Samsāra

Chapter Eighteen

Mekhala’s tears and hand wringing were irritating. Ajiona chose to glare at the ceiling instead of the little lady. Her anger stemmed from the pain she was in, she was the one supposed to be wailing not Mekhala. Ajiona had refused to take any anesthetizing drug, and instead, decide to shoulder through the pain with a cord shoved between her teeth for her to clamp on savagely and to also muffle her screams and grunt. The rajavaidya has no pity as he sutured the long laceration that extended from her shoulder down to forearm. As the rajavaidya was preparing himself, he had asked his assistant to give her a minimal dose of analgesia, it would soothe her nerves and dull the pain. Ajiona had shaken her head in an emphatic no, raising pain with her action. She was scared she could slip into death if she took any anesthesia. The rajavaidya had given her an as-you-wish look, and asked for a cord to be put between her teeth as the pain might become excruciating.

She was lying on a padded bench, her unwounded arm and legs bound to prevent her from moving too much;her head carefully and gently propped up, so the rajavaidya could have full access to repair her wound. It had stopped bleeding long before the litter arrived with a dozen more guards, Ajiona had done her best to stop the flow of blood by binding a strip of her skirt crudely about the arm. A guard on a horse had gone ahead the litter to summon the rajavaidya to her apartments and when Ajiona herself arrived, weak and in pain, borne in by Saahas, the small man was ready for his patient.

The dried blood had been cleaned with warm water, and the wound itself washed out with kashayam water until the rajavaidya was satisfied it was clean of  while he prepared his catgut suture and proceeded to inflict upon Ajiona the excruciating pain he had promised.

The assistant had dismissed all of her handmaidens but Mekhala kept creeping back in, weeping and wringing her hands. The noise disturbed Ajiona who was trying to concentrate on a happy place but she couldn't snap at the girl as it would take up much effort, so she glowered at the murals on the ceiling.

Ajiona didn't know how long had passed but she thought it was too long. The rajavaidya inspected the assortment of purpling and yellowing bruises and small cuts she had received and decided they do not need stitching. So he cleaned the smaller cuts with kashayam water and applied jatyadi ghee on them. The assistant stepped in to bind her injuries in bandages, curving her wounded arm across her chest and put it in a sling. The second assistant brought a bowl of sweet smelling kasaya (decoction) and helped her up to drink every drop.

After everything, her handmaidens were called in and they cut away her clothing with small knife and gently but carefully went over her with damp cloth, twice over, and then a dry cloth. An uttariya was draped over her body and she was carefully lifted into her soft bed.

Exhausted and aching everywhere, Ajiona stared blindly at her handmaids before realising she wasn't seeing Pragya among them.

‘Where's Pragya?’ She managed to ask.

‘She didn't come back with you.’

She felt a brief moment of worry before sinking into sleep.

Ajiona faintly recalled waking up to have some more tonic and some food, but only faintly. She also remembered slipping between consciousness and unconsciousness. She thought the Rajamata came to see her and spoke of men being punished. None of that mattered except sweet sleep.

It was past twilight when Ajiona finally woke.

‘At last,’ someone said.

She tried turning towards the sound but her neck was stiff and she was afraid of causing herself more pain. ‘Anna?’ She asked.