Chapter 138

Sarahehsan: Thank you my darling friend for 150^th! It is an honour to be presented with such intimate gifts that mean a lot more to your heart that gives it...

Jduke: Welcome aboard, dearie! Loved the prefect flourish of your first comment, picking on every monumental scene in the story so far!

Crazy: Loved all your previous comments, my dear Meg, and I was especially struck by your admittance of the overuse of the name of Kushi by her husband. Though it did sound jarring when I read it a second time, it seemed only natural when I was scripting the scene. Will look into it in a future date but thank you dear for pointing it out.

Breeze: Dear Breeze. I have always and will always love your elaborations and cheerful thoughts on the chapters but it is most needed that I look into the big blaring blooper that stareth at me every now and then and especially when you point it out most repeatedly in your every comment. That of Kushi being deprived the knowledge to which she is deserving of privy. I certainly do not know why I must do it so but for the sake of the FF and for the reason as how my mind is permitted to write, I can choose no other alternative but to wall the girl in. Certainly, it is the most haphazardly handled string in the FF and I am hoping that in the long run of the chapters, the Lady in the Dark Hood will shed some light on the truth as to why she keepth one of my protagonist's ignorant of her husband's situation.

Chapter 215: The Pleasing Pronouncement

Wineglasses tinkled and the silver forks tapped on the plates as the family enjoyed their dinner an hour later and everyone seemed to be unusually happy with Payal and Lord Akash being back to join the table again.

Without looking up as he spooned his peas, Lord Arnav slid his gaze to the one seated beside him and from the corner of his eye he watched as she silently ate her meal, occasionally offer a smiling reply to Lady Anjali or Nani.

Lord Arnav closed his eyes. He had been struggling the decision out within himself for a long while now and it was time he made a stop to it.

He looked up and tapped his spoon against his wineglass.

Once he had the silence and attention of all those seated at the table, he cleared his throat, earning the suspicion of his grandmother who sat right next to him and knew he was about to say something unwonted.

"I know you all want me to do it and I am not entirely willing to do it but since it is a matter of utmost importance to my family, I will afford to try."

"Afford to try what, bitwa?" Lord Manohar asked for everyone.

Kushi watched her husband suspiciously as he continued, his eyes only on the wineglass before him, "There are some clauses I would like to add to this deal, however."

"To what deal?" Lady Manorama's eyebrows rose in enquiry.

Lord Arnav still had trouble being square, "The clauses are these: I need to visit the Industry every day and I need a servant or two at my hand always."

"You already have all that..." Nani narrowed her gaze questionably, and then she turned to her granddaughter, "What is the meaning of all this?"

"I am clueless myself, Nani," Lady Anjali stared at her brother.

Lord Arnav looked up at them impatiently and yelled, "Damn it! Do I belong to a family that is empty of stringing sense? I am talking about our imminent visit to the Village!"

Sudden silence engulfed the dining room in the aftermath of his words and all eyes stared at him in disbelief. Even when everyone had reawakened themselves from the shock of the moment and reached out to offer jubilant wishes to Lord Arnav and Kushi, Lord Arnav found that Kushi sat rooted to her seat staring at him as though she had seen a ghost.

[Lady Manorama was so overjoyed by the announcement (for it would mean a week's respite without Rags) that she told her husband they should celebrate the news, and the gullible but equally jovial Lord Manohar ordered the servants to serve a fresh batch of the best wine they had in stock.]

When Lady Anjali tapped Kushi on her shoulder and asked her cheerfully how she felt now that she was going to see her parents again, Kushi blinked around at the table, the faces of the family waiting to hear her answer (expect for Lady Manorama who had returned to her meal being not interested in the girl's answer).

Kushi looked at her husband who was gazing at her, the most eager to hear her words but she disappointed him when, without a word, she mumbled an excuse, stood up and left the table.

A few minutes later, Lord Arnav stepped into the bedchamber and found it dark. There were no candles lit but there was a bright moon outside which he could see from the open balcony.

That was when he spotted the lonely figure sitting on the floor of the balcony, her arms hugged around her against the biting cold of the wind.

He stepped towards her and crouched beside her.

She had been crying and she was shivering from the cold.

"Kushi?"

She didn't respond but bit her lower lip to stop it from trembling.

Unbuttoning his shirt, he removed it and then draped it warmly around her.

She looked up at him, the tears glistening in her eyes, but he stilled when he saw the gratitude that shone in their depths.

Overcome with emotion, he opened his mouth but failed at words, "Kushi-"

Suddenly she leaned forward and threw her arms around his neck, hugging herself against his chest as his shirt that had been around her slid to the ground uselessly.

His warm arms wrapped around her and drew her closer to him as he drowned in the wordless expression of her gratitude.

"I can never..." She began, failed, and then tried again, "You have just..." She couldn't quite complete it either and grappled at newer strings, "Of all the things... I am only... What you have given me today..."

She stopped altogether, defeated in her attempts to explain what she felt.

He tried to help her, "Kushi, you don't have to-"

And then fire exploded in his chest.

For knowing how helpless she was with words at the moment, she offered him the only expression of affection she had the courage to muster:

She had leant up and gently kissed his cheek.

The moment her timid lips had willingly pressed themselves to his cold skin, he closed his eyes, weakened by the admittance of her love.

"Kushi..." He pleaded helplessly, his arms holding her in the quivering embrace, "Don't."

Her face moved to shadow the moon from his vision and then she had kissed him lightly on his other cheek, this time a drop of tear fastening to his skin as well.

Her sweet breath was on his lips, crumbling the walls of his tenacity.

"Kushi, this is..." He began, and then he drew away, earning her surprised look.

He stood up, "Just..." He put his hands into his pockets and looked around, "Just let's get to bed."

Kushi stood up and wordlessly was about to step into the bedchamber when his cold hand grasped at her elbow and pulled her to his chest.

Wide eyed, she looked up at him.

"What are you doing to me, Kushi?" he asked roughly before kissing her lightly on her lips.

And then he moved away, wanting to not let the night make it any more harder for him.

Just then, to his relief, there was a knock on the door and he stepped towards the door, leaving his wife beside the bed.

It was the butler who had been sent by the Lady Mother of the Castle to ascertain if the announcement that been issued at the dining table was to see any action.

"Yes, it will be so, Chacha," said Lord Arnav, "But remind Nani that I insist on the clause of the servants. I will not go to the Village without my aides."

"As you wish, sire," Rahim Chacha bowed to him.

Before dismissing the butler, the First Lord instructed him to dispatch a message early at dawn to the Guptas informing them that their youngest daughter and her husband were to arrive on the afternoon of Sunday (incidentally, the afternoon of the very next day).

Fortunately, sensing his uneasiness, Kushi had scrambled into the bed, and pulled the blanket over her, knowing that if she angered him with unwanted queries, he might withdraw the bliss she was experiencing at present.

But she knew sleep would not come too easily to her, unable to contain her growing excitement at the thought of seeing her family again.

When he got into bed beside her and she felt his warm nearness underneath the blanket they shared, she felt the surge of gratitude again and, turning to him, she wrapped her arms around him and smiled in the dark, the resemblance of a grateful child embracing her gracious father.

Lord Arnav buried his face into her nest of opened hair and tried to find a calm he was far from feeling. He was not looking forward to the Village sojourn and was frequently contemplating on changing his decision but Kushi's enthusiasm only ignited his wretchedness to prolong.

Chapter 216: Venturing to the Village

When Lord Arnav woke up in the morning, he was surprised to find his wife missing from bed.

Wondering where she had vanished to early in the morning, he made way to the bath chamber and, after washing and dressing into his day clothes, went downstairs to inspect into the matter.

He didn't have to go as far as the living room to know where his wife was for her voice in a melodious song floated from the kitchen as she helped the cooks and servants in the readying for the Village visit.

He could hear the exhilaration in her voice as she asked Payal to join her in the song but Payal's dismissal of the offer did not dampen Kushi's spirits for she resumed the song with redoubled flourish.

Lord Arnav found himself smiling: nothing that happened that day was going to wipe the glee off Kushi's face!

Seeing his wife in an elated form made him want to feel proud of his decision, but he regretted it when, an hour later, his grandmother flatly refused his prerequisite for servants.

"Nonsense, Chotey!" Nani sat in her living room armchair and frowned up at him, "Who has ever heard of such a thing as servants in a Village!"

The betrayal shocked Lord Arnav, "But I can't-"

"Mother is right, Arnavbitwa," said Lord Manohar from near the living room window where he had been watching the many gifts and boxes being packed into the carriage waiting on the front lawn path, "You cannot quite experience the Village unless you turn rustic yourself!"

"WHAT THE-!" Lord Arnav shot up, "Be a villager?!!"

Kushi, who had appeared at the doorway just then, closed her eyes in desperate prayer. Please, Goddess Mother, don't let him take it back...please don't let him get angry...he forgets every sanity if he is enraged...

The butler walked in and, coming to stand before Lord Manohar, handed the Elder Lord a roll of parchment which the latter read while the former stood waiting.

Afraid that she won't have a Rags-free week, Lady Manorama remarked from the lounger she was seated on, "What your Mamaji really meant, bitwa, is that you should blend with the crowd without losing your hold on your royalty. And don't think there are no servants there: in a village, everyone is a servant, working and toiling their wasted lives away."

Kushi paled.

"Manorama!" Nani glared at her.

Lady Manorama looked innocently at Nani, "I was only trying to appease our little boy to not drop the candy he's holding."

"This is no candy," grunted Lord Arnav, "I would not have made this decision if I knew this was the way it was to become. In fact, I'm thinking of-"

Kushi bit her lower lip in anxiety.

Just then General Shyam walked into the room and came to stand near Lord Manohar who looked up from his reading of the parchment to smile at the young soldier.

"Did I miss something?" the General asked with warm cheer, looking around.

"Just the man we need," Lady Manorama perked up, smiling, "You can talk sense to him, Shyambitwa. Arnavbitwa is having second thoughts on-"

"Is everything set, Chacha?" Lord Arnav asked his butler who looked up suddenly.

The butler blinked, "Well, yes, sire. Everything is prepared and put in the carriage. Except for the servant you have insisted on-"

"Never mind," declared Lord Arnav hotly, his cold eyes on the General, "I will just have to do without one. Tardiness in plans is something I will not tolerate when I am about to leave with my wife for the Village."

Lady Deviyani, Lady Manorama and Lord Manohar were all astonished but relieved to hear this, Kushi being the most ecstatic of them.

At the end of the next hour, the servants and the family were all in a flurry, preparing, seeing that all the clothes and gifts were packed into the carriage. In the midst of the intimate goodbyes and wishes and give our regards,' the General stepped forward and offered a hand to his brother-in-law.

Lord Arnav would not have taken it if his sister hadn't been standing beside them watching them with a proud smile.

On taking his hand, the General eased forward and whispered into Lord Arnav's ears what the family assumed to be good wishes for the journey.

The General gripped at the hand in which was Lord Arnav's stiff hand and then smilingly growled in his ear, "Run for now, kitty cat. But there is no place you can hide where I won't find her."

Gritting his teeth, Lord Arnav rammed their clasped hands against the General's chest which, in the excitement of the moment, only Kushi saw and her smile faded.

Panicking that something terrible might happen on the verge of her happy leaving, she stepped in and held her husband by his elbow, earning his surprised stare.

"Shall we leave, my lord?" she smiled coyly at him and he realized what she was trying to do.

He shot the General a last glare and then nodded around at everyone, "We're leaving. Akash, I hope to see the Castle and the Industry on their feet when I am back."

"That they will be, brother, you can count on me," winked Lord Akash, his arm around a tear-stricken Payal who was overjoyed that her sister was finally going to see her family.

Rahim Chacha was standing outside on the front lawn, positioned before the carriage, waiting to see the Master and his Lady off.

When Kushi and Lord Arnav stepped out of the Castle and towards the carriage, the latter gave the butler a warm handshake of farewell and the former hugged the old man goodbye making him teary-eyed.

The entire family gathered at the lawn.

Lady Anjali suddenly didn't want to let them go. "Why is this so hard..." she murmured, happy tears in her sad eyes.

"Fear not, my child," Lady Deviyani held her granddaughter's hand, "We have grown so attached to them that it's hard to let them go for even a day."

Lady Anjali nodded, "But it's surprising how Chotey suddenly decided he'd go to the Village. I wonder what made him change his mind..."

"It must be guilt," said Nani, nodding wisely, "How long can a man keep denying his wife her happiness?"

Kushi and Lord Arnav had already got into the carriage and Rahim Chacha was shutting the carriage door when Fortune, the white parrot, having just returned from his morning wing-exercise, perched on Nani's shoulder to offer his share of farewell to the couple, "Return honeybee green!"

No one quite heard the bird because they were all busy waving and bawling their goodbyes.

But Lady Anjali and Nani had heard Fortune's words.

"What?" Lady Anjali stared funnily at the bird, "Whatever does he mean, Nani?"

"He has caught me confused too," Nani shrugged and then frowned at the bird on her shoulder while her hand absent-mindedly waved at the departing carriage.

Fortune tilted his bird head at Nani and the old woman chuckled, "Oh, you clever thing. You feel it too, don't you. As do my old bones...they are never wrong."

And it was at this moment that Nani's eyes filled with tears of joy as she looked at the carriage heading for the open gates and the downhill ride.

You are right, Fortune, Nani smiled secretly, I believe too that he will return in her colours.

"At least a lighter shade," grinned Nani.

New Thread and Next Narration: 15^th Feb 2014