"𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄." Bruce narrated.

"Let me guess, both the brothers developed harshness and jealousy between themselves." Natasha drawls in a bored tone.

Bruce nodded, "Sometime later Dhritarashtra married Gandhari the princess of Gandhar. While Pandu married Kunti, princess of Kunti -bhoj."

"Gandhari is the queen who tied red cloth over her eyes, right?" Peter questions, looking at Loki for approval. He was internally freaking out to be so close to the Avengers- when not fighting them- and Gods.

"Yes." Loki nods, "How did you know that?"

"I understood your conversation, the Hindi part too." Peter informs the- literal!- God. "Even though I have never learnt that language, really."

Loki narrows his eyes at the spider- kid, before his lips stretched into a small predatory kind of side mirk. "Interesting."

"Oh hello! What is so interesting?" Tony questions instantly. Growing protective of his Kidᵗᵐ, he did not like the way the young god was smirking looking at Peter- his Kidᵗᵐ.

"Time will tell, Stark." Loki smirks mischievously. "Destiny and fate are weird things. I think you should carry on with the story, Banner."

"Can we like for a moment to return to the point of a lady tying red cloth on her eyes? Because What the absolute hell is that?" Clint questions.

"Gandhari, the princess of Gandhar, a state in northern Bharat is known for its wool and merchandise made out of same." Loki tells them, when Bruce looked at him helplessly, not knowing much, "She is smart and has a great presence of mind. She is a diamond lady of her era, beautiful and the sharpest lady. When she learnt about Dhritarashtra's blindness- about her arranged marriage husband's illness- she vowed to never enjoy the fruit of something that her husband could not enjoy. And thus, tied a cloth on her eyes, to be similar to him completely."

"But that's dumb." Steve exclaims, "That was a very bad move."

"Oh! look who is talking about bad moves." Tony mutters in distaste, Clint was about to say something but Natasha hit her best friend's shin stopping him from saying anything.

"That must have required a lot of courage." Natasha rather says, trying to divert them all from fighting here, in Ancient India.
Natasha did not really understand why the lady- Gandhari- did what she did, why the lady wanted to be equal to a man in all terms but she could easily see the sacrifice the lady had made. She could see the bravery needed for the same.

"But she could have become the eyes of the King." Steve says.

"Let me tell you something, Rogers, marriage is something that works on both parties. What she did was the bravest thing done in centuries, she tried to feel what her husband felt since he was born. You should understand this simple thing that heroism is not always in fighting and winning." Loki snaps at the captain. He disliked the way the soldier looked at things, it was so one directional, not good at all. "As for the point of her becoming the eyes of her husband, she knew that she was not the best person to be the eyes of the man, so she rather took a step that made her equal to her husband."

"My brother is right, Captain." Thor says when Steve still looks weirded out.
"What the lady was far from dumb. She is the sharpest queen found in Aryavarta. No one is a match for her intelligence."

Bucky holds in the urge to roll his eyes; Steve's old age was becoming a problem. It seemed as if these years in ice froze parts of his brain, which has yet to be freed. Seriously, he did not remember the small punk from Brooklyn having such a shitty attitude and thinking. But then it is correctly said, age does it number on a person, right?

Natasha was feeling a little irritated out of Steve's stubbornness. Why was he fighting for something that had no point? That would bring no change? For something that he did not understand completely about?

Clint closed his eyes in annoyance. This all was stressing him, and even more than it was confusing him to no end. He just wanted to reach home as soon as possible because he had an instinct telling him that the more he got into all this, the more complex it all would get.

Bruce wanted to ram his head on a wall. He was glad to meet his team- mates again but coming to ancient India? It all was just pain; he is totally hating it.

"Pandu later took another wife, Madri." Bruce continues knowing that him talking would be the best at the moment.
"As time went on, Pandu ruled he was a good king and people loved him. But the coldness between the brothers were increasing. And then one day while hunting, Pandu got cursed."

Everyone huffed in annoyance. This was just not done. Everything was just getting bad and the situation was just getting messier.

"He could not uh- copulate, if he did, he would die." Bruce continued blushing.

Peter coughed, while Tony, Loki and Natasha rolled their eyes at Bruce's polite choice of words. But then they did have a kid with them.

"Let me guess, he copulated." Tony says, putting special pressure on the word to tease his Brucie- bear. And it did its job.

"Yeah, and so he died." Bruce nodded. "Because the reason for his death was Madri. She killed herself by jumping into her husband's fire pyre."

"Nobody stopped her?" Natasha questions, a little disgusted by the action of the lady. Why give her life if her husband died? Why not make a new life around herself now? Why the guilt?

"Sati is a fairly normal ritual practiced in Ancient India." Loki responds, his face expressionless like ever.

"Sati?" Bucky frowns. This mess is more complicated than all the stuff he went through trying to break from his mind control and shit!

"It is the same ritual, Banner here said." Loki says. "Jumping in the live fire pyre of a lady's husband." A look of understanding crosses Bucky's face.

"Till then Pandu had five sons." Bruce continues on with his story.

"I thought he could not have kids. How?" Peter looked adorably confused.

"I do not know the technicalities." Bruce shrugged as everyone now turned expectantly to Loki.

What time has come? We are dependent on Reindeer Games for essentially surviving. Tony shook his head. This is all a mess of reaching a place all together knew was getting on his nerves. Plus, he was scared of Peter's safety. May would have him alive if anything happened to her darling nephew. Truth to be told, Tony would not be able to forgive himself if anything happened to Peter.

"Kunti at a young age had been blessed by a Rishi. She could summon any God she wanted and the summoned God would have to give her a kid that was essentially the God's half- blood child." Loki explains, trying to make as much sense as he could in these circumstances.

"So, in short, demigods?" Tony asks. And Loki nods in agreement.

"These people can just summon Gods?" Clint jumps up, looking at Loki in disbelief. Was that young god kidding with them? Fooling them because they did not tale of this land, they suddenly landed in.

"If they wish too." Loki shrugged, enjoying the freaked- out man's reaction.

"Oh God! Can they get more eerie?" Clint asks, sitting back down.

"Lady Gandhari had the blessing of having a hundred kids." Loki says, innocently. Knowing for the fact that it would completely freak Clint out to hear something like this.

The reaction he got from all of them was mind blowing. They were staring at Loki as if he was just kidding with them. As if he would now jump up saying that he was joking.

"If you think I am joking, you can confirm with you green beast boy here that all I say is truth." Loki gives the Avengers an un- impressed look.

"He is telling the truth." Bruce nods. "Queen Gandhari and King Dhritarashtra do have a hundred sons and a daughter."

"Well, the kids must have never lacked play- mates in their growing years, I suppose." Tony says after a few moments of silence.
Natasha, Peter and Bruce snorted in amusement at the statement.

"The Five sons of Pandu are called the Pandeva's while the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra are called the Kauravas." Loki informs them.
"They are kind of always on each other's throats."

"Why?" Peter frowns, fighting was never the answer to anything.
And people should understand it, fights not only leave physical wounds, there were mental wounds worse. And Peter had some experience of the same. And to say the least he hates it.

"Inheritance of the throne." Loki shrugs. "It has been the cause of problems in every kingdom since ages and still is."

Silence follows his statement before Loki himself breaks it.

"They had a common teacher, Dronacharya." He continues further. "Ashwatthama, son of Drona, is the common friend of both the group of Prince's- Pandeva's as well as the Kauravas."

"And who is Ang- Raj Karna?" Peter questions, remembering the mischief God's reaction.

"The King of Anga," Loki begins. "Karn is the son of Adhirath and Radha, Karn's father- Adhirath- is the charioteer of Maha Mahim Bishma. He was adopted when he was still a baby, though not many people are aware of this fact. Rather I am not even sure that the man himself knows it. Radha and Adhirath have always loved and cared for Karn as their own son."
"Karn was born with armor and earrings that appear when he is in danger. No one knows why he has those, what everyone knows for the fact is that it is magical at least. It is said that the armor emits an aura of divinity."

"How was he born with it?" Bucky frowns.

"Are you not going to tell them about his birth?" Bruce questions Loki, confused, as to why the man was sharing limited information only.

"What about his birth?" Natasha narrows his eyes at the people.

Loki sighs, "Karn is the eldest son of Kunti."

"So, why does he not live with them? Why with his adopted parents?" Peter was confused, his face was scrunched in perplexity.

Loki took a deep breath before he began, "When Kunti was given the spell to call upon a God, she was in her mid- teenage years. Her curiosity got the better of her and she called upon the Sun God- Surya."

Tony, Natasha and Bucky cursed in sync, understanding what happened.

Loki continued, ignoring them, "Surya Dev was bound by the oath and he had to give her a son, even though Kunti protested a lot, she was given a son. The son being- Karn."

Loki remains silent for a moment letting the point settle in them. "Not knowing better, Kunti put the new born child in a basket filled with Lotus and let the basket float in the cold waters of Ganga. When in the morning, Adhirath went to pray to Surya dev he found baby Karn. Because he was childless and he was horrified by the fact that a child was left floating in the Ganges, he took the baby home with him. And Radha accepted baby Karn as her own." 

"What a Bitch!" 

"How could she?" 

"She did that with her own son?" 

"Does she not have a heart or what?" 

"How can a mother be so heartless?" 

"How could she do that with her own child? Her  own blood?" 

"Why did she called for the god if she did not want a kid? Is she an idiot?"

There was a look of disgust and pity that had crossed the face of every avenger. Loki could easily relate with it, he felt the same emotion he talked or thought about it every time too.

"In India, especially in these times, the caste system is very rigorous and people follow it by heart." Loki further continues, "Actually being the Son of a God, Karn wanted to learn archery but because of his father being a charioteer people only mocked him and did not let him learn archery."
"Since Karn was a baby, his adopted parents knew he was divine but they could not help him learn archery. They would have been disregarded from society." 

"What a shitty reason!" The Avenger's protested. 
How could they think of such thing? A kid should have a right to learn anything and every thing he wants to! Such rules just degrade the society. Especially considering the fact that Karn was not the biological son of theirs. Such kids should especially be given chance to make their own identity in the society. Make their own place in the community. 

"Karn learnt the basics of archery himself, he went out in search of a teacher and met Guru Dronacharya, who had taken young Kuru Prince's as his students. Guru Drona wanted Arjun to be the best archer, he did not want anyone to be better than Arjun, so he refused to teach Karn anything."

"Karn grew angry at the fact and promised Guru Drona that he would one day become a better fighter than Arjun." Loki pauses for a breath.
"He later went ahead and learnt the art of fighting from his Guru Parashuram, who only used to teach Brahmin's."

"Then how did he teach Karn?" Tony was the one with the question. 
Maybe the teacher would be an understanding one. He would teach Karn regardless of him being a Charioteer's son. After all, Loki does seem to respect the man. Tony  concluded. 

"Karn omitted the fact that he was a Charioteer's son, When asked if he was a Kshatriya- which means someone from royal blood or a fighter's kid- he denied the fact." Loki answers, "One day, when his teachings were almost complete, Guru Parshuram wished to sleep and Karn offered his lap as pillow. At the same time, Indra- the God of lightning and rain, who also was Arjun's father- took the form of a honey bee and stung Karn." 

"Fuck!" The Avenger's were now simply livid. They wanted to beat the shit out of this Indra. 
How could a God do such a thing? Did he have no Morales? No limits? No shame? Being a God he must be well aware of the fact as to who Karn is, then why did he do that?  Did doing this made him feel like a better parent? How immoral is that! What would Arjun say when he learnt this fact? Did the God even feel bad after doing what he did? That is not even something a God should think of, and this Indra God did it! Wow! Just fantastic!     

"Not wanting to disturb his teacher, Karn sat there enduring the pain, as his Guru slept. But Parashuram felt the blood which was flowing through Karn's wound and woke up. He cursed Karn for lying to him and said that Karn would instantly forget his knowledge, because only a Kshatriya could bear such pain."

"When he learnt the fact that Karn was not a Kshatriya, he felt a little bad of cursing his student, he realized the gravity of the situation and mended his curse to the fact that Karn would forget his knowledge at the time of utmost importance." Loki said, his voice was strong and loud yet it held compassion and a feeling of understanding in it. One that avengers had not heard before, not from Loki, the Mischief God who attacked New York.

The Avengers felt a little better on hearing it but that did not make them feel any less bad about the happenings. it all just felt un- fair.

"Karn was even gifted Guru Parshuram's bow- Vijya, a gift that the man himself had got from Lord Shiva, the God of Gods. He even gave knowledge of some more secretive divine weapons to Karn." 

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𝙰𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎! 

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝙻𝚘𝚔𝚒 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙿𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛?

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚎, 𝚏𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛.  

𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝙰𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙺𝚊𝚛𝚗'𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎? 

𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙺𝚊𝚛𝚗 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝙰𝚛𝚓𝚞𝚗. 
𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞? 

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚠?

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚘𝚏 crazygurl4ever 𝚊𝚗𝚍 pashmit101 

(𝟸 𝟽 𝟽 𝟻 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳𝚂)