“Jija, I want to go to the stables too.” Ajbante was stopped in the corridor of the inner palace by Ratan Kanwar, followed by their half-brother, Akhil, who was three. “We do.” Ratan corrected herself. The dawn had just set on the horizon, and the birds were chirping in the gardens. Ajbante Kanwar had just taken a bath in the private pool and managed to grab her empty flower basket to go to the gardens. Still, before that, she would visit the stables and cowshed, check how Lakshmi was doing with her newborn, and if Bijli was okay with the sudden changes her father had made.
Ratan Kanwar’s nagging made her sigh and nod. “Don’t make so much noise so early in the morning.” She scolded them as they followed her, giggling and skipping down the hall behind her.
“Don’t touch the newborn Kunwar Akhil, you will scare Lakshmi.” The familiar alarmed voice made Kunwar Partap stop gathering hay as he placed them down, wiped his forehead and glanced over his shoulder at the cowshed. There was some giggling and whispers, and a child seemed to speak too loudly, alarming the newborn calf and her mother. He walked up to the entrance of the stable to spot two children, who oddly reminded him of his half-siblings, especially Padmavati and Shakti. The one in charge had the Dupatta drawn over her head, her back to him as she scolded them softly before going near the mooing cow and pacifying her with her soft pats. Her bangles jingled slightly in her hand as she proceeded to pat the calf, too. Akhil seemed impatient as he spotted Kunwar Partap in the attire of a stable boy and pointed.
“I want to go there.” That was when Kunwar Partap had to walk up to them and bow to him. “Ghani Khamma Hukum, I am Kika.” He eyed the girl whose hand had stopped patting the calf as she stood up, her hands drawn together and rubbing them, much like Ranima did when she was nervous. He could still not see her face over the dupatta and long wet hair drawn to the side as he eyed her briefly and shifted his attention to her brother.
“Do you want to see horses, Hukum? Come with me.” Akhil nodded, trying to go with him as Ratan Kanwar held back his hand.
“Aren’t you the new stable boy?” She asked, scrutinising him. Kunwar Partap nodded. “I am, Rajkumarisa. Kika.”
“And where else have you worked with horses before?” Ratan Kanwar sounded like a recruiter as he looked a little alarmed, and a soft protest came from someone else.
“Ratan.” She held her sister’s hand, making her stop. “Daata would be angry if he knew you two were here.”
“He has given up on you not being allowed here, Jija, he would do the same for us.” She held Akhil’s hand firmly. “Come, Bhai, let's see some horses.” She walked away before her sister could protest. Ajbante Kanwar turned to watch them go with a sigh as she murmured, “They just don’t listen.” A smile appeared on his face at her words as he eyed her briefly.
“It's the way with siblings, Rajkumarisa.” He shook his head. Ajbante Kanwar was suddenly aware of him. Her glance was like Kunwar Partap was seeing a mirror. Something he could not quite place or explain, but he knew that she knew. He could not tell how. He cleared his throat as she looked away. “Umm… Rajkumarisa wants to see her horse, I assume?” Ajbante Kanwar nodded silently, without lifting her glance from the soil and followed him to the stable, keeping a quiet distance. She could spot her siblings being attended to by Kaka, who was immensely patient with their eager questions, as a smile curved her lips. Kunwar Partap opened the stable door to move aside, to allow her to enter, when he spotted her smiling, and his glance followed hers to the children. He suddenly missed home the way he never missed home before. He missed the company of his brothers, the way they teased the sisters, the summer afternoons of picking mangoes, and drenching in the first rain. Perhaps he looked sad because he suddenly noticed her smile vanish as she looked back at him. He looked away, gesturing at her to enter the stable. She nodded.
Bijli was standing there, drinking the freshly poured water.
“Make sure she has the right water temperature, she doesn’t like it too cold…” Ajbante was a little cautious when addressing him while trying to sound authoritative. “She doesn’t like the list of vegetables I handed Kaka.”
“I will take good care of her, you can trust me, Rajkumarisa.” Her hand stopped caressing the mare as he spoke, and she nodded.
“Bijli, you know Lakshmi had a calf. I will name her Mandakini. Do you like the name?” The mare neighed, making her smile as Kunwar Partap observed. “So she does talk to you…” He murmured. Ajbante glanced over her shoulder, making him slightly aware of his position. He was not royal here. He was supposed to be invisible to royals. Perhaps she expected it. “I apologise…” He was quick to straighten himself. “I did not mean to pry.”
“I…” Ajbante looked awkward at his apology as she turned to her mare. “Look, Bijli, he is your new caretaker, be nice to him, okay?” She looked a little troubled. “Don’t kick and throw tantrums, otherwise you know they will put you down, and I will not be able to save you.” She whispered as Kunwar Partap frowned at this new information.
“Be nice to him, he will take care of you.”
“Kika.” He interrupted again, “The name is Kika.” Ajbante nodded. “I know who you are.” Her firm words made him look a little unsure of her as he eyed the other people around them discreetly. She had stopped patting the mare and turned to him. “Hence, I don’t want Bijli to land in trouble if she hurts you. She can be…”
“Moody.” He nodded. “ I was told… But how did you…” Could her parents have trusted her with such a big secret, or did others know too, jeopardising his identity? The hint of doubt in his voice was read well, as she looked alarmed. “Nobody told me, please don’t ask my Daata. He doesn’t know I know.” There was a fear in her eyes that he missed in everyone around him. The fear of authority he once enjoyed. He smiled faintly and asked, “Then how did you know?” She was reluctant to answer as they were interrupted by her siblings asking if they could visit the elephants. She nodded reluctantly as the guard led them away, and Kunwar Partap started getting buckets of water to clean Bijli.
“I am sorry you have to do this.” She whispered. “Kun… ummm…”
“Call me Kika.” She seemed hesitant at his suggestion as he added, “That’s an order,” raising his brows as she nodded. “You can stand over there and observe.” He suggested that because he was about to splash water on the mare. She stepped back to the side.
“Do you miss your siblings?” His hand stopped at her question as he glanced over his shoulder, a little aware of her observation, like she could read his mind. His stare made her conscious. “I am sorry I overstepped…”
“I do.” His words made her look up. She wanted to ask more, but he did not seem interested in the chatter, so she stood there observing Bijli’s reaction to him instead.
“Do you ride her?” He enquired. “She doesn’t look quite trained.”
“Nobody could train her.” She murmured. “Bijli doesn’t really get tamed…”
“ Can I try?” He asked. Ajbante Kanwar looked alarmed. “Please don’t. If Daata hears it, he will think I ordered so, and I will be in trouble.”
“Not if I train her well. Then I can teach you to ride her.” Ajbante Kanwar looked flabbergasted at his suggestion. Could she refuse the heir of Mewar wanting to tame her mare? Teach her to ride? Ajbante nodded reluctantly and excused herself as it was way past her puja time. But before she left, she stopped to watch him busy tending to his chores as she said, “Don’t worry, they are missing you too, and one day you will go back home to them and everything will be the way it was.” His hand stopped at the brush as he stared at her, leaving right after she said that. He smiled melancholically and inhaled, trying to concentrate back on his chores.
“Have some more Dal.” Jivanta Bai suggested as she placed the freshly made roti on the leaf plate that Partap held near the Chulha. “You have been working hard.”
“Yes, Bijli is a fiery mare, but I do like challenges. I told her I would train Bijli.” Jivanta’s hand stopped at the roti as she asked, “Told whom?”
“The Rajkumarisa. Bijli is her mare.” He broke the Roti, allowing the hot steam to pour out before he took a morsel to dip in the Dal. “She is not like the others.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Jivanta placed the bowl of Dal and enquired, eyeing her son's smile. “You know Raoji decided that Bijli should be put down, so the Rajkumarisa claimed her to be her horse and saved her. Even when she can’t tame or ride the mare, she takes great care of her well-being. Hence, I offered to tame her.”
“That is nice of you, Kika.” Jivanta smiled. “Is this Hansa Bai’s daughter, the princess?” he shrugged. “I don’t know, they call her Ajbante Baisa. The stable boys and in charge.” He was about to tell his mother that she knew who he was, but something felt odd in him to mention that to her as he eyed her, smiling at him. “Was she nice to you?” Jivanta enquired as he nodded. “She is nice to everyone, the horses, stable boys, her half-siblings who were throwing tantrums… reminded me of Padmavati… She is even nice to the newborn calf, and did not care about her clothes or anything when she sat down and observed the calf.”
“You seemed to have observed her quite a lot, Partap.” Jivanta Bai suddenly looked amused, “I thought you ran as far as possible from homely things like that.”
“Well, I have a job there now, and my observation skills should not be rusty.” He smiled at his mother, who agreed.
“Ajbante Kanwar seems like a nice girl.”
“She is, you would have loved her had you met her.” He spoke in between his morsels as Jivanta smiled. “Seems like you made a friend?” Partap stopped a little alarmed at her words. “Friend?” He shook his head. “No, she is a royal and I met her twice, that is all.”
“Yet I hear from my sources that you seemed to offer her lessons to ride Bijli.” Kunwar Partap looked a little alarmed at his mother’s words. “Have you been spying on me?” Jivanta Bai laughed.
“No, we women have ways of our own.” He did not seem convinced by her suggestion of gossip as she added. “Well, the poor girl told her mother the rather scary idea you put in her head to teach her to ride the untamed horse, and her mother refused.” Jivanta eyed his disappointed face. Either he did not know he looked disappointed, or he did not know how to hide it. “Kunwarsa, it's okay if you want to make friends. But you need to remember you are a stable boy there, and there are certain rules and decorum in every palace regarding women's boundaries. You can’t offer her such things. She was perhaps offended. Apologise the next time, okay?” Kunwar Partap nodded, confused, at his mother’s words as he thought to himself that she never looked offended. Yet she went and asked her mother for permission. Of course, she did as she should. She could not just come for riding lessons without asking her parents. And her mother, knowing who he was, perhaps did not agree. He decided to bring it up the next time they met. In his head, Kunwar Partap ran through the routine of the Rajkuwari as he lay on a mat, sleepless on the cold floor. She would surely come to the cowshed if she did not come by the stables. He could meet her there.
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