Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

0"Uh, would you like to go look at some refreshments?" Vidyut asked Gauri, giving his sister a discreet thumbs up.     0

He was giving her the opportunity to interact with the guy outside the Gurukul. This was his way of showing his approval of the guy. What he failed to notice was the stunned pleasure on Gauri's face for having been singled out to hang with him.     

Vindhya threw a radiant smile in her brother's direction and her heart felt as if a weight had been lifted from it.     

Once left alone, Yash stood awkwardly next to Vindhya. He was trying to think of a way to excuse himself from the party as soon as he could without sounding impolite.     

Vindhya looked at him from beneath her eyelashes and saw his mouth drawn in a frown.     

"Is there a problem?" she asked in concern, immediately.     

He was surprised at her astuteness and replied, "Umm, actually… I am just a little tired and was hoping to excuse myself from the party, now."     

"So soon? But you just arrived. Don't tell me that the food smells so bad that you have been put off by it. If that's the case, please tell me as well. If I recall correctly, the Gurukul's foodhall is serving cottage cheese curry tonight. I might as well go there and eat too," she told him impishly.     

Yash stared at her for a second and then started to laugh. Her eyes lit up seeing the smile on his face.     

Rukmani nudged her husband who had just finished speaking with the local magistrate.     

"I think they make a good pair, don't they?" she pointed towards Yash and Vindhya.     

Vasudev looked at his wife in mock superiority and replied, "Of course they do. Why else would I have looked to form this alliance? Have I ever been wrong? Yashvardhan's family has the money and the class to provide a befitting background to the country's next Queen. By the time she is ready to take the throne, he would have turned sixteen as well. We can announce their engagement at that time."     

His wife nodded but frowned the next second, "You have a fair point but can we not announce it sooner? I don't want to face those greedy families who would start to swarm over once the competition is announced and the potential candidates are revealed."     

"You are right. We don't want to offend anyone by saying no to them. Let's be proactive and not let the situation arise. We'll announce it when the kids return from this semester's break. Is that ok?" he asked her, who nodded her approval.     

Few miles away     

As she had been taught, Mriga mixed a small amount of mud with water and applied on her face, darkening her complexion, making it look sallow and rough. Next, she held a piece of charcoal in her hand and darkened the sides of her cheeks and under the chin with it, creating a hint of a beard there. Then she went onto create dark circles beneath her eyes. Tying her hair tightly in a turban, she applied the mud pack on the remaining exposed body parts. Shaurya had taught her to be meticulous while doing the make-up. The disguise didn't need to be elaborate but authentic and consistent.     

"What a way to spend my birthday!" she thought to herself, while surveying her final look in the bowl of water kept next to the entrance.     

"C'mmon Mriga, this is no time to feel sorry for yourself. You chose this," she scolded herself the next minute.     

"What are you feeling sorry for?" a voice startled her.     

"Argh, you scared the daylights out of me. How is it that you didn't make a sound? Wait a minute. Doesn't that entrance door creak? Then how…" she stood there, confused and petulant.     

Shaurya surveyed her from top to bottom before replying, "I rubbed a greasy puri on its hinges in the afternoon. I guess it worked. Open your mouth."     

Mriga looked at him in wonder. She wanted to ask him if he had fed her that greasy puri or thrown it away. On second thoughts, she didn't want to know.     

As directed, she obediently parted her lips.     

"I am not going to put food in your mouth. Clench your teeth. I need to reduce their whiteness. An unkempt ruffian like you cannot have such a pearly set of dentures," he told her in his usual acerbic tone.     

She grimaced at the bitter taste of charcoal in her mouth as he used his index finger to blacken two of her canines, giving her mouth an 'authentic look'.     

He probably had had a bath at some point, because he didn't smell bad standing in such close proximity to her. Actually, over a period of time, she had realised that he was extremely particular about hygiene. Despite roaming around in muddy, grimy clothes all the time, he didn't have a bad odour except for the times that he deliberately put it on.     

"Hmm, looks better now. I hope that your stomach is not going to go out of control for the next few hours because you can't afford to eat anything. We can't have you show rotting teeth one minute and sparkling white, the next," he said, tongue-in-cheek.     

She controlled the urge to stick her tongue out at him and replied primly, "Thank you for the fruit which you left by my bedside. I am quite full now."     

He nodded and headed out.     

"Remember to follow my lead. You must stay in character all through out, even if you come across any of your batchmates. I will be introducing you as Brighu and it will be upto you as to how you can convince them of being him. For most part, staying in the shadows is the best option. So that the situation doesn't reach that point," he advised.     

Mriga was nodding her head while trailing behind him. She also thought that it was better that she didn't have to face her fellow trainees rather than brazen it out in front of them, praying that her disguise holds up, because she knew that it wouldn't.