Mrithika was cornered by Arjun while accompanying Kunti to a temple. She had staggered away from the royal woman and her maids to inspect a lotus pond by the temple in an attempt to pluck some flowers. It was an object of wonder for her since Rajasthan wasn't exactly stocked with much water bodies let alone a pond.

"I have finally guessed your age and I'm pretty sure that's it right"! He proclaimed with pride, a grin sweeping through his dark face.

"Oh really"? She asked with sarcasm dripping in her cadence as she crossed her arms over chest, her gaze piercing straight into Parth's copper ones. "I doubt you can do that", she rebuked him and smoothed out her skirt to bend over towards a lone lotus bud whose magenta petals were sprawled above its pads.

"You cannot doubt it when you're twenty", Arjun retorted with a perfectly angelic smile, watching with satisfaction when Mrithika's hands stopped midway from reaching the lotus's stem. She snapped her head so fast that she might've twisted it in the process.

"How did you..."? She trailed off, her face dumbfounded before it contorted into that of accusations.

"Madhav must have told you that, didn't he? Don't lie to me Arjun"! She warned, getting up from her place with narrowed eyes.

"Oh no no. He never told me I found it on my own after an entire FIVE DAYS"! He exclaimed, his voice raising at the end. Mrithika didn't believe him but she couldn't deny the fact that it must be a wild guess either, and to be honest even she was feeling tired on ignoring Arjun. It just wasn't the same without his stupid taunts and comments.

"Whatever", she rolled her eyes before something in a distance caught her attention, "Hey, look over there, what's that weird bird"?

Arjun furrowed his brows before turning in the direction of her pointing finger, "Oh that, that's a Koel, do you not have that bird in Kal-" before he could finish his sentence, the force of cold water gushed through him.

He fell in the pond.

"Pfft, hahaha", a loud cackle erupted from Mrithika's lips as she doubled over at the comical sight of Arjun being drenched with pond water. His gaze, however, was furious.

"MRITHIKA!!" he hollered which only made the girl laugh harder. He pushed aside the lotus stems from tangling him and got to the edge of the pond, his glare intact. The water soaked him nicely and Arjun wrenched his angavastra to extract the moisture.

"What? You think you're the only one who can have fun. Of course not, you forgot about me", Mrithika snickered, eyeing the son of Kunti who was trying to dry his hair in vain.

"Is this some sort of revenge? I can not believe I got off guard like that", Arjun shook his head in despair.

"Oh there's more to me that meets the eye", she replied, smiling awfully mysterious that made the Kaunteya to arch an eyebrow.

"You're impossible", He shot back, rolling his wondrous copper - hued irises that resembled pools of molten gold in the summer sun -light.

Mrithika stuck her chin out and placed her hands over her hips, "Mister, I'm impractical, improbable but never impossible".

"Yeah we'll see about that but first, Mata might be searching for you so you better get going. And I have to dry myself", he grumbled at the last sentence making Mrithika result into another series of snickers.

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

The Pandava brothers scrutinised Arjun from top to bottom at his drenched visage. Sahadev scrunched his eyebrows in a verily intense manner when Arjun dismounted his horse.

"When did you take a bath"? Bheem questioned him as a grumpy expression graced his brother's dark face.

"Stop it, Bhratashree ! Mrithika pushed me into a pond"!

"What"? Nakul laughed encouraging Bheem and Sahadev to break out into fits of laughter. A smile quirked up Yudhishthir's lips too.

"Yeah, she tricked me", Arjun admitted whilst rolling his eyes lackadaisically.

"We missed it, Sahadev ! We should've been there to see the unexpected sight. I would have loved to see Bhrata Arjun getting toppled into a pond full of flowers. So tell me Bhratashree, how did it feel? Was the water cold enough for your liking? Nakul taunted with a devious smile.

"Arey, Arjun! How did Mrithika even push you? She's a mouse"! Bheem asked, astonished at how a girl who nearly a feet and half inches shorter than his brother, managed to knock him off his balance.

"Just like how a mouse's senses are sneaky, that girl tricked me into letting my guard down and threw me off balance" Arjun argued at the sight of his grinning brothers, "I'm never trusting her again"!

Bheem and the Mādreyas once again burst into boisterous chuckles irritating Arjun further. Yudhishthir shook his head with an amused smile and said, "Arjun, dry yourself up. Mata wants to discuss certain details with us five".

Arjun nodded and left. Sahadev stood there with a smile, thinking about the situation that Arjun was put into by a mere princess.

'Though she may lack strength, her mind is not weak if she had managed to trick Bhrata Arjun of all.'

Mrithika was swinging her legs leisurely whilst reading a book that Sahadev lent her. It was the story of Nal - Damayanti. Mrithika found it somewhat similar to the kalyugi historical love saga of Rani Durgavati and the her Gond husband. Except Damayanti was no warrior princess.

Having absolutely nothing to do in the afternoon after lunch, she decided to get cosy with a book in her room. It was quite rare to have leisure time in kalyug especially when the world was moving to fast to catch a breathe. Especially, when she was running from her.

The past two years had been quite a hectic and traumatic experience for Mrithika. Something she had no intention to talk about.

And no opportunity to gain good karma had passed in a long time and ever since their last meeting, Krishna never turned up either. A part of her was getting restless at the idea of someone finding out her ugly truth. Her subconscious though a sang a different tune -- it comforted her to have patience and assured that this was a starting from a new page but knowing that Shakuni was trying to pry into her life by asking discreet questions made her skittish.

One slip up and all that she was trying to build would fall off in a second.

'Why do you overthink and when I'm there, Sakhi'? A heavenly yet earthy voice resonated in her head. Mrithika snapped up instantly and started surveying her surroundings in alarm.

The voice tutted in disappointment, 'I'm hurt that you couldn't recognise me'. Mrithika remained still for a second before flaring up, 'Krishna is that you'!

'Ah, she remembers'! Krishna exclaimed dramatically in her mind.

'But what are you doing in my head'?

'Oh I wasn't doing anything! You were the one who disturbed me with your incessant thoughts'!

'Well I - I...those are my thoughts and this is my head'!

'Someone's coming, I'm going to go' with that Krishna went MIA in her mind leaving Mrithika completely baffled and staring owlishly at an irritated Nakul.

"Do you realise that you're becoming like Sahadev"? He asked in a very irked tone, his eyes narrowing at the Nal - Damayanti book in her hands.

"Uhh..." she was at loss for words but it didn't matter since the older Mādreya already beat her to it.

"Doesn't matter, you're coming with us to training grounds. Didn't you say you wanted to try sword fighting? Well this is your chance, now get up"! He snatched the book from her hands — tossing it aside and grabbing her by her arm he dragged her out of the room.

Mrithika felt to lazy to protest, she would've gladly left Nakul to drag her all the way to the training grounds. The palace had too many staircases.

"I also said I wanted to learn archery"!

A/N

Meh, I think this chapter was bore ig but I was caught up with studies and I honestly lack the motivation to study for my last exam when I have like a six days gap or something and it's worse when I procrastinate too much.

Gods, like why couldn't we just finish our exams quicker and be over with it like dragging it just kills off the motivation to study and I'm pretty sure I might do my chem exam horribly. By the way, the winner for guessing Mrithika's age correctly is @poojxshxh . Congrats Pooja! You can DM me and ask me ur question, dear.