Sarapriya ( part 1 )

The Crystal Arrow Palace was a tower palace shaped like an arrow. It was built in the outskirts of the capital where the dryland forest starts. Technically, it was a hunting palace, the design close to those used for viewing hunting games. But it was more the spirit of hunting and adventure that the architecture of the tower seeks, rather than the actual thing. After all, this place was too close to the royal capital. No animals would actually dare to come there to be hunted. It was not that hunting games were never conducted in the vicinity of the Crystal Arrow Palace. For the sake of amusing her friends, the second queen used this place which was situated at the beginning portion of the dryland forest as a true hunting perch. Men were ordered to capture and release game in the vicinity. Then they would use drums to drive said game towards her party, so that these tender ladies would be able to enjoy the thrill of hunting. Of course, back then the Crystal Arrow Palace had not been completed.

Such games would not be possible had it already been built. After all, the Crystal Arrow Palace, though only as tall as a hunting perch, is covered entirely in crystal. It is brilliant as the sun in hot weather. No animal would dare come near it. The Crystal Arrow Palace is actually a standard cylindrical tower about five floors tall, but the arrangement of the crystals diffract light in such a way that the tower looks like a giant arrow standing upright on the ground. It makes people wonder how such a tall and thin object could actually stand upright without any support. The Arrow in the palace's name and design refers to the reed Sara from which the common arrows used by Rtadhara soldiers were made. This palace was actually a gift the king envisioned for his beloved wife Sara Devi when the eldest prince was four, and was still an only child. The Yaru vansh that she comes from treats both boys and girls the same. They are each raised to be exceptional archers. Most of the kingdom's exceptional archers come from that clan, and every archer legion commander for the past ten or so generations had been a Yaru. The clan's totem is also Sara, the reed. Coming from such a clan, the queen was also no different. Though she was gentle as a swaying reed in the wind, she could also turn into a deadly huntress when the occasion calls for it. It was a side of her that the king could not help but feel deadly attraction to.

Though the Crystal Arrow Palace had been envisioned that way, the palace did not reach its final shape in the queen's lifetime. In fact, the architects failed so many times at achieving the required effect, that the king had canned the project four years after the queen's death. He was disheartened by the fact that he couldn't even dedicate the palace to her memory, but was practical enough to understand that the kingdom's coffers were not his to spend like water. Still, a half-finished palace was still a palace. Normally, the second queen would've disdained from using it, but considering the king put so much heart into it (for the first queen), she didn't mind conducting some lowly amusements there. This activity of hers poured hot coals into the hearts of the Eight Princesses. Little Prince Vajradandaka grew up hearing their resentments about it.

When he turned six, he decided to do something about. He decided to find out what's so hard about building a big cylindrical block that looks like an arrow. He visited the site and spoke to some architects who worked on the project. These men were frustrated they couldn't finish the project and didn't really want to talk about it. But the one who asked was a small child and they didn't mind quenching his curiosity. For three days and nights, the little prince kept asking them questions, each time going on until he fell asleep in his maid's lap. Until he asked a question even the noble architects couldn't answer. Then for another day and a night, he asked a series of questions of nobody could answer. When after a year, they could come up with all the answers, they could already solve all the design problems of the Crystal Arrow Palace.

As to the problem of king being unwilling to restart the project owing to the questions posed by his ministers about excess spending, the little prince one last trick left for that. Actually, back when the king envisioned this gift for the queen, his big sister Sarapriya had just fallen into his mom's stomach. Named after both her mom and dad, she would turn just sixteen by the time this project would finish. None of the courtiers would be able to say anything if the king were to gift her the palace as a coming of age gift. The spending would be justifiable and the king too could give it away without regrets as celebrating Sarapriya's coming of age would be just like celebrating her conceiving which is when he actually wanted to gift queen Sara Devi the palace. By giving it to the heroic Sarapriya who shared many features with her, it's basically like giving the palace to his dead wife. Nihapriya was so easily swayed by this argument that he didn't even stop to think if his son had a hidden motive behind this whole thing.

Indeed he did, and it was a very simple motive at that. Due to the long time it took to build, people might have forgotten, but the Crystal Arrow Palace was actually connected to the Lotus Seat within the Tri-Shakti Complex through a secret tunnel! The tunnel was not completed either, so the king thought nothing of it, but it was still discovered by the little prince when he explored the place. Adding to his deductions during the 'interrogations' of the architects for as long as three days and nights, he quickly found out where the tunnel connected within the royal enclosure. As it turned out, not only did his father want to dedicate a beautiful hunting tower to his wife, he also wanted a place to serve as a quick getaway for the couple that no one would know about! After all, no one knows what happens inside the Lotus Seat, not even his bodyguards. No one will know if the naughty couple wanted to run away for a while and enjoy the scenes outside the palace. It wasn't for nothing that the queen was pregnant so often!