Dhriti took a deep breath as she turned around to glance at her mother who was quietly holding both, her breath and her tears back as she fixed her affectionate eyes on her daughter.

"Sindhu...." Soft tears ran down her face as she smiled through them, gently holding her daughter's hands.

"A miracle is a shift in perception. From fears to strength and independence.

I've never seen a lady soo graceful, yet soo viragous like you. You have to preserve this qurencial persona, Sindhu and for that......" Tirangini stopped midway, as their gazes fell upons Dhriti's injured palms, slowly healing.

"All great saints can do miracles just with their organon but its only a mother, whose wonders require no relevations." Tirangini beamed with a stalwart smile.

"You were saying something else." Dhriti wiggled her brows.

"To preserve this qurencial persona of yours, you don't have to be the same Dhriti who was so dejected from inside that she gave up to be united with these waves.
You have to be that vast shore, whose course stays unaffected with the hard hitting waves yet nurtures the beauty of flora within." Samudra Dev patted her head.

"Sindhu, you have a huge influence on Vaishnavi. Don't let mere boulders stumble you midway. You're a great mother, now its time to become a mentor." Tirangini reminded, looking at Dhriti's parted lips and furrowed brows in confusion.

"What? Vaishu is old enough to string her own bow and hang a small sword along her waist like her mother!" Tirangini laughed.

For a moment Dhriti stood staring at nothing in particular as reality kept stricking her before she laughed at her silliness.

"Samudra Lok has become a different enchantment now." She nodded taking a final look at the place and people she adored ineffably.

"Well...." She turned around with her usual cheeky smile, facing her parents.
"Not the best at saying goodbyes, but its time for embracing my responsibilities." She cleared her throat, slowly touching their feet.

"Vijayi Bhava." They two cosmic deities blessed, much to Dhriti's confusion which she pushed in the back of her mind.

"Promise me you won't forgive you your brothers and their wife with just a small smile. This sounds risible, but I'm a mother after all. I can't see someone not even repenting their barmy acts after putting their own sister through so much, and I'm not talking about this one time." Devi Tirangini pulled her aside.

"Maa....
Guru Drona used to say, avenging converts a little right into a great wrong." Dhriti knowingly frowned.

"Wasn't he the one who sent Pandu Putras for a war against Panchal Naresh just to avenge his insult?" Tirangini raised her brow, knowing that she wasn't wrong at all.

Dhriti sighed from the other end.
The question was seemingly invincible

"Sindhu.... I won't ever place you on a path which doesn't start and end its course with valor and righteousness.

I just want your brothers to realize that staying silent is an embodiment of Adharm.
I'm sure they will realize it before everything runs out of their hands." Tirangini mumbled her last sentence as Dhriti gave a last assuring nod before she closed her deep set eyes, finally departing.

"Oh Shri!" A small laugh left Devi Tirangini's lips as she slowly picked up the divine lotus, her Sindhu, habitually left behind.

"You know....." Samdura Dev looked at her, his wide beam slowly transforming into a melancholic dim.

"Nothing is temporary, Swami.
Not even the status Yagyaseni and the five of them are proud of." Tirangini slowly spoke.

"Tirangini!" Samudra Dev exclaimed.

"She needs to realize, that she can't fix herself by breaking Sindhu. She can't." Tirangini stated.

"As much as I know Shri-" Samudra Dev sighed.

"Nobody knows the Shri who left Samudra Lok today.
She isn't the same Kunti putri anymore, she's my daughter, like the waves which cannot be controlled by anyone under any circumstances. She's my Sindhuja." Tirangini turned around with a sharp breath.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The morning sky in Dwarka was an expanse of sapphire blue, dotted with feathery white clouds as the radiant rays of the sun shone brightly in the azure blue sky putting a trail of glossy smiles on the faces of the royal ladies, passing in with some handy work, surrouding themselves under the misty sky before their children were ready to consume all their time.

"Didn't see you properly last night. Where did you dissapear, Maharani?" Revati widely chuckled as she randomly plucked some fragrant flowers, turning her eyes at Dhriti, who had comfortably sat down on the dewed grass, drawing something with a stick.

"I refuse to believe that me and the woman last night were the same people." Dhriti laughed.

"You know Dhriti, I learnt a new way to-" Their genuine conversation was cut short with a loud clang, specifically coming from the palace.

"Did you hear that thump or am I still in delirium?" Dhriti raised her brow.

"Maharani! Maharani. Those clanks resounded from your chambers." A dasi panted.

"Great!" Dhriti sighed, leaving her basket full of flowers behind as she paced towards their chambers.
Her usual magisterial walk now replaced with a trail of worry as she almost ran in her heavy legenga and golds reverberating against one another.

Her swift stride suddenly lost its momentum as she saw Kanha, railing against the door, comfortably beholding the scene inside.

"She isn't aware that I've been watching. Come join your husband atleast for once after so many days now." He slowly chuchkled, pulling her beside him.

Dhriti's beam on listening to Kanha's loving gesture didn't last for long as she horrifically looked inside her chambers.

"My sword and bow!" She silently screamed looking at Vaishnavi merrily surrounded in the mess of Dhriti's weapons on the ground.

"Vaishu!" Dhriti yelled, tying her dupatta around her waist.

"It just tumbled down." Vaishnavi answered, trying to straighten herself.

"You are declared guilty for trespassing in Maharani's chambers." Dhriti maintained a straight face, as she picked her daughter up.

"Maa, your antics and capers are better than mine." Vaishnavi giggled.

"That's an honourable compliment." Kanha smiled at his girls.

"Now now, I would like to know the reason for this disarray." Dhriti dissaprovingly pointed, carefully yet easily picking up her bow and sword.

"Bhrata Nisatha said that I keep playing with my dolls all day long and don't know anything about artilleries.
So I was.....trying to prove him wrong." She meekly narrated.

"And?" Kanha smiled, noticing her unspoken words.

"And I hate my brother." Her voice dimly squealed.

"I hate mine as well." Dhriti  under her breath.

"Priya.....that was sardonic." Kanha blankly met her eyes.

"It was mildly sportive Kanha." She pursed her lips noticing how both of hadn't had the heart or got anytime to talk about what really happened at Indraprasth.

Rational yet irrational game of destiny, waiting and wanting to take things at their highest point.

"I don't want to go!" Her voice suddenly cracked up as she burried her face in Dhriti's shoulder.

"Go where dear?" Dhriti asked, fondling her hair as she shared a confused expression with Kanha.

"KanyaKul." The other one answered, with soft sobs.

"Maa, even you weren't sent to KanyaKul. So why should I go away from you both?" Vaishnavi continued.

"Maa didn't go to KanyaKul, but she was definately sent to Acharya Drona's ashram with you kakashrees. Which was again, away from everyone at Hastinapur." Kanha playfully dramaticized while Dhriti glared at him for making Vaishnavi sob even more.

"Who said you're going to KanyaKul, Vaishu? I'm not sending you anywhere away from me." Dhriti hugged her.

"Viachar karo.
If you stay here back at Dwarka, who will teach you armoury, how will you prove your bhrata wrong?" Kanha pretended to annoy Dhriti.

"I haven't heard my Kakashrees giving detailed narration on Maa's skills and how people fear her without a reason.
She'll teach me, won't you Maa?" Vaishnavi's eyes twinkled in eagerness.

"Yeah yeah only if you take your last sentence back.
I don't purposely scare people." Dhriti innocently answered as Kanha and Vaishnavi smiled.

"She never does it purposely. Its rather effortlessly." Kanha whispered to Vaishnavi.

"I can hear you." Dhriti laughed, lightly smacking his arms.

"Maa, now you have to tell bhrata Nisatha to stop teasing me or wait until I learn using weapons like him." Vaishnavi pouted, matching straight at Dhriti's eye level, more than enough to melt the mother as she gave in, agreeing with a nod.

"We'll send him to KanyaKul instead." Dhriti childishly grinned.

"Dressing him up like Brihannala?" Vaishnavi giggled, clapping her hands in joy.

"Pretty much." Dhriti whispered before silencing themselves on hearing to a distressed call.

"Dwarkadheesh! Dwarkadheesh!" A soldier came runing in.

"What's the matter?" Kanha knitted his brows in oblivion.

"Karusha Na- Naresh an-and his son...." The latter stuttered with his narration as Dhriti rose up with a straight posture, watching out of their balcony.

"Dantavakra......
But why is he here without a reason or a prior notice?" She perplexingly thought, glancing back at Kanha, precisely pleating his angawastra and handing him his mukut.

"Priya, how will I ever manage to apologize for making you stand firmly alone in front of these innumerable hurdles....." Kanha thought, adoring her alluring face sacklessly helping him out.

"What?" She laughed, suddenly turning red at his action.

"Nothing...." He lovingly smiled back, before taking her leave.

_________________________________________

Hey guys!
Yes, I'm alive.
Does my living or dead status make any sense? Absolutely not but I love to start my sentence with it.
Wait, I got few things to show.

I was sad, so I made an aesthetic board for Dhriti.
Tell me how's it.

My dear sister and friend and what not, Satyaa ( Krishna_kaanta ) made a banner for the story.
*Sobs dramatically with that diabetic amount of love*

So as a thankyou, if you love One Direction and have an instagram account, you might as well give her account - hazzalovessunshine a follow because she makes amazayn edits (yes, a Zayn Malik pun intended)

Coming back to our story, I have one more question.
Since I can't decide, who would you like to see as grown up Vaishnavi?

Also, this chapter isn't up to the mark. Just a kind of filler for the coming parts.

Anyways,

Hope you like it.
If you do, don't forget to vote and comment.
Thanks.
xx.