Kaampilya, Paanchaal

Arjun sucked in a deep breath, peering at the elderly King who was gaping at them, speechless. 

The stares upon him turned from loving to awe within a fraction of a lightning crack. The court of Paanchaal seemed cold like an icy blister, like a thick fog hanging over a silenced chaos.

 "Prince Yudhisthir. . . w-what are you even saying?" Shikhandi retorted with a horrified stare.

"All this. . . what are you saying?!"

It was happening as Arjun had hunched. 

There was complete silence with what Yudhishthir had said. . . almost shaking the living daylights out of them. 

"Prince Shikhandi, I understand that it may be surprising but. . . that's what we have decided. Princess Draupadi will be the wife to us all. And King, even your daughter wants it that way!" Yudhishthir words drifted through the elegant hall, unperturbed by the numerous whispers that floated like dried leaves that rustled along the winds. 

Drupad's gaze locked with the eldest Pandav briefly, his eyebrows scurrying into a knit once again.

"Prince! But how can a woman marry five men in the society?!" One of the ministers stood up, flaring his nose. 

"Exactly King! How are you going to allow this?"

"This will be a sin, my Lord!" A few more ministers got up, shaking their heads. 

"How could we allow our Princess's respect to be tarnished like this?" Came an uproar. 

Arjun felt a lash of fury torment down his veins. He folded his fingers within his palm, his nails hitting on the insides, gulping down. With the corner of his eye, he saw Bheem doing the same. 

Sin? 

Sin?!

 How could Mahadev's eternal boon be a sin?!

"Please, please calm down! Calm down!" Drupad hoisted his palm after a while at the elevating chaos, and the hall dimmed down to silence once again, as he stepped closer to Yudhishthir. 

The middle aged man exhaled a deep breath of conflict, warring within with the malaise that appeared to jibe him.

For a swift moment, Arjun felt his gaze on him that seemed to tear through him like a vulture.

There was something in those steely orbs that made him instinctively shift closer to Bheem. An unwanted heaviness began to settle in his pit which he wanted to fight back at all costs.

This was the man he had to take captive  a few years ago. . . he remembered everything vividly like it was a memory that juggled out itself from the depths of a grave.

The King in his slashed armor, swearing vengeance under his breath for his Guru. Defeated, yet undeterred. Panting, rageful at the storm that was arrested by force.

Now the same man wept. Wept with arms around Yudhishthir like he was his long lost son that he wanted to hold. There was a flaccidity in his eyes that he bore effortlessly. It was not an artifice. A floating warmth that he conveyed through his eyes at Arjun, and he was left with nothing but a tug of confused half-smile. 

This Drupad was not he had seen at the battlefield, nor he had imagined him to be so. 

He was so happy to hug those who had brought disaster to the Paanchaal, once upon a time? 

"Yudhishthir. . . my son. You are a learned youth," Drupad had a calm demeanour, much in contrary to his baffled ministers, "But never have I heard that a woman can marry multiple men. And moreover, it's against the practices of the Vedas!" 

"How can a woman live with several men and be happy. . .? How can my daughter live with five men peacefully at the same time?"

"I understand, King. But Dharma isn't what is always defined in the books, my Lord. . ." Yudhishthir unfettered an undeterred sigh, "In every Yug, Dharm changes, it's way and path changes. It's subtle, and it can wind it's way like a river that changes it's path whenever there is a block." 

"I never lie, King." He gulped, yet truth shone in his eyes amidst the mounting tension, "Neither is my intention to let myself and my brothers commit any sin. . . We are simply following our mother's command!"

Drupad breathed shakily, letting his aged fingers pinch the bridge of his nose.

There was complete silence for a moment.

"Do one thing. . . speak to my son Dhrishtadyumn. More than me, Dhrishtadyumn is and has been the more rightful guardian to Draupadi. You and lady Kunti can decide with Dhrishtadyumn." 

"Talk with each other, and let me think about it with a calm mind," Drupad mumbled, fidgeting with his thumb and fingers. Dhrishtadyumn stepped down from the stairs on his father's bid, his behold amalgamated with a stony stare as it fleeted over to Yudhishthir, and then to Bheem and Arjun one by one. 

 It was visible that he was no longer be talking to them as their friend, but now as a brother and legal guardian of Draupadi—

"Dhrishtadyumn. . ." Yudhishthir began, tilting his head as Dhrishtadyumn's gaze was now apparently torn between his love for his friend and sister,  "Listen to me—"

There was a sudden uproar at the hall, making the heads turn the other side.

Garbed in wooden barks and vines tied around locks of matted long hairs, stood an aged persona with a tug on his lips that held a plethora of knowledge. 

Vyaas, he was here!

"Bhagwaan Vyaas?!" Drupad didn't waste a moment to fix his drooped shoulders, wrapping the angavastra over his elbow. With an apologetic relax that stretched on his retorted face, he put his palms together, taking wider steps towards the old man. Whispers took a halt once again as everyone stood up with bowed heads, paying homage to the revered sage of Aaryavart.

Vyaas's smile did not falter, letting his gaze flicker towards the grandsons.

His long, wooden staff battered on the marble floor, beckoning a commanding halo.

"Why did you'll stop? Continue!" Dvaipayan raised a rather surprised brow, "My presence shouldn't be stopping the discussion about your daughter's future, King Drupad!" 

Arjun's lips tugged in a slow smile as he bowed down to him, along with the two Kaunteyas. 

Now only he will be able to drag them out of this tiff. . .like he always did. 

And he certainly would.

Vyaas sat on his seat comfortably, with an effortless ease. The peak tension that was tearing the hall apart with it's tightening grip like a leopard's paw was barely bothering him, "What happened, King? Why did you'll stop?" 

"Bhagwaan. . ." Drupad's trembled sigh broke through the hall, "Which direction is my daughter's life taking to?" 

 "When Arjun has rightfully won my daughter, how could she be-"

Vyaas tilted his head, a smile curtained under his grey beards, "Continue, King-"

"Rishivar, I will be honest with you. . . I had always wanted to make Arjun my son in law," Drupad's baritone trembled across the hall, yet enough to grab the ears of the one who's name was taken, "And this Swayamvar was an attempt to find him. . . find him so that he could the rightful one to marry my daughter."

Arjun's eyes swooped at the King's direction, letting a lethal wrath of tidal wave crash into his guts with an uncalculated vigor the very moment.

What. . .?

What?!

What did he say?!

Did. . . did he hear that right? Did his ears betray him?

He felt his breath stuck at his throat then and there. His eyes kept widening, honing his stare into unbreakable.  

Why would Drupad—why would he. . .

How could he-

He had sworn vengeance, then and there. Looking at Arjun with. . . a painful stare, a staggered breath of ache that had unknowingly sent a shudder down his spine. Red, deep eyes that had stared past him like it was slicing his soul through a plethora of unspoken betrayal.

Then why. . .? 

That means. . . it was all planned? It was all, planned? 

Even before he knew he was alive and breathing? 

Now, now everything started making sense. . . orchestrating such a tough archery competition, inviting the entire Aaryavart, and then keeping the Swayamvar open for the commoners. . .

Oh God! 

OH GOD!

Why?

WHY?

He. . .he wanted to let his daughter wed the one, the one who had brought nothing but doom on Paanchaal? 

He was looking for him all this while? For Draupadi? 

Him? 

Why. . . why him? 

He always wanted to let Draupadi marry him, him who had jibed arrows into the men of his Kingdom? 

This Swayamvar was for him?!

Why was fate dropping shocks on him like boulders one after the other? 

He had chosen, he had wanted him to marry Draupadi. . .him.

Arjun felt his throat drying up like a desert not welcomed with rain for years, with a breathy mutter in the name of the God. With a clap of sweaty forehead on his palm, he staggered back slightly. 

What did he even do. . .? 

What did he even do that he was desired to be his son-in-law? 

He had only been responsible for bringing wreckage to his Kingdom! He had only brought doom to his Paanchaal! 

Then why?!

All the while, while shooting arrows at Dron's ashram, a corner of his heart wanted it to shatter Paanchaal. With the promise he had uttered through his lips for Dron, till the day of war, the same lips had prayed for the downfall of Paanchaal through his hands. 

And this man, this man wanted his daughter, to be his, even before proving his valor. . .

Arjun felt even the tender breeze slapping his cheeks. 

Why? 

WHY? 

The ground was slipping from under his feet. . . his stomach curling into twisting knots. 

Him. . .

Lord. . . why him? 

Drupad wanted him to marry his daughter. . .that woman for which the entire Aaryavart was ready to bestow themselves upon!

There were Kings better than him, Princes of his allies that time. Royals who were ready to kiss the floor she walked on!

Still, still he was rooting for him. . .? 

His enemy, whom he didn't even know was even alive to make it to the Swayamvar? 

That Arjun who had given him nothing but tears and pain till the moment they came face to face? 

Why? 

WHY?!

He had thought it was a coincidence. . . coincidence that Drupad that wanted the best archer as his daughter's groom, coincidence that he allowed the commoners to participate!

He thought it was a coincidence!

HOW WAS HE EVEN GOING TO FACE DRUPAD NOW AFTER ALL THIS?

.

.

.

"That doesn't alter anything King, does it?" Vyaas broke the steely silence with his breathe of aplomb.

There was a enigmatic smile that lingered on his lips when he began, "Fine enough."

"Tell me clearly Drupad, Dhrishtadyumn. . . what is going in your mind?"

"M-my Lord. . ." Drupad's baritone faltered, a torn sigh mingled with chaos that throbbed his temples, enough to waver his steadiness he was holding onto till now, "How can my daughter. . .a woman never marries multiple men my Lord! Her reputation, respect. . . what about it?"

"Exactly!" Dhrishtadyumn heaved, unable to hold himself further, his face wearing away in a shaken contort, "If my sister marries Prince Yudhishthir, how could she be the wife to the other four, my Lord?"

Not him too. . .

"If Dharm is subtle, then how are we supposed to act on something which is unknown?" He tried to keep his already fluctuating voice steady, "I. . . I can't allow all this. . ."

Yudhishthir felt himself being getting raveled in the web more.

He knew that the royals would be hard to be made understood and. . . his gaze flickered to Bheem and Arjun, who were silent, reeling under their own thoughts, specially Arjun whose sapped trembles were fettered close by his strength he tried to hold on.

And he couldn't blame Arjun, for he was himself stunned with the way Drupad had reacted. 

Greeting with open arms. . . like they were his, own. 

Even after so much. . .even after so much.

It took Yudhishthir a few moments to find some semblance for getting hugged by a man who's empire he and his brothers had tarnished into half. 

He wasn't expecting such a reaction from Drupad. . . at all. 

It was so. . .

"Prince," Yudhishthir let out a shaky breath, feeling an invisible weight settling on his shoulders like an unwelcomed ghost, "I told you that I do not lie. . ."

All the while, he had not spoken about a word about Vyaas's command. If he wanted, he and his brothers could've easily gotten away, by saying so.

For his words were a strong edict, unmoved even through the tidal thrashes of waves.

But. . .he knew people prefer actions, more than words. 

What would they think? Just because it was Vyaas's command, was such a bond flowering out of nowhere? 

He didn't want to make it look forced. . . anywhere, anyhow.

They would doubt the bond, a bond tethered on the basis of a command. . .

And he would never let that happen. Never. 

"My Lord," Yudhishthir brought his palms together, trying to find a stiffening semblance amidst the spiraling chaos, "I have heard tales of how lady Jatila, in the lineage of Maharshi Gautam was married to seven sages. . . and yet she lived a life of dignity. And my mother. . ." 

"Vedas do claim that mothers are a child's first preceptor," He relaxed on his breath, "And a mother's command is the foremost."

"I see no wrong in our actions, or intentions. We are simply following our mother's command. . " Yudhishthir swallowed down on his dried throat, heart pounding wildly as his eyes met both the royals, utterly watching Dhrishtadyumn trying to look for words to counter him with his crooked brows.

Vyaas nodded with a smile. 

No doubt, the Pandavas were now ready to be the future of Aaryavart. 

"My Lord, Yudhishthir is saying the truth," Kunti stepped forward to take the charge. Enough did her sons endure. 

She knew she had made a blunder that time, it was solely her fault. 

But the game of destiny and the way it unfolds is arcane. 

And Draupadi was always her sons' destiny. 

"I was the one, the one who asked Arjun to divide without looking back," Her lashes fell but with a dignity wound around her, "But we do nothing that didn't involve Draupadi's consent. . ."

"Of course, Lady Kunti," Vyaas let his smile peer through his grey beard, "King, I heard you both. The side of the Pandavas aren't wrong, neither is yours. But let it unfold, like a game of destiny, Drupad, for it belongs to none but destiny herself." 

"But. . . but what about my daughter's dignity?"

Vyaas's throaty chuckle rumbled through the stunned hall.

"Your daughter ain't an ordinary woman. . . not an ordinary woman," He shook his head slowly, now chuckling to himself, "Neither you nor me can alter her destiny now."

Drupad was about to counter, but Vyaas stood up, his lips kicking off in an enigmatic grin, "Looks like you aren't someone to be pacified. . ." He trailed off, tilting his head at the confused hall.

"Follow me, Drupad." 

★★★★★★★★★

A/N

Arjun ko closure ki bahut zaroorat Drupad se 👀

 Plus I gave individual focus on Yudhishthir in the next half, kyuki bahut log where thinking why didn't he say about Vyaas's prophecy to Drupad directly. . . 🌚🌚mujhe samajh nahi aata ki itni simple baate logo ko samajh kyu nahi aati hai-khair, I did give the explanation. 

Also, I was reading the war parts of BORI CE 💀💀 aur kuch characters ke actual nature jaanne ke baad jo sadme lage hai bhai meko. . . 💀🙏

I can't afford to look at the way I supposed to do. . .


Signing off for today!

Nushkie