Tanisi came to the palace in the afternoon. She looked pale and somehow she appeared ghostly instead of her usual beautiful self.
Samudra noticed this. But he held his calmness. He showed her the documents and since she knew what was to be done, he went down to his study. Tanisi was even more hurt to see that he had left her all alone in his chamber.
She silently started working on the accounts. She finished the work in a couple of hours. She wanted to leave but since the emperor wasn't around she couldn't. She stood up and checked her work again.
Samudra came upstairs after a while and saw Tanisi staring at the skies from his balcony. She turned around as though she felt his presence. She looked at him who was silently looking at her without a trace of expression on his face.
She came back and folding her palms in a greeting posture she said: "I have finished today's work. I wanted to take your permission before I left. Your highness! I don't want to tro
Tanisi came to the palace as usual the next afternoon and saw that Shyamala's chamber was empty. She was puzzled. She went to Samudra's chamber where he was sitting on his swing and slowly swinging it.When he saw her a complicated expression flashed in his eyes. She sat down and started with her work. Samudra said, "One of my friends Shyamala might get married by this year end. I want to give her a nice gift. So keep seventy-five thousand golden varahas aside for it. You can deduct it from my personal treasury."Tanisi: "That would be too heavy on your personal treasury your highness! You will be left with only three hundred thousand varahas."Samudra: "Its alright. I am not going to get married anytime soon. Hence I can fill it back slowly."Tanisi swallowed hard. He had quelled her misunderstanding that he would marry the princess she had seen.The routine went on. Tanisi used to come every afternoon to the palace to update the records and Samud
Tanisi had just settled down when there was an announcement outside asking all of them to gather in the palace as there would be a royal feast.She sighed and then went out and saw others also come out. While all of them were dressed nicely, Tanisi hadn't done anything special. Her clothes were normal, and she wore no jewellery. She looked too simple. But she didn't feel like dressing up.All around Nishantha's capital, arrangements had been made to serve food wherever there was space for large number of people to sit and eat. None of them had food since morning. It was the usual practice during the annual festival to have only one meal for the day. They would all fast till the evening, praying to the Lord and then after sunset have a light meal. This was always followed by a day full of merriment. But this year it was only a night of merriment.They all gathered and had food cooked specially keeping in mind their fast.Tanisi had her food and was about t
Tanisi came back exhausted. The emotional roller coaster was too much for her. Shyamala had created a scene there. She had felt sorry for her, but the men remained unmoved. Finally after everything was settled, she had come back to her chamber. The emperor and his minister were still there.Samudra and Vishwa were deep in thought. Since Shourya wasn't the Crown Prince of KritaDesha yet, Samudra had taken it as his responsibility to arrange for the wedding. Meanwhile he had to tackle KritaVerma and make him buckle under pressure to get Shourya his place. He knew KritaVerma will relent if Samudra used his position. KritaDesha was always in battle. It had been in the eye of the storm. It was Samudra's support to it which had allowed them to see peaceful days.Shyamala wanted to marry Samudra not just because she was infatuated with him, but also to make that a permanent alliance. Nobody would have dared attacked Kritadesha if she was Samudra's Queen. She also didn't want
The man let out a cruel laugh which gave goosebumps to Tanisi. She didn't know what to do. He said, "I know you wouldn't want to lie with me. But if you co-operate you can escape unhurt. Otherwise I will have you here and scar you for life. Nobody would want to marry a woman whose face has a cruel scar! So the only way for you is to let me do whatever I want to do with you. If this is your first time, then I can even make you my wife. But its a hard bargain you see. Just to sleep with you once, other men can think of killing me. I am not from Nishantha, I am from Kaingitya. Men there are full of virality unlike men of Nishantha who believe in letting the woman choose. Men in my city won't hesitate to hunt down a woman who is a mother of kids if they lay their eyes on her. Keep quiet and serve me. I am planning to settle in Nishantha for your sake!" "And why do you think Nishantha would allow a criminal like you to settle here?" boomed a voice. The man slightly panick
Tanisi gasped.Tanisi: "M..M..My Lord! Why now the whole of the capital will know that I am with you in your summer palace!"Samudra laughed. "Why are you sweating? No nobody knows, to everyone you are out with Naksha to help her out during her pregnancy. And even if people come to know you are with me why should you be scared?"Tanisi: "Its always the woman who is blamed. They all hold you in very high regard. They would kill me for being important to you. Now if they know that I am in your summer palace they would berate me..."Samudra slightly frowned, "Why is a woman's life so difficult? I am the Emperor. Even I cannot seek a woman out.. its really frustrating..But don't worry you need time to recuperate. You haven't been keeping well.. why is it so?"Under his keen gaze Tanisi lowered her head in embarassment. Ever since she saw Shyamala she felt Samudra is out of her league even more. She didn't want to say that aloud. She was thinking of a c
The days passed quickly with Samudra training Tanisi rigorously. To his satisfaction and pride she was a quick learner. Her body got stronger day by day due to the rigorous training coupled with the care she received from the Vaidya(doctor). Soon it was time for Samudra to set out for the council of kings meet. He didn't look forward to this journey at all. The time they spent with each other in Grishma Bhavana had become a memory he would cherish forever.There were only two days left for Samudra to leave Grishma Bhavana for his onward journey. He met Tanisi that day and asked her to accompany him into the forest nearby. He wanted to spend enough time in the wilderness with her.After lunch they set out on their horses. He showed her beautiful places nearby. He also taught her to recognize wild but useful plants.They were following what appeared to be a small tributary. It acted as water source for them. Soon it was dusk. Before they decided to return to the P
Seeing Tanisi Vishwa smiled and greeted her.Vishwa: "Suprabhatam(good morning) my Lady. You seem to have recovered fine. How are you feeling now?"Tanisi: "Suprabhatam sire. I am feeling very well now. I am grateful to all the help being extended to me. How come you are here today."Vishwa sighed. He said, "Let's talk about it after breakfast. I don't want to spoil your breakfast."The trio soon had breakfast. Vishwa informed Samudra about the amount of rainfall received in various parts of the kingdom and they analysed the yield this would get them. It was indeed scanty compared to the previous year data. But it didn't look too bleak either.Vishwa also gave accounts of the expenditure plan given by various ministries. Samudra felt they had done a good job by keeping spending to a minimum this year. Also Vishwa gave accounts of the first batch of goods delivered to them by the Mahatayas. This eased Samudra a lot, as the burden on his people would
The entourage left the Grishma Bhavana and reached Naksha's place. She was expecting Tanisi and was elated at the sight of the woman.Tanisi laughed seeing an excited Naksha and before Naksha could say anything, Tanisi suddenly screamed, "Careful you are pregnant!". All the people around Tanisi laughed and Naksha turned crimson.As soon as she got close to Tanisi she pinched her hard and said, "You embarassed me!"Tanisi said matter-of-factly: "Its better to embarass you than to keep quiet and watch you jumping up and down..."Naksha smiled seeing concern in her eyes. She had only three more months before delivery.Vishwa and Prapta were busy with some serious discussion. Prapta appeared concerned. Vishwa summoned Naksha and Tanisi.By that time Prapta had already told Naksha about the spies killed by Samudra. Vishwa requested the ladies to remain low-key. He was afraid that the news of Tanisi being here would spread around endangering her a