Hasty thanks to a few dear ones: I am honoured by Keerthi's excitement at being first and at liking the chapter and AngelDream's frequent visits despite my failure to PM her, dear indiavizion, incessantly-hovering-around-the-inn saomom, rockingsoni, dearest Vrinda, sweet Sonia, dear farha, sakadafi, purplelove (for whose comments I await eagerly), casker, Shalve, dear allzwell, sariarshi, sweet darya, hatelove……..
Breeze's unexpected visit to the Inn……. and, yes dear, you have touched quite cleverly on the points of Nani's "flower tale" and of Kushi's address to the "Heart of Shadow" and a little more digging and you will have unearthed the answer to the hints! You are a smart one and a very dear one to me!
Arshy4ever deserves a separate mention for actually "decoding," in a most literary manner, the essence of the entire FF through a single word mentioned in the chapter. By picking on Nani's remark of "fools with reasons," arshy4ever attempted to deconstruct the entire FF's very foundation as based on that one word "reason". I have no words to thank you by, dear…..my eyes are misty and I must not let my voice be affected by tears for I have a chapter to narrate here.
Lady Sophie with the gentle heart and the sad eyes, who always understands Lady Anjali in a deeper way, is someone I am willing to listen to enlighten my moulding of characters in their richness!
Jammy dear who is on a marathon to read up to my latest chapters has reached up to chapter 30 and has been kind enough to pick out what she liked the best in each chapter and wishes to ponder over. Thank you also, dear, for liking my FF cover image and its tagline……I shall reply to you in detail when I find time.
Dingle has also been struggling to catch up and I am pretty pleased to know she has succeeded so far! Waiting for you to show up at the Inn, dear Dingle!!
Kushipugly, my most enthusiastic reader (and the sunshine of this FF in the words of Shas), a separate mention to you for your extreme devotion to my tale and my creation of Arhasia. Your query whether Lord Arnav knows Kushi is the reason behind so many changes will be revealed soon in one of the chapters to come…….and I especially loved how, apart from everyone else, you loved the subtle scene of Nani caressing Kushi's hair, showing your eye for details that matter! I love your description of Shadow in parallel with Lord Arnav and, yes, *chuckle* your crush on the horse now! It is not language or knowledge that I look for in my readers. Like Shas said, what I want is the words of love from your heart for me and my tale…..You give that to me, dear, and that is enough and more for me! And no, Shas has not seen me but our conversations do make it feel like we have! The only person in the Forum who has seen me is Aura (who updated a few chapters when I could not) and arshy4ever had come close enough to meeting me but we didn't.
Kushiarnav: Your stalking skills are vastly making me feel so valued and let me tell you, I could never be more happier than when you assure me my tale matters a lot to you! And sheesh! You need to stop praising me a lot! Sometimes you and Shas and kushipugly go so overboard with all the admiration that I need to stand apart and admire "this Aquiline" as though she is someone else!! I so loved the way you explained in detail kushipugly's amazing pick of words for Shadow and I am proud to tell you, you are so better in understanding Shadow than me! Animal version of Arnav!!! Let me chuckle with joy with kushipugly!
Shas: Your world is in my FF thread and you are so taking advantage, aren't you? *wink* I love it actually because you are there when I cannot be, appreciating and consoling when I personally cannot……And above all……do you know how happy I was when Sona quoted your words and found it worth replying to! I love everything you write and it makes me proud to see another pat your back because your timid-tiny-comments need to be patted upon!!
Sona: Thank you for delving into others' comments as well and providing them with the backing of your insight! And yes, your appreciation for Kushi and Shadow in the last chapter is clearly lovely! Looking forward to more happy days with you in the Cave!
ASRandKKGSRFan: You're a Senior Member now! Congrats! I love the depth in which you decipher character psychologies and relationship equations. You always make me look at my characters in a different way. Would love to reply to you in detail when I get time….
Hellgirl: You actually blended the tag of our show into the plot of Arhasia? Which is undeniably fitting too for it is the same tale in a different twist! I also love, dearly, how you keep yourself active in the Inn and I hope a Comrade or two did have a snack with you before leaving! I would have loved to join you but I was snacking away with my own Chotey!
Hoopoe: You always amaze me with the thoughts you present. Yes, the first-time-pleasure-reading and the second-time-deep-reading does have its own inclinations. And I am thrilled by the points you have put out this time for they are very vital with concern to the coming chapters and the plot and I was more amazed that you had actually gone and quoted lines from the Pointer in the Plot I had given long back! Indeed, your dedication and eye for things amazes me!
Medharees: The music of your words always calm and excite me at the same time, Poetess of Arhasia! The paradoxical truths in your latest poem had me so affected that my brother stood at the door, frowning at me, and asked, "Are you crying?"
Kushipugly, Kushiarnav, Sona, Shas: You guys have totally been all over the FF thread and I am only happy to say that if it is for our Ahrahsia and for the sake of our Arhasian Comrades in need of words…..carry on my beauties!
On behalf of all my friends, welcoming Varshapan and bablio, in advance to our happy little gathering in the Cave!
Chapter Eighty Six: On Lightning
The war was in its heightened climax and the enemies were losing. The contending officer did not like the look of how things were and how triumph was fast slipping through his fingers. He yelled his battle-cry aloud and, on his horseback, raced into the mob of fighting soldiers, scattering the lot, and then he struck his sword through hearts that did not belong under his commandership. His wrathful 'last resort' to not be defeated, however, was short lived.
Through the fog of gunpowder and loud cries of sword lashings, emerged a dark uniformed soldier on his white horse whose mane and sides were smeared with soot and dirt from the struggles of the war they had been fighting.
The contending officer had pierced his sword through the heart of an enemy soldier before him and was turning to attack another, when this 'rider on the white horse' rushed at him and, before the officer could react or fight back, the rider's sharp steel had made its way through the home of his heart, stopping its incessant heartbeat and killing him on the spot.
The rider watched as his war-wrought enemy slumped lifelessly onto the brown horseback and the alarmed horse raced into the mad fury of the fighting soldiers with the corpse upon his back.
The General leered through the blood splattered on his face, and lifting his sword into the air cried out to his battalion, "Victory! Victory is ours!"
The reviving slogan was picked up by his men and as they fought, they yelled it in the face of their enemy before slicing a sword through the other.
The war was soon over and the triumphant band of men retired to their campsite for the famished to be feed, the wounded to be healed and the dedicated dead to be buried ceremoniously.
General Jha was the only one who had not returned to the camp after the victory.
He was instead racing over the grassland, away from the war-ridden ground, on his white horse.
As the wind rushed at them, his sweat-doused hair fell upon his forehead and he leaned forward on his horse. "Go for the wind, Lightning!" he called over her loud hoofs, "Feel the freedom!"
The afternoon sun glinted over the land as the white horse careened over the grassland. As they raced on, he closed his eyes and his tired mind slipped into a muddle of thoughts at the end of which two faces stood out……
He opened his eyes and pulled at his horse's reins.
Lightning dug her hoofs into the ground, coming to a sudden standstill. He dismounted from her back and took a few tired steps forward before dropping to sit on the warm sunlit ground, cross-legged.
Lightning's snout nudged his shoulder and he looked at her from the corner of his eye, "I cannot help it, Lightning. I cannot do without her."
The horse leaned down and began to eat the grass beside him, passing her time in feeding herself for the next battle.
Her Master looked across the land before him, pulling the grass near his knee, and spoke as if in a daze, "She is a bewitching young girl, pulling at the fibres of my heart with just those wondrous eyes of hers."
He looked at his horse, who was eating away unconcernedly, "You saw her that day, didn't you? Didn't you feel yourself being awakened by her eyes?"
The horse looked up at him, munching on the mouthful grass, while some tufts fell from the side of her mouth as she chewed upon them.
The General grunted, "What do you know, Lightning? You only care for food, rides and freedom, right?"
He patted his horse's head that was still hovering above the ground in an attempt to resume her meal, "Ah, freedom, Lightning? You think we have it in this land of war? And what after the war? You think I can return back to that Castle in this state I am in? Do you know, Lightning? These wars are making my wretched nightly transformations worse."
He sighed, stood up and gazed into the sky, his hands on his hips, "I cannot return to the Castle, Lightning. Not until this curse of mine is done with."
Then he mounted on his horse and they rode off, over the land, to the enclosures of the campsite.
As they rode, the General felt the cool wind, rushing at him, dry the blood on his face. He cherished his rides on Lightning, whether he was riding on her through a war ground or over a pleasant grassland. Lightning was a horse willing to carry her master to any end he wanted to go, even to the moment of his death.
"You'll carry me to love too, Lightning………. to the end of this wretched curse," assured her rider, and the prophecy made upon the white horse lingered in the air, as the white horse flashed over the land, leaping in the bright light of the sunlight, its rider a dark silhouette upon her white form.
I know many of you like (some even having a crush!) on Arnav's Shadow. But the loyalty of the black horse to his Master and the Master's bond with his horse is the very same that the white horse and her accursed Master shares……Hope you will understand this. To all those who do, here is a picture I made for you to understand the characters better through their horses:

Why am I hurrying? Simply coz it's time we begin the second thread and as soon as you reach this ship to dock at the 149th page, you can wait for a pigeon to inform you of the unveiling of the second ship to voyage your through this tale that is dear to our hearts! *dancing happily* Excited to begin the new thread!!
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