Bhallaladeva frowned slightly, staring at his reflection on the floor length mirror, critically. For all his talents, he knew he had no fashion sense whatsoever. And moreover he hadn't been to any of the festivities in a long time, having politely declined all of the King's invitations in the past five years. So he had surrendered to his far more knowledgeable attendants with the dressing. 

One of his attendant was fidgeting with his hands standing behind him, looking like he was waiting to be taken to the gallows if the Commander wouldn't be kind enough to just chop off his head instead. A sudden clanking noise signifying the guards outside his chambers, dropping to their knees, announced her arrival before their voices did. 

"Her Highness, the Queen wishes to enter."

Marooth, his most trusted bodyguard bowed to him. He raised an eyebrow at the reflection and spat back without turning around and made sure everyone within a one mile radius will be able to hear his words easily. 

"The Queen doesn't need permission to enter petty noblemen's chambers."

Devasena walked in, rolling her beautiful eyes to the high heavens, completely ignoring the guards' obvious nervous embarrassment. She was holding a massive brass plate covered by a maroon silk cloth and brought a trail of her handmaidens along with her, who were also holding similar covered plates. 

"Stop being so bitter always, brother in law. I know you have to maintain an image but let it go at least for today. It is your wedding after all."

Bhallaladeva rolled his own eyes mirroring her gesture from some seconds ago and dismissed his attendants and guards with an sharp wave of his hand. 

"Don't you think, you are a little too much invested in my so called marriage? But then its natural considering it is your husband who ordered for it after all."

Devasena waved her handmaidens away once they had kept all the plates and walked towards him, clicking her tongue impatiently at something. 

"You literally made him order you, I hope you haven't forgotten that."

"So what do you think would have happened had I not forced him to order me? He was never going to marry the Princess and the Queen Mother would have never let her son go through such pains nor would she have endangered Mahishmati in any way. You tell me... what would have happened?"

Devasena met his eyes at the reflection as she mentally went over all the possibilities before ending up at the same realisation he had had at the Court that day. He understood the second she got the answer as her eyes dimmed in response. He squashed that little voice inside his head telling him to be a little merciful. 

No one has ever shown mercy to him, so why should he extend the favour in return? He is no saint like his little brother now, is he? 

Why shouldn't he be the villain everyone is hell bent on turning him into?

At least it will be more fun if he is complicit in this charade now, wouldn't it?

He will have to give Devasena the credit though as she recovered quickly enough and gave him a fairly annoyingly teasing smile in return. 

"So, you don't like the Princess then?"

"Where did that come from now?"

"Just asking... if this wedding is paining you that much.. it must be evident you didn't like Princess Mrignayani."

He hated how her name instantly made his stomach cartwheel and if that wasn't enough the tips of his ears started burning too and he felt absolutely ludicrous. Like a silly pre pubescent Prince hearing about the Palace courtesans for the first time. 

And he loathed how his sister in law's smile stretched further observing the changing reactions on his face, which had started to feel rather hot at the moment. 

"A sight for sore eyes... isn't she Anna? And add to that, quite the rapier like tongue. So much so that even mother had to agree. She kind of flayed all of us alive, just at the first meet itself. Impressive... I don't think you could have found a better match."

"She is....not quite what I had expected."

He conceded murmuring uncomfortably, as if the realisation had taken some sort of agony to materialise. Fortunately Devasena seemed to let it go and instead focussed her attention on his hair for the moment, shocking him slightly at her weird outburst. 

"All that is fine but what the hell have they done to your hair? No! You are not keeping that tied like that.. no can do. These people have no sense of looks at all. I would have expected the Prince of Mahishmati to have a better fashion sense than this."

Before he could reply she had pulled his usual black band off letting his wild mass of wavy hair fall over his face and shoulders making him resemble a drenched lion. He grunted in surprise as she pushed him down on the seat and took control of a brush and his mane like an expert. The next few minutes would have made any person roll on the floor with laughter. 

The scene was hilarious. 

The Queen and Commander General of Mahishmati bickering like a pair of long lost siblings while the former struggled with the latter's unruly mane like a hapless hairdresser. 

"Finally... see much better. Goodness... I pity Rajmata. How in Heaven's sake did she even manage to comb that... hedge nest?"

Bhallaladeva stared bewildered at the mirror now, seeing his hair fall in perfect shiny thick curls over his shoulders. He had never looked quite like this before. He had to agree with her. For the first time in perhaps his entire life, he felt like he was looking.....rather nice. He answered back, without thinking. 

"She didn't."

Devasena felt her heart freeze for a second. The usual cynicism was missing in his voice. She felt like she could finally gauge the sheer size of the gap which had fractured a gorge between Sivagami and her elder son. It looked frighteningly unpassable at this moment. 

Had the Rajmata never combed his hair for him? 

She recalled her husband reminiscing fondly about how his mother would help him comb his own unmanageable curls not letting the attendants do it, when he had seen her trying to do the same for Mahendra, one night. 

Bijlaldeva didn't look like someone who would have ever given his child one shred of affection let alone play hairdresser for the little Prince. 

Devasena felt a bubbling trepidation build inside her chest and spread like a keen sense of horror throughout. 

What have they all done do this man?

"Celli! Where are you lost?"

She blinked in surprise and saw her brother in law who had stood up now facing her instead of the mirror, give her an oddly concerned look. She smiled back brittlely, pushing back her disturbing realisations for the moment and focussed on the present. 

"Well. Now you will have a wife who can struggle with that.."

Devasena had no idea Bhallaladeva could blush like that. He looked simultaneously angered and embarrassed at her not so subtle insinuations. She was delighted nonetheless. Before he could reply something smart and dry, the guards announced the entry of the King. 

Amarendra came in looking slightly sheepish. 

"Hello.. I.. just came. I mean.. I.. I.."

"Why are you stuttering Your Majesty? Anything the matter?"

Bhallaladeva asked poker faced and dry toned making his brother flush a little before he shook himself and surprisingly glared back at him. 

"You are enjoying this, aren't you!"

He accused lightly making the latter smirk a little. Devasena could feel the iceberg starting to shake a little even if the melting process was definitely a far thing of dreams at the moment. Amarendra walked towards them looking more confident now and brought out something which was half hidden beneath his angavastram. 

"I got something for you.. for the wedding."

"Your wife has already filled my chambers with 'stuff' for the wedding. The formality was unrequired but I am much obliged anyways."

Bahubali rolled his eyes exasperated and stuffed something in Bhallaladeva's hands before he could he say anything else and ruin this small moment of peace and stood there, tapping the ground nervously with his feet as the latter opened the small gold encrusted chest he was handed.

Devasena gasped as she peered in from the side and caught sight of what was the most beautiful medallion she had ever seen. It was made of solid gold and had a diamond shape. There was a lion carved onto it, embedded with miniscule emeralds, sapphires, topaz and rubies. It was magnificent and reflected the sunshine falling on it, lighting up the entire chamber. 

"Oh this is beautiful Swami... where did you get it from?"

She asked breathlessly not noticing the strange emotions playing out on her suddenly stoic brother in law's eyes. 

Bhallaladeva had been transported to twelve years in the past, on a sweltering evening in the outskirts of the Capital city. 

"What the hell is happening here!"

The few soldiers and the villagers gathered around almost shivered in fright as the eighteen year old, Elder Prince, Bhallaladeva's infuriated voice fell like a crack of thunder splitting the skies. The Prince was glaring so piercingly at his embarrassed cousin that for a second everyone had feared the Younger Prince would spontaneously catch fire. The Kakatiya Chieftain though, only smirked lecherously at them both. 

"Bahubali. What did you do?"

He asked sharply and Amarendra gave his elder brother a foolish smile hoping to calm him down before they all get killed, rather violently. 

"It wasn't my fault really brother. The villagers had a debt to be repaid to the Chieftain which they couldn't as the flood had destroyed the crops this year. So I asked the good Chief if he would allow me to pay for them instead."

"And he suggested that you play chess with him? And if he wins he could ask anything of you and if he loses then the debt will be repaid?"

Not understanding the mockery in the Elder Prince's words, Bahubali nodded back at him earnestly in all the innocence that a sixteen year old could manage. Bhallaladeva pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and swallowed back a groan mentally. 

"Please tell me you knew this was a trap."

Amarendra looked at him slightly confused and he threw up his arms in exasperation. 

"Bahu! You are probably the worst chess player in the entire Kingdom and everyone knows it. Of course, he would defeat you! And now you have given him the word that he could ask for anything."

"Not the worst..."

Bahubali's whispery grumble went unheard as the Kakatiya Chieftain grinned wickedly at Bhallaladeva and spoke in a disgustingly sweet way. 

"And all I have asked for is the good Prince's company for one month.. nothing else. I could have asked for so much more... My Prince. I could have asked for the throne...now how would that have looked?"

The soldiers almost roared, trying to skewer the Chief down only stopping on Bhallaladeva and Amarendra's synchronous shout down. The former neared towards the Chief, pulling his entire towering form to lean over him dangerously, his hard eyes narrowed in anger. 

"He has no power to give the throne Chief. I hope you realise that. He is not the King."

"Yet."

He had to restrain himself mightily not to strangle the shorter, more thickset Tribal chief, named Osmin. He spoke in the Kakatiya language, his already deep voice turned almost guttural and animalistic to emit the savagery these barbarians call linguistics. 

"We will see. But. Till then, do not invite the wrath of Mahishmati over your puny tribe, Osmin. I have a very good idea why you want the Prince's company..."

Osmin showed him his blood stained yellow teeth, crooked and rotting and raked his lusty gaze over the handsome younger Prince who stood completely befuddled and amazed at hearing his elder brother speaking the Kakatiya language, which he didn't know the latter knew and could even speak. 

Bhallaladeva suddenly felt sick, thinking back to a few weeks ago when his spies had brought him the news of a string of dead bodies found at the outskirts of the eastern forests, at the border of the Kakatiya kingdom. All were young boys ranging from the age of thirteen to seventeen, their naked bodies mutilated beyond understanding but the picture they portrayed was evidence enough. 

The Kakatiya chief entertained a different kind of pleasure. 

His brother was an idiot of the first water. 

"You know, I can kill you right in front of everyone, right now! Very very violently."

Bhallaladeva spoke, unsheathing his sword in a smooth move and with lightening rapidity. As if answering him, Bahubali jumped in front of a smirking Osmin and caught hold of his elder brother's arm. 

"Brother no! I have given him my word. It is okay, it is just a matter of a month. I will be right back. Just tell mother and mamayya not to worry."

"Stay back you damned little fool!"

Bhallaladeva ripped his cousin off his arm and almost threw him to the other side and caught hold of Osmin's thick neck and tightened his deadly grip, making the monster's eyes almost bulge out. He spoke so harshly and so fast in the Kakatiya tongue that it sounded nothing more than a jumbled roar to a slightly stunned Amarendra who scampered up to his feet, half determined to throw himself on his brother again. 

"Listen here you sick twisted son of a Devil. My brother is my mother's favourite and the City almost worships him. If you even make a scratch on him, forget what the great Sivagami Devi would do to you and your people... the Mahishmati army will hack the hide off your decaying bones, rip out those eyes and feed your carcass to the dogs before you can bleat a surrender. Now, quietly name a price which I will give you for the debt and get the hell out of here before I tear out your entrails and let you hang from them at main gate outside the palace. They say the vultures feast upon the eyes first.. and you will still be alive."

Osmin struggled and gasped for breath, coughing up a lung as Bhallaladeva left his throat, wiping his hand in a piece of cloth a soldier handed him, disgusted at having to touch the infidel while Bahubali looked on worriedly. The Kakatiya Chief seemed to have gotten the message and he looked around fearfully before his beady eyes fell on the medallion hanging from the elder prince's neck.

It looked like it could cost a Kingdom all its coffers of treasure. 

"Give me that medallion and I will forgive the debt."

Bhallaladeva felt his stomach hollow out. Of all the things the bastard could have asked, he had to ask for the one thing which held a sentimental value to him. Probably the only thing he held any value to from all his possessions. This was the only personal gift he had received from his mother. She had been proud of him for the first time in his life, when he defeated the Sakhtayeyas of the North East for Mahishmati on his first expedition. 

He adored that medallion. It gave him hope that he still mattered to his mother somewhat. 

"Brother no! I know you love that medallion. Ask for something else Osmin! We will give you treasures much expensive than the debt."

Osmin glared at the duo and spoke loftily. 

"So, the great Princes of Mahishmati cannot part with a simple medallion for upholding their words? Is this the valour and greatness your House has boasted for generations? How brilliantly would this sound to the Queen Regent I wonder."

Both the Princes paled thinking about Sivagami's reaction to this entire mess. Before Bahubali could bargain again, Bhallaladeva took a deep breath and tore the medallion off his neck and threw it to the Chief who caught it, laughing raucously. 

"Now get lost before I let loose my hunter dogs on you!"

The Elder Prince roared and Osmin scampered away like a filthy rodent into the darkness of the forest. The villagers hailed Amarendra for his kindness while the latter tried finding his brother in all the chaos and saw him slinking away faster than he could catch up to. Bhallaladeva remembered the embarrassment of facing his mother's query about the medallion next morning at breakfast. 

Murali, the nosy good for nothing underling who called himself Prime Minister had looked jubilant in front of his mother's almost painful disappointment. 

"I am sure we could find it for you My Prince. I will tell my men to scourge the whorehouses and local pubs in the area."

He had almost broken a tumbler in repressed fury and had glared his miserable looking younger brother's words to silence. It was rather this than they come to know about the mess with the Kakatiya Chief. 

Kattappa would kill both of them. 

How he had hated his cousin at that moment! 

His stupid cousin and his stupid penchant for being the Samaritan every time, everywhere. 

"Where did you get it?"

Bhallaladeva almost whispered, unable to find his voice. Bahubali was looking intently at his elder brother's face hoping to find something he didn't know about. 

"Kattappa has been searching the forests and the decimated kingdom of the Kakatiyas since the war. It took us years till we found a trail. He had sold it to foreign traders. Apparently the Ruler of Persia had it and a Mesopotamian mercenary had stolen it from him. He wouldn't part with it but as you know, Mamayya can be very persuasive when he wants."

The silence in the room was almost reverent and Devasena felt inadequate and intruding to be standing there with the brothers and what most probably looked like a piece of their history in Bhallaladeva's hands. The Commander took it out with a slight tremble and wore it around his neck feeling like a missing part of him had come back and joined a little crack somewhere. 

"It cost me an arm and a leg and a soldier, a better part of his right knee. So... don't lose it again, please. And especially not for stupid younger cousins."

Amarendra felt his heart do a breathless backflip seeing a small smile lace Bhallaladeva's shapely lips. This had to be the first time in forever that he had seen his caustic elder brother smile genuinely, without sarcasm, without rancour, without his vein sizzling bitterness.  

"Thank you....Amarendra."

Bahubali probably hadn't felt this happy ever in his life of twenty seven odd years.