First of all, I am still under bed rest. I just got my mobile back for an hour. So I'm quickly writing this note. Starwarshp10, Karnathegreat and _Rudra_ , this chapter is dedicated to you guys. Thanks for checking up on me so many times :)

Bhagwan Parshurama was well aware of what his daughter had done. Ira was a manipulator. He knew that well. He was the one who had taught her, though most of the work had been done by Shukracharya, the Asura Guru and his own wife, Dharini. When he had felt that particular astra being fired, he had frowned. 

He had wondered why it was been used when the war had been suspended.

He had gotten the news from the people who resided in the sanctuary he had built in the Mahendragiri Mountains. From humans to Yakshas, all had been provided sanctuary in his abode. He hadn't been keen on discriminating and especially when one has lived as much as him, one wouldn't even think of such petty matters. While he may have said that he would only teach Brahmins, he had made exceptions - Bhishma was one and Karna was another.

He had responded only when he noticed the Brahmāstra coming towards his daughter who hadn't moved from her place.  She knew she could have moved or even neutralized the Brahmāstra. She hadn't. 

It begged a question. Why hadn't she? 

Parshurama knew a ploy when he saw one. And this ploy was played by his daughter, his Bhargavi. It was an invitation. An invitation for him to interfere . He had played along with her ploy. He appeared and gave them a big scare like she wanted him to do. Ira didn't need to tell him what to do. He understood just by the way she manipulated the situation. 

He even met the current avatar of Narayana. He was neither impressed nor very awed at meeting the current avatar like everyone else. He had met Maharaja Ramachandra in Satya-Treta yuga. He was supposed to be training Kalki, the future avatar of Narayana in Kali yuga.

He was an avatar of Narayana too. Last time with Rama, he got involved because the boy went and broke his Gurudeva's bow. Later he was impressed with his humility but other than that he kept away. Honestly he wouldn't have cared if his daughter wasn't involved.

But as he had responded to his daughter's invitation, he had to punish the one who had used the Brahmāstra as if it was an ordinary missile to be launched. Among Krishna and him, seniority fell to him. Obviously he had to punish the boy. Sometimes he wondered who had given this immature kids celestial missiles without telling them the unwritten rules. 

Then there was the matter with Krishna. He had a feeling his daughter wanted him there so she could reveal exactly who, or rather, whose daughter she was in the face of the current avatar. Ira must have believed that none of them would have believed her unless she showed them the proof. Otherwise she wouldn't have called him like that, specially when she knew that he was watching just because she was involved in it. 

Specially after that stunt Karna did. 

He shook his head. He is still perplexed as to why his daughter had fallen for him. Probably that sarcastic tongue of Karna. At least that's what he wanted to believe. He hadn't protested much though as it was through Karna he had found Ira as a daughter. He had just hoped that Ira's brains would rub off on that idiot somehow. 

Emotions were exhausting and he tried not to get entangled in them much. 

Although he would be adamant in saying that he had a very bad choice in students. While one had no qualms in abducting princesses for his clan, the other asks war in Guru Dakshina. His third student, Karna got himself entangled in politics that he should have stayed far away from and then later went and saved some newly revealed nephew of his which somehow hadn't blown up on his face. Yet. 

He prayed to Narayana, of whom he was the avatar of, and also to his Gurudeva, Mahadeva, that at the least after all this troubles he hoped his last student, Kalki would be better than the idiots he had taught in his lifetime. 

Gandhari bit the inside of her cheek, drawing blood as she heard the footsteps of the Grandsire fade. He had informed her of the situation and then told his own opinion. She had sensed the underlying order. 

Put some sense in Duryodhana. Your son better not ask for the throne of Hastinapura. 

It took some self-control, which was truly eroding after so many decades, to not bite back a venomous reply. It reminded her of the day Duryodhana was born. The day when the Kuru elders other than her husband, wanted to kill her first-born.

She was on the verge of breaking herself. The Gandharasutā who did not break down when she embraced her fear for life, was breaking down when her children were hell-bent on getting themselves killed. Her children whom she loved more than her life. 

Her Duryodhana for whom she had fought Hastinapura to let him live, would be killed if this war continued. 

She, who lost her entire family in war with Bhishma, just because they had rejected the marriage proposal. She, who lost her brothers. She, who had been chosen because of her boon of hundred sons. She, who was ridiculed the moment her pregnancy was abnormal. She, who was rejected when Kunti gave birth to a divine son. She, who had to fight for her children before they were even born.  She, who had accepted everything Kuruvansh had threw at her with a grace their ancestors or their descendants would never see. 

Probably in some deep, dark corner of her heart, she wanted her brother Shakuni to succeed and destroy this clan who had taken so much from her and was still asking for more. 

Kunti had Kuntibhoj, Dwarka, Mathura and the entire Yadava clan to fall back on should she ever feel that she was treated unjustly by the Kuru clan.  Even Madra would help because at the end, Nakula and Sahadeva had ties there and they were raised by Kunti. None of those people were vassals of Hastinapura. Two of them even rivaled Hastinapura in might and power.

A self-deprecating smile crossed her lips. No wonder none of the Kuru elders have treated Kunti or Madri in that way. They would have faced repercussions or had lost their allies or even their heirs if they had done it. 

After all who did she have? Her family was dead except for Shakuni. Gandhar was a vassal kingdom, having no real power. She only had Shakuni, who had done all he could for her. Even crossing the limits to right and wrong. 

She didn't even want to remember how many of her children were alive in the end. But she won't let anyone take away the rest that she had left. 

Rage, sorrow and resentment had always bubbled underneath her skin. She had just never allowed anyone to see it. She couldn't allow anyone to see it. But this war had unraveled even that part of hers. She knew her husband had been walking on eggshells around her. He had mostly left her alone, spending most of his time with Sanjaya. Sometimes she joined them, sometimes she did not.

She was tired. She was angry. She was resentful. And she was desperate. 

Vasusena, the child whom she loved as her own had done something to at least forestall the war. She was well aware of his reality, though he did not know that. Her heart had wept when Ira had vented about what had happened to him.  The anger she had felt then had terrified even herself. Another one of her children wronged.

Kunti's children, who apparently respected her had also tricked her. She had not forgotten  how instead of Bhanumati, it had been Draupadi who had come to take her blessings, taking advantage of her blindness. Couldn't they have simply asked for her blessings? They did it with the older Kuru elders, didn't they? Why do they need to trick her? 

She curled her fingers tightly. Surely she had followed Dharma all her life. What had she gotten? Nothing. 

She wanted Dharma to win, but the darkness that had tormented her as a child did not frighten her any longer. She had spend more than half her life in it's embrace. And more than Dharma, she loved her children. 

"Maharani," She heard Sugadha speak, "Yuvraja Duryodhana seeks an audience with you."

Sugadha - another sore spot in her life. She can never blame the woman when the person to be blamed was her husband. But she surely resented Yuyutsu for abandoning his brothers, when they had needed him. It was unlike of her, but call her blind.

After everything else, there was only one thing that she lived for - that was her children.  

The cursed clan of Kuru had taken everything from her, including her own self.  She won't let them take away her children. This was a similar battle she had to fight decades back at the start of Duryodhana's birth. She knew what she had to do. 

"Allow him to come inside," She ordered, "And Sugadha?"

"Yes Maharani?"

"Kindly leave us alone."

|| Was that angsty? I think it was! Portraying Gandhari is tough. Honestly I admire this woman. She was no one special and that was what made her extraordinary. I love her.||