Power of AIR

Aashika pinched her brother. The five cousins had volunteered to baby sit the little princess, but none of them had noticed when the toddler had crawled out of her quarters. Hide and Seek was not a proper game to be played when it involved a 5 and half month old baby. The five children watched in horror as they saw the little princess enthusiastically crawl towards the royal courtroom. They knew they were in serious trouble.

Revathi had two children, the elder one being her son Anakul and the younger one, daughter Aashika. Aashika was the troublemaker and Anakul was the one whose sole duty was to bail his sister out from such trouble. Jaya had two daughter Saujanya and Damayanthi, both were soft spoken and well behaved. The fifth one in their group was Ashwathi . Ashwathi was their step cousin, daughter of Saudamini. Saudamini was Dharmeshnath's first child and the only child from his first wife Priyanshi who had died during child-birth. Saudamini had never known her biological mother, but she knew that she could not have loved her more than Shakuntala. Shakuntala had never differentiated between her own children and Saudamini and the four children had grownup not as step-siblings but as biological brother and sisters. Saudamini also had two daughters. Chitralekha and Ashwathi. The elder one was the most beautiful maiden in the entire capitol. Chitralekha at seventeen years, was the eldest of the cousins. Ashwathi on the other hand was the bravest of them all and together with Ashika she would drive the maids and their teachers insane with their pranks and mischief. However with his calm and diplomatic demeanour and polished behaviour, Anakul was the favourite of both Shakuntala and Vayu. Vayu had already confined to his sister that he desired Anakul to compete for the post of a minister in the Emperor's court. Revathi also knew herself that Anakul would make her proud one day.

The courtroom was in session. The emperor sat in his large throne on an elevated platform at the end of the rectangular courtroom. Prime minister Manyata sat to his left in a slightly lower platform and advisor Shivashakti sat to his right at a similar level as the prime minister. The rest of the council of ministers, representative of states and lawkeepers sat in two rows facing each other to his right and left. Their platforms were also elevated but not to the level of the Prime Minister and the advisor. The council of ministers and representative of states sat to the left and the lawkeepers to the right. The general public sat on galleries behind the seats of the council of ministers and lawkeepers. The court room had therefore seating arrangements in the form of a large "U". The bottom of the "U" had the Emperor, Prime Minister and Advisor. The right arm of the "U" had the law keepers in their seats and large number of general public in the gallery; the left arm of the "U" comprised of the Council of ministers and the representative of the states and more general public in the gallery. The hollow middle in the "U" was where the submissions and proposals were made by the public.

At the moment a Brahmins, possibly a teacher were making some proposals for educational reforms of the underage population.

The five children peered around the large metal door to the right of the Emperor, which isolated the courtroom from the rest of the castle. Only the relatives and friends of the Royal family were allowed inside the castle, other than the guards and servants.

Anakul hissed at Aashika, but nevertheless looked at the direction she was pointing. The children unanimously gasped. The baby was crawling under the chairs of the law keepers towards the main exit of the courtroom, which lead outside the castle. The courtroom was unaware of her presence. She crawled under the large chairs of the lawkeeper, often pausing to admire their boots and poking at some, before crawling on. Aashika got on all her fours and started imitating the baby, following after her, hoping against hope nobody noticed her. Anakul tried to stop her but she had already progressed into the courtroom. He knew his sister was a petite little creature and would do a better job at concealing herself than him. Anakul had just entered his adolescence and his frame even though skinny, would give him away, unlike his sister.

Anakul was so busy, following his sister's progress that he had not noticed that Ashwathi had followed her actions and was crawling few feet behind his sister. Anakul held his breath as he saw Aashika mere inches away from the baby. He clenched his fist as he saw Ashwathi coming up next to Aashika and both the girls attempted to get hold of the baby.

"GOOD LORD, HEAVEN,...INTRUDER...GRAB THEM...ATTTACKING ME..GOOD LORD..."

Aashika and Ashwathi sheilded their face with their hands as the line of lawkeepers were pointing their spears at them having pushed away the large copper chairs they were seated in a second ago. The baby had tricked them and escaped, making them grab and pull the legs of a lawkeeper making him topple over. The two girls sat on the floor, their hands shielding their faces.

"Ashu!!" came a voice as, Ashwathi peered at the source of the voice from the back of her hand. It was her father Vrijeshwar. He was a law keeper and was looking curiously at his daughter.

"We can explain," came Anakul's voice. The two girls were scared to move. No child were allowed to enter the courtroom and they shivered at the thought of the punishments that awaited them.

"You better do" they heard Dharmesh's voice "this kind of behaviour is highly condemnable and, you can rest assure that you shall not receive any special exception just because you belong to the Royal family.

"I know grandfather," Anakul began, his voice quivering.

"You will address me as Sir, since right now I am a minister and not your grandfather."

The children had never heard their grandfather speak to them so coldly. Dharmesh loved his grandchildren very much, and it scared them more. The children knew that the most strict rule of the kingdom was, that children should never enter the courtroom. Anakul blamed himself. He should have informed his mother or any of the maids about the baby. He should have stopped Aashika. He knew the punishments. They would not be allowed to speak to anyone and would be kept confined to a room alone for a month. They would be also made to engrave on the wall of that room a thousand times that they shall not break rules of the kingdom.

"Father, I don't think Anakul would have broken the rule unless there was a compelling reason." Vayu spoke up as he came down from his throne to stand next to his nephew.

"I command you to stand at ease." He ordered the lawkeepers, who immediately moved away from the two girls lying on the floor.

"Get up, you two." Vayu told the two girls who immediately sprang to their feet.

"Uncle Vayuvijay, we are sorry"

"Uncle please don't punish us"

The two started to speak together. Vayu raised an eyebrow at the two and then walked upto them slowly sitting on his knees so that the two girls were at the same height as his.

"Anakul" he spoke to his nephew, not removing his gaze from the Ashwati and Aashika, "what happened?"

"Uncle we were playing hide and seek with the baby, and we did not realize that she had escaped." Anakul continued "We saw her crawling into the courtroom and then.." Anakul froze in mid-sentence. He was so worried about his sister's predicament that he had completely forgotten about the baby.

"The BABY..she was crawling towards the EXIT.." Damayanthi finished his sentence.

Vayuvijay got up from his position and started frantically searching around the courtroom. Everybody forgot about the five perpetrators as they started to search for the baby, the princess, the offspring of the Emperor. Shivashakti marched out of the courtroom through the large exit metal doors. The baby had never stepped out of the castle. Her two grandmothers wanted her to stay indoors, till the naming ceremony. The little rebel had often tried to reach down to the ground whenever he had taken her to the balcony. He knew she was fascinated by the outdoor and the world that lay there. He looked around at the search party inside the courtroom, and smirked grimly, if he knew his granddaughter, she was not inside.

The princess had amidst the ruckus surrounding the discovery of her cousins, managed to make her way outside the large metal doors. The air outside, seemed to give her more energy as she made her way to the stairs. She had mastered the art of crawling up, but crawling down was new to her. The guards outside the stairs were surprised to see a toddler exiting the courtroom. They were torn between their duty to guard the door at all times, and saving the crawling child from falling of the stairs. They called at the guards who were standing at the bottom of the marble stairs.

Shivashakti rushed out of the metal doors as two things hit him together. The shout of the guards next to the door, and his five and half months old granddaughter extending her small arms towards the stairs....

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" ...he heard Vayu bellowing, as he felt his feet pull him towards the falling child as she slipped from the stairs. He could feel grief pulling at his hearts. He closed his eyes, denying to see the fate that his granddaughter had met. He did not realize that the prophecy would be fulfilled so prematurely.

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She stared at the world around her, and giggled with joy. The wind whooshed around her, twriling her. Her curly hair wiggled. Birds chirped around her head in a circle, singing to her. She smiled and looked down at  Vayu. She was too young to realize who they were, but she loved her parents. She had wanted to reach her father, but the large open door distracted her. It beckoned her to explore, and she cunningly had escaped. She had tried to climb down the stairs, but then found herself flying above, with the butterflies and birds. She was enjoying herself.

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Vayuvijay could feel all eyes upon himself, but he was equally enjoying himself, as he looked at his daughter, throwing her arms around her mid-air, at the birds. She looked beautiful and like an angel with the ring of birds and butterflies. He knew he should not have revealed his power, but he would do anything for his little daughter. He felt goosebumps when he thought about the moment, he saw the little princess slip down the top stair. He thought he had lost his daughter, and instantaneously, extended his arms, manipulating the air to cushion and lift up the little girl. Nobody other than his parents, in-laws and wife knew about his power to manipulate air.

He knew the truth will change things, but he didnot care. He chuckled as he saw the princess extend her arms towards him. He slowly brought her towards him, manipulating the air like a rope. The birds and butterflies dispersed as the princess flew to her father. Once in his arm Vayuvijay hugged his daughter tightly with one arm and extended his other arm to Manyata who was sobbing quietly, pulling her into an embrace. Manyata kissed their daughter on the forehead as she returned her husband's embrace. The small family of three walked together to their living quarters. Shivashakti took cue and announced that the court was dispersed for the day.