Chapter 3
Today, the crowned prince had to read the letters sent by the people of the country. It was a duty assigned to him. He had a lot to take care of.
"Why do people write so many letters everyday? Uncle, why do I have to read all these letters alone?" Kuber showed his grief. A bunch of letters starting from his table was ending at the huge third table ahead.
"If you don't, then who will? You are the next king of this country. Reading these much letters should be just a minimum work for you." Kuber's uncle, Mahavir Bharat said. They were three siblings. Narsimha Bharat being the eldest and Mahavir being the youngest. They had a middle sister, who wasn't living with them at that time.
"Isn't it just wastage of king's time? These should be read by the ministers as far as I know. I've never seen father-I mean- His majesty reading these letters." Kuber replied.
"Your highness, he reads them whenever he has time. There's not a single letter in royal palace that hasn't been read by him. Also, His majesty has been ruling this country since thirty years. He knows what his people want. On the other side, you are stil not aware of what people of this country want and what not. You still have a long way ahead, until you finally know what exactly these letters mean. To do so, you need to get to know your people first, and have an understanding." Mahavir said and smiled.
Kuber nodded as he understood, "Got it! Then, I must finish reading these today!" He said with enthusiasm, and picked his first letter. Seeing that, Angad was happy. So were Ridhi and Sita.
Sun had set already. His highness had just one more letter in front of him to read. Mahavir and Angad looked at each other and smiled. They were so proud of the prince. He was so focused on reading the letters. Angad applaused for him in his mind. It was the very first time he was seeing his prince doing royal duties with his whole heart.
Kuber picked up the last letter in front of him. He untied it and opened it. He wasn't surprised to see the words in it. He sighed and pouted, "Not again."
He read it and put it on the side. He was so focused, that he didn't realize it was the last one, "Damn! It finally came to an end. That was a lot." He shook his head with a smiling face and stood up. Finally, he could stretch his body.
"Great work, prince. I'm proud of you." Mahavir said.
Kuber smlingly walked towards him, "Thank you uncle." He was having a different kind of brightness on his face. He walked towards the exit, "I shall follow the same path." Saying that, he left from there with Angad and twins following him.
Mahavir smiled. "I hope you do.''
"What did those letters say, your highness?" Ridhi asked. "You were smiling a lot while reading them. I really wonder what the reason was."
"Me too." Sita said.
"Well, that had me wondering too..." Angad joined too.
"Now that you all have asked me, I shall tell you." Kuber said, as he kept walking. Others followed him. "When I was about to read the first letter, I thought it would be about some little complaints or demands, or may be invitations. But as i read the first letter, it had me impressed. Then, I took the second one, I was again impressed. Third, fourth, fifth and every single letter till the end shook my core. I was left nothing, but impressed from the bottom of my heart. Every single word in every letter carried gratitute and appretiation." As Kuber was speaking, his words seemed to be carrying love and admiraton with full of pride. Angad, Ridhi and Sita looked at each other, totally amazed.
"All for only one man. A righteous one. All the letters were in his praise. From little children to the middle aged men, and even from the older ones too. Not a single line in any letter had a complaint. Only love and respect." Kuber said while entering the courtyard of orphanage in royal palace.
It was built decades ago, when Narsimha had been crowned as the king of the country. He even took participation in building it himself. All the disabled children who were abondoned, lived there.
"Who is that man, your highness?" Angad, totally curious, asked.
The prince finally stopped walking. He smiled, his eyes softened even more, head tilted a little in admiration, "He's right in front of you." He said.
Angad, Ridhi and Sita looked in front of them. Their eyes softened as well, seeing the beautiful and relaxing view in front of them.
Angad bursted in a smile, "His majesty!"
In front of them were all the kids, running here and there. Even the handicapped were putting efforts to play. They all were smiling and laughing joyfully. Their bright smiles could melt anyone's heart and make their day. Between them was the king of Stambha country, Narsimha Bharat. Running here and there, laughing excitedly, chasing kids and playing with them, pretending to slip and making the little ones laugh. He was even talking to the deaf kids through sign language.
A little girl, suppossedly just four year old,who had lost one of her legs, wasn't able to run and match the speed of his mute friends. The sadness was visible in her eyes. Just then, she was carried by the king, who ran forward with her in his arms, making her feel like she was flying.
"No wonder, everyone loves him." Angad said while smiling. Kuber nodded while admiring his father.
That's when, his majesty saw the prince. He stopped, "Kuber?" The four of them (Kuber, Angad, Ridhi and Sita) greeted him from far.
Narsimha smiled and waved at them. He was a playful and kind person. "How's your new animal?" He asked.
"Animal?" Kuber thought for a while. Just then, his smile dropped and he panicked "Oh, lord!" He screamed and immideately fled from there.
"Oh no, we totally forgot!" Angad said, looking at Ridhi and Sita. They all panicked and ran after their prince after greeting His majesty in hurry.
"Eh, what happened? What did I say?" The king looked at the kid in confusion. He shrugged, "Let's just play!"
The prince had forgotten about the "animal." He was too focused on the royal duties, that he didn't remember him.
The four of them entered the prince's mansion and rushed to the room where Pralay was kept. They saw the senior-junior soldeirs, Nakshatra and Avadh. They were looking exhausted. When the two of them saw the prince, they greeted him. Avadh ran towards him.
"Thank god! Your highness, you finally came!" Avadh said and sighed in exhaustion.
"What happened?" Kuber asked while holding his waist and taking deep breaths.
"You should go inside and see for yourself." Avadh said. He looked totally concerned and scared.
Kuber ran inside the room right away, while Ridhi, Sita and Angad stayed outside.
"What's wrong?" Angad asked the soldiers.
"He's so stubborn..." Avadh started telling them.
As Kuber stepped inside, the first thing he was welcomed with was water. He almost slipped, but held onto the door and dodged falling. He breathed in relief and thanked god for not slipping and breaking his head. He saw that the whole room was in chaos again.
"Seems like you had a rough day..." Kuber giggled in panic. Pralay was sitting on bed, in the same position where Kuber had left him in the morning. "Why do you keep doing this?" He carefully walked towards him.
"Why don't you let me go?" Pralay asked aggressively, "Who are you all?"
"I did tell you this morning, didn't I?" Kuber replied, "This is a country called Stambha. I'm the crowned prince and you're totally safe and secure here." He smiled. "Seems like, you've forgotten about your past. It must be so hard for you." He was slowly walking towards him while talking. He noticed that Pralay was busy trying to remember his past, so he took advantage and kept stepping towards him.
"Don't come near me." Pralay said. Kuber was caught. He remained in his place.
"I guess, I'l just stay here...hehe.." Kuber laughed, awkwardly. That's when he noticed that Pralay's hand was bleeding. It must have happened when he was fighting and resisting against the soldiers and servants who were there to help him.
Kuber rushed to get the ointment, and first aid box in the room. He ran to him and held his hand right away, without any hesitation or fear of being hit. Pralay aggressively puled his hand away.
"Do not resist this time! This could spread infection!" The prince scolded. Pralay wasn't scared even a bit, but for some reason he didn't resist anymore. He let Kuber take his hand to clean the blood. He could see that Kuber was scared of blood and he kept looking away while cleaning it. It sure disgusted him. Still, out of his comfort zone, he cleaned the wound and applied ointment on it before he bandadged it.
"He is not even good at this." Pralay stared at the bandage and thought. Just after that, he gave Kuber an aggressie look. That came natural from within him.
"Right, right. I am going away..." Kuber said as he stepped away from him. "But he didn't resist this time." He thought and decided to attempt feeding him.
He took the bowl of congee which was kept on the table. It was still hot. Seemed like servants had just brought it, but were pushed scared away by the animal. He sighed and shook his head in disappointment. He wanted to try his luck. He extended the spoon full of congee in front of his mouth, but as expected, the spoon was pushed away.
"Why do you keep on trying to feed me? What kind of poison have you mixed in it?" Pralay questioned as he looked at Kuber suspiciously. His voice screamed distrust. Kuber could clearly see. He finally figured it out.
...
"After you." Prince Kuber said, gesturing at the huge table of enticing food.
There was a grand grazing table arranged in front of them. The man Pralay was surprised, yet he maintained calmness over his face. There were artfully arranged sweets, cheese, fresh seasonal fruits, lavish soup, rice, pudding, dishes made from vegetables, fancy shaped salad, decorations, and imported serving utensils. Pralay looked at the food and then back at Kuber, just by moving his eye lids, not moving even an inch of his head or body. Ridhi brought the last vessel of food on table. It was the usual dinner of his highness. He had decided to invite his new animal to eat with him, since he realized that he was feeling insecure of whether the food was safe or not.
"Now that you don't trust us. I figured out that i must tesitify the food before serving it to you, by eating it myself." Kuber explained, "That way, you will trust us." He smiled.
Angad, standing beside the prince, made faces to Pralay. He was starting to agree with the ideology of Nakshatra, that Pralay was showing so many tantrums. Because of him, prince had to make a lot of unnecessary efforts. Ridhi and Sita, supporting every move of their prince, gently served the food to Pralay. Nakshatra and Avadh were standing near the door. They were given the responsibility to carry Pralay, who at the time wasn't capable of going anywhere by himself.
Kuber hopefully looked at Pralay that he would start eating, but the man in front of him was just eyeing him. From his eyes flowed a waterfall of suspect. An arrow of betrayal pricked through Kuber's heart. He somehow composed himself and smiled awkwardy, "Please for god sake, trust me." He mumbled while smiling awkwardly.
That's when Pralay extended both of his hands, one towards his plate and the other towards prince's plate. While making constant eye contact with His highness, he exhanged his plate with prince's.
Ridhi and Sita exchanged gaze with each other, not understanding the intention behind Pralay's move. But Angad and Prince understood.
"You really----" Angad as about to argue on his prince's behalf, but he was stopped by the prince himself.
"While training with Shastra (weapon), don't forget the Shaastra (spiritual textbooks)." Kuber said to Angad and smiled afterwards, "Our ideas teach us to spread love and care. Stop letting anger dominate your mind." He said. Unwillingly, Angad just nodded and folded his arms. Kuber looked back at Pralay waiting for him to eat, but seemed like the man himself was waiting for something.
"Eat." Pralay said while still locking eye contact with Kuber, aggressively.
Kuber just nodded and took a spoonfulls of every dish served in front of him. Only after that did the man extended his hand forward to eat the food. He still had his doubts and was thinking of resisting by pulling his hand back but just then, his stomach made a growling sound. He looked at his stomach, awkwardly. Even in that situation, he had furrowed eyebrows. With that expression, without moving his head, he lifted his head and looked at Kuber.
"Why is he looking at me as if it's my mistake?" Kuber whispered to Angad.
"He knows only." Angad replied.
Ridhi and Sita giggled secretcly, by covering their mouths. While Nkashatra sighed in annoynce. Avadh saw his senior's dislike towards Pralay and pursed his lips. He knew his senior had his reasons, but deep down he was enjoying the scene in front of him. He looked back at the table while smiling in joy.
Pralay stared at Kuber with furrowed eyebrows for a while. Kuber also locked eye contact. After sometime, Pralay's stomach made another growling sound, he knew that if he resisted anymore, his soul would tear his body, come out and eat that food itself. Admitting defeat, he broke the eye contact with Kuber and smacked his hand on the table in aggressiveness. Right after that, he digged into that food as if he hadn't eaten since birth, which actually might be true.
"Eat slowly. It's not running away..." Angad said.
"'Let him. He is finally eating something." Kuber said, truly mesmerized by the scene. His eyes, widely opened, smiling and admiring his animal, who, at that time, was actually eating like an animal. Kuber didn't disturb him at all and quietly enjoyed the hungry man eliminating his hunger.
After dinner, the man was carried back to his room by the senior-junior pair of soldiers. After being sat on the bed, Pralay pulled his hands off from them in aggression. Nakshatra, surprisingly looked at him.
"What do you think, your arms are so precious that we were going to hold them forever? You can keep them to yourself." Saying this, Nakshatra rolled his eyes, flipped his hair and made his exit out of that room. Avadh looked at Pralay with apologizing eyes and followed his senior.
"Senior! Senior! Why do you keep treating him like that? You never act like that." Avadh showed his curiosity.
"I just don't like someone for the first time in my life. There should be no confusion on why its him. The royal doctor claims, that he's from the martial arts world, yet his highness doesn't hand him ovrer to His majesty. Even after being offered his highness's endless kindness, that man doesn't want to return the favor. He doesn't even care. Moreover, we all have seen how ignorant and rude he has been since day one." Nakshatra replied. "No matter what his highness's plan is, I will not let this dangerous man stay here for longer." He frowned and left from there. His duty was over for the day.
There, it was the time of the prince's bath. The huge bathroom itself was bigger than any ordinary man's whole house. Kuber was inside the pool. There were the rarest and most expensive flowers soaked in the water for the purpose of fragrance and freshness. There were total five maids and servants in his highness's service. His hair were tied up. On one side, the clothes that prince was going to wear after bath were carried by a maid, and another maid was standing there for helping his highness to wear them nicely. On the other side, there were three servants. Two were holding the luxurious natural appliances, that His highness used to apply on his face after bath to mosturize himself and one servant was holding towel.
Ridhi and Sita were also there. The water was warm. So, they had their own little tubs, inside which their feet drowned.
"Your highness, do you think that man is really from the martial arts world?" Sita showed her curiosity. She wasn't against Pralay, but she still had some curiosities.
The prince went deep into his thoughs. He held one of the flowers from the pool, "Even if he is, its our duty to keep our guests safe." He replied while smiling. Ridhi and Sita smiled too, and nodded in full support of their prince.
After bath, Kuber was out on his regular night walk. With his Angad and twins following him. He was looking at the night sky with no moon, walking gracefully. That's when he noticed a rabbit's presence near him. He couldn't be wrong when it came to animals. He ran towards that direction in excitement. He found the rabbit, but it seemed injured. Or more like, paralyzed. he was walking with the support of his front foot and dragging his whole body. Seemed like he had an accident. Kuber decided to quietly follow it to find if he had family, but after followng it for a while, turned out, he had no companions. Kuber gently carried it and started petting his head wth love and caress. Angad also looked at it with compassion.
"Doesn't this remind you of that man? He must be lonely too, just like this rabbit." Sita grieved. Ridhi nodded and agreed.
That's when it reminded Kuber of that man, Pralay. He started thinking about it deeply.
"A rabbit is suppossed to jump and run here and there with its companions, energizing the environment by its presence. But here, this fellow can't even walk properly. I'll take this one with me." He said and smiled. "I'm sorry we weren't there when you needed us the most." Saying this, he kissed the rabbit on his head.
Angad smiled at his highness with proud and admiration. Ridhi and Sita were happy too.
"I remained wanderer the whole day, fighting every enemy and dancing with death, only to find companions, at the bream of night." Kuber recited the poem for a certain someone and looked at the lonely sky. "I must do something for him." He thought and smiled ambitiously.
The upcoming morning had a surprise for the new animal. He was not even awake yet, when suddenly he was woke up by a loud thud sound. He opened his eyes in startle and looked towards the door. Turned out, it was the door that was slammed open and some people were making their entry.
"Who is it?" The natural reflexes of Pralay made his hands reach towards his waist, to grab his sword-like weapon, but it was missing. It rang a bell in his mind as if he rememberd something. He kept it aside for a moment, and grabbed pillow from bed and threw it towards the people aggressively. A familiar scream was heard.
"Your highness, what was that?"
"A pillow!"
"Are you fine? Oh my god!"
"Yeah! Do not worry!"
The shadows talked. Pralay weirdly looked at them. The deep (oil lamps) were lit. He rubbedd hs eyes. Turned out, it really was His highness with his maids and guard, and the senior-junior soldiers, Nakshatra and Avadh. Pralay frowned in annoyance. The sun hadn't even rise yet.
Kuber looked in front of him, at the furrowed eyebrowed man. He smiled widely and walked towards him, "Good morning!" He said it with so much energy, but the owner of that room wasn't feeling it.
"Get out of here." Pralay frowned.
"See, how ignorant! Ugh!" Nakshatra said and pointed at the man. Angad had teamed up wih him. He nodded in agreeness. They both had their arms folded, judging the man on bed. While, Ridhi, Sita and Avadh had teeamed up. They were smiling and supporting His highness. They had ganged up with him.
"Come on! Get up, you won't believe what I have brought for you. You need to pull a happy face today, no matter what!" Kuber giggled and signaled Nakshatra and Angad to bring in the gift.
"I don't want anything! I don't even want you here!" Pralay replied aggressively. Ridhi, Sita and Avadh looked at each other in disappointment, as if they were saying "the scene isn't too enjoyable."
Kuber sighed, but smiled, "Just wait." He was being patient.
Nakshatra and Angad, both unwillingly, brought in the gift. Pralay had decided not to look at it first, but when he moved his head a little in that direction, he couldn't help but look back. His furrowed eyebrows were slowly getting to its normal position. Seeing that, the gang of four were surprised. Kuber couldn't help loking at him with surprise and excited smile. He was awaiting his response. Pralay blinked multiple times, to keep his emotions hidden and looked at Kuber.
"What is this?" He asked.
It was a wooden wheelchair. Seeing that in front of him, being gifted to him by a stranger, Pralay was surprised.
"Its for you." Kuber said and smiled widely. He stepped closer towards Pralay "Don't hurt me." He warned and held him by his arm, urging him to stand. Pralay's eyebrows went furrowed again as Kuber held his arm. Kuber wanted Pralay to try that wheelchair. He was helping him to stand. While Pralay just looked at him with pure shock as if he was asking him why he'd do that for a person like him.
As they saw His highness helping Pralay to stand, Nakshatra and Angad rushed to give a hand too, but as they stepped forward, Pralay seemed to protest by immediately moving his head in their direction and giving them a fierce look. Kuber looked at them and told them to stop by shaking his head. Nakshatra and Angad looked at each other. They didn't like that man at all. He was getting on their nerves now.
"As if you don't carry his weight everyday." Angad whispered in Nakshatra's ear. Nakshatra rolled his eyes.
Pralay got up with Kuber's help. He was using his hands to hold furniture around him to carry his own weight, since he knew that the prince wouldn't be of much help. He couldn't completely rely on him.
But from the prince's perspective, he had helped Pralay stand on his feet all alone. The gang, Ridhi, Sita and Avadh supported His highness's perspective. They jumped in celebration while applauding.
Even before sitting on the wheelchair, Pralay kept looking at Kuber with furrowed eyebrows. Seemed like he was hesitating. After all, he still didn't trust them fully. Kuber had to forcefully push him on that. Even though he got death stares in exchange. He was already getting used to it. He had learned the hard way with his new animal.
"Pardon my sin, lord." Kuber apologized in his mind for forcing someone first time in his life.
When Pralay sat on it, his whole focus was pulled by it. With his eybrows still furrowed, obvoiously, he touched the wheels of the chair. Others looked at him with curiosity whether he'd like it or not.
Pralay analyzed the chair for a while as if he wasn't fully willing to use it yet. The reason was unknown. Even to him himself. Then, he looked at his legs which were of no use for the time being.
Suddenly, his head started aching again. He was seing blurred images of some people.
"You lost again!" A young boy laughed.
"You can't even stand!" An adult woman frowned.
Their faces weren't clear, but he still knew what kind of expressions they made. It was weird. He focused all his energy on clearing their faces, but he failed. In defeat, he opened his eyes.
"What happened?" Kuber asked, curiously.
Pralay didn't say anything but he did shake his head as if he was saying "nothing."
"His eyebrows are still furrowed, but he replied." The prince smiled proudly while thinking. His chest went wide in show off. The gang equally celebrated. Nakshatra sighed. Although Angad did join Nakshatra's team, he still couldn't help smiling when he saw his prince being happy.
Pralay looked at every person in that room. Because of his past, to fight against everything and everyone that approached him became his natural response to anything. At this kind gesture from strangers, he started feeling conflicts within his own mind.
"Should I trust them?" He thought.
The whole day was passed by helping the new animal to use that wheelchair.
"You seem to be naturally good at using this. You have already learned how to control it." Kuber said happily.
"Yes, it's weird." Pralay thought.
After practicing for a while, Pralay and Kuber were resting under the shed. Pralay was sitting on the wheelchair, while Kuber stood beside him. They were looking at Ridhi, Sita, Angad and Avadh chasing each other. There were some other guards and servants playing with them too. Kuber smiled at them happily. That's when he was asked :
"Why?"
Hearing the sudden question, Kuber looked at the man beside him. He had his eyebrows in usual position, furrowed.
"What do you mean?" Kuber asked.
"Why are you helping me?"
Kuber looked at that man for while. How did he still not figure that out? By loosing memory, do peple also loose their intellectual ability as well? Kuber squinted his eyes. But the question Palay asked seemed geniune, so he decided to forgive him with all his heart. After all, that's what he was taught. To forgive. He let that feeling go away with a sigh and smiled profoundly.
"Because...you're my friend, Pralay." Kuber said and looked at the beautiful people playing fondly in front of him.
Pralay clenched his fist, "Friend?" He wondrered.