Lotus Kingdom
The entire room is silent and they are focusing on what Oak's about to say. They are giving him time to adjust himself and reveal the truth to them.
It has been years for Maira and Ashmita. They desperately wanted to know the truth behind their separation and the ill fate their parents are suffering.
Everyone got shocked to hear that Oak and Indrajit are friends and what shocked them the most is they are providing shelter to a Rose kingdom's acquaintance.
"Tell us everything Oak. What do you know about us? Why are you hiding from the Rose kingdom? Why did they try to attack you? Tell us everything we want to know." Maira asked.
"Yes Oak please.This is the time for you to reveal everything?" Ashmita said.
Oak looked at everyone and sighed. He took a long breath and started.
"It happened some years back. We don't belong to the Rose kingdom or any other kingdom. We are nomads, wandering around the world to enjoy nature and to increase our network" Oak started speaking remembering the past days.
"We want to make friends with humans and we are impressed with human intelligence. So like that, we started the journey and entered the Rose kingdom" Oak said and his face changed from happiness to sadness. Oak eyes lost its glow.
"My daughter is very beautiful and she is gifted to me by God. She is a rare gem and I doted on her very much. She is an intelligent, brave and a stubborn girl but I never used to say no to her requests. In Fact our interest in interacting with humans is my daughter's suggestion which I gladly accepted", Oak said with gentleness in his eyes.
"My daughter is not like us. She is six feet in height and a beautiful lady which is a gift to her by God and also a curse to her fate" Oak said.
After a long sigh, "On her request we started our journey and we reached the Rose kingdom. Also again I agreed to my daughter's request and let her roam around the town" Oak said slowly.
"She returned in the evening with a glow on her face which I had never seen and she looked like she was really happy for something. When I asked her the reason behind her happiness she said that the town is beautiful and everything there outside is mesmerising which I naively believed" Oak said with sad expressions.
"Like that one week flown and I was happy for my daughter because she was looking really happy and we also thought that the outside world is really beautiful and mesmerizing which we eagerly wanted to see. I discussed it with my daughter regarding it and she said she already spoke with the king of this kingdom and he will come and personally escort us to their palace so that we all can enjoy ourselves in the palace" Oak said while reminiscing the past.
"The day came and all of us were eagerly waiting for the king's arrival and as we're expecting, the king arrived and we all were mesmerized by the human creature in front of us.The king is the most handsome human we saw till that date but no one ever expected, behind that face there is a devil, hiding" Oak said with disgust.
"What is the name of that King? I didn't remember his name" Pratap was the one who asked curiously.
Everyone started to think of his name and before king Oak answered "Surya.. Surya Prathap".
Everyone looked towards Prathap whose face turned dark after hearing the name. He regrets asking the king's name.
"Surya Prathap welcomed us warmly and we were impressed by his hospitality. He along with his soldiers escorted us to the palace in a festive manner but what surprised us the most was except the king and his army, we didn't notice any people in the streets of the town. When we asked him about this to which he simply said it was for security issues. We believed him blindly and didn't ask further but my instincts said something is not correct" Oak said while looking at Maira.
"Surya Prathap walked us to the palace and we were in awe by looking at the splendid construction which resembles the heaven. When we entered the court we're speechless by its beautiful interior designs and everything in the court is screaming wealth" Oak said while remembering the court.
"But what I didn't notice is my daughter who is acting very different and close to the king. Everything happened very fast and we started enjoying ourselves in luxury. Like that a month has passed by and we are settled in the palace and we were not allowed to go out of the palace. Everything we wanted comes in front of us and my daughter also visits us very often." Oak said while looking at the Ashmita with different emotions in his eyes.
Ashmita felt that something has happened to his daughter to the extent that he is feeling very pain in his heart but didn't voice out her opinions and kept silent listening to his story.
"One day she came to me and spent the entire day with me and we both were very happy and our entire clan is happy. I noticed a glow in her face and happiness in her eyes. When I asked her the reason, she said that she liked being in the palace and how the king treats her and our entire clan makes her very happy. But I feel she is hiding something from us so I asked her again then she hesitated for sometime and revealed the shocking truth to me" Oak said and went silent.
Everyone silently listened to Oak and gave him time to speak, then Ashmita gave some water to Oak and patted his shoulder by assuring him everything will be alright.
Oak looked at the Ashmita gratefully and took the water and drank all the water in the glass in one go and handed the glass to the Ashmita.
"My daughter asked me to say ok to her request and I asked her what that request is. She said that she is deeply in love with the king and she wants to marry him. I was shocked with her request and I denied her request right away. But as a stubborn girl she is, she didn't listen to my words and insisted on getting married to the king. She didn't talk with us for some days and then all of my members discussed and decided to convince her but she didn't listen to any of us. Then I threatened her with my life and said she is leaving this kingdom right now and never to come back to humans. Then only she said an earth shattering news to us that she gave away her innocence to Surya.." Oak said while closing his eyes and started sobbing.
"If only I have been a little bit strict and careful, If only I have a chance to go back in time and change something where I agreed with her suggestion, If I only knew because of my doting I would lose my child, I wouldn't ever be left in this situation" Oak said while choking and tears flowing like a river. In life there are no if's but only consequences. We can't change anything which happened in the past but we can only try hard to change our present with the hope that our future will be peaceful.
Maira and Ashmita looked at each other and Ashmita offered her shoulder for Oak to cry on. Oak gladly accepted and pent out all of his emotions which he buried from long in his heart.
After sometime Oak recovered and said, "Our fear since generations has become reality as we never wanted this bonding with anybody but then left with no other choices, I reluctantly agreed to her request."
"Umm... Oak if you don't mind, what is the name of your daughter?" Prathap was the one who asked again.
Oak glanced at everyone and looked towards the sky through the window, saying with a gentle voice, "ELSA...!".