Fire Herself; Panchali Draupadi

Chapter Ten: The Man With The Peacock Feather

Shikhandini, 18 years old

Shikhandini was up the whole night. Her room scattered with parchments with new war formations, plans , inventory of the weaponry. Things she occupied herself with in the night so that in the morning she had that much less to do. It seemed as if after knowing what she was meant to do, she could never catch a wink of sleep. She was far too alert to let that happen. She was now waiting for dawn to catch up with her so that she could leave for the city of Dwarka. She had a long journey ahead as Dwarka was a city in water. According to their allied Kingdoms the path would be hard to find as well so she wanted to leave as soon as possible. 

As she put the pieces of Parchment away, putting the royal stamp around them so that no maid or solider would dare touch these, she made herself go sit at the the balcony of the room. She looked towards the sun that would be rising soon as she thought about her father. 

She had told her father that she was going to go and discuss with King Krishna, whom they called Dwarkadeesh, (Ruler of Dwarka), and his right hand man and brother Balram about the military forces of Panchal. However this was far from the truth. She was giving for another reason. To find a solution. To resolve the reason of why she could not sleep at night. However that question was known to her and only her. She could not share the burden of her past with anyone, not even her own mother and father. She wanted them to detach themselves of her so that they would not cry when her purpose was fulfilled. 

When she left Panchal at the age of 16 to go find herself, she was a broken women tortured by the thoughts of those around her. She knew that even her father had a little bit, just a little bit, of doubt of whether she would do him well or not. She left to find her purpose and two years later she had returned as a hollow body. She had spent two years mastering the practice of locking her emotions away. Even those related to her mother and father. Her oath of celibacy made it that much easier to do so. She would not have to worry about the feelings of marriage, not after what the last guy did. She shuddered remembering that horrid face of the man who she thought would be hers. 

Nether less while she was on her route of discovery she heard the stories of a man who was no less then god. A man who had the answers to questions unknown. A man who could finally put her heart at peace. Dwarkadeesh Shri Krishna. 

As the sun now rose, the light blinded her eyes as she shook her head and spoke, "Let's see how much of a god this man really is." She took a scarf and tied it around her hair, making her look more manly. Why she had not cut it off, she didn't know. But she would soon. She slipped on her armour and grabbed her sword. 

As she exited the room, the guards at the door stepped on one knee and said, "All hail Princess Shikhandini." She stopped in her tracks and said, "I will say this once and only once. It's commander Shikhandini not Princess." Without sparing a glance at the men she went to go wake up all of Panchal so that they could see her off for the journey ahead. 

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Dwarka

In the royal hall of Dwarka, there sat many commanders all whom treated their King like god. The citizens of Dwarka stood in their respective spots, waiting for their adored rulers to come into the hall. After all at the mere age of 11, their king had managed to free them of an awful man, named Kansa. This man Kansa, had kept his own sister, Devaki and his sister's husband, Vasudev. captives after knowing that her eighth born son would be the cause of his death. He slaughtered cruelly the first six sons of Rajmata Devaki. As she was pregnant with her seventh son her husband's first wife, Rajmata Rohini had managed to save her child as she took him with her and fled the city. She raised him as her own and this was none other then Balram. The elder brother of their dear King.