Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

"What is wrong with you? If you were feeling threatened by another girl's presence, you should have just asked him about her, boldly. It is perfectly natural for you to feel this way since you seriously like him. This sense of insecurity will be at its peak right now, when you are still in the nascent stages of dating," she said sagely.     

Mriga had tears welling up in her eyes now.     

"Knowing me, do you think I would have not asked him? I asked not once but twice. The first time we were interrupted by the arrival of one of my, err… acquaintances during lunch. Then I asked him again while we were on our way back but he gave an indifferent shrug as if it wasn't important enough for him to answer that question. Instead, he tried lecturing me about how I shouldn't be over friendly with people or go around trusting strangers. It was as if he was trying to tell me that I had no sense of distinguishing right from wrong," she sniffed as she said all this.     

Ishani patted her back in comfort as she tried to hide her smile. It was funny to see her usually pragmatic friend behave like a silly girl. After listening to her rant, Ishani was sure that Yash would be sailing in a similar boat.     

"Sigh! I guess I will have to take my role as cupid more seriously henceforth otherwise these two will keep bungling up every opportunity to confess their feelings to each other," she muttered to herself.     

"Don't worry. I promise I will take Yash to task on this first thing tomorrow," she consoled her desolate looking friend.     

"NO! There is absolutely no need to say anything to him. I don't want him to think that he is so important that I came and complained to you about him," Mriga spoke with resolution in her voice.     

"Uh… just leave aside that stupid pride and tell me – isn't he actually that important?" Ishani asked her in all seriousness.     

Mriga threw her hands up in frustration.     

"Of course he is but I don't want him to know that," she said petulantly.     

Ishani tut-tutted softly and countered, "does that even make sense? I mean if this would be an equation which I have to solve, I would say that the misery and pride are the variables creating imbalance in the otherwise harmonious and perfectly well matched pair of constants."     

Mriga rolled her eyes at her friend's scientific outlook towards everything. She got up from there and started walking towards the room.     

"Now what happened?" asked Ishani.     

"I am craving laddoos made by Dad. You want some?" she spoke without turning around.     

Without bothering to reply, Ishani ran to catch up to her friend's pace.     

Boys' Dorm, Gurukul     

Yash was feeling miserable since his return from the disastorous outing with Mriga. She had not only refused to agree to what he had tried to explain, she didn't even bother to take it seriously. Due to his pride, he hadn't been able to bring himself to ask her about that friend of hers directly and she didn't bother telling him about the guy voluntarily.     

She could really be clueless at times!     

It was already late and he knew that he needed to go to bed but sleep evaded him. Pacing in the corridor, he was surprised to hear murmurs at this hour. Turning, he saw two guys walking in his direction. Since he was standing next to the pillar, they hadn't noticed his presence.     

"I saw Mrignayani exiting the Gurukul gate, today. She looked as frivolous as always. I am so glad that she is no longer there to drag us down with her performance," Abhirath said with something akin to glee in his voice.     

He and Vandit had just finished a rigorous physical training session with Ramanujam.     

Since Vandit needed a little prodding in his physical aptitude, he had been paired with Abhirath temporarily to work out. The teacher believed that training with a partner would enhance his performance. Since Ramanujam trained all five of them, different slots had been given to all.     

Also, the section of the sports ground which was used by the Admin department was really not an official part of the Gurukul. It had a direct access from a narrow pathway from the dilapitated Admin building. If it had to be reached via the common sports ground, then one needed to jump over the overgrown shrubs and foliage which bordered the ground.     

As a result, it was nearly hidden from the main playground and could only be found if someone was looking for it, specifically. It was perfect for the purpose of the training of this group. Despite all this, the five of them had been asked to come at odd hours to avoid further chances of discovery by other students or sports teachers.     

Mrignayani trained at 4am which was two hours before the ground officially opened up to the rest of the Gurukul. Chiranjeev & Nirbhay were asked to train for an hour each, post 7pm when it was twilight. Since their aptitude had been found leaning more towards cracking codes and reading maps, their physical training was not as rigorous as the others. Abhirath & Vandit came in at 9pm and trained hard till 11 in the night. Mriga was the only one who was being trained by Prithvi at night in other skills.     

"What is your problem with her? To the best of my knowledge, she hasn't done anything to offend you. Then why are you always so mean to her," Vandit spoke in a plaintive voice.     

"Then let me ask you – why are you always defending her? Do you like her?" Abhirath's words had been spoken in jest but they seemed to touch a nerve because Vandit's expressions changed immediately.