That day ,at evening,
Draupadi walked slowly through the corridor of the palace remembering how her sakha described about his 'parth' to her ,once she asked curiously about him....She smiled involuntarily remembering her Govind's words about the second son of King pandu,prince of Hastinapur,Arjun...

" Parth.... everybody knows that he is the second son of King pandu and my aunt kunti....the prince of Hastinapur...but nobody know him as much as I know...he is my everything... he resides in me and I resides in him...I love him more than anything and everything in this world...than anybody in this world..we are inseparable sakhi...like fire never leaves it's warmth, like snow never leaves it's cold ....we never left each other till now and will never get seperated....my parth is an absolute warrior with a beautiful heart..."

She always wondered if her Govind is this much divine, then how the prince , her sakha's parth would be..
And today, when she saw him, she got the same positivity and divinity she felt, when she first met her Govind..her Govind was right...he also carried the same aura and the same grace..they are absolutely same ,like both sides of one coin.... inseparable...

Draupadi smiled slightly and walked absent mindedly, sinking in her own sweet thoughts , fiddling with the pallu of her upper garment...but suddenly ,she collided with a maid and the plate which the maid was holding fell down...
Hearing the sound, draupadi came back from her reverie and sat down immediately, helping the maid to pick the flowers...

" So sorry ...I didn't see you coming.." draupadi said while helping the maid to pick flowers from the floor

" putri... where are you lost? It's the flowers for devi pooja at evening..." that maid said and looked sadly at the flowers which got crumbled due to fall...

" Don't worry ..I'll pluck another for you..." Draupadi said ,cheerfully grabbing the plate from the daasi and ran towards the palace garden...

•••••••••*•••••••••

Arjun was roaming around the palace ...he was actually enjoying the beauty of nature..and that's the reason Arjun always love to visit his uncle's kingdom..if Hastinapur is famous for its Marvel of architecture, then Shurasena is famous for the incredible beauty of nature... while walking through the palace corridors ,he saw draupadi down at the garden, plucking flowers, humming a Keerthan...
Arjun smiled to himself and wondered,how come such an extremely beautiful maiden be so polite and humble... because as far as he knows, maidens who possess such a beauty will always be imperious or proud.. Arjun felt an urge to know more about her.. Without wasting any second,he adjusted his angvastr and swiftly ran down , aiming the palace garden...

Draupadi heard unfamiliar footsteps right behind her...her ears got alerted and recognised that its coming closer to her... Her luscious locks fluttered in the air as she turned to see the person behind her and she saw a manly figure coming towards her.. his eyes gazing at her fondly...A soft smile came to her lips as she recognised the person...

" Rajkumar Arjun... here at this time ?" Draupadi whispered slowly as if only she can hear it ..

" Yes...can't I come here at this time.." but arjun said like as he read her mind... draupadi looked at him in surprise...how come he knows what she said ...

" Don't be get shocked... actually I heard what you said.." arjun said calmly and draupadi realised that her whisper wasn't a mere whisper,but it got a bit louder..she smiled sheepishly and continued her work... Arjun observed her ..

" Why are you plucking flowers? I mean I thought that you are here only as Rajkumari priya's music teacher..why are you doing all these jobs?" Arjun asked curiously...

" Actually you are right... because of me, the flowers for today's devi pooja got crumbled ...so I thought to help our maids ..poor them..because of my mistake,they shouldn't be get punished..so I'm helping them.. but , each and every job has its own respect... so, I won't mind doing such jobs too..." draupadi finished with a smile and arjun stared at her with admiration in his eyes...
Her talks ,walk,grace and attitude matches to a princess sometimes ,but her behaviour is still like a common girl ,so humble and generous ...

" But I've never seen you here before,I've visited many times here...I knew our court musician have an only daughter named vrinda but never heard about his daughter draupadi....." Arjun asked, as it's his doubt from the very next moment itself he got to know about her identity...he visited many times here before and he knew almost each and every members of this royal palace...he also knows that court musician have a daughter named vrinda..but never knew about a daughter named draupadi...

But draupadi's face fell upon hearing his question... In these months,she never spend any second without thinking about her family,her father... neither she can ask for help to anyone nor can reveal her identity , and can't lie too...but now, being silent will make him more suspicious,so she decided to speak...she forced a smile and replied

" Well... precisely saying,yes, baba has a daughter only , whose name is Vrinda....and I'm not his daughter"

Arjun knitted his eyebrows together and looked at draupadi in a questioning manner...she moved forward with a smile and he followed her...

" That means..but everybody consider you as his daughter?" a curious arjun asked,now he's is getting more and more interested in this girl...

"Because sarwanand baba helped me to stay here.. I came here a few months back... Actually I belongs to panchal, the city which is now captivated by jarasandh..." Draupadi said, gazing blankly at the sky , which is now adorned with the orange shades of setting sun..

" Oh.." Arjun exclaimed...he also heard about the dreadful incident happened in panchal months before,but he couldn't be there as it was a sudden attack and also at that time, he was on an expedition with his elder brother karn,on the southern side...

" My father worked in palace...my brother, sister and me also resided there ..but that day changed our life...our father too got captivated and without another way,we fled from there...I reached here.. baba and Vrinda helped me... my brother and sister ran to different directions..I don't know where they are and what are they doing...in short,I'm a refugee from panchal " draupadi finished and fresh drops of tears rolled down from her cheeks...

Arjun stopped himself as involuntarily he raised his hands a bit to wipe her tears...he looked sympathetically at her...it's painful to live when you know that your family is suffering,that too far away from your eyesight...he felt bad for her family...

" Devi...its ok..don't cry... everything will be fine... jarasandh won't always win...he also have to accept his defeat one day.. don't worry.." more than consoling, arjun sounded promising... promising to her that he'll free panchal from the clutches of jarasandh..just for her...

" But I should ask...why you smiled at first when priya introduced me..as if you know me before... don't I look like a prince?" arjun asked , make a cute confused face, just like a toddler....he asked it just to lighten the mood and also to know why she did so..
Draupadi smiled at his little antics amd remembered her dear sakha ...they resembles to each other so much...

" No..no.. Rajkumar... please forgive me ,if you got hurt ... actually I've... I've.. heard a lot about you...so..I thought you... you..ah.!! as rough and tough prince..but..but you're so sweet..soo...that's why..I..I.." draupadi searched for words to complete...she looked down in nervousness and her tongue stammered...

" Am I looking sweet to you" arjun neared her and asked in his low, soft voice , which send chills through her whole body...a mischievous smirk danced on his lips...
Draupadi nodded and looked away in shy...Arjun observed her red flushed face with a smirk...

They heard the cooing of birds from above the sky...Arjun and draupadi both looked above...the sun was about to hide behind the horizons... Dark Orange shades of sun already adorned the shining white clouds..it's time for the evening veneration...

" It's time rajkumar...let's meet at the palace temple.." draupadi said softly and walked away , not before getting an accepting nod and sweet smile from arjun ...

Supriya watched them, standing at the balcony of her chamber, with a small smile on her face....she combed her long hairs using her fingers and looked above at the orange red sky , thinking about her beloved....

•••••••••••*••••••••••

Arjun reached the small palace temple where the royals usually worship, which is situated inside the palace premises...his jaw dropped, upon beholding the sight infront of him...
The small ,white marble temple was bathed in the glow of earthen lamps...The soothing fragrance of flowers and dhoop sticks made the atmosphere divine...The idol of Maa Durga was adorned in such a way that we will instantly join our hands and fell down on her feets...
He came inside and stood beside his uncle and brother and passed a small smile,while Mahati was about to do aarti...

Arjun keenly observed each and every thing inside that small temple and his eyes fell on the his right side, where a girl, probably younger than Supriya, was sitting with a tanpura on her lap.... she is smiling and gazing at someone...and this surprised Arjun..His archer eyes followed the direction where her eyes was travelling and it landed upon his very own brother nakul...And what surprised him more was Nakul was also smiling and gazing at her...

Arjun smiled and shook his head...He already felt something fishy with his brother's behaviour and now he almost got succeeded in finding the reason... but the next moment ,what he saw just took his breathe away.... beside that girl,there sits draupadi with another tanpura on her lap ....
She is talking and smiling to some of the maids around..her teeth and eyes were sparkling under the lights of Diya...Looking jaw dropping gorgeous in her off white lehenga, she looked like an idol made of marble ,in the eyes of savyasachi...

Breaking his sweet thoughts, the priest rang bells and started chanting mantras...Queen mahati started doing aarti and draupadi closed her eyes...
She started to play tanpura along with vrinda...As the voice of bell echoed in the atmosphere, draupadi slowly started to sing gayatri mantras in her own sweet melodious voice ,which calmed even nature too... savyasachi gazed at the epitome of beauty infront of him with utmost devotion and admiration...
Such a beauty from Panchal...from the kingdom of King Drupad...
Arjun's mind slowly travelled to an year back , when he first heard about the birth of a fire born beauty,from panchal...

" And..any other exclusive news?" Arjun heard dritrashtra asking to one of their efficient spies

" Yes my lord..king Drupad of panchal had conducted an yagna and he begotten a son and daughter from the sacrificial fire.." came the reply

Arjun couldn't believe his ears...can humans be born from sacrificial fire...he looked amusingly at his brother karn who carried a serious expression on his face...

" Born from fire..? Why did king Drupad do such a yagya? Do you know what's the reason..?" An amused Dritrashtra asked to his spies...He feared that may be he was planning something against their kingdom....

" Yes my lord...he begot a son for the heir to his throne succeeding him  and lord of fire gave him a daughter as a reward." the spy replied and a current passed from Arjun's head to toe...

Arjun remembered how the spies described about her unparalleled charm and beauty and how she bought auspiciousness to the whole panchal....he wondered ,if a common girl from panchal is this much beautiful,then what about the fire born princess..but suddenly, he felt bad thinking that now she must be in the clutches of that devil Jarasandh...

Arjun came back to his senses ,when he heard his aunt ,queen Mahati calling him to take prasad...arjun accepted the Prasad and slowly exited the temple along with Nakul....

•••••••••*••••••••••

" Putr arjun ... tomorrow I want you both to be with me... tomorrow is the meeting with our ministers and you both should be with me...after that I'm granting two days for both of you to roam around our Kingdom" king srutavarma declared just after they finished dinner...
Arjun smiled and nodded whereas Nakul got excited...

" But mamashree..we didn't know much about outside the kingdom... because mom said us that not every place of the kingdom is safe and especially the western part is a dense forest.." Nakul expressed his worry making srutavarma fell in a deep thought...but just after a minute, a ray of hope lit up on his face...

" Don't worry...we have solution...our vrinda knows each and every nook and corner of this kingdom... I'll tell her to accompany you..and she knows some animal languages too ,just like you Nakul .."srutavarma said , making nakul go crazy in happiness...
And why not, Roaming around with his lady love is the dream of every Romeo..

Arjun chuckled and muttered under his breathe..
" And that's why they easily got tied up...a perfect match made by God.."

But little did he knows that God has made a match, also for him..here at Shurasena...
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