Chapter 82

[MEMBERSONLY]

Rabba Ve, dears...

(Yes, the above picture best characterizes my essence! *wink*)

Something I had not been able to mention the last time I came……Welcoming new reader Simz, to the world of Arhasia on behalf of all my readers and Comrades!

Congrats Meg on reaching the Throne though you wished it was won in the heat of a competition which was sadly not there. Big Shout Out to dear Jonashi, the proud member of the Circle of the Arhasian Comrades, who loves to sign herself as CAC Jonashi! So glad you could come visit us with that schedule you have. Missing KP and her masti: wonder if family time has taken her away from the Inn for this week. Soul, your comments were amazing and really assuring of what I needed to assure myself in, and I love what is written by moon, yush, anjs, Moukitika and s_mg, snehashetty, memorable, indiavizion, shreelakshan, Shruti, TRND as well. Special hugs to KKA, Hoopoe, Sansu, Shijina, Riti and Mavs. So happy to catch up with you green-heart Farwa. Leena, it's lovely to see your lil' fellas after the lil' break they took. Thank you to Lakshmin, pristineblue, hiahmed, flowers4u, Niksangel, farha, sana. Warm hugs to bea_rom, Yashal_khan, march, harsh, sagatwilight, smartgirl, vrinda, darya.

Chapter One Hundred Forty Seven: Hurt by the Heartless One

As lightning flashed across the sky, the figure of a young girl crouched on the ground came to view before the sky darkened again and all was drowned in the night.

The sound of her sobbing broke the silence of the cold windy night. The moonlight tried to touch her features in sympathy but the girl had let her long open hair fall forward, her face hidden from all.

The leaves rustled and if the girl had looked up she would have realized she had come to kneel right before the tall rose bush that had led her to cross paths into the life of the man who was reason she was hurt and crying.

After a few minutes, she sat on the grass, her legs underneath her. As she looked up at the sky, the moonlight glimmered on the tears on her face.

The mask was not on her face anymore. She had stripped it off the moment she had reached the garden, before falling weakly to the ground.

She looked down and her fingers reached for the mask lying unwanted among the cold grass. She picked it up, put it on and then struggled with the strings.

Her fingers were still trembling and she couldn't tie it right. It slipped from her hands and fell to the ground again.

She broke into tears, and overcome by sudden fatigue, she slouched limply onto the grass, her tears sliding from the corner of her eyes to the tips of the grass below.

She lay on her back and stared at the sky.

There were no stars.

She felt abandoned.

She breathed in, trying to stop the tears but they kept flowing.

Her neck burned each time she gulped and she sat up, her fingers reaching for the heated marks on her skin.

She felt her courage slipping away and she brought her knees up to her face as she sat there and buried her head between her knees, her hair enveloping her like a blanket within which she wished to hide.

And then suddenly, she felt a hand touch her head.

She looked up, paled and panicked, but on seeing who it was, more tears rushed down and she stood up and embraced the other, "I do not know what is happening to me. I do not know why I did it."

Lady Lavnaya circled her arms around her friend and whispered, "It's alright. Nothing you do is wrong, Kushi. You are too pure to make mistakes."

Kushi stepped away and looked at Lady Lavanya, "But this was wrong, I know it was. I cannot tell you why but I can sense it."

Lady Lavanya shook her head and took Kushi's hand, "You speak from your hurt, but whatever be the reason for your pain, you will soon learn that it is no fault of yours. It's how it was meant to be."

"Meant to be?" Kushi was distraught, "Are you telling me this was meant to happen?"

Lady Lavanya nodded as looked at the sky thoughtfully, her hand on Kushi's shoulder, "Nothing in this world happens the way you want it to. But whatever happens, happens for the good." Lady Lavanya looked at Kushi, "Weren't you the one who taught me this, Kushi? Has the teacher forgotten her own lesson?"

"Lady Lavanya," Kushi smiled, "I believe there can be moments in one's life when one forgets oneself in the pain one is drowned. One turns blind and numbed to reason."

Lady Lavanya smiled and Kushi embraced her again, feeling a lot better though an ache still remained somewhere, "Though it's hard to let it sink in my mind presently, I know it's true: that a good thing is taken from our life so that a better thing can replace it." And she thought of her parents when she said those words.

"Yes," Lady Lavanya whispered against Kushi's head, "A good thing is indeed taken from us so that we can be gifted what is best fit for us."

"My lady?" Kushi began, still in their embrace.

"Yes, Kushi?"

"Was he cruel to you?"

Lady Lavanya released Kushi from the embrace and sighed, "He was neither cruel nor loving."

Kushi looked painfully at her friend, "I suppose the nothingness from him would hurt more than his cruelty…….?"

"Yes," Lady Lavanya smiled, "And I would say you are fortunate to have experienced at least some sort of cruelty or torture under him rather than the sheer disregard that I was liable to."

"I don't think he meant to disregard you, my lady," Kushi held her friend's hand, and then she frowned at the tree near them, "He is just too heartless to care about those who mean him no harm."

"Care?" Lady Lavanya looked at her, "Forget care, Kushi. He is immune to other's feelings. I do not want him to care for me. But if only he had valued my presence or that I had come here for him…………..He didn't. He did it all for his sister."

"But Lady Anjali is worthy to rule his world," said Kushi, and then she sighed, "That would mean that all others are fools to play to his whims, for it is certain he can be kind to no one but his sister alone."

"I suppose," said Lady Lavanya uncertainly, "But I am definite that one day he will realize that he cannot see his world in his sister alone any longer." Kushi looked at her friend confusedly but Lady Lavanya continued, "One day, he will find that he is not the man he thinks he is. That he cannot be strong and unaffected always. That he can also be a slave to his emotions and desires……….."

Kushi stared blankly as the last words reverberated in her mind. Slave to his emotions and desires……..Was that why he was hateful of her? Was that why he accused her? Because he was afraid? Afraid that he might…….….change?

But before she could think through the mist in her worried mind, Lady Lavanya had retrieved Kushi's mask and was helping her to don it.

And then they headed for the ballroom, holding hands and trying to find strength in their silent friendship though aches that burned in their hearts still remained, sourced by the one and same man who remained in his dark room, fraught with his own rippled resolve.

INDEX

I know you are waiting to know what happened to Shashi. Patience, my dears, and watch out for what is to come…………...a small surprise for Shas coming up in the next update but I know she is in hibernation and might not be here to receive it. *sigh*