Pivoting, Shaurya asked in a quiet voice, "What happened last night once you left with Devvrat? I want every single detail. Do NOT dare leave anything out."
Mriga gulped down empty air in nervousness. His cold demeanor was hundred times worse than his lecturing or shouting one. He looked distant and scary. Her bladder felt that it was going to burst any minute but she dare not ask him to let her to go to the washroom right now.
Steeling her spine, she started narrating the previous night's incidents chronologically in a monotone. Without drawing a breath in the middle, she completed her narrative, except for the bits which she couldn't recall or the ones which would get her hanged by him for sure.
"So, let me get this straight. You are telling me that you drank a barrel of alcohol, hopped on to a stranger's cart, allowed him to give you a bath, wore his clothes and then roamed on the road like a madwoman for a few hours. Have I summed it up correctly?" His voice held disbelief and a boatful of anger.
Mriga wanted to argue that he was twisting her words to make them sound so horrid but she realised that she needed to think about this smartly. It was important to live another day, even if one had to agree to the master's twisted version than die defending the true account of events.
So she simply stood there with her head down.
"I can't believe this. And here I thought that you had the makings of a good spy. You don't even know where is your own head and tail…" he continued ranting.
It was becoming more and more difficult for Mriga to hold up against the nature's call. She was now standing with her legs crossed. Damn, hadn't he scolded her enough.
"Uh, Shaurya, sorry to interrupt but may I go and pee right now? You can continue with your berating once I am back," urgency finally made her throw caution to the wind.
Without waiting for his reply, she ran out as fast as her wobbly legs would carry her.
Shaurya stopped mid-sentence and looked at her in surprise as she went out. Shaking his head at her behaviour, he couldn't stop that now familiar smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Apart from the possibility of what could have gone wrong, Shaurya felt an acute sense of relief when Mriga had narrated her escapades from the night before. To be fair, it hadn't been her fault to drink the alcohol. He had asked her to follow the senior. Devvrat should have known better! But he needed to instil the fear in her else she would take it as encouragement and go a few steps ahead the next time.
Thankfully that stranger had been a decent person who eventually helped her. He didn't even want to think about what would have happened had she landed in the wrong hands after being so badly drunk. And that was one of the main reasons why he had come down so harshly on her just now.
"This girl is a handful!" he muttered and wiped the minutest traces of the smile from his face.
He didn't want her to know that he wasn't as angry with her as she was imagining him to be. After she returned back to the lodge, he didn't say anything else to her except to pack whatever little belongings she had and to make the room look exactly as it was when they had arrived.
Half an hour later, they started back for the Gurukul.
"Uh, ehm… I was wondering if you are planning to inform Guruji about what happened last night. I mean, you have scold… err, explained to me about my mistakes already. So maybe there is no need for him or anyone else to know about the events of last night," Mriga spoke in a cajoling manner to Shaurya, hoping that he would agree.
"Really? So, you want me to lie and cover up for your mistakes?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"No, no, no! I just meant that you don't have to mention anything. That's all…" her voice trailed at his severe expression.
"So strict, can't even cut me a little slack. What a horrid way to start my first day as a fifteen-year-old!" she thought morosely to herself.
On the other hand, Shaurya was mumbling to himself, "Even if I was to consider not telling Guruji about it, chances are that he would be aware of the exact details, already."
He still remembered the scolding which he had received from Prithvi when he had altered Mrignayani's training module.
Aloud he said, "Maybe you haven't realised it yet. Today is a school day and you haven't reported back to the dorm matron yet. Do you think the Admin department wouldn't be aware of something being amiss yet?"
Mriga's face blanched. It hadn't occurred to her. It was as if the past thirty hours had been a surreal dream.
"I ain't touching a drop of ANY liquid except water ever in my life again. That bloody alcohol seems to have turned my common sense to dust. It gave me the mother of all headaches, not to mention the verbal beating that I have been enduring for the past hour and which in all likelihood, will continue once I reach the Gurukul," she swore viciously.