Next stop: Widows Wing.

Jyesht once again stepped forward to request the dasi at the entrance to please call Mridula if she would.

Arjun sighed deeply as they waited. Out of all these widows here, she deserved their apology the most.

She stepped out after a while, looking at all of them tiredly but her posture was still stiff and alert, as if ready to bolt.

"What can I do for you, my lords?"

"Well," Jyesht said, "the first would be to stop addressing us in that way. We... are family after all."

"Ah yes, family. Very well then Jyesht, what can I do for all of you?"

Arjun winced at her inflection, but she at least, had a right to be angry with all of them.

"We-- I, have come to apologise to you." Bhrata Bheem said, looking down ashamed. "I killed your husband despite Vikarna being the only one to speak up for Draupadi in that accursed Dyut Sabha. Even being her husbands, all of us were silent, but he spoke up. He spoke up against his Jyesht. If only we had done the same, things might have turned out differently."

Ouch. That was true, but out of all of them, only Bhrata Bheem would ever say it out loud.

"Thank you." She said formally. "I accept your apology, though I hope you will not mind if it takes me some time to forgive you."

"No, no of course not." Bheem assured her. "Take as much time as you need."

"I have a request." Jyesht said. "May we come inside?"

Mridula immediately shook her head. "Absolutely not. Not even married women with their husbands alive can enter here, you are men. When we don't make an exception for Mata Gandhari, we certainly cannot make an exception even for you."

"I understand." Jyesht said. "But how will I speak to all of them then? It will be be far too inconvenient to call everyone out here."

Mridula smiled. "I think you are forgetting the fact that people are willing to tolerate inconveniences to protect the sanctity of places they consider their safe haven. I will call them." she said, and went inside the door that marked the beginning of the Wing.

While the brothers did not regret Duryodhan and Dushsasan's death, they did regret that all their other cousins had been dragged along in this war due to duty and love for family. And above all they regretted their nephews. Having lost their children themselves, they knew how all these women felt and it was their duty to offer their condolences. And while their forgiveness didn't really matter that much to them unlike with their uncle and aunt,  it was their duty to apologise for their part in it.

The women all filed out eventually. Once upon a time they would have been dressed in bright, vibrant colours, but now all were dressed in either white or dull shades of ochres or oranges. Arjun hated Bhrata Duryodhan a bit more then. Had he not thought of his wife? Of his sisters in law? He could have simply given them back their Kingdom. Then this war would not have taken place. He could have even gotten away with everything he had done till then, and as much as that did not sit right with Arjun, all this devastation could have been avoided.

"I'm sorry for inconveniencing all of you by calling you here but it was necessary that we spoke." Jyesht said.

"We owe you a formal apology and offer you condolences for your loss. There is nothing we say that could lessen your grief, but please if you require anything, do not hesitate to come to us or to the Empress and Princess Subhadra."

All they got were dubious or blank looks. Mridula gave them a small nod though, so Arjun supposed that was something. Maybe she could talk to the rest of them later.

"And..."Bhrata Bheem started and then stopped. As always, the women had stiffened or flinched upon hearing him.

"Please." He started again, speaking more gently than Arjun had ever heard him speak before. "I will not hurt any of you. I understand that you may hate me, but please stop being afraid of me. I would never touch any of you."

"That's easier said than done, but we will try." Chandramukhi bhabhi said, even though her face had gone pale. She was understandably always the jumpiest around them.

"That's all we can ask." Jyesht said. "We will take your leave now."

"Samrat." Bhanumati bhabhi called out. "I have a request."

Oh dear, Arjun thought. I hope it's not like the last time where they all just want to up and leave.

"Yes?" Jyesht asked with as much of a smile as he could muster, clearly also remembering the last time she had asked such a thing. He was clearly concerned enough that he did not even request her to not address him as 'Samrat'.

"I request that we be allowed to open and govern a centre to help all the widows of the war who don't have as good a living situation as us."

Arjun sighed in relief.

Jyesht blinked. "Oh. Certainly, but we are already helping any widows who come to us--"

"Yes, but by this system we will be the ones reaching out to the widows." Bhanumati said. "All of them and not just the ones who come to court. And we do feel like the widows and the young children might prefer the company of other widowed women rather than the men who fought in the war. No offence." she added.

"None taken." Jyesht assured her. "Of course. You may have all the funds you need. Just talk to  Draupadi once since she is also the Finance Minister."

She tilted her head in an approximation of a nod.

And then she turned to him. "Arjun, a word?"

"Uh...Certainly, bhabhi."

Bhanumati waved a hand to dismiss her sisters in law and all of then except Chandramukhi left.

"We'll get going then." Jyesht said and patted Arjun on the back and then all his brothers left.

Arjun stood gaping after them, feeling terribly betrayed. How could they just leave him?

Bhanumati cleared her throat behind him and he hurried to face her, unable to keep himself from flushing.

"Right. So um.. what did you want to talk about?" He asked, feeling horribly awkward.

"We wanted to apologise as well." Chandramukhi said. "For our husbands' part in Abhimanyu's death."

All at once, the pain came flooding back in. Arjun felt his chest tighten uncomfortably and his breaths begin to shorten at the reminder of what his boy had suffered.

"We know that the way he was killed is unforgivable and one of the greatest injustices of this war and no apologies can make up for it. But it is our duty to apologise and we hope that he receives the highest spot in heaven, even above our own sons." Bhanumati finished.

"Thank you." Arjun managed to choke out.

"Don't thank us." Bhanumati bhabhi said. "It is our duty and our desire to apologise for the atrocity that our husbands were a part of."

Arjun nodded and then remembered his manners. "Sorry about you-your sons. They were, they were in that Chakravyuh too--"

Bhanumati bhabhi nodded and he fell silent.

"You may go." Chandramukhi bhabhi told him gently. "I'm sure you don't want to spend more time hanging around with us."

"No, that's not it--" Arjun tried to protest but was cut off by Bhanumati bhabhi raising a sharp eyebrow.

"Well, we must go speak to the Empress about our new programme so, if you would excuse us..?.."

"Ah, yes, sorry."

He moved to the side as they strode past him.

Well, he thought. That went better than expected. 

There was no cursing involved and he even got a return apology! Not that it made anything better, but he was certain their apologies also didn't make anything better for anyone.

It was a start at least.

The next one might be the toughest. He wasn't sure he even had the courage to actually carry it out.

I swear writing this chapter was so hard, because I could not for the life of me find the proper balance of apologising. I hope I did, in the end. More apologies lie ahead lmao. But after the next chapter or maybe after the next two chapters, our Vrish and Vrush will be making a reappearance!

Don't forget to vote if you liked it and please, please let me know what you think about this chapter, because last chapter made me rather nervous about this whole apology business.