“Then why did you throw me into the water?” I asked, shivering slightly.
“You’re too serious all the time,” he said, putting his arm around me. Yudhajit radiated heat. “I wanted to set you off-balance. The look on your face when I threw you in?” He grinned. “Remember, Kaikeyi, never take your eyes off your enemy.” He put on a serious face, but I snickered at his pronouncement, and soon we were both choking with laughter.
“You’re not my enemy,” I told him, elbowing him in the rib cage. “Just my competitor. But we should get back and change before we take ill.” He gave a good-natured groan but willingly followed me home.
“Manthara, I need to practice my swordplay,” I said one evening. The monsoons were well and truly here, and watching the ground become a lake of mud outside the palace was boring me to tears. I itched to move. “Can you help me?”
She laughed slightly. “I know nothing about swordplay.”
“All you need to do is stand and hold a shield,” I said. I could tell she was resistant to the idea, and so I sent a plea in the Binding Plane, Kaikeyi most fervently desires this. It would make her happy. I had learned that such entreaties worked best with Manthara. I worried sometimes that she only humored me because she had to, but then Manthara would, when she thought I was asleep, whisper in my ear how much she loved me, and I would put the thought from my mind.
She hummed, considering. “Stand and hold a shield?” she asked. “I don’t have to use a sword?”
“No,” I said, already turning to find the shield in anticipation of victory.
“All right.” I picked up the wooden circle and turned back to her when she added, “Then you must do something for me.”
“What do you want?” I asked cautiously. If Manthara needed something from me, would she not have already asked for it?
“I suppose really it will be helping you,” she said. “For every blow you deal me, you must correctly answer a question about the court.”
I groaned. “That’s so boring. I know everything I need to.”
“Do you?” Manthara took the shield from me and slotted her arm into place. “You attend all the functions, that is true, and you are well-liked among the staff. But I think you could be doing more. Though if, as you say, you know everything already, then this should be very easy.”
I slipped into the Binding Plane, more than ready to convince her that I did not need such childish lessons. I touched our bond with my mind, and then actually listened to her words. She was right. This would be easy. And if I manipulated away her condition now, it would only come back in some other form later. Instead, I could prove to her that I already knew everything I needed.
I picked up my wooden sword and did a basic approach, rapping the shield with my blade to finish. It was a far cry from the double-edged khanda the best warriors fought with, but even so I struggled to maneuver with it. “Very nice,” Manthara said, although I could tell she didn’t really care. “Your father is inviting a guest this evening. What is his name?”
That was easy. “Tarush.” I tried a more complicated maneuver, hitting the shield from the side. “Arya Tarush,” I repeated, adding a title of respect.
“Why has he been invited here?”
I knew that too. “Father just took over his land.” Kekaya’s borders had remained stable for some time now. The kingdom of Kosala, which lay to the southeast, its territory beginning just across the Sarasvati River, had recently conquered a cluster of smaller villages that had been causing us trouble. With our southern border secured, my father had taken this as an opportunity to wage war on some northern tribes that were posing a nuisance before they had the chance to become stronger.
Manthara lowered the shield and gave me a level stare. “You think your father invites all those whose land he has conquered to his home as an honored guest?”
I frowned at her. “He wants to make sure Arya Tarush won’t try to fight this?”
“That’s better.” She lifted up her shield again. I took several spinning steps, tripped, and missed Manthara by several paces. She laughed, but there was no ridicule in it. I laughed as well, shaking my arm out before trying again, concentrating on my footwork. This time, I managed a weak hit against the shield.
“What should the palace do to ensure that your father’s plan succeeds?”
I truly paused at that, the sword dropping to my side. “What do you mean? There’s a feast for his arrival.”