Pitamaha Bheeshma had refused to fight in the war alongside Bhrata Karna. There had been an argument and Duryodhan had gone red with rage saying that he didn't need Pitamaha if he wouldn't agree to fight alongside Karna, but Bhrata Karna had stopped him and asked him to shut up and told him in no uncertain terms that he very much did need Pitamaha Bheeshma as his Commander in Chief. And then he had bitterly agreed not to fight.

Bhanumati could not believe it. It seemed like the whole Universe was conspiring against them before the war. Especially against Bhrata Karna. First his Kavach-Kundal was taken so that he would not have divine protection while fighting and now despite that, he could not even fight ?! And she knew that Pitamaha Bheeshma and Bhrata Karna didn't really get along well, but wasn't this a bit extreme?!

Duryodhan had tried his final hand by saying that if their ally Kings who knew exactly how powerful Karna was, courtesy of the fact that Karna had defeated most of them on his Digvijay Yatra, found that Karna could not fight because Pitamaha Bheeshma would not allow him, they might not be very happy. That they might consider the fact that one who defeated them was not being allowed to fight as a slight upon their own character and importance.

So the next day, Pitamaha Bheeshma and Karna staged an even greater argument than the one they had already had. In front of the Kings.

("Your friend is insolent, harsh, boastful and inferior. He incites you in this war against the Pandavas to seek his own glory! He claims that he is the best archer but he has nothing to show, given that he has been defeated by Arjun twice before! In truth, Karna is not a Maharathi, Atirathi or even a full Rathi! He is an Ardharathi and nothing more! Now he has given away his Kavach and Kundal and without those he won't survive the War against Arjun!" Bheeshma had sneered.

"I believe you are correct! We have all known him to retreat from battle!" Drona had exclaimed. "Karna is generous but he is distracted. It is my view too, that he is nothing more than half a Rathi!"

Karna had flown into a great rage at those words. "Pitamaha! As you wish, you pierce me with your words like arrows. You have always hated me for no reason, even though I am innocent. And do not claim that you started to hate me only in the past few years, for you have hated me since the very beginning. Now you claim that I am half a Rathi! I have tolerated all your barbed words for so long for Duryodhan's sake. No more! You support the Pandavas, and this is your way of reducing the morale in our camp, Pitamaha!"

"Hold your tongue!" Drona snarled while Bheeshma looked on, seeming surprisingly placid.

"No, I won't!" Karna lashed back. "You think I am incapable and a coward, Pitamaha! You insult me constantly. You have defined the meaning of Rathis and Maharathis according to your own inclinations! You attempt to reduce our energy before battle by inappropriately describing the qualities of all the Kings present here and highlighting only their demerits!! You have crossed all bounds. I refuse to fight under your flag! I will fight only once you have fallen, Pitamaha!")

Later Bhanumati said, "I understand that you needed to make sure that the other Kings were satisfied with the arrangements but now you have sunken in their eyes."

Bhrata Karna let out a caustic laugh from where he was lying down with his head on Vrushali di's lap in the tent.

"As if I could sink any lower. While some of them acknowledge my prowess since I defeated them and hence would have been offended if I had been exempted from battle by Pitamaha for no reason, nobody actually likes me. I am an unworthy Sutaputra after all." He said bitterly.

"Madra Raj for example, perhaps does not think me even worthy to hold a bow, let alone be an archer. Well of all the Kings, at least he'll be happy that I won't be entering the battlefield in three days."

Duryodhan had been surprisingly quiet throughout the whole ordeal. Despite the fact that it had been planned, Bhanumati would not have thought that he would actually manage to stop himself from defending his friend, but he had.

"That was definitely not acting." He now declared. He looked Karna in the eyes. "You meant every word you said."

"Of course I did." Karna snorted. "Why bother with acting when the reality is that much more effective? It was staged, but Pitamaha certainly meant his insults. He was only freer with them than he has ever been before."

Bhanumati pursed her lips. "You and Pitamaha Bheeshma have often butted heads but never have I seen you this upset."

Bhrata Karna abruptly sat up. "No argument has ever been like this!" He incredulously exclaimed. "He's not letting me fight ! And so my sons won't be able to fight either!"

He got up and started pacing. "I know Pitamaha hates me and I am not exactly fond of him either, but this is too much!"

"Calm down, Vasu." Vrushali softly said.

"You called him Pitamaha. You keep calling him Pitamaha." Duryodhan observed and Karna froze. "Even during your argument you called him Pitamaha. You've never done that before. It has always been Mahamahim."

There was silence. Bhanumati raised her eyebrows. Here Pitamaha Bheeshma was probably causing Bhrata Karna the worst insult of his life and Karna had suddenly started calling him Pitamaha!!

"It was a slip of tongue." Karna said, his voice tense. "It doesn't mean anything. Literally over a hundred Princes and all of their wives call him Pitamaha and I live in close proximity to you lot. It was natural."

"It's never happened before though. Doesn't seem very natural--" Duryodhan began, but was cut off by Vrushali di.

"Drop it, Duryodhan." She said quietly, but with a steely edge to her voice that was not often heard and it shut him up on the topic faster than any argument from Bhrata Karna would have.

Still, Bhanumati did think that the matter was strange.

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And then finally, after seemingly unending weeks, the day of the war arrived. The camp was filled with activity an hour before the Sun was set to rise, as the men were given the instructions about their positions and duties for the day. Karna went around the camp giving away bits and pieces of vital information to all the young warriors who would be fighting on their side. All his sons looked upset and Vrishasena especially had a heavy scowl on his face since he couldn't lead Anga's faction.

Bhanumati felt nauseous. Her stomach roiled and she felt heat sweep through her body at a dizzying pace. The war was at head. The men would start assembling on the battlefield in an hour. There would be so many deaths. She could lose her family.

She watched with her heart in her throat as the Kings and Princes and Generals all assembled before the immense likeness of Mahakaal to pray for their victory and invoke his blessings.

They are going to die. They are all going to die .

She knew she shouldn't think this way, but she couldn't help it. As her eyes roved over her son, her nephews, all she could think of was that they were too young to die.

As the time came for the women to tilak their husbands and bless their children, Bhanumati found her hands holding the plate of ash and vermillion, shaking. She did her best to steady herself. It would not do for her son or nephews to see her fear now, just before the War was set to start.

She was the Yuvrani of Hastinapur but for years she had been acting as Queen as her husband took over the duties of King while being Yuvraj in name.

She was a Queen and queens had to be the strength and stability for the men of their family and Kingdom. They needed to see her steady as she sent them off to battle.

Her Lakshman bent down to touch her feet and her hands were as steady as ebony as she blessed him and then all her hundred and fifty three nephews.

Then she prayed for all her brothers in law and for all their ally Kings and her voice was calm and clear.

Before her brother, her smile shook and her voice wobbled, but as she anointed his forehead with the tilak, her hand did not shake.

When Duryodhan stood in front of her however, she almost dropped her prayer thali.

He cupped her unsteady hands in his and gave her a very soft smile, the kind she hadn't seen in a long time.

Bhanumati swallowed, her throat bone dry.

"Look at me." She croaked out. "It's you all who are going to war and it's me who is shaking."

Duryodhan waited for her to put the tilak on his forehead and then said, "It takes just as much bravery to sit and wait for the outcome, knowing you can't do anything to change it no matter how much you want to, as it does to go out and fight."

Bhanumati looked up, startled.

"If we die--"

Bhanumati placed a hand against his lips.

"Don't say it." She pleaded.

Duryodhan gently removed her hand. "If we die, we attain heaven and that's it for us." He continued. "It's you Kshatraniyaan who will have to face the world. You are just as brave as us. But I will do my best to not leave you to that fate. You will wear your sindoor till the end of the War, this I swear."

Bhanumati pursed her lips and resisted the urge to throw her arms around her husband in front of everyone.

"Go." She said and he walked away.

And the army mobilised out of the camp to take up their positions on the battlefield.

The women slowly started to disperse, but Bhanumati found herself standing there at the edge of camp with Bhrata Karna and his sons.

The War conches sounded in the distance as the Sun rose over the Horizon.

"It has begun." Karna said grimly.

Eventually his sons retired to the tents as well, but he kept standing there beside her, just as anxious.

But then he turned towards her and took her hand in his and said, "Don't worry. No one you care about will die today."

"How can you be certain?" She asked him desperately.

He squeezed her hand and laughed dryly.

"Your brother has his Celestial mace that ensures he wins any battle he fights and of course, Pitamaha Bheeshma won't let any Kuru die on his watch. And he is powerful enough to ensure that, which is why I insisted to Duryodhan that he must have Pitamaha on the battlefield, even though he would have rather had me."

"No Kuru falling means that no Pandavas or their sons will fall either."

"I know." Karna said. "No, they will be on the battlefield when I get there."

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The moment the Sun went down, they all assembled outside camp to welcome back the army.

Bhrata Karna's words were proven right. They hadn't lost anyone important. The First day's battle had been a victory for them.

Prince Uttar and Prince Shweta of Virat had been killed and heavy damage had been dealt to the Pandava army which was already smaller in size in comparison to theirs by four Akshauhinis.

They hadn't suffered any major losses that day but that didn't mean that tens of thousands of common soldiers hadn't been killed.

They had won today and there had been no major losses and yet there were so many deaths. She felt the heat from the funeral pyres and the smoke burned her nostrils. She heard the cries of the women. And she thought, if this was what victory sounded like, what would happen when they lost a day's battle?

Soooo, you know how it's a highly debatable topic whether Bheeshma was the one who said that Karna couldn't fight or Karna himself refused to fight under Bheeshma?

  -Vaikartana- pointed out to me that BOTH these events are mentioned in BORI CE which is.... weird. It's like how in KMG Mahabharat, Draupadi's Svayamwar mentions three versions of the same event. In one paragraph Karna does not participate in the Svayamwar at all, in one he picks up the bow but can't string it and then also, in another paragraph he is about to shoot but is insulted by Draupadi.

Obviously in the latter case all three can't simultaneously happen, but well. Both the events in the former case as you can see in this chapter, have been merged together! I must give some credit to -Vaikartana- who came up with the idea of staging an argument so that both the events can be merged together.

Bheeshma and Karna's argument has been taken from BORI CE. It's not exactly the same of course. I have cut the argument short and changed a couple of lines, but mostly its from that. It also struck me as kind of odd that Karna calls Bheeshma 'Grandfather' here, in this argument in BORI CE and hence the following convo and Karna calling Bheeshma as 'Pitamaha' in general instead of 'Mahamahim' XD.

And well, the War has begun. The fic is about to come to a close now in two to three chapters!

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