Jyesht's strife for kinship (A Karna-Arjun what-if story)

The twins give in

Karna's pov

Another couple of weeks passed in much the same manner. Every time Karna visited Hastinapur, he went out of his way to be nice to his brothers, mostly met by cold or confused gazes.

He arrived at the stables to leave for Anga one evening and found his horse missing from where he had put it up. One of the stablemen told him that it had got injured in a skirmish and was being tended to.

He sprinted in hunt of it, and stopped.

Nakul was kneeling beside his horse, cleaning a wound on its leg. Sahadev and Arjun were crouched around, the former wringing a wet cloth, the latter mixing antiseptics. There was also a bloodied wound on its back.

"Is it ok?" he asked, reaching out to stroke its back.

"It will be," muttered Arjun, still intent on his antiseptics. 

They didn't appear to have registered who had spoken. Karna cleared his throat.

Arjun looked up.

"Is it your horse?" he asked, his familiar scowl coming into place.

"Yes, but don't judge the poor creature on my account," said Karna.

"We shall leave your horse to your care." Arjun straightened up. "Nakul, Sahadev--come on."

"Um, brother," said Nakul, trying to point with his nose at the compression bandage he was holding since both his hands were occupied.

"Let the King of Anga take over that." Arjun looked at Karna.

"I certainly could," said Karna. "But I rather think your brother cannot bear to leave a horse in pain."

Nakul made a sound of assent. "Sahadev, bring another mug of water..."

Sahadev looked at Arjun, who glared, before hastily averting his eyes and darting to fetch the bucket.

Karna thought Arjun's face broke into a grin, but when he noticed that Karna was grinning too, he straightened his face, looked darker than ever, and spoke in a truly terrible voice.

"I hope you two have not forgotten our deductions."

He stalked off. Karna looked after him, baffled. Nakul and Sahadev continued with treating the horse and spoke softly.

"What, do you think he injured his own horse?" Nakul asked in a whisper.

"Why," demanded Karna, "would I do something as dimwitted as that?"

Nakul finished tying the bandage on the horse's leg and rose, reaching for the wound on its back.

"Sahadev came up with a plausible theory, King of Anga," he began.

Sahadev's look of warning went to waste.

"You are our cousin Duryodhan's friend," said Nakul.

Karna nodded, moving to hold the horse still as Nakul applied the antiseptic.

"Our cousin hates us."

"Er--"

"Our cousin would do anything to harm us." When Karna did not react, Nakul persisted, "Yes or no?"

"Well, maybe not anything..." Though the idea of the house of lacquer spoke otherwise, he thought darkly.

"So what better way to do that but having one of his agents in our inner circle?" whispered Nakul with a flourish.

A dumbfounded Karna needed a bit of time to recover.

"You mean he sent me as a spy?"

"Oh, much worse than a spy," said Nakul airily. "A spy acts in secret. You act openly. You will slither in as a friend and then double-cross us."

Karna started to laugh.

"Nakul," said Sahadev pointedly.

"My twin believes this laugh of yours is a part of the act," said Nakul solemnly.

That only made Karna laugh harder, though he did realize it would be better to stop laughing and explain soberly.

Nakul's lips twitched. Sahadev looked grave.

"I'm--I'm sorry," gasped Karna, choking back his laughter. "Now that I come to think of it, the theory isn't so bad for a conspiracy. You're the brains among your brothers, are you, Sahadev?"

"Yes, I am," said Sahadev primly.

Nakul caught Karna's eyes and chortled.

Sahadev still looked mistrustful.

"All right," said Karna. "Even though the theory isn't one to completely disband, and even though I understand it must seem plausible to you, I swear it is not true in this case. Duryodhan never told me to--er--slither into your inner circle. If anything, he is severely annoyed with me."

"And why are you annoying your friend by talking to us?" asked Sahadev.

Karna thought quickly.

"Your mother--" he said, his voice coming out a little uneven. "Maharani Kunti does not approve of the enmity between us. She told me we could be friends...I--I respect her wishes, and--"

"You certainly do not sound very convincing, King of Anga," said Sahadev.

"You may ask her if you wish," said Karna, getting bolder.

That silenced Sahadev.

"But the Queen Mother's request is not the only reason; on my part, too, I think we could be friends. Your hostility for Duryodhan is no reason for us to detest each other's sight forever--"

"Duryodhan's hostility for us could be, though," said Nakul. "You cannot be friends with him if you are friends with us."

"That is between me and Duryodhan," said Karna with dignity. "I respect Prince Yudhishthir, and for the four of you, I bear nothing but affection. You are like my younger brothers."

Nakul finished tying the bandage on the horse's back and looked up. Both his and his twin's expressions were inscrutable.

"Of course, if you continue to judge me on the basis of my birth, I have no defense against that," said Karna. "I am the son of a charioteer even if I have a kingdom. I will always be a sutaputra."

"We would never have mentioned your birth if you had not insulted Bhrata Arjun in the arena," said Sahadev indignantly. "And I hope you know, King of Anga, that Duryodhan treats other people of your birth very differently from how he treats you."

Karna chose to ignore the last statement. 

"I am sorry I challenged Arjun in an uncivilized manner in the arena," he admitted instead, because now, he was actually sorry. "I had grudges on several set-ups and several people, but I took it out on Arjun, who had never done me any harm."

Radha Maa had always tried to teach him the magic words from his childhood: 'please' and 'sorry.' He had fought them all his life; stubbornly, he never begged and he never apologized.

Today, for the first time, he saw their magic--one genuine sorry could change everything.

Nakul and Sahadev's mistrust faded from their expressions as they looked at each other.

"We cannot speak for Bhrata Bheem, but we are sorry we insulted your birth, too," said Sahadev solemnly.

"We knew your father in our childhood--Pitamah speaks very highly of him," said Nakul.

"Yes, I know," said Karna. "Your mother was not the only person who did not approve of our rivalry."

The twins grinned. Karna felt like the child he and Arjun had seen at the gurukul the other day--overwhelmed by his own achievement. 

But he could not miss the next shot like the child.