It had been a couple of days now and Aru was losing hope. There, she said it. Now all of a sudden she would suddenly find the right path like what happened in stories. Everything had started out great, she had gone on the right path and made it to where a small forest was supposed to be. Aru had never been in there but she figured she could easily navigate it, and oh boy was she wrong. Aru mentally smacked herself, why had she not broughten a map? Now she was almost out of food and water, it did not help that Airavata had a big appetite. Just when Aru was starting to think the stories she had read was a lie, Airavata trumpeted. The elephant, who had been scouting, led Aru to a clearing in the woods. In the area, thousands of tents were there with just as many men. There was a huge field with many training arenas and dummies, a ginormous mountain that was at the start of the Himalayas, a raging river, another field, this one bigger with many cannons, an archery range, and a wooden pole that seemed to touch the sky. Next to the pole was a tent with the Indian flag. Aru had found the army! She grinned, the stories were right after all! Aru dismounted from Uchchaihshravas and made her way into the tent with the Indian flag. Inside was a small line of men leading to a man sitting with a table in front of him, taking names. Aru noticed, trying to hide her smile, that the man looked like a monkey. Soon it was the man in front of Arus' turn. He introduced his family name and gave the scroll to the monkey man. Aru gulped as the man walked away, if she got caught right here, well...Aru decided not to dwell on that thought. The monkey man looked at her expectantly.

"Well?" He said in a deep voice. With shaking hands Aru handed him the letter.

"I am-" She started in a meek voice then cleared her throat and tried again in a deeper tone. "I am from the Shah family." Without looking up the monkey man replied.

"Full name?"

"Ar-" Aru caught herself before she could say her real name. "Arjuna."

"Very well, you may go." The monkey man said, setting down the letter.

"Thank you," Aru noticed the cape, pin, and sash the monkey man was wearing. "General." The general nodded his head and Aru walked away letting out a sigh of relief and feeling light hearted. She was so pleased with herself and distracted by the General's face that she did not see where she was walking and bumped into someone. Aru fell backwards on her butt on some wet grass. Great.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" Aru looked up to see a tall boy around her age with black curly hair and dark eyes that seemed to reflect the night skies. He extended his hand. "Are you okay?" Aru just stared at his hand. How could someone be this good looking? Say something! Her inner voice screamed, but what was she supposed to say?!

"I..." Why did her voice sound so deep all of a sudden? The boy looked worried and a bit confused. Aru took a deep breath mentally and smiled.

"I know where you live!" The boy stared at her. Aru stared at him.

"Wha–?"

"I...um...training! Gotta go!" Aru quickly got up and let's just say, Aru had never run so fast in her entire life.

Aru ran to a training field with a few dummies and a couple of wooden swords lying around. She grabbed a sword to get all that embarrassment out of her system. Big mistake. Whenever Aru hit the dummy, it came right back up and knocked her down. Usually people would have quit by now but Aru was determined to take this dummy down. She had been at this for about an hour now. Airavata had gotten out of her bag and was now looking at her. She could have sworn he was rolling his eyes. Aru got up and scowled at Airavata when he suddenly dove back into her bag. Aru was confused why but she just shrugged her shoulders. She got into a fighting stance and was just about to bring the wooden sword down when a gentle hand positioned her arm. Aru froze.

"Here. Put your arm like that. Spread your feet farther, one in front of the other." For some reason, Aru instinctively trusted and followed the voice doing exactly what it said. "Now attack." Aru did, and this time it stayed down. She turned around to thank the person and found herself staring at the boy she had word vomited to. Heat rose to her cheeks. "Hi! Nice to meet you again! Sorry about that. I should not have touched you without your permission." Aru blushed.

"It's fine." She mumbled. The boy smiled.

"I'm glad! By the way, what's your name?"

"A-Arjuna" Aru barely choked out.

"Nice name, mine is Aiden." Aru felt her blood run cold.

"As in...the prince of India?" Aiden's smile faded a little.

"Yep, the prince of India." Aiden laughed nervously as if he hated the title.

"Oh. Good for you," Aru mock bowed. "Prince." She then walked away stiffly, but not before seeing a flash of hurt on Aiden's face. At the dining hall it was completely chaotic, and that's saying something coming from Aru. There were no seats left and a couple of people were actually standing and eating. Just when Aru was about to copy them, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She saw Aiden there, fidgeting with his sash. Aru felt her face go red but she quickly shook herself. He looked Aru straight in the eye which made her go even more red.

"You can sit with me if you like." Aru saw a table for two in a corner with a tray of food in front of one seat. Since there were no other seats she had no other choice.

"Fine." Aiden brightened a little at this and Aru set her tray on the table and plopped into a chair. She started shoveling food into her mouth to quickly get out of there.

"Um," Aiden began. Aru looked up and glared. "If I may ask, did I do something wrong?"

"Your whole bloodline did. Now, if you'll excuse me." Aru stated curtly and left.

At night, Aru lay in her cot trying to get some shut eye. She shared her tent with 5 other men who were snoring like bulldozers. Aru sighed and looked up to see Airavata floating above her.

"Did I do the right thing Airavata?" She asked. Airavata started weaving clouds, ignoring her. Rude, then again, she had been as well. "I guess I should have been a little less harsh." Airavata kept on ignoring her. "But he is a prince!" Aru groaned into her pillow, eggy, as an internal war waged inside of her. Now that Aru thought about it, however, Aiden seemed pretty down to Earth, and gentle, and kind, and-Stop it! She quickly shut off her thoughts. "You know what! I'll just say I'm sorry and explain why I acted like that!" The plan wasn't fully formed but Aru could feel her eyes closing and it seemed like a good idea.

In the early morning, Aru swallowed her pride and walked up to Aiden. He was sitting in a field, looking gloomily into the horizon.

"I'm sorry." Aiden looked up, surprised. "It's just that I hate the royal family. They are such snobs and big bullies. And they-they..."

"They are greedy selfish idiots that only rely on their status?"

"Yes....What?" Aru stops abruptly, startled. Aiden sighs.

"I grew up with them."

"Well yeah, duh, but why are you-"

"Talking trash about them?" Aru folded her arms and glared.

"Well I hate them too, they are a bunch of jerks." Aru still looks at him confused. Aiden lets out another sigh. "Me and my family have history. I had different views then them. I'd rather do photography than lavishly spending money. Aru looks down, ashamed. "Aiden, can I call you that?" When he nods she continues. "I'm sorry that I presumed you were just like...them. I hope you can forgive me."

"Hey, what's in the past is in the past." Aru looks up.

"Really?"

"Water under the bridge." Replies Aiden smiling. Aru smiles too and thinks for a moment before sticking her hand out.

"Friends?" Aiden looks amused and raises an eyebrow. Aru scowls. "Do not leave me hanging." Aiden laughs but still shakes her hand.

"Friends." Aru feels butterflies taking wing in her stomach at the touch of his hand but she ignores them. They were just friends. So why did it sting at the thought of not being more? Aru quickly changes the topic and puts on a smirk.

"Just so you know, being friends with me means that on Wednesdays we wear pink." Aiden grumbles.

"Why are you like this Shah?" Now it was Aru's turn to laugh.

A/N: So I'm back! Sorry about the wait, I was trying to perfect the Aru and Aiden moment and it may not be the best but I'm kinda proud of it. Also a few lines are sorta copied fron EoT like the mean girls refrence and the word vomit lines so credits to Roshani Chokshi for that! And again, hope you enjoyed! If you have any suggestions feel free to comment!