The Village Girl

Chapter Seventeen - [Seetha]

I figured that things would not be the same once my parents found out about Aaryan... but it still came as a shock to me. Even a month later, no one, except my father, had come to completely accept that he was the Prince, and to be honest, even I didn't know what that meant.

They knew I wasn't lying... but maybe they hadn't accepted it yet.

My father had ordered that we do not talk about it outside of the family. It would bring too much attention, something my father did not want. He said he only wanted to have to deal with it when it was completely necessary... which probably meant whenever the marriage was to happen.

Aaryan came by whenever he could... but it seemed that he was busy, with new recruits, he said. Whenever he did come by, though, my mother would prepare the closest thing to a feast that my peasant family could come up with.

Aaryan had told me alone that he really enjoyed the food, and he was being honest when he said it was better than what some of the palace cooks make. When I passed this on to my mother, she was, of course, thrilled.

Outside of my personal life, our usual calm village was bustling with more activity than usual. There were many new faces, all men, and though this was unusual, they didn't seem to be causing any trouble.

Our village never feared much, mostly because the Western Fort was only moments away from us. Though, the new faces did spark curiosity among us.

When I met with Aaryan one evening by the river, my slow, extremely large Maadu with us, I decided to ask him about it.

"Have you noticed the new faces in the village?" I asked as I crouched down next to Maadu, who was taking sips of water from the river. I stroked her belly, feeling a little bit of excitement at the thought of a new little baby cow. She hadn't been eating much recently, so I was happy to see that she was drinking the river water.

Aaryan was watching Maadu too, his arms crossed. "Yes, I have."

When I looked at him, I saw that his face showed no hint of concern. If he was concerned, he hid it well. "Is it anything we should be worried about."

"No," Aaryan said. "We've increases the presence of warriors in the village as well. Some of the faces you've been seeing are my men."

"Really?"

He nodded. "If anything were to happen, we'd be ready."

Maadu lifted her head, showing me she was done, so I stood up. "Alright," I said. "I don't want my Maadu to be in any sort of stress."

He let out a short laugh. "You have nothing to worry about."

I smiled, beginning to guide Maadu back towards our home.

Aaryan rubbed the back of my cow. "She looks ready to explode."

"Any day now, my brother said." I was extremely worried because my brother Shiyam and father and mother were not here. Those three, along with Mayu, had left to visit Mayu's family... so I was pretty much alone with my other brothers.

Shiyam and my father knew the most about cows. I had hoped they would be here when Maadu gave birth.

They would know what to do.

But here I was alone. She was showing all the signs of being ready to give birth. Not eating, spending most of her time alone, even being extremely fidgety.

Sure I was excited to see the baby... but I was also extremely nervous.

When we arrived home, however, right before Aaryan said his goodbyes, Maadu began to get fidgety again. She pulled away from me, the rope I had tied around her coming loose as she started to run off.