"Fate shuffles the cards and we play."
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"They have the Narayani sena; we have Krishna," Arjun tells me, smiling, satisfied with his work. "However, Krishna will not yield any weapons. But he will be by our side."
"Krishna is Narayana himself. Without him, the sena is useless," I tell him, and Arjun nods.
We all know, Krishna is beyond human.
"I hope this war won't make us people we aren't." Arjun says his voice solemn. We all look at him questioningly until Nakul breaks the silence "I don't understand. Care to elaborate?"
"What if war makes us go against our morals, what if we don't win because we can't go against Dharma?" I look at him with a stern glare
"You know what Krishna says, Where there is Dharma there is victory and we have dharma. And more importantly, we have Krishna."
We know the stakes but we know what we stand for and who stands by us.
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I stand with my head high, my hair loose and untied. My husbands move forward but I fix them with a look. They stand by me allowing him to walk towards us.
"Hello grandchildren. How are you sons?"
"Greetings Pitamaha. We have been faring fine as you can see." I tell him, trying to keep my voice devoid of sarcasm and bittereness.
"How have you been?" Yudhisthra says.
"I have been fine children." he says and then sighs, and suddenly he seems older than ever. Time has certainly left it's mark. Ganga's youngest looks worn out and tired even. And my heart can't help but feel sorry for him.
"Grandfather, how are the others?" Bheem questions respectful as ever.
For a minute I wish I could be like him, good at hiding my emotions. But everything I have; from people to experiences has betrayed me at point or the other, other than my children.
"They are fine, children. How are your own? I heard they have grown to be strong brave men."
I smile proudly "That they have." I tell him and then ask "How is mata Gaandhari and Bhanumati? Are they fine?" I ask genuinely concerned. "You know dear, the usual." he says and I sigh at that. Life has been unfair to all the woman in my family. Unfairer than it should be.
"You invited us Pitamaha?" Nakul questions and the grandsire nods closing his eyes "I wanted to see you one last time." 'before we fight against eachother.' are unspoken. But we know this might as well be the last time we see him before we truly are pitted against eachother. Grandfather against his grandchildren. Enemies. I nearly laugh, fate is a cruel game.
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Uttara has fainted and we are all worried sick. Abhimanyu's usual carefree face seems strained and his eyes are filled with worry as he glances at his wife.
Has she worried herself over war, thinking of the worst?
With 14 days to war my husbands and my sons had already started counting down. They trained more than ever now.
Nakul and Sahadeva gently hover over Uttara checking her vitals and so on. "She's pregnant." Nakul says and I let out a laugh in relief. This is extremely good news.
Arjun hugs Abhimanyu and Subhadhra hugs Sudheshna out of relief. My sons congragulate Abhimanyu and tease him.
I run a motherly hand over Uttara's hair, "Your going to be a mother." I whisper.
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Hope you guys liked this chapter. This is a another filler chapter before everything falls.
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Draupadi
Historical Fiction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dharma was the cloth I held closest. I was draped in dharma. No one could ever take that from me. No amount of pu...
