Don't move if you wish to live." A voice behind me said. I raised my hand and did not move at all.

"Why are you raising your hand? I told you not to move." He spoke. (It felt like a male voice.)

"Sorry" I whispered. I involuntarily did what I was supposed to do in my world. Well old habits die hard. I did not want any fight right now. I was in pain and just so tired. My room is so near, yet so far.

"Turn."

The alley through in which I was walking was not much illuminated. So, when I turned. I could not see who was standing. I could just see a dark figure.

My self-preservation kicked in then. I started babbling, "I don't know what you want but it can't be me. No, no it is not me. I am just-"

"What are you doing here?!" Well, that voice was of someone I knew. I cannot remember who. The person came forward and lo behold he was Arjun.

"I want to ask the same question? What are you doing here?" I asked as he should not be here either. It was a secret route for a reason.

"I live here. It makes sense that I know. But my question remains." He said folding his hands.

I literally have no answer and I am not going to dig a hole for Vidhi. So, I just say, "Is this the way guests are treated in your kingdom?"

"No, they aren't and neither do guests know secret passages of our kingdom." He said implying that I was doing something wrong.

"Think before you speak, Prince Arjun. I'm not someone whom you'd wish to mess with." I never did well with accusations.

"And neither am I"

I scoffed. I am tired of this drama, why can't I just go back? "If you are done speaking, I need to go." I pointed at the exit. Wrong move, because then he saw my bruised hand dripping blood.

"How did you get hurt?" as expected was his next question.

"It is none of your business."

"Well, it is. You are our guest and your safety means a lot."

"My privacy should also mean a lot then. Because, I will not answer."

"What is the problem with you? Why can't you just answer the questions I asked? I am not letting you go anywhere before you answer."

"You just do not believe what I say."

"Then just say something believable."

"You want to know how I got hurt right; it is simple, I fell."

"I have practiced enough weapons to know which injury is by what and the wound on your left hand is clearly by the wooden sword. So, when will you tell me who did it?"

"I told you before and I'll tell you now, whatever I do is none of your business. You asked me a question, and I answered it. I have no obligation to explain you anything more. So, don't poke your nose where it's not needed." Saying that I turned to leave.

On my way out he suddenly started saying, but I did not turn then, "I don't know why you think that I am the bad guy here, when clearly, I was just trying to check if a spy entered our kingdom. Keeping that aside, if you ever need any help do not hesitate to reach out to any of us Pandavas, we would help you with anything you need."

Without turning back, I said, "I will surely keep that in my mind," and left the place. While leaving I heard a sigh.

His words made me ponder on my actions, were Pandavas, really the bad guys here, and it also made me think from when did I even think of them as the bad people. Doesn't everyone make mistakes? Who am I to judge them of their mistakes? Some of them which aren't even made now.

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The moment I entered the room, I saw Vidhi. I didn't know what she was doing before I came, but right now, she just stared at me in shock. I think she was taking in, the state I was in.

I went towards her and asked, "Are you alright?"

That broke her trance. She stepped back by two steps, bowed deeply, and said, "I am sorry Princess of Dwarka for my late reaction. I see that you are hurt. Can I call the Raj Vaidya (Royal Physicist) to serve you?"

"Firstly, don't be so formal, just call me by my name and please don't tell anyone that I got hurt, it's not even a huge wound." I told her.

"Please may I know, how did you get the wound, Aarohi?" she asked. Maybe informality will come with time, at least it was a start and as for the question, well, it was the only reason why I didn't want anyone else to know that I was hurt.

"I just slipped, don't worry." I told her the same lie, at least she seemed to believe it and then I asked her, "Can you please help me make a bath?"

"Yes, sure ma'am. Don't worry about it I'll do that myself." This time I let her do it as I was too tired. I carefully washed my wounds with cold water, the blood had stopped flowing by then, but the wounds still hurt.

After that I had a bath in the warm pool (it did not feel like a bathtub, it was literally the size of pool), which Vidhi had set up so beautifully with rose petals, that girl has talent, she did everything so efficiently. I can't believe even now that this is my personal pool. The kingdoms in India were so rich. I can't even imagine what Indraprastha would look like.

After a very long and relaxing bath when I went back to room, Vidhi was ready with medicines to put on my wound. I changed into comfortable clothes and let her apply the medicine. Then we ate together the lunch (I had to pester her a lot, to convince her to eat with me), and then I slept like a baby for the whole afternoon.

But before sleeping I asked Vidhi a favour, "Can you arrange a wooden sword for me?"

She looked like she would faint again, this girl really needed to eat more. I also convinced her to not talk about it to anyone, because right now I didn't need more drama than I could handle.

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I woke up in the evening after a fulfilling nap. By then, Vidhi had arranged a wooden sword. That girl had sources. I didn't think much of it. Of course, I thanked her for it and then started training by myself of what he had taught me.

I wasn't able to pick up my sword by my left hand as it was swollen so much and also because it hurt to even bend it a little.

I used my right hand then. At least I could train it to be as good as left, which I quickly realized was a difficult feat to achieve. Thus, the whole night was spent by to achieve it.

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The next day, I went for the training thinking Duryodhan's mood might be better now. It wasn't.

If it was possible, he was even more on the edge today. I wished him morning and started warming up. I used my left hand today. It wasn't as good as new, but at least I could bend it and I could handle a little bit of pain. Anyways, I wanted to keep my training of right hand as a secret.

When, we were trying our face offs, he again started taunting me saying that I was meeting 'people' in tunnels now. I got irritated by the fact that he had tabs on me and he got irritated because I ignored the topic and didn't say back a word.

So, you can imagine how our practices went that day. This continued for the next four days.

At least I was getting better and no I wasn't even near to beating him in a match, but there was an undeniable progress in the way I moved now. I started taking advantage of my size, becoming faster and more flexible. It was a small progress but it was something. I also continued my nightly practice of right hand.

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Exactly 6 days later, I got the same dream which I had on day one. I ran and ran and then got hurt. Everything was the same. It was a nightmare going through it again and again. I was just thankful that I didn't see the end.

Why am I still having those dreams, am I not over what happened 2 years ago? Two years, it's been 2 years since that incident. Time goes so fast and yet so slow. I can feel like it was just yesterday that I went there, maybe the worst decision in my life. That place was decided by my friend.

'Stop thinking about it.' I told myself. Even though my past haunts me here, it won't happen again. I won't let anyone go through that trauma again.

Thinking that I went to the training. He was the same today angry and irritated, but so was I. I just hope today he doesn't fight with me. But when does my hope come true. It was nearly sunset when this happened.

"What are you doing today? Can't you use that little brain of yours, rather than acting like a bull and mindlessly going after red clothes?"

So, I too lashed out. "No, I can't because I'm a dumb little girl, who doesn't no when to not chase and when to say no."

If wasn't so angry I would've laughed at the reaction he gave me. He was just so bewildered. "Are you fine?" well I was fine or as fine as I could be.

"You are really asking that now."

"Yes, I am" He answered stubbornly.

"Come on, you don't even care about what happens to me. So, just stop faking it. You don't have to." I scoffed.

"Who said I didn't care?"

"I the last few days, YOU couldn't have been clearer about that and now YOU are asking me." I lashed out pointing my index finger on his chest at every you. I was that angry.

He caught my wrist then and said, "Maybe, I cared too much."

I tried to remove my wrist from his hand but his grip was too strong. "Yeah, you cared so much that you had to lash out on me every day!!!"

"Maybe, I wouldn't have lashed out if you cared about who was with you rather than fangirling about, that bastard Arjun!!" he too shouted.

Calm down, I told myself, but I just couldn't hold it in. I laughed out loud, like catching your stomach type laughter. "Arjun, literally Arjun out of all people. You couldn't have been more wrong."

"Really?" he asked with undeniable hope in his eyes.

"Yep." I nodded smiling.

"So, I take back what I said before."

"You aren't even going to say sorry, are you?"

"You are asking the wrong person to say sorry. I'm to be the heir of the throne."

The sun had set by then, signalling my time to leave, "Yes, milord" I said making a show by bowing down.

"So, you are leaving now." He asked.

"Well that the plan," I told him. But then added, "If you don't want to join me on a ride."

Word count: 1942

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