The Churning ( Part 2 )

Kush's real age was only ten. He didn't even doubt it, his large eyes looking watery as they stared at his friend sadly.

Meanwhile, a couple of attendants came over and arranged a late lunch for the boys. It couldn't be helped. The two monarchs – one undeclared, one without territory – disappeared at lunch time and were only now found! Kush was given a tumbler with watery, semi-solid food that he could just slurp down without exerting much effort. Of course, he shouldn't be lifting the tumbler either, so a tiny, weightless little bowl was placed as well. The attendant filled it up as soon as he finished a serving. The arrangement was awkward, but he preferred it because he absolutely hated being mouth fed.

"But if the Asuras are eating humans in the prairie, won't all the humans disappear in the end?" he asked his friend anxiously.

Vajra nodded and explained. "That is why the prairie seeks the help of heroes from the drylands most of the time. The princes and princesses who receive the divine sanction go there to beat the shit out of them!"

The attendant murmured from behind. "Your Majesty, language."

Vajra coughed. "I mean…beat them good." He chuckled, "He he, this is why people of the prairie are also somewhat dependent on the dryland nations. It's a sort of devotion that never lets them turn hostile towards us. In that way Aaradhya and Abhaya are similar. Abhaya serves as an unbreachable defense against the mainland, but the Eastern Prairie is not actually its target. It guards against the world beyond the prairie."

"Is that why your father stood with it and not the four nations when they formed the coalition?" Kush remembered their discussions back when he was a guest in the palace and asked.

"Exactly. The four nations are greedy for Abhaya's wealth and they intend to divide it among themselves by taking one pass each among its major trading passes. But they forget that the more important function of these passes is to serve as defence against external forces. The four nations are complacent because the people of the prairie look at us like gods. They are in a subservient to us in devotion. They will never rise up against us. But father-"

The attendant coughed from behind.

"I mean brother-Indra saw beyond the prairie, and he knew Abhaya could never be breached or it will lead to the extinction of the entire god bloodlines in the drylands. Father-In—" the attendant coughed again. "I mean brother-Indra was…." Vajra suddenly turned to face the attendant. "Why are you here!"

The attendant merely smiled and served him food. "Your Majesty's nutrition is most important. You are in your growing period. This servant is already at fault for not serving you lunch on time. How can this servant be elsewhere?"

"Dumbass!"

"Language, my King."

"Get lost!" Vajra pursed his lips petulantly and tied his hands around his chest, refusing to eat a morsel. This made the attendant to be at loss about what to do.

"Just shut up and eat," Kush prodded him though, knowing his behavior. "We can talk later."

Although he was not a difficult kid in general, Vajra could get quite obstinate sometimes, making his guards and attendants suffer. Like that time he wanted to go swimming before he met his grandfather in the Solitary Wind Palace. Or the time he didn't eat for three days because he finally realised his own themes in art and wanted to work on them continuously. There was also one time he barricaded himself in his room poring through intelligence reports and didn't come out for seven days! Only his personal attendant knew that that time, Vajra was not even in his room, but in his secret place above the room, on the lotus eaves on top of the palace. Eventually, his brother caught sight of him though. He barged into his secret place and brought him down while not forgetting to whack his ass a few times.

But of course, it was also because Vajra had that sort of intense personality that he was able to save himself and his brother for as long as he did that time, with just the resources of a ten year old child. Even when he was gravely injured, he was able to command the men under him perfectly in order to meet his ends. It was mostly because they all knew that once the prince decided on something, there was no going back on it. Even the reason this attendant was careful now was because he didn't want to irritate the boy towards deciding not to eat. But, of course, Cactus was not so juvenile, though he was prickly like his name suggests. He is also slow to change, so it was understandable that he didn't take nicely to it when he was suddenly required to address his father as his brother. Even the matter of using proper language was not so much of an issue when he was not a king yet. Not to mention, his pride hurt when he got corrected by other people.

Kush found all this very funny, but he didn't dare laugh. Being friends and rivals both means he is not that close to Cactus after all. He never knew when this guy could flare up. During his stay in the palace, Vajra's behaviour was especially arbitrary. His mind was not well in the beginning, but even after he appeared to have recovered, he had to handle difficult situations. Kush saw for himself how he slew the grand prince and his family in front of his father while throwing him an open provocation. It was exactly because the Indra reared this snake called the grand prince in the backyard that things escalated to such an extent that Vajra's brother died. The Indra used an excuse of how the regent Shwetasura back then asked the brothers not to fight with each other and never did anything open or covert to the grand prince. In truth, it was because Indra who grew up as an orphan was bullied all through his childhood by the grand prince. The grand prince made him believe he doesn't deserve his position, that he doesn't deserve to be Indra. He made him think he had stolen something that was rightfully his big brother's. The Indra was only four years old at the time he became king. What was he to know that his big brother killed all his brothers who could've competed for the position with him and that he only left the last one because he simply didn't know about him? The grand prince always took a righteous tone with him and appeared as if he has made a noble sacrifice instead bullying the boy king relentless even after he grew up. When the Indra learnt that the eldest prince died and that the little prince was somehow involved in it, this was the first reason he flared up. More than grief for his son, he believed Vajradandaka was committing the same mistake as him, which in his insanity, appeared utterly real though it was completely non-existent. Vajra killed the grand prince to avenge this slight. He could've let the executioners do the job quietly, he could've sent some silent assassins during the night, but no. He had to drag the family to court and hack those traitors to death just to prove a point. He was the sort of person that answered insanity with insanity. Vajra was just that kind of intense person.

Having much spent time with him during those tumultuous times when the prince weeded out each of the traitors, Kush knew precisely how his moods are. Though he was also just a child of the same age, older perhaps by only a few months, he was vastly different to Kush. Kush could perform on par with adults, but he still knew he was a child among adults. Vajra was the opposite. Even if his abilities cannot compare to the grownups, he never let them make any of his decisions. Only he would decide everything and unless he received word from his grandfather, he would never listen to anyone's opinion on what he decided. During the time Kush stayed in the palace, Vajra was frequently at odds with his father, who was still being swayed by the old ministers. Kush learnt everything there is to know about court politics by spending those few months with the prince. But if he was just like any other boy of his age, obstinate or not, his decisions ultimately wouldn't have taught Kush anything. Only because it is Vajra was he able to learn so much. The boy was ultimately extremely bright that Kush was entirely taken in by his charisma. It was also because he shined so brightly like a jewel that Kush wanted to possess all that made him what he was. In those months in the palace, he found himself with an alien, extreme thirst for Rtadhara which he believed was what created a person like Vajra. His assumptions were substantiated by legend when the boy ascended as Martanda. A fetus of god that was born as man.