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Ballads Of Nirvana
Chapter 21
Part 3
“Thank you, Princess. You have done more than I asked for.” The Queen said as she took Indriya’s hand into hers and held them. Her hands were cool and warm at the same time. “I have gathered some allies to you from my court, you will find them once you go to Bhadra. And you will never see me again.”
And then she was gone. Little did Indriya know, she was definitely going to see her again, but at least she was sorted for now. She opened her eyes and smiled, smiled because she had to train with Agni now, but she was not sure if the Prince would come for their practice after what had happened the previous night so she went out on her own.
She ran for sometime and practiced the stances for sword fighting and then took the bow and arrow. She was becoming consistent and fluid with the sword but the bow and arrow, she noticed Agni was so much better with that. Daggers were not a problem at all, and if she had two of them she was doing much better. The metal was not what gave her a problem, what did give her a problem was her own power.
For weeks now they had been working on her power, but too soon it took her strength up so much that she would always find herself strained and drained by the end of one session. She couldn’t even summon her strength by herself no matter how much she coaxed, bullied or threatened it. It never showed itself unless Agni punched her or kicked her. So this time she tried to summon it by herself, she crossed her arms over her chest and fell backward, a trust fall, and there it was, humming softly beneath her, but it didn’t last for long. The shield disappeared before she got up so Indriya fell to the ground. She tried again and again, trying to make it last long enough each time.
Agni told her she could mould her power into whatever shape and size she pleased but all that was far, far away. The size depended upon how much energy she had left with her. When she decided to do it one last time, she closed her eyes and breathed, reaching out into the chasm, the abyss that was driven by her emotions and put her hand in to pull it out.
“No, you're wrong,” a masculine voice said from behind, not Agni. Indriya turned to look at a pair of soft, airy but strong and unyielding gray eyes. The man with gray eyes stood by the door with his hands in his pockets.
“I am sorry, who are you?” She asked politely.
“It doesn’t matter.” He declared. “What does matter is that you are not supposed to pull your power out, you should request it to come out. Try that again.” He ordered.
But Indriya did not complain, she did try it again, she tried to request her power to come out and there it was as a small sphere it was in her hand, not a dense sphere but a hollow one. She gawked at the ball and smiled triumphantly.
“At least now you have to tell me who you are, sir.” You just helped me.
“Oh! You are not going to like me very much ma’am.” He emphasised on the word ma’am a little too hard.
“Oh please, you have to. You just helped me do something I couldn’t do for weeks.” She smiled at him airily. His gray eyes surveyed her closely.
“I am Achintya Tamas, Agni’s half brother, son of Queen Ahlada.” He concluded.
Indriya remembered Agni saying his name yesterday, and indeed he did not like his brother at all.
“Oh! Yes, I remember Agni mentioning you.” She recalled Agni saying his name out like it was a curse.
“What are you doing here?” Agni was at the door, he pinned his half-brother with a stare.
“Nothing, I just saw the Princess coming here and I decided to make friends with her. Looks like she summoned that ball of power all by herself, brother.” It was like Achintya got possessed with some spirit.
“You do not interfere in my business, Achintya.” He glowered.
“No, I was not, Brother, I was only helping the Princess, I am sorry if I interfered into your business.” Achintya smirked as Agni gave him a death stare but Achintya seemed to have a death wish. If the Princess of Nirvana is your business then who is your friend's assistant? What was her name again, Mythri… Yes…” Achintya was saying but Agni already had his dagger pointed at his throat with his collar balled in Agni’s fist.
“She is my sister, you idiot. Don’t you dare breathe her direction, I will kill you..”
“Your sister?” Achintya chuckled even as his brother pricked him with the dagger.
“Achintya, what Agni meant was that she is like his sister, and no, I am not Agni’s business, but training me is. Agni, calm down, will you?” Indriya almost shouted with exasperation rising in her voice.
“Ok, ok, I will let you tend to your business, I will be leaving once you let go of me but ...uh Princess, you should know your power has a personality and that personality is almost similar, actually it is the same as yours. So if you have to summon it, think about how you would react to people ordering you around. One last thing, whoever taught you how to fight...you fight well.” He complimented her? No, he was sarcastic, oh, no he was complimenting Agni. She actually wanted to punch him in the gut but Agni would do that if she had not interrupted them.
Indriya noticed the tension between the two of them, she could slice it with a knife but interrupting is better than going between the two wolves. Wolves because only one could be alpha. It was intense but she had to nose her way through before they bit each other’s heads off. Or it was just because one arrogant man-baby can’t handle the other.
“Agni, since you're here, let’s practice some defence moves, shall we? Also you said you will teach me the offensive moves today.” She asked pointedly.
He cut a glance toward her ‘I am not going to gut him, Princess. This is more of a friendly rivalry. I promise.’ He complained about her tone, besides that didn’t look like friendly rivalry at all, they looked more like two hedgehogs getting ready to fight just to show off how much of a prick they can be.
‘Yeah sure, you won't, Princey popinjay. Who points a dagger at their rival's throat?’ Indriya gave him a mockingly sweet smile.
Achintya left but he gave them both a mischievous smile like he knew some secret about them and suspicion danced in his eyes all the while he smiled. Indriya wondered if ‘them’ itself was something he was smiling at, but she pushed that thought aside as they trained. She didn’t want to name the relationship ‘they’ shared. Whatever it was, it was good, she didn’t want ‘it’ to become anything more or anything less than what it already was.
She realised she didn’t want Agni to be too close but she knew she wouldn’t be able to tolerate if he went farther.
© YDR
Part 3
“Thank you, Princess. You have done more than I asked for.” The Queen said as she took Indriya’s hand into hers and held them. Her hands were cool and warm at the same time. “I have gathered some allies to you from my court, you will find them once you go to Bhadra. And you will never see me again.”
And then she was gone. Little did Indriya know, she was definitely going to see her again, but at least she was sorted for now. She opened her eyes and smiled, smiled because she had to train with Agni now, but she was not sure if the Prince would come for their practice after what had happened the previous night so she went out on her own.
She ran for sometime and practiced the stances for sword fighting and then took the bow and arrow. She was becoming consistent and fluid with the sword but the bow and arrow, she noticed Agni was so much better with that. Daggers were not a problem at all, and if she had two of them she was doing much better. The metal was not what gave her a problem, what did give her a problem was her own power.
For weeks now they had been working on her power, but too soon it took her strength up so much that she would always find herself strained and drained by the end of one session. She couldn’t even summon her strength by herself no matter how much she coaxed, bullied or threatened it. It never showed itself unless Agni punched her or kicked her. So this time she tried to summon it by herself, she crossed her arms over her chest and fell backward, a trust fall, and there it was, humming softly beneath her, but it didn’t last for long. The shield disappeared before she got up so Indriya fell to the ground. She tried again and again, trying to make it last long enough each time.
Agni told her she could mould her power into whatever shape and size she pleased but all that was far, far away. The size depended upon how much energy she had left with her. When she decided to do it one last time, she closed her eyes and breathed, reaching out into the chasm, the abyss that was driven by her emotions and put her hand in to pull it out.
“No, you're wrong,” a masculine voice said from behind, not Agni. Indriya turned to look at a pair of soft, airy but strong and unyielding gray eyes. The man with gray eyes stood by the door with his hands in his pockets.
“I am sorry, who are you?” She asked politely.
“It doesn’t matter.” He declared. “What does matter is that you are not supposed to pull your power out, you should request it to come out. Try that again.” He ordered.
But Indriya did not complain, she did try it again, she tried to request her power to come out and there it was as a small sphere it was in her hand, not a dense sphere but a hollow one. She gawked at the ball and smiled triumphantly.
“At least now you have to tell me who you are, sir.” You just helped me.
“Oh! You are not going to like me very much ma’am.” He emphasised on the word ma’am a little too hard.
“Oh please, you have to. You just helped me do something I couldn’t do for weeks.” She smiled at him airily. His gray eyes surveyed her closely.
“I am Achintya Tamas, Agni’s half brother, son of Queen Ahlada.” He concluded.
Indriya remembered Agni saying his name yesterday, and indeed he did not like his brother at all.
“Oh! Yes, I remember Agni mentioning you.” She recalled Agni saying his name out like it was a curse.
“What are you doing here?” Agni was at the door, he pinned his half-brother with a stare.
“Nothing, I just saw the Princess coming here and I decided to make friends with her. Looks like she summoned that ball of power all by herself, brother.” It was like Achintya got possessed with some spirit.
“You do not interfere in my business, Achintya.” He glowered.
“No, I was not, Brother, I was only helping the Princess, I am sorry if I interfered into your business.” Achintya smirked as Agni gave him a death stare but Achintya seemed to have a death wish. If the Princess of Nirvana is your business then who is your friend's assistant? What was her name again, Mythri… Yes…” Achintya was saying but Agni already had his dagger pointed at his throat with his collar balled in Agni’s fist.
“She is my sister, you idiot. Don’t you dare breathe her direction, I will kill you..”
“Your sister?” Achintya chuckled even as his brother pricked him with the dagger.
“Achintya, what Agni meant was that she is like his sister, and no, I am not Agni’s business, but training me is. Agni, calm down, will you?” Indriya almost shouted with exasperation rising in her voice.
“Ok, ok, I will let you tend to your business, I will be leaving once you let go of me but ...uh Princess, you should know your power has a personality and that personality is almost similar, actually it is the same as yours. So if you have to summon it, think about how you would react to people ordering you around. One last thing, whoever taught you how to fight...you fight well.” He complimented her? No, he was sarcastic, oh, no he was complimenting Agni. She actually wanted to punch him in the gut but Agni would do that if she had not interrupted them.
Indriya noticed the tension between the two of them, she could slice it with a knife but interrupting is better than going between the two wolves. Wolves because only one could be alpha. It was intense but she had to nose her way through before they bit each other’s heads off. Or it was just because one arrogant man-baby can’t handle the other.
“Agni, since you're here, let’s practice some defence moves, shall we? Also you said you will teach me the offensive moves today.” She asked pointedly.
He cut a glance toward her ‘I am not going to gut him, Princess. This is more of a friendly rivalry. I promise.’ He complained about her tone, besides that didn’t look like friendly rivalry at all, they looked more like two hedgehogs getting ready to fight just to show off how much of a prick they can be.
‘Yeah sure, you won't, Princey popinjay. Who points a dagger at their rival's throat?’ Indriya gave him a mockingly sweet smile.
Achintya left but he gave them both a mischievous smile like he knew some secret about them and suspicion danced in his eyes all the while he smiled. Indriya wondered if ‘them’ itself was something he was smiling at, but she pushed that thought aside as they trained. She didn’t want to name the relationship ‘they’ shared. Whatever it was, it was good, she didn’t want ‘it’ to become anything more or anything less than what it already was.
She realised she didn’t want Agni to be too close but she knew she wouldn’t be able to tolerate if he went farther.
© YDR
