The warm rays of the Sun carefully balanced the advent of the sharp morning breeze which cut through the airs like a newly polished knife.

The palace was gradually filling up with it's usual bustle and hurry. I strode across the hallway but a few incoherent whispers caught my ears. I followed it and the scene almost dropped my jaws.

"What have you done?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Vajra and Aarush stood flabbergasted and their eyes widened as if they were turned to stones.

"Aarush, you too!!" Aarush was the most calm amongst the cousins. He had perfectly inherited the calmness and poise from Pragati Bua. Besides these, it was ascertained, he had become adept at creating mischeifs too accompanying Vajra.

"Do you know the consequence of all this? Everyone will be arriving anywhile now."

Unaware of the possible commotion, the flour dripped from Vajra's brown locks, his red dhoti was visibly white and yellow stained. To add fuel to the fire, the pots of butter and youghurts were floating in the bucket filled water.

Aarush was nonchalantly shoving off raisins and cashew nuts. Tit-bits of those lay on the ground. What a massacre! My bones chilled imagining the possible danger looming over their little heads.

"Bhrata!!" I cried aloud helplessly when Bhrata Anirudh was advancing towards us.

Watching this, he too blinked aimlessly. "Pari, what are they up to?"

Bhrata ran fingers through his hair, huffing impatiently. "Why are those butter pots floating in the water?" He pulled Vajra's ears and I reciprocated it with Aarush.

"Oh, it hurts." They both groaned in unison.

"Eh..this isn't even one-tenth of what you will be receiving later." Who to threaten? Do they ever listen to us?

"I..I will tell you. Leave our ears.." We gave in to their heartfelt requests.

"Actually, yesterday we tried to get some, umm...steal some butter..but got caught, so we had decided to sneak in at this hour." Vajra responded.

"You got caught, and again you had the audacity to repeat this."

Vajra grabbed his waist with fisted palms. "Do you forget everything? That day, when Jyeshth Pitamah was teaching us that we must not stop trying till we succeed, where were your ears?"

"Oh, kid !!" Bhrata Anirudh recited, "Nice try !! You deserve a whole new castle for this."

The soft clamour of anklets brought us back to our backdrop. The fragrance of Yojanagandha alerting us.

All the four hearts thumped out of their ribcages before crashing out. Leaving no moments, we ran with hearts in our hands, jumped over the kitchen garden's fence. Vajra and Aarush trailing behind us. I never dared to turn back.

God save us from the Queen !!

We neared a pond, a mile away from the horse stables. "Oh, ahhh!!" Barely catching his breath, Bhrata commanded both of them, "Go and clean yourselves."

We settled on the lush green grass, one side of the pond was choked with weeds.

Both Vajra and Aarush were busing scrubbing themselves.

Meanwhile, I randomly plucked out the coarse yellow blades. On the contrary, Bhrata was smiling on his own.

Wait, smiling on his own, awefully befitting his profile. Plus,he was tracing his fingers on the soil.

"Writing something ?"

"Hmm.." He hummed. "Umm..no." He turned to me with a pale face.

"What?" He asked.

"I am asking the same." Bhrata Anirudh's sudden impatient nature raised a hundred doubts in me.

A faint possibility lurked in my eager mind.

I cleared my throat. "Hey, the valorous son of the Vaishnava Maharathi, do tell me, who has captured your divine thoughts?"

He rolled his eyes at my expense. "It's nothing. You won't understand."

"Tell me at least. How can you assume beforehand?" I whined.

"It...it's not that important. Leave it." His coloured cheeks spoke against his silence.

"Fine, you won't tell me?"

"Ah, okay, okay..so I was just thinking about a friend whom I had seen at Janmashtami this year."

I cocked my head sideways noticing his newly discovered diffidence. The twinkling of his bead like eyes and the shy smile dropping on and off his lips.

Ah, enstranged lovers !

"So, did you find out the name of the goddess, you are worshipping all this while?"

He nodded like a lunatic. "I don't know if she thinks about the same. How can I ask her name?"

"I have heard people being blind in love, but you are beyond all of that. Your brain got tagged along with your heart. And they are both peacefully residing with her, right?"

"Everything is peacefully residing in me", he air-quoted, "And you really think this is love?" He creased his brows in disbelief.

"Only you can mend this stupid brain, Bhabishree." I sighed looking high up.

"Pari..you..a..r..e.." He gritted his teeth.

"Yeah, I am.." I laughed aloud, as he ran behind to catch me.

Vajra and Aarush were still registering what was going around. Poor ones!