Ashoka organized a grand feast at the palace that night in honour of the local deity. It was also a kind of celebration for our arrival in Magadha.

Sanghamitra was on cloud nine when we received the news. I, on the other hand, wanted to crawl under a big rock and hide under it until the party was over.

I was quite socially awkward when it came to new people.

I honestly, could not bear the thought of spending an entire evening talking to a bunch of snobbish royals who I’m obviously never going to meet again. All they would most probably talk about was their social standing and etiquette.

I groaned and buried my face into a pillow as Sanghamitra obliviously blabbered on about the clothes we would wear, the people we’d meet, etc.

“Ooh, Tara! We can both wear the dresses we got made from Kanchanmala. And…” she chattered excitedly.

I shrugged indifferently. Where did the shy Sanghamitra go? One little incident in the village- and suddenly she was so bold and confident. Not that I didn’t like this change of character, but which person in their sane mind gets excited for a party like this?

“Hey, don’t be such a spoilsport Tara! Learn to live a little.” Sanghamitra reprimanded, when she finally noticed my utter lack of enthusiasm.

“But I don’t like formal parties,” I pouted, “Besides, there will be people who I don’t know at all. What part of trying to converse with strangers do you find even remotely interesting?"

“You shall go with me without another word, and that’s an order.” She said haughtily.

I rolled my eyes, but gave in anyway because she told me that at least five different desserts were going to be served. Ooh, now you’re talking!

Suvarna helped me dress up and seemed to be extremely happy that I’d finally got some sense in my head. I wore the dress that Kanchanmala made for me and I had to admit that it was stitched to perfection and was absolutely gorgeous.

To my surprise, even Neel wore traditional attire and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him. Ever since he came here, he had refused to wear any of the clothes provided by Ashoka. I opened my mouth to say something, “Neel, you…”

“Not a single word about what I’m wearing, I’m warning you.” He cut my sentence midway.

“….look pretty good!” I completed, “And there’s no need to get all worked up. I was just complimenting you.”

“Umm, thank you.” He said, his ears turning a slight shade of pink.

“You look beautiful too. I must say Kanchanmala has outdone herself.” He said, scratching the back of his neck.

I smiled in response. I found it very easy to talk to Neel since we had a similar taste in books and music. He was a genuine and honest person under his attitude, and I realized that I tended to underestimate his intelligence quite often.

I wondered why we used to be so averse to each other. A few days ago if someone said that the two of us had lots of common ideologies and that we would get along well- I probably would have snorted in disagreement and outright denied it.

But it’s as they say, never judge a book by its cover.

I was glad that I hadn’t passed through the portal alone. Detention had turned out to be quite eventful after all!

We headed towards the grand hall, in the west wing of the palace where the celebration was to be held. On the way we were joined by Sanghamitra who squealed with delight on seeing me.

“Tara you look stunning! My aunt’s here and you must meet her.” She said, as she dragged me along with her to the hall.

I looked apologetically at Neel who chuckled and indicated for me to go.

Sanghamitra’s aunt gushed with joy on seeing her, “Darling, you’ve grown to be such a beautiful young lady. And I’m so happy that you have finally found a girl your age to be friends with. I was afraid you would remain lonely forever, except for your charming brother of course. I must go and meet him.”

Her aunt studied me for a few seconds.

Then her face lit up with a smile of approval and said, “You seem to be a lovely girl. I’m glad you and Sanghamitra get along so well. You see, she hasn’t had many friends so far.”

Ok. That was a little awkward. Nonetheless, I liked her aunt.

I had half expected her to be something like Sanghamitra’s mother, but she wasn’t and I was glad to have met her. At least there’s someone from this family that likes me.

Time dragged along slowly as I was introduced to the never ending number of members that belonged to the extended royal family.

I wished that I was back in my bedroom, reading a book or watching a movie. I didn’t remember the names of half the people I’d me in the past half an hour and my brain was saturated with the amount of rubbish they talked about.

Everyone present here belonged to the higher echelons of society and talked about nothing but the number of horses and elephants they owned or politics or the grandness of their daughter’s weddings.

I felt like asking them who they wanted to impress- their friends? Or were they just trying to reassure themselves? I couldn’t help but feel out of place.

Sanghamitra excused herself for some reason and I found myself talking to an old lady who seemed harmless enough.

She asked me about my likes and dislikes, and praised my manners. I was slowly warming up to her when she said to me, “You seem to be a very lively and responsible young girl. It is a wonder that you don’t have a line of suitors behind you. Well, there’s my handsome great grandson who is the heir to the family’s vast fortune. Both of you would make a great pair.”

My jaw dropped in dismay at her words. Did I just get a marriage proposal?!

God help me!

I needed to get away from this lady before something serious happened or her great grandson came along. She was evidently insane!

Who even talks about child marriage these days? Oh wait, here they do. If I stayed at this party even a minute longer I would suffer from a serious mental condition. I knew coming to this party was a terrible idea and my suspicions had just been proved right.

I was rescued from further torture by Neel.

“I need to tell you something very important,” he whispered, a sense of urgency in his tone, “Can we please go somewhere else, somewhere private?”

I nodded in agreement, relief coursing through my body. I quickly excused myself from the lady who wasn’t quite ready to let me go yet. I scurried away from her as fast as I could. Never have I been so happy to see Neel.

I followed him to a quiet corner on the far side of the humongous room. Neel looked at me apologetically and said, “I’m sorry for interrupting your conversation with that old lady there, but the news couldn’t wait till after the party.”

I shook my head, widening my eyes in alarm and replied, “Trust me I’m so happy that you came at that precise moment. The batty old hag was talking about how her great-grandson and I would make a great pair. She almost gave me her blessing, I’m not even kidding! So thank you!”

Neel burst out laughing. “Only you…such stuff can happen only to you, Tara!” he managed to say between peals of laughter, “I think you attract weirdness wherever you go!”

Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I said indignantly, “Fine, laugh all you want at my plight. I’m going.”

Biting back his laughter, he said, “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it.” With that he snorted again.

I made a face and turned to leave. Sobering up immediately, he said, “Ok wait. I promise I won’t laugh anymore. On a more serious note, I called you aside to tell you that Mahindra and I were asking around about the portal magic. We didn’t learn much, but we did find out that the king of Kalinga has a collection of ancient artifacts which includes a clay tablet similar to the one in Miss Kurukshetra’s office. Apparently, all the documents about it are lost and it was forgotten about until now. We are at least ninety percent certain that it is a return portal. We’ve decided to leave for Kalinga tonight after the celebration is over.”

I listened with rapt attention, making sure I didn’t miss a single syllable. “But we haven’t packed yet, and we’ll need at least half an hour for it.” I whined.

Neel rolled his eyes. “That’s exactly why I told you now, idiot. We need to go and get our stuff right now.” He stated matter-of-factly, “And minimal luggage please.”

Right, like I was planning to take my entire wardrobe along with me!

It’s funny how everyone gets stuck in some stereotype or another.

I lifted the long skirt of my dress and hurried to our room in the opposite wing of the palace, Neel just behind me. We skillfully dodged the guests as we made our way of the packed room. We were so dexterous that we should get an award for it!

“No one is to know where we’re headed so be discreet. Pack any possible weapons and conceal some in your clothes. It’s almost half past eleven and we must leave before midnight.” said Neel as we reached the corridor where our room was located.

I grabbed the backpack that Neel had summoned for me and stuffed it with a few clothes, toiletries and a few other things I found important. Before leaving, I quickly texted Tvisha about our plans and prayed that our quest would be successful.

                    ______________________________________________