(Book 5) Hayden Mackay and The Pride of Haima-Endira

13. The Legend of Haimavati Roksana

"Haimavati Roksana, Haima, born to a conceited armorer and a midwife, an ardent devotee of Vrindahina, was a chronic daydreamer who got through her adolescence by imagining and painting varied non-existent creatures. With her mother passing away at a young age, and her father finding solace in drinking, Haima led a life of a recluse, in the luxurious large backyard where she built a walled garden. Diverse species of flora and fauna were her companions. She averted her loneliness by making friends with them, engaging in communicating with them, growing a natural talent for connecting with the beings. She lived in her backyard all day, every day, but the quality of hers didn't remain unnoticed for long- her great divine beauty. Haimavati Roksana was famously regarded as the most beautiful woman born in the country.

Men lined up in a queue to have a glance at her. Women, for contrast, envied her for her looks. Taking this as an advantage, her father with a take-no-prisoners attitude, lauded his own daughter's beauty in an erotic way and pimped men with money. When she came of age, proposals for matrimony flowed in. From younger married men to the likely to be dying old geezers, everyone wanted her to be a part of their lives. But her greedy father never married her off. She was his only steady source of income. However, his wait had to end when the first High King of the country, who was thrice her age, knocked on her door with a proposal to give her the status of a second wife. Her clever father coaxed the king into writing a contract, that he would agree to give away his daughter only in exchange for the supply of cash on a monthly basis.

Coping with strains of wedlock, Haima pleased the King with the male twins. She lived and got used to the lavish life of a queen, helping and supporting her aged husband in political affairs. Even after the King faded away into a passive state and was bedridden for the rest of his life, Haimavati continued to have social power in her hands. She unofficially ruled the country with King living only for a namesake. It was during this course of time when Lady Chandrika announced her plans to start an institution for those zealous people with unique talents, born with a sense of variation from normal humans, to join and learn magic from her. Haimavati grabbed the opportunity, wanting to extend her interest in communication and developing those unnatural beings she had grown up imagining and mentally conversing.

Within a couple of years, apart from being politically strong, Haimavati became a fully developed mage with the powers that widened Lady Chandrika's eyes with amazement. As a token of appreciation, Haimavati gifted her master's twelve children, the owners of the naturally formed Samaratna, the power of mind connection. She acquired a special place in Lady Chandrika's heart as her beloved apprentice. However, this amiable relationship between them gradually began to fizzle, when Haimavati rose herself up to reach full heights and capable enough to challenge Lady Chandrika's magic. The slight crack in their relationship turned into a massive fissure when Haimavati befriended this woman, who was of the same age, having similar tastes as of her, whose betrayal broke the family apart. She was a Samagraha less and an artist more, with a weird fixation on designing unnatural beings with mud, clay, and plastic that compromised the honor of the family. She was none other Lady Chandrika's eldest daughter- Endira El Sayed, the First Moonstone user of Paramarashtra."

"There she is!" I said, drawing the cup of hot chocolate towards my lips and gently blowing into it as Naag took a break to breathe. He stood against the railings of the porch, his snake curled around his waist with the hood hidden somewhere behind his back. His red shiny hair wavered with the breeze caused by the light snowfall. It seemed too curly this morning as if he had used Leena's curling iron.

It was early to go for patrolling, and instead of having another class with Dhanunjay, I'd fixed an appointment with Naag, to understand and abstract information regarding this thing called the Pride.  Ashwant had once again helped me for making Naag meet us here on the porch, exactly the day before our trail in the Panchayat. Pruthvi and Leena were sitting by my side, hearing another story of another First Formation Samagraha.