The royal court meeting was about to start when Maan saw Jwala for the first time in the morning in the royal library. His eyes shone with mischief.
They had retired to their separate palaces after moon gazing till late at night.
He was dressed in his usual bright red knee-length robe paired with white trousers and black boots. His hair was tied in a top knot and a black headband covered his forehead with the symbol of a roaring tiger.
He abandoned the group of his attendants that were following him, outside the royal library and tip-toed behind a shelf.
Jwala was skimming through the pages of a book in front of that very shelf, the book had her full attention since she didn't notice when Maan removed a few books to peek right at her from behind the shelf.
Bano was quietly watching this, standing at a distance from Jwala she was curious to know how it would end. It was a rare occurrence for her to see Jwala interact with a man like this. Her short figure was stretched at its best to get a better view of the scene.
Maan's eyes steadily waited for Jwala to notice him peeking from behind the shelf but when she didn't he frowned. Then, he slowly extended his arm through the gap between the books to snatch the book from her hand.
His hand was proceeding as per the plan, slow and stealthy. Just when he was about to grab the book, she grabbed his hand and pulled it. His whole body was pulled with strong force making his head hit the hardwood of the shelf.
"Argh!" he croaked. Maan's other hand massaged his head that had just suffered the consequences of the actions of his hand.
"Who is this?" Jwala asked letting go of the hand she pulled, it was a reflex reaction. Upon recognizing the familiar voice, she rushed behind the shelf to find Maan rubbing his head. "What were you doing? I almost fractured your arm,"
He cleared his throat while adjusting his headband and came out from behind the shelf, poised and mannered. But the redness on his head above the eyebrows told a different story.
"I was trying to surprise, my queen," he said averting his eyes, away from her. He was embarrassed.
Jwala's eyebrows were knitted together as she tried to picture his 'idea' of surprise. "A tap on the shoulder couldn't have done that?" She asked as she picked up the book that she had been reading, from the ground.
"Uh…" He opened his mouth to give a justification for his action but nothing good came up. "I will try that next time."
"Shouldn't you be at the court meeting? King of the great nation must be busy…" She adjusted the fabric wrapped around her arm and wrist.
"I was on the way when I saw you and came to greet you."
"Go ahead," she said, waiting for him to say his greetings.
He chortled. "A wonderful morning, my queen… Did you sleep well last night?"
"Yes," she said and gestured him to leave for his meeting now since he had said his greeting like he wanted.
He smiled and gestured for her to come along with him. She waited thinking he was teasing her but he wasn't.
"Why?"
"For the meet and greet. All the officials and ministers have come to pay their respects to the queen."
"I met them yesterday." She objected.
"Those were a few of them. Many work outside the palace, so this custom was made to allow all the officials to greet the queen and receive her blessings."
"Blessing!?" she paused before adding, "Then I must bless them…"
She had her reasons to look forward to this meeting.
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The royal courtroom was occupied to its full capacity as the ministers and officials filled the big hall in order of their designations. The ones with the higher rank took their seats closer to the king's throne, and then the ranks descended from there to the end of the hall occupied by the low-rank holders.
They sat in rows. All of them were in uniforms, the ministers of the palace dressed in maroon robes, black pants, and a black flat hat with thin brims and a golden tassel hanging on one side.
The military officials of the palace were dressed in dark grey robes with black trousers and black flat hats but with wider brims that had a colorful feather attached to their hatband.
The officers from outside the palace were either dressed in dark green or black robes with black trousers and calf-length boots. But they didn't wear hats like those from the palace, they had a headband tied across their foreheads in different colors.
The men bowed deeply when the king and queen graced the hall with their presence.
Behind the couple was Mitra, wearing her stoic expressions and ceremonial attire which was just the same style of clothing but in colors other than black. She wore a long full-sleeve tunic top in navy blue with slits on both sides starting from her waist and a traditional baggy bottom in white, a thick sash was cinching her waist as well as holding her favorite dagger. She too wore a head covering, coincidently matching the event's 'cover your head' theme, it was a slim turban in the same color as her tunic and to accessorize it all she had a fancy sheath in her hand, home to her most prized possession.
"Welcome your Highness!" the harmonious words coming from all those present echoed within and beyond the walls.
The queen took note of the different colors, styles, and uniforms as she took her seat on the king's throne, next to him.
Both dressed in red and gold were the center of attention, the king in his usual 'kingly' robe and Jwala in her traditional Devdurg attire that had pushed Queen Mother's nerves just an hour ago.
"Pretty!" the view in front of her was colorful, unlike her palace attendants' uniforms. "At least he gets variations," the queen thought recalling her first meeting with Arin and her group.
Mitra took her place beside the throne, next to her queen. The men in the hall kept stealing either officious or prying glances at her since she was the only other woman besides the queen. But as always she paid no heed to their obtrusiveness, she never had and she never would.
Jwala's clothes were a topic of curiosity too but it was like they had expected that much from her. It wasn't a surprise anymore.
Jwala's sharp eyes tight lined with kohl hopped from person to person, taking note and guessing their designations as per their uniforms, hats and how they stood, some were standing tall while some stood lowering their heads. 'Must be of clerical level…'
The section on the right to the throne, shielded with the white curtains piqued Jwala's interest. "Whose place is that? Queen-mother or the concubine?" she wondered.
"Queen-Mother sits there," Maan answered after following her line of sight. "We will start as soon as she arrives…"
Jwala nodded. 'That's how much authority she has here.'
The section was shielded with curtains meaning she isn't supposed to openly take part in the governance of Hanna. So, she needed someone to take part in the meetings on her behalf.
A tall man dressed in a navy blue robe and with a sword in his hand caught everyone's waiting eyes as he strode towards the throne, Kinn Son, the commander of the royal guards. He bowed in front of the throne and was going to take his place beside the throne but it was already occupied by someone he would love to drive out of his sight, out of the palace, and even out of Hanna, 'This woman'.
Kinn glared from under the blue feather of his wide-rimmed black, flat hat. Mitra wasn't very reactive to people but she wasn't one to shy away from returning the favor, be it good or bad. She matched his intense stare.
Then Kinn saw the color of her clothes, he felt seriously offended like she had just cursed at him. His broad nose flared up, he never wanted to see her or her queen ever again but there he was staring at that expressionless woman and bowing to her annoying queen.
"Our former guest seems happy to meet you, Mitra," Jwala said to Mitra but her eyes were on Kinn.
Kinn hated that he couldn't figure out whether Jwala was mocking him or not. The smile on her face and the sweetness of her voice didn't seem in sync with the way she was staring at him.
"He must be, the queen took good care of him," Maan added with an encouraging smile. Kinn probably didn't like that because his intense gaze shifted from Mitra to Maan as he passed Maan to stand beside the throne on the other side.
A series of slow murmurs began when the crowd detected movement behind the curtained section. The queen-mother had arrived and the meet and greet began without delay.
"She made the whole courtroom wait…" Jwala said to herself. It was a clear indication of who held the power and how the people reacted to this also indicated that it was a known phenomenon that the king is powerless, with just a title, and even though they all bowed to that title none of them respected or feared him.
Oddly, she liked it this way. For some reason she didn't want to see the king as an enemy, she just couldn't… not after knowing that he was being bullied mentally, emotionally as well as socially… he isn't the enemy at least not until he makes her his enemy first.
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