almost done. And they were soon going to start with rituals.

Rajpurohitji announced the muhurat was near. He told Bhabosa they needed to start with the rituals soon.
"Shighra kijiye Bhabosa. Yuvraaj ko shighra bulaiye anyatha shubh muhurat nikal jayega", he stated, with an urgency.
"Ji Rajpurohit ji, abhi bulvate hai unhe."
Bhabosa ordered a nearby soldier to go call Sona Chandi and tell them to get Shaurya here. The guard, weirdly, seemed to take his own sweet time to leave. And then, took quite some time to return as well. When he did not return, Bhabosa ordered another one to go get Shaurya, and something similar happened. She was getting increasingly frustrated. She was just about to leave herself to get him, when Sona and Chandi showed up, bringing a now ready Shaurya. Shaurya looked very hesitant, like he didn't know what to do. Like he knew he didn't want to do this, or that something was amiss.

They slowly advanced towards the throne, and Shaurya kept looking back towards the door. As he sat there, Rajpurohitji started with be rituals and continued the puja. It took sometime, and then Rajpurohitji asked Bhabosa to proceed with Shaurya's crowning. Bhabosa started to go pick up the crown.

Meenakshi stood there, controlling her anger and desperation. Right now, she had to wait. But she was getting worried now. She knew she had to wait for the right time. The right time for when...

"Bas... Ruk jaiye Bhabosa!"