I saw my aunt, now my mother in law's gently lined face, light up, the moment she saw me at the doorstep. I don't know whether it was because I was family or because she simply missed the presence of her nephew and saw Krishna in me, that exuberance dripped from her visage. 

Overflowing with affection, Mataa Kunti, blessed me and Arjun, and then simply pulled me to my feet to deposit me, on the plush divan on which she had been seated. 

"Oh Subhadra, it has been far too long. The last I had seen you, you were just a chit of a girl. Running amok the entire palace of Dwarka keeping poor Revati and Rukmini on their toes. How time has passed", she reminisced while stroking the side of my face with her soft hand. 

"If that were the case, then I think your daughter in law hasn't changed, all that much", Arjun teased,  if only to make me flush again.  

I couldn't even berate him in front of his mother, as the thought of how I met my Prince, exactly an year ago, flashed cheekily in front of my eyes. I resisted the urge to groan in quite an unladylike manner. 

I knew the antics of my maidenhood, would come to bite me later.  

***

"Subhadra! Please come back. We can't keep up with you like this", Rukmini bhabi's melodious voice rung like temple bells, from behind me as I ran like a bird mid flight, holding my voluminous skirts in my hands, and my hair flying wild.

"Bhadra! Jiji is right, you are a grown woman now. How will we ever get you married, if you keep behaving in such an ungraceful manner?", Satyabhama bhabi was right beside her co wife, trying to catch up with me. 

But it was for nought. 

I knew no one could match my speed, where running was concerned. I have been running circles around Dwarka since I knew how feet worked. Running away from everyone was my favourite pass time. My maids and caretakers, sometimes my brothers and a dozen of my sisters in law, all have been in pursuit of me, most of my childhood. 

I have mastered the skill of a swift escape, perfectly. 

I chuckled mirthfully at both of Krishna's wives and their increasing frustration at me. 

"To marry me, they would have to be able to catch me first, my dear bhabi", I giggled away. 

It was a bright sunny afternoon in Dwarka and Rukmini and Satya Bhabi, were hell bent on ruining any opportunity of exploring the markets by unanimously deciding to teach me stitching. 

I may have learnt the art of singing, dancing and cooking to their satisfaction. 

But embroidery wasn't my strongest suit. 

I was so used to the precise handling of swordplay and archery that the mind numbing practice of looping thread into needles would bore me to tears. 

But for some reason my brother's wives are convinced that it is an essential skill needed for being a good householder. Maybe there is some truth to it but I am not interested at all. So I looked for the right moment, when they took their eyes off me and scampered away successfully from the hold of the bevy of handmaidens present to keep me in their chambers. 

So was the current predicament of two of the most graceful women to ever walk this earth, to take to their heels, completely inelegantly, in an effort to hold a brat like me. 

My laughter mingled with the pearly ringing of my silver anklets. I was shameless in my triumph.

But as fate would have it, the moment I took a turn where the corridor went left, a blind corner, my luck ran out with a resounding bang. 

All I could see was a shock of saffron and a blur of raven and then I was on the ground, in a tangle of limbs over a man who had had the misfortune of coming up from the left, completely unaware of my antics. 

I raised my head immediately from where it had hit against his muscled chest and looked at his shocked eyes, my own marble ones, wide like saucers . 

I could barely breathe. 

The colour of those arresting pupils was striking. Silver with hints of prussian and an earthy brown. If sunlight would hit it right, they will resemble thunder drenched skies at the aftermath of a storm. 

His gaze on me was unfiltered, hawk like sharp. These were the eyes of an apex predator. And I felt like the hapless prey caught in his clutches. 

It was only when my brother Krishna, whom, I had not noticed at all, was accompanying the stranger who had become my mattress currently, break into delighted laughter that our trance broke. 

"Looks like someone did finally manage to catch our beloved Bhadra after all", my brother chuckled, wickedly teasing in his characteristic way. 

And with it came an amalgamation of acute embarrassment and a little fear as I scrambled to my feet hurriedly, from over him. Apologies were bubbling beneath my breast but for some reason they all got stuck at the roof of my rapidly drying mouth. 

For only now I realised, that the man with whom I had crashed, was an ascetic. 

A sage. 

He had three lines of ash smeared on his forehead. A devotee of Lord Shiva. Rudraksh beads wrapped around wiry arms and a strong neck, he was clothed in the customary coarse saffron robes. 

He was tall. Just a few centimetres short of my brother's height. With broad shoulders and a leanly muscled chest tapered into a hard defined abdomen and narrow waist. 

His inky black hair was tied in a bun at the nape, a few unruly locks having escaped the tie, the beard surprisingly well groomed into a trim on a jaw which looked like it could cut glass. An aquiline nose and thin lips only added an endearing charm to that pair of astoundingly deep eyes. 

A very attractive, very young sage, my traitor of a mind supplied unhelpfully. 

"Please don't curse me."

That was not at all what I wanted to say but it slipped out of my mouth before I could do anything. He looked a little surprised before cracking a smile. 

And Lord Vishnu be praised, it looked like the heavens themselves have parted in glee. A burst of butterflies knocked rather annoyingly inside my stomach. 

"I do not believe I possess such power yet, Devi. You can rest assured, all of us aren't Maharishi Durvasa", he said benignly. That velveteen baritone drenched over me like a blanket of warmth during winters. That voice can make the Gandharvas cry with jealousy. 

"Yet being the operative word here. Though I am sure, if you ever possess such a power Rishivar, you would conveniently forget to use it, even when required", Krishna grinned unabashed while wrapping both arms around each of his wives, who were sporting similar looks of bafflement and embarrassment. 

"Forgive her Rishivar. She is still learning the art of grace", Satya Bhabi provided unhelpfully. 

"And tact", Rukmini bhabi added while looking at me pointedly. I bit my lower lip, colouring with shame. 

"It is quite alright, your highness. I only hope the princess wasn't too hurt", the ascetic answered kindly, his eyes still unnervingly trained on me. 

"I think she is more than fine your holiness. But now that my dear sister has committed such a grave error, she will have to be suitably punished. I believe, serving you personally for the duration of your stay here, would suffice, eh?"

I looked astonished at my brother, at his rather strange suggestion. 

"But Madha--", the sage began equally bewildered and a tinge of familiarity struck me. 

"I think it is a brilliant idea. She could do with learning some patience your holiness. Please do not deny her this", Satya Bhabi reiterated her husband's words looking weirdly amused. 

The ascetic looked a little perturbed and I felt embarrassment starting to shoot up again. But before I could make a bigger fool of myself by uttering something utterly foolish again, the young saint broke the anticipatory silence. 

"If the princess desires so, I have no issue."

I looked at him then and felt my head starting to spin and my heart raced in a steady gallop. Those intoxicating eyes of his eyes refused to even blink a little. 

"Of course Rishivar, it would be a great honour", I blurted out. 

Of everyone present, Bhrata Krishna looked the happiest with this arrangement and had I been able to think more clearly having not got lost in a helpless fog of attraction, I would have been suitably suspicious. 

After all my brother was famously known to weave rather intricate plans for his own mysterious reasons. 

***

"Hush Arjun! Do not irritate her", Kunti reprimanded her son gently and Arjun raised his hands in the air in the universal gesture of surrender. 

He was smiling but I could sense the nervousness starting to build up inside him again. And as if on cue, my own eyes roamed anticipatorily all around the room. But even the Rajmata's chambers didn't house my elusive co wife. 

The task of pacifying the queen has slowly started to become ever more daunting. 

Kunti maa, must have understood the unasked question. Her smile turned sad as she excused her maids with a flick of her hand. She beckoned Arjun close to her and he went down on his knees in front of her. 

She cupped his face, and turned it gently side to side, as if trying to find any mark that the rigorous twelve years of exile has left on her youngest. 

"The strength women possess is unparalleled. They can suffer unimaginable pain and come out unscathed. There is but one thing that can break them irrevocably. Unfortunately our society doesn't bother much with a wife's heart. She only has to accept everything which her husband provides her with."

Her words wove painful knots inside my chest. I had rather foolishly believed everything would become alright, immediately. It was starkly visible on the Pandava matriarch's still beautiful face that she spoke not from her infinite wisdom but her own past experience. 

The late princess of Madra may have immolated herself at Maharaja Pandu's pyre, but it seems like her shadow hasn't left my aunt's life completely. 

I saw Arjun grimace slightly as realisation dawned on his shuttered gaze. 

Kunti maa kissed her son's forehead unknowingly in a reflection of her oldest child. 

"Go to her. I want to talk to Subhadra alone for some time. Then come and take her. The queen of Indraprasth needs to properly welcome your wife."

The addressal of Draupadi as the queen and not Arjun's wife and the meaning behind it wasn't lost on either of us. 

Phalgun got up, bowed to his mother and caught my eye, just for a second before excusing himself. I had sensed his apprehension vividly but I felt heartened at the acknowledgement all the same. At least he hasn't shut me out. 

"I hope I haven't offended you, my dear", Kunti maa asked me benignly. 

"Not at all, mother. A child cannot take offence at anything their mother says. After all, no one can love them and look after their interests better."

"Wisely said my dear. You truly are, your brother's sister."

The sun had started descending by then. The late evening light fell upon Kunti and in a single moment I saw a flash of something decidedly ugly, sparkle in that effervescent gaze. A sharp shiver of uneasiness slithered down my body. 

It was gone the next moment and I could breathe again. 

It was slowly starting to get clear to me that I was woefully unequipped to deal with the subtle dynamics of this spectacularly strange family. I muttered a prayer beneath my breath, wishing desperately that my initiation in Indraprastha and the Pandavas doesn't start with a sour note.

'Always remember my little light, If you wish for something to happen, make sure you don't wish for it at all.'

Too late bhratashree, I may have jinxed myself this time. 

Just as the first stirrings of restlessness had started to emerge in me, I heard a sharp clang resound deafeningly from the corridor outside. Everyone including Kunti Maa's heads turned towards the sound but my feet worked as if they had gained a life of their own. 

Call it a warrior's instinct or a wife's intuition, I couldn't be sure. 

I sprinted out into the corridor and stopped short just outside the room. I saw Arjun walking towards me in a brisk pace. 

His eyes were dull and suspiciously moist. His expression was stricken. 

I felt the bottom of my stomach fall out. 

He stopped right in front me looking distraught. I took his hand slowly and laced my fingers tightly with his concerningly cold ones. 

"She is inconsolable Bhadra. She won't even look at me. She told me something about a second knot loosening the first. I don't... I can't...I don't know what to do."

He unlaced our hands and used it to pinch the bridge of his sharp nose, eyes closed bruising tight. I felt a lump in my throat and the heavy choker I had on, felt like it could strangle me easily at that moment. 

"Maybe I should try", I offered meekly. 

"You cannot go in there dressed like... ", he stopped abruptly. 

I looked down at my dress, for the first time that day. It was an expensive, pale rose hued, silken lehenga, with diamonds and emeralds embroidered on it, with an almost translucent silver netted veil. There were sapphires embedded in my sparkling silver jewellery. My rather long hair had been painstakingly pulled into a stylish knot at the nape and strings of fragrant jasmines held it together. My eyes were lined with kohl and my lips stained with the juice of pink lotuses.  

I looked like a newly wedded princess. 

'Remember Bhadrae, it is her house you are going to. It is her kingdom. And he will always be firstly, her husband.'

Satya bhabi's words rung ominously in my ears and suddenly I knew what I had to do. 

"Give me a moment."

"What are you going to do?", he asked, curiosity warring with the lingering sadness in his gaze. 

I grinned at my husband then, feeling apprehension and excitement and anticipation fighting to dominate over one another. 

"Wouldn't you like to know."

To be continued