The walk back to their home was very silent, as the Archer among them had all his energy flushed down in about an hour. Draupadi looked at them with a worried face, except for Yudisthir, no one was having any interest in even talking with each other. And her would be was just colourless and lifeless, walking beside her. He kept on looking at something, which appeared to be a broken earring. She was confused as what he got to do with an earring.

Yudisthir was talking with her here and there, asking about her city and people. She wasn't sure why the atmosphere was very dull and she did not like it. She did not sign up for this silent treatment. So, she thought of a plan to make him speak with her and deliberately stepped on a sharp stone, making it look like an accident.

"OUCH!", she shrieked really loud, making the four of them turn towards her. Arjun immediately went towards her, asking, "Princess! Are you okay?". She looked at him and nodded her head, but she still looked like she was in pain. He held her hand to make her sit down on a branch, from which she got instant goosebumps and blushed a little.

Arjun noticed that and immediately left her hand carefully. He said, "Princess! Do you want me to get any footwear? Because the whole way to our house is really rocky!". Draupadi immediately shook her head and said, "No, Swami! You are not having any footwear too! If my husband is going through the pain, I will also go through it!", she said smiling.

He looked at her with amusement in his eyes and said, "But, Princess! We are not married yet! Please, don't do anything for me!", and went towards Nakul, not giving any chance for her to speak. She didn't understand why her would be is really depressed and moody.

"Nakul! Please take care of her wound!", Arjun said and went away to fetch some water for her. Nakul immediately bent down on knees and examined her leg, "Hmm! Princess! Did you deliberately hurt yourself by any chance?".

She looked up at him and said, "N- No! No! Why would I do that?", and immediately noticed that it's the same Brahman, she saw the other day near temple. She pointed her index finger towards him and was about to speak, but he spoke before her, "Don't worry! I'll take care of it! And yeah, it indeed is me!", and looked up at her. Draupadi noticed how beautiful he was looking and vice versa. Both shared a look for sometime, and Nakul immediately regretted thinking, 'No! My brother won her at swayamvar! I should not be looking at her in this way!', and left the place immediately. Yudisthir noticed all this and frowned a little.

Nakul went towards Bheem, avoiding eye contact and said, "Bhrata, I'll get leaves for her medicine! By then, give something for her to eat! Poor girl, she appears to be weak!", and left the place as well. Bheem looked at her, and saw that she indeed was appearing weak and dull. To lighten up the atmosphere, he said, "Princess! You want to see some magic?", he gestured with his hand, making her face confused. Bheem immediately got some fruits by just punching a mango tree, making all the fruits to fall on ground. A mango directly fell on Draupadi's lap, and she started laughing at the antics of Vrikodar.

"Haha! You are funny!", she laughed and started eating the fruit, making Bheem and Yudisthir smile at her. For some reason, they both just wanted to see her laughing, all day. But both realised that even the thought of her should not come to their minds and looked away from her. The other two soon joined them, and they started their journey again. Nakul said, "An important leaf is missing, which is near our house! Princess, I will make sure you have the medicine there!", he told her, avoiding her face. She did not understand why these men are behaving in this certain way. She looked at her husband, but oh boy, he was a lost case.

They soon reached the place where they are residing and Sahadev saw them coming with a princess. He immediately ran towards them and asked, "Bhratashree! Who is this?", unable to look away from the goddess in front of him. No one dared to reply as they didn't even want to tell it from their mouths. Nakul wanted to divert the topic, so he said, "Sahadev! Can you finish this medicine for her! She hurt herself!". The youngest of all nodded at his twin and prepared the medicine, while Draupadi was having her Mango with a happy expression.

Sahadev started applying it to her foot while kneeling. He stole glances from time to time, as she was holding herself back from crying because of the pain. He found it cute and chuckled to himself. Once he was done, Draupadi was shocked that she did not feel any pain anymore. She looked at him with a content smile on her face, "Thanks!". He just shook his head and said, "Anytime!", and looked at Yudisthir with a questioning expression.

Yudisthir smiled and said, "Arjun won her at Swayamvar!". Sahadev was shocked, would be an understatement. He couldn't speak anything further as he looked at his Archer brother with a questioning expression. Yudisthir said, "I'll go see Mata! Princess, I'll introduce you to her! This way!", he showed the direction and she smilingly went towards the direction.

The others also joined him silently, but Sahadev was just too confused of the fact that why this event happened. Why Arjun married her despite of Vaishnavi? Why did his Elder brother approve of it? And most of all, why is he really attracted to the Princess, who was just won by his brother?

Thinking all of this, he decided to go and confront all of them, but suddenly, he sensed something bad is about to happen! Something irreversible! And all his senses were telling him to stop those people, who have already entered the hut with the princess. He ran towards them in a hurry but tripped as he accidentally stepped on a rock.

He could hear Yudisthir saying something to his mother, who was in a deep meditation. Yudisthir said, "Mata! Look at what Arjun has got as a Daan! It's really special!". Sahadev immediately rose up from the ground and sprinted towards them. Kunti, without turning back, said, "No matter how much Ever special it could be, son! Always remember what I've taught you all!". Sahadev successfully reached them to stop, but his legs stopped moving forward as he heard something unimaginable coming out of his mother's mouth. Everyone present there had the similar expression just as the youngest one had. And Draupadi, Poor girl didn't know what to say, and how to deal with what was going on there, without her permission.

"Whatever Arjun brought, Share among yourselves!".

***

The swoosh of a sword could be heard all over the palace, and people present there didn't know why is the Princess of Dwaraka being very angry. They didn't dare to enter the practice arena, where she was practicing swords and chopping all the practice woods with ease, but with extreme anger. She wasn't depressed, but was angry, furious.

With each swoosh, she was remembering how fateful their meeting was.

"Vaishnavi!!! I like you".

*Swoosh*

"I don't care about me! I care about you! Only you!"

*Swoosh*

"I Love you, Vaishnavi! With all cells in my body! with all the breath I take in! With every blink of my eye!"

*Swoosh*

"It seems like Lord Brahma had to sell his everything to make you, for me! Just for me! Only and only for me!"

*Swoosh*

"Vaishnavi, Will You Marry Me?"

*Swoosh*

"You told me I let my arrow pierce your heart, but, you are my string to my bow!"

*Swoosh*

"I give you my word, My wife. Even if god comes and tells me to marry, I would never do that, unless you tell me to!"

She stopped and chuckled to herself, "Huh! Promise? Promise my foot!", and continued with her rampage. Krishna slowly came into the practice arena with his brother, Balram Dau, who came to see his sister as it's been a very long time.

She immediately stopped, sensing who has come to meet her. She went towards Dau and touched his feet, expressionless. "May all your wishes come true, Vaishnavi!", He blessed her. She chuckled sadly at how contradicting the blessing was for her.

He kept his hand on her head and asked, "What happened, Vaishu? Why are you like this?". She looked at how soft spoken he has become, just for her. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, which she had been controlling since morning. She soon composed herself and said, "What to say, Dau! Anything is meaningless in life. I decided that I am not going to keep any expectations from anyone anymore. And promises! They are so fake, Dau! I also decided not to take or give any promises anymore! Life- Life is just meaningless, Dau! I was content when I realised my true self! You guys brought me back to normal! But- but at what cost, Dau! Tell me! What reason do I have to not go back to my realised self? Tell me!", she shook his shoulders. He closed his eyes and nodded his head, "There is! There is a reason, Vaishu!", making her look at him confused.

"Vaishu! I've heard what all damage you did for those who went against you! Went against Dharma! And I saw how you fought with everyone for your soul sister, Draupadi, this morning!", he said making her confused as to why he was telling all this to her now. He continued, "So, I and Kanha decided on something you shouldn't reject!". She looked at him with no expression, as she was tired of the happenings on that day. But, what he said, had instantly brightened up her entire existence.

"I, hereby, appoint you as the commander in general for the entire army of Dwaraka! I am giving the safety and security of the beautiful ocean city in your hands! Because, I trust you, Vaishnavi!"

Vaishnavi was stunned and asked, "But, why? Me? How?-", she wanted to ask a million questions, but didn't know where to start. Balram understood her dilemma, shook his head smilingly, said, "A commander doesn't only need skills, but also needs the quality of inspiring and motivating others, pushing them! And you are best at it, Vaishu!".

As much as she was happy about this, she was also scared about how she is gonna handle, as a woman, in that era. She was about to say something, but Krishna looked at her and nodded, as if telling her to accept. She closed her eyes, and just nodded at Balram. Krishna was looking at them both and kept his hands on both the sides. Balram raised his eyebrow at him, as if asking him 'what?'. Krishna sighed and said, "This! You could have given her as a surprise in Dwaraka only!". Balram just laughed and kept his hand on Krishna's shoulder, "I wanted to. But to make my dear sister smile for atleast one moment, I had to reveal it now!".

Balram then navigated her to the hall of Panchal, where Drishtadyumn was getting ready to go for Draupadi, to check upon her. Everyone's face lit up, as they saw Vaishnavi. Balram announced, "Everyone! My Senapati, Vaishnavi is here!", making everyone get surprised. Many whispers could be heard as that was such a bizarre and unusual thing to do. A girl, being a Senapati! Shikandi looked at her and felt really proud, as she made her own mark as a woman in that era. Dron started to say, unable to accept this, "But-", just then Balram interrupted him. "No buts! She is my sister and my country's Senapati! That's my wish to appoint anyone I want! And I don't care if anyone has any problem", making everyone go silent.

Drupad ran towards her and asked, "Putri! Are you okay? What happened?". She just shook her head and said, "Nothing Papa, I was just worried about Draupadi! How's she going to manag-", her words dried in her throat, as she realised what was going to happen. And she wanted to stop it as soon as possible. If she proceeds to waste even one more moment, that incident will happen which will turn the entire course of history. Panchali will be divided amongst the brothers.

"Krishnaa!"

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Hello my babies! How are y'all! Do you guys think that Vaishnavi would be able to stop anything? I don't think so!

Anyways, how was the chapter!Please vote and comment! 😊