To say that Vrushali was stunned would be a massive understatement. She had been holding back her tears for the past two days, terrified beyond words as to what would happen when Vrishaketu got here. And then, out of nowhere, Arjun popped up?!

That too dressed as a servant bringing her food?!

She was utterly confused.

Vrushali was half convinced that she had imagined the whole scenario in her desire to be rescued without Vrishaketu being harmed by Anushalva's ridiculous plan that might've just worked, but ..... well. For one thing, she had never considered seeing anybody in the room she was trapped in. She had expected there to be a battle of some kind, she supposed. That was how warriors tended to do things.

But even her imagination could not have cooked up Arjun showing up to bring her dinner where she was imprisoned. It was so ludicrous that it had to be real.

He had said that Vrishaketu was very worried but fine. What did that mean? Was he hiding somewhere in this palace? Or had he actually trusted Arjun enough to let him rescue her alone?!

The latter seemed practically impossible!

She wasn't sure what was going on but she had true hope now. Hope that she could be free without  Vrishaketu being involved or hurt. And it seemed that if Arjun could manage to sneak her out of here(which was not an approach she would have expected any of these warrior types to take), they might just be able to manage avoiding any further bloodshed as well.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arjun spent the time after night had fallen and most of the Palace had gone to sleep in the grounds, barely managing to dodge the eyes of the guards each time they looked his way, trying to figure out the best place to hook a rope outside the windows of Angarani's prison-chambers and of course-- how he was supposed to do it without being seen.

He thankfully got the answer to that soon enough.

About an hour or so before the Sun rose, there was a small period when there were no guards present, in between the change of shifts.

That's when he would have to take the opportunity.

And if they managed to get out of Salwa before the Angarani's absence was detected, then almost all bloodshed could be avoided.

Anushalva couldn't exactly accuse them of kidnapping now, could he?

Although it was still not sitting right with Arjun that Anushalva might get out of this whole thing unscathed. What was stopping him from trying something like this again, if he ever got an opportunity? Even if he couldn't get to Panchali or Subhadra, he had shown that he didn't care about who he kidnapped and might go for another one of their sisters-in-law, or heaven forbid Uttara or their mother or aunt.

And it was sort of hard to ensure that all the women in their family which was more than a hundred in number was under heavy guard at all times, especially since a lot of them were busy with helping in rehabilitating all the women who had lost their families in the war. Five of them couldn't be around all of them at all times. 

(And here, Arjun felt a deep pang. Five of them. From a hundred and seven, only six remained alive and only five remained in Hastinapur. No one would have dared to attempt such a thing against Hastinapur had they all been together. But when the women in the family would not be respected by family itself.....)

Something would have to be done about Anushalva.

________________________________________________________________________________

Arjun showed up at the Kitchens that morning to prevent any kind of suspicions about a servant suddenly going missing, after he had clearly been taken note of by several people yesterday.

And of course, because he was going to be the one to take breakfast to Angarani. To assure her that yesterday had been no imagination and that he was here and that he would get her out. And to inform her of some of his plan.

The servants from yesterday smiled at him and one of them said, "Good to see you didn't get lost in the Palace after all!"

Arjun laughed awkwardly, feeling very strange because he truly did feel terrible while deceiving innocent people who were simply trying to be friendly.

After engaging in some small talk which just made him feel even worse, he picked up the breakfast plate which one of the maids had been kind enough to arrange and once again he was off.

The real question was, how exactly he was going to talk to Angarani without the guards getting suspicious.

He concocted a little plan in his head, hoped it would work and stepped towards the guards outside the chambers. Thankfully there were only two of them there at the moment, the rest lined up along the corridor instead of being congregated outside the door like they had been last night. Now whether his plan would work or not would unfortunately depend on how sympathetic the guards were to Angarani's plight. He wished he was better at lying and sneaking about, but with Bhrata Yudhishtir as his Jyesht that was not possible.

As they were about to open the doors to allow him in with the food, Arjun spoke up.

"Hello sirs! May I ask you a question?"

"Of course!" One of the men replied good-naturedly.

Arjun leaned forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. 

"Everyone down in the kitchens has been wondering about who this woman is. You must know who it is, right?"

"Oh we do, but we're not at liberty to say." The other man shook his head regretfully, actually looking upset. He even sounded guilty. That was good.

"Why do you seem upset, sir?"

"Well," the guard looked around checking if anyone was withing earshot except his companion, "You lot must have realised she is someone important."

"Of course." He nodded.

"The King is holding her hostage."

Arjun affected a gasp. 

"The thought had crossed our minds, but we hadn't wanted to believe it! Why would the King do such a thing? No wonder the woman sounded so sad when she spoke to me yesterday."

The guards did a double take.

"She spoke to you? She has never spoken to anyone so far, since the King spoke to her when he brought her here three days ago."

Arjun shrugged, trying to look flattered and abashed at the same time. 

"I don't know, maybe I remind her of someone." 

Hoping it would work, he leaned forwards and whispered, "She must so terribly lonely, whoever she is. If she would talk to me today as well, would you let me speak to her for a few minutes? It might cheer her up."

The guards glanced at each other.

"The King would not be happy with us. We might be punished. And besides, it's not our responsibility to keep a prisoner happy."

"Well, of course." Arjun assured them. "It's just, you seemed to think that the lady deserved better, that's why I suggested. I mean it's not like I have any personal stakes here. And I would very much rather not get punished by the King either. It's not like I would tell anyone even if you did let me speak to her."

The guards looked at each other.

Have some sympathy! Arjun thought desperately.

"If she tells you who she is..." One of them began hesitantly.

Arjun shrugged again. 

"What does that matter to me? What am I going to do about it?"

"The other guards might--"

"Listen, sirs." Arjun cut in. "Firstly, the other guards are spread across the corridor for now, they are hardly going to suspect anything, since they can't hear us. Secondly, like I said, it really does not matter so much to me. You seemed upset and almost guilty and so I thought I might do something for the people who do their best to protect us. If you really think you will get in trouble over this, it's not like you have to actually do it! I'll just give her the food and come out."

The guards glanced at each other.

Please work, Arjun thought, knowing how bad he was with coming up with things on the spot.

After a heavy pause, one of the guards finally said "You are right. We do feel bad about this whole incident." He sighed. "Alright then. You go in and see if talking can make her feel a bit better."

Arjun could not believe his ridiculous plan had somehow worked. 

He was also so thankful that it was impossible for anyone not at least on a horse or elephant to see the faces of all the chariot-warriors on the battlefield because otherwise, absolutely every soldier, everywhere would have recognised him.

"Very well then, sirs." Arjun said, and walked in.

Angarani Vrushali whirled around to face him the moment the doors closed behind him.

"Arjun!" She gasped. "You're back! I almost thought it was a dream when you showed up last night."

"I assure you it's no dream." Arjun said, putting down the plate. "I'm going to get you out of here tonight."

"How--" Her eyes widened as she looked at the closed doors behind him. "How on earth did you manage to get the guards to close the doors with the both of us in here?"

Arjun shrugged.

"It seems not even all of Anushalva's soldiers are happy with his actions."

Vrushali shot him a confused look.

"Well if you're sure...." She trailed off, thankfully not pressing the issue and getting right to the point. "What is your plan?"

"Do you know how to pick a lock, Maharani?"

Vrushali blinked at him.

"You think I would not have tried if I did, with the abundance of pins in my hair?"

Arjun flushed. 

"Well, I do. So if you could...."

"Right." The older woman pulled out a long, thin pin from her hair and handed it over to him.

Arjun headed over to the window that he had mapped out from the grounds. 

"Nakul taught me this," He said. "He has a bunch of skills that seem useless, but are actually quite useful."

She smiled vaguely and asked, "So I suppose I must keep this window open tonight?" 

"No, don't open it till I knock outside." Arjun said. "If it stays open for too long, someone might see it."

"Won't anyone see you climbing up?"

"Well, I'm hoping that they won't, given that I'll be dressed in dark clothing."

With a click, the window latched open under his fingers.

"Where is Vrishaketu?" Angarani asked, once he returned her the hairpin.

Arjun looked at her, confused.

"Why, he's is in Hastinapur, of course!"

The queen stared at him.

"You mean to tell me that he trusted you, the man who killed his father and three of his brothers to come and rescue his mother, alone?"

Arjun winced at the harsh, albeit very true phrasing but at the same time he could feel something warm and soft glow within his chest.

Because that was true, wasn't it? What had Vrishketu said before Arjun had left?

So you do trust me to save your mother?
Ye-es.

Alright. I'm believing you.

Somehow Vrishahetu had, in fact, trusted him.

"Yes. I suppose he did." Arjun said out loud.

Vrushali's sharp gaze watching him suddenly became much softer.

"Then I suppose that despite everything, you must have made him feel that you can be trusted."

Arjun started to smile but then something occurred to him about that phrasing.

"My Lady, it might be too forward of me to ask but.... do you trust that I will get you out of here safely?"

The Angarani raised her eyebrows.

"And that matters, how?"

"It doesn't!" Arjun assured hurriedly, feeling abashed. He was an idiot. Great job! Ask the wife of the older brother you didn't know that you had, that you killed, if she trusts you!

To his surprise, the Queen of Anga laughed slightly.

"I will trust you to keep me safe as well."

Arjun felt a weight lift off his shoulder that, that he hadn't even known to exist. Yes, he had mostly wanted to build a better relationship with Vrishaketu but if somehow he had also managed to make Angarani hate him less.....

He smiled back at her an then turned back to the matter at hand.

"You will be able to climb down the Palace wall, right?"

Vrushali pursed her lips.

"I certainly hope so. I would like to say I'm absolutely certain, but well...."

"It's alright." Arjun said. "I'll stay below you so that even if you do slip, I can catch you. Don't worry about that."

The woman smiled at him briefly.

"We must get out of Salwa before Sunrise, mustn't we? That way we can prevent my absence from being noticed till my breakfast is brought up tomorrow morning. Once we're out of here, Anushalva can't exactly try to claim me back."

Arjun was silent for a moment. She was right and in that way, collateral damage to life could be avoided too. But.... Anushalva..... It absolutely did not sit right with Arjun to just let him go. Oh no, he needed to be punished. And the thing was.... he was certain that Anushalva would come after them the moment he found out about Angarani's absence. So he would deal with the man outside of Salwa. Once they were out of his kingdom, he couldn't even claim that they were trespassing on his lands. But there was no point in worrying Angarani with all that right now.

For the time being, all he said was, "You are correct."

The Angarani gave him a piercing look before saying, "You must leave now Arjun, before it gets suspicious."

"Indeed." He said. "I don't think I'll be bringing you lunch or dinner today. I have a lot to prepare."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now that she knew she was going to be out of her prison soon and that there was a plan in place, every moment she had to wait seemed too long.

It still seemed unrealistic, what was happening.

But somehow, the Gods had listened and she was going to be rescued without Vrishaketu being involved and Anushalva was going to fail on his foolish plan.

Vrushali got the feeling that there was something Arjun had decided on doing about the whole thing that he was keeping from her, but as long as he got her out of there safely, she didn't really mind it too much.

And clearly, Arjun and Vrishaketu's relationship had truly progressed much further than she had expected.

For the first time she felt a little conflicted about it. Arjun was a good man at heart, she could see that. But he was responsible in making her a widow and personally killing three of her sons. And his brothers had killed four more.

But the man obviously cared about her son(perhaps because he had lost his own). And he had made great effort to show that he cared. He had even gone to speak to Radha Ma and Adhirat Baba. He had spoken to her. He had made so much effort when no one else had made any.

So she supposed that if Vrishaketu did need to look up to a male mentor now that he had lost everyone else.... Arjun wouldn't be a bad choice.

Just as Vrushali was getting too restless waiting for the decided time, she heard a knock on the window.

She practically ran up to it and pulled it open.

There Arjun was, somehow having acquired all black clothing. He climbed in silently and handed her a large black shawl.

"Here, wrap it around yourself. Your white sari will be too conspicuous." He said and then winced. "I mean...." He trailed off and yes, obviously the reason for the white sari was, well.

Vrushali didn't say anything and simply followed his instructions and also dropped the veil from her head.

Arjun shook his head and moved towards the pillar near the window to tie around it securely, the upper end of the rope that had been precariously looped on a tiny hook outside the window. Vrushali could have never even seen that from the Palace grounds, but well, she had stopped being surprised the the keen eyesight of supreme archers decades ago.

Arjun beckoned her closer.

"Come here please, I'll tie the other end of the rope to your waist so that even even if you slip for a moment, you won't fall."

Vrushali smiled, stepping towards him. 

"You really did plan this out, didn't you?"

"Well obviously!" Arjun exclaimed, sounding almost offended as he knotted the rope around her waist. "I'm not going take the risk of anything happening to you!"

Chuckling softly she asked, "Did you bring all the black clothes with you from Hastinapur?"

"I did." Arjun said. "By the way, you'll have to face another inconvenience."

"What?" Vrushali asked, alarmed.

"No, no it's just..." Arjun sighed. "I hope you're prepared to ride double on my horse. I couldn't exactly bring a chariot. It would be too obvious."

She sighed in relief. 

"You had me worried for a moment." She chastised. "I've ridden double before with Vasu and with my sons of course."

Arjun stared at her. 

"Yes, but they're..... your.... family....."

Ah. Right. 

Yes, Vrushali supposed, the situation is a bit awkward now, isn't it?

She pursed her lips. She could simply say that 'needs must' and everything would still get done. But something... she didn't understand what, but something(almost... someone) told her this could be a significant moment. 

And besides....she was going to be trusting Arjun anyway..... with herself right now and most importantly, with Vrishaketu in the future, because if her son had believed in Arjun to come rescue her, then there was definitely no way he wasn't becoming fond of Arjun, no matter what he might say.

Vrushali looked him in the eyes and began, "Well Arjun, you've always been kind to my son."

"Well, obviously." He cut her off, startled. "He's a sweet boy."

She snorted. "Really?" That, she had not expected from him.

Arjun shook his head with a smile. "I know what you mean. He's much too sarcastic for his own good, but.... even from what little I've seen so far, I can tell he had a soft side."

And he was right. This little observation from him told her that she was making the right decision. She crushed the last of her doubts. For a moment she wondered what her Radheya would say to what she was going to do now but somehow she thought that given the circumstances, he wouldn't mind it and would rather smile his warm smile at her.

"You clearly care about him."

"I do, but what relation does that have with anything?"

"You cut me off before I could say anything." Vrushali said, smiling. "I meant... you care about my son and he trusted you enough to let you come rescue me alone. Now, I am going to be trusting you, a man, to take me safely all the way to Hastinapur, alone. So...." She held out her hand, "I think we're friends now, aren't we?"

Arjun started at her hand with wide eyes before breaking into a bright grin and taking her hand.

"Certainly, Angarani."

"Well then," Vrushali said, "To answer your previous question, yes it's true that I've only ridden double with my family before, but I can certainly do so with a good friend who I trust, can't I?"

AAAAAAAAAA CAN YOU GUYS SEE HOW MUCH I'M AVOIDING WRITING THE ESCAPE??? I AM SHIT AT WRITING ANY KIND OF ACTION AND I HAVE A GOOD MIND TO JUST SKIP OVER ALL OF IT AND GO BACK TO EMOTIONSSSSS.

In any case, Vrushali and Arjun friendship !!!!!!!!!!! Yayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

Now again in next chapter, this whole scenario is not finished and continues, oof.

Anyway, My sincere apologies for any atrocities committed in this chapter, because writing sneaking around and any kind of...... "doing stuff" , like I said, not my thing to write. Bring on the emotionsssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. I don't even know what Arjun is even doing in the whole situation with the guards and honestly, it seems implausible even to me, but oh well, it's fanfic!

Don't forget to vote and comment if you liked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!