275 Playing Favourites

Gurukul

Since there were only ten of them at this juncture, Mriga could clearly see the few familiar faces in the small group.

Vaishali had given her a polite nod and now stood slightly away. On the other hand, Vindhya had been followed here by a few of her 'minions' and was stationed right in the front of the office. She seemed to be really confident of the outcome and rightly so. The one who was visibly anxious was Yuvati.

Her body language suggested that she was bracing herself for the worst outcome. Since there were only two zilla heads in the capital at the moment, she had gone to both of them. Her family had never put down roots anywhere and as a result she couldn't play the domicile card with the zilla chiefs. To make matters worse, her interviews hadn't gone very well and by the time she came out, she knew in her heart that she hadn't managed to clinch it. To be honest, she knew that she was really lacking the qualities of a QIT and her reaching till this point was also a surprise both for her and her parents.

By the time that the gurukul's official came to put up the notice, all girls except for Vindhya had become a mass of jelly.

Result –

Three finalists are:

Vindhya Kumari – 2 votes

Mrignayani – 1 vote

Vaishali – 1 vote

There was a collective gasp which could be heard in the otherwise quiet corridor. Three finalists instead of four? Not only was it unfair that Vindhya had received the vote from her father, another zilla head had decided to give her the seal of approval. Who was the one who voted for Vindhya despite having the option of choosing from the remaining pool since her nomination had been a foregone conclusion? Was this their way of showing that she was the most preferred candidate amongst all?

Vaishali couldn't care about anything else in this moment. Her heart was filled with gratitude towards her dead father. When she had gone to meet the Southern zilla head, Ujjwala devi, she got to know that her deceased father and Ujjwala had not only been batchmates but he had even saved her life once during their school days. During her interview, the Southern zilla chief had grilled her extensively on varied topics. At the end of the session, the lady had not promised her vote to Vaishali but the young girl came out with at least a sliver of hope from there.

Now it seemed that she had performed well during that interaction but still, she could garner the lady's attention due to her late father's benevolent act. She wiped an errant tear which had slipped out of her eye and turned around, only to bump into Abhirath. Her eyes lit up but he shrank back as if scalded by hot tea.

With an incoherent mumble, he stepped around her and walked ahead. Hurt and confusion misted her eyes but she didn't say anything. She could see his sideways profile and the slow smile which spread on his face after a moment was wide enough to pierce through her heart. She had come into his life too late.

"Not bad! It seems that there is a chance that we may end up producing a QIT from our group of friends," Nirbhay was telling Mriga as Abhirath came and ruffled her hair.

He resembled a proud parent in this moment whose child had exceeded everyone's expectations. Yash was also smiling but there was a shadow in his eyes, not visible to anyone else.

He wanted to know if the vote to Vindhya had gone from his mother. Excusing himself from the group, he rushed out.

Himprayag

Shaurya was unaccustomed to being looked after and that too in such a grand manner. Despite his various protests, he had been 'helped' by few giggling maidservants in Princess Ahilya's part of the palace. Known for her severe ways, the princess had almost never brought back a male guest or even a male servant. Now that she did and a good looking one, they weren't willing to let go of the opportunity. Shaurya looked towards the ceiling helplessly, as he sat in the flower-soaked pool in flimsy undergarments. Never in his twenty plus years of existence had he imagined that one day he would be fighting to save his body from wandering hands.

He knew that the princess was doing this as a 'benevolent act' to make up for her mother's behavior, but he would rather be shackle bounded in that cell instead of forced to endure this fragrant discomfort.

But he dare not act out of line. He couldn't afford to upset the princess or anyone in Himprayag till the treaty wasn't signed between the two countries.

"Guruji… where are you? I need you to come and save me," he wailed inside his heart, missing Bela more than ever.

Capital, Chandragarh

"Himprayag's air seems to have suited you, Charulata didi," Prithvi smiled as he bowed to greet his mentor.

They were waiting at the gilded gates of the palace. Dawn was just about to break and after receiving the meeting coordinates, Bela had freshened up at a nearby inn in the capital before making it to this place.

"Why did you want me to meet the queen? I could have handed over this to you and caught a nap while you got the imperial decree signed," she grumbled, not responding to Prithvi's remark.

Not only was she fatigued after staying extremely vigilant for so many hours, she even had to put on a heavy disguise to come to the palace. Prithvi was being extra cautious about Bela's identity while bringing her into the limelight. There were a lot of eyes and ears at the palace but he had multitude reasons for making the two women meet at this juncture.

Due to the presence of Prince Mithilesh in the palace, it was even more imperative that Bela's existence and purpose of visit remains hidden.