Sundari Kannal Oru Seithi (Jeevane OS 1)
As promised, here is the first OS!
*****
sundari kannal oru seithi
solladi innal nalla thethi
(Oh beautiful one, tell me an answer through your eyes,
Give me the answer on this auspicious/good day)
The skirmish among his sisters' friends gave Arulmozhi pause, an action a little out of the ordinary for him. However, as luck would have it, his helping nature was also very well known, and he felt a tiny smirk cross his face.
He swiveled to see what was happening, and if his Akka was there.
'If she is there, then everything is fine. If not, I will go in,' he thought to himself, his legs taking three steps forward even before he had seen what was going on.
Frowning when he saw his Akka hurry inside, he moved his neck, craning to see who was being carried in.
The golden cheek of the maiden gave Arulmozhi pause. He knew who it was instantly.
He had seen Vaanathi's jittery hands; the little tremble as she did his aarati. But he had seen it as her nervousness of sorts, given their first interaction and now finding out that he was Ponniyin Selvan.
Arulmozhi smiled wryly.
He had gone from being the 'yaanai paagan' to 'Ponniyin Selvan' quickly in her eyes, causing him to frown. He turned to meet the eyes of the lead soldier, smiling quickly but reassuringly.
"I will be back soon. I need to go find Akka."
With those words, he headed inside, but not before he caught snippets of what the elders were saying about Vaanathi's thattu falling.
"The thattu falling is inauspicious.." some muttered. They clearly had no idea he was trained to listen to even distant words, a helpful side effect of warrior training. Arulmozhi controlled himself from snapping.
The very thought of anything about Vaanathi being inauspicious sent swirls of fury into his body, vibrating through him. He did not know why he got so angry with her actions being called so, when she probably fainted either out of panic, worry or something deeper.
"But see, her light remains- bright. It is auspicious, the Kodumbalur Princess brings fortune for our Ponniyin Selvar."
These words calmed his heart a little bit. He did not wait to talk, instead nearly running in, knowing his sister will be in the antechamber closest to the entrance.
The antechamber was buzzing, full of maidens; Princesses from different clans of the Chozhas, in fact. Arulmozhi could hear their furious mutterings, but he refused to even listen to them.
Anyone who could be vapid about another woman but sweet to his face did not deserve his attention. He would rather focus on the woman now held up by his sister.
He could see, just by how Kundavai gently tapped Vaanathi's cheeks, that his sister had a deep fondness for Vaanathi, but did not yet know how to show it fully.
He would have to do something for his Akka.
But Vaanathi...first.
"Akka? Is she okay?" Arulmozhi asked softly, ignoring the surprised eyebrow raise Kundavai gave him. It would not do for their eyes to meet.
Kundavai knew Arulmozhi too well and would see more than the latter was comfortable showing. In fact, even his behaviour now would have triggered something in her. Kundavai was, as it is, too sharp to not notice things even when her focus was elsewhere.
And when it came to Arulmozhi? No chance.
"She will be, kanna," and there was the mild inflection only he had caught. Arulmozhi met Kundavai's eyes, which glinted with curiosity and knowing, and tried not to wince.
Uh-oh.
His Akka had caught on and was going to 'test' him, even if indirectly.
"But what happened, Akka?" he asked softly, his voice low, and his eyes on Vaanathi's golden face and closed eyes. He wanted to meet her eyes; the red blush on her cheeks when their eyes had met during the aarati was endearing to his heart.
"Is the Kodumbalur Princess okay?"
Arulmozhi could feel the furious eyes of all the other Princesses, for he had clearly known who Vaanathi was. But strangely, Vaanathi had never been around Kundavai when the Prince had spoken to her in the days he was at Pazhayarai.
"How did you know who she is?" Kundavai asked with a minute smirk, and Arulmozhi could feel the blood rush to his cheeks. However, he was not the Ilaya Puli for nothing.
He looked at his Akka and said, "We met once unexpectedly, and I got to know she is Periya Velar's niece."
He had also gotten to know her nurturing and kind heart, as well as her tendency to babble like a brook, and laugh gleefully when she found something funny. But that was for him to know, and for his big sister to never discover.
"Indeed she is, thambi. You know, she is Siriya Velar's daughter, raised by our Athai, Varaguna Perumanar."
"She is Athaiyar's step-daughter, is she not, Akka?"
Arulmozhi knew he was right, smiling mildly when his sister nodded, her eyes drenched with compassion and a tender fondness he had never before seen in her eyes for a Princess she trained.
Had Vaanathi touched his Akka's heart already?
'When she has touched yours with a single meeting and a few glimpses, would she not have Akka's, who spends a lot of time with her?' his voice snarked, and he ignored it in favour of listening to Kundavai's words.
"Do you remember how Siriya Velar Maama ascended to the heavens, Mozhi?" Kundavai asked gently, but in a tone only Arulmozhi would recognize as gently pushing him to remember.
"He lost his life in..." Arulmozhi faltered, suddenly understanding what Kundavai was getting at. "He lost his life in Eezham. Akka, is that why the Princess fainted? She remembered what happened to her Appa?"
"That is my belief. She was incredibly close to him. She has often told me that he was everything to her. Athai also wrote the same to me."
Arulmozhi said nothing, though his eyes fell on Vaanathi's face- golden bronzed in complexion, more oval shaped like a crescent moon, a tender flower, yet he could sense that hidden under layers, she was incredibly resilient.
"I want to wait for her to wake and make sure she is okay, Akka."
Kundavai cast him an imperceptible look, and Arulmozhi knew what it was for. Kundavai had seen something in his face, and would definitely match make Arulmozhi with Vaanathi hereafter.
But despite his current stance against marriage, Arulmozhi found he did not mind it, though, to be fair, he may also create issues about it.
'Open your eyes, Princess of Forests,' he urged her from within, and he saw her eyes flutter open. A quiet smile dawns on his face, one that made all the Princesses around melt, but made Kundavai get a thoughtful, sharp gaze.
One which generally spelt trouble for anyone on its receiving end.
His eyes met her beautiful, doe-like eyes, the brown orbs peeking at his in what looked like worry, pain...and was that a tint of a blush?
"Kodumbalur Ilavarasi, how do you feel now?"
Her eyes, mesmerizing in their movement, locked on to Arulmozhi's, and she said, "I am okay, Ilavarase...oh no, what have I done?"
The sudden shift from calm to panic threw Arulmozhi off for a moment, before he realized that Vaanathi might not be like his Akka.
But how did that matter?
Her eyes, when they had met his, had given him the answer he needed. The answer he had waited for, though he might not admit it.
His presence flustered her, which is why she hid from him. A smile threatened to break its way across his face, but he schooled himself.
When the time came, he would bring it up himself. For now, he had to listen to Vaanathi's worried talks and Kundavai's gentle consolations.
Her flustered feelings and his own reactions are for a different time in life.
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