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

A new alliance

Draupadi's pov

A fortnight into their married life, Arjun's tendencies to get tongue-tied in front of Draupadi finally showed signs of relenting. Instead of nervous smiles and stammered sentences, he became around her the way he was with his brothers and everyone else, which certainly involved no nervousness, only an easy charm and open, frank expressions. She found both sides of him endearing.

They had never referred to the brief half-hour in court where they were almost pulled into a five-way marriage, but that everyone was relieved things had not gone that far was clear. That always turned Draupadi's mind to the person who had prevented the disaster: the King of Anga.

On their journey from Panchal to Hastinapur, the brothers barring Yudhishthir had been speaking in most unflattering terms about the King of Anga, from which she had gathered that he was especially close to and always favoured their cousin Duryodhan, whom they, in turn, detested.

Arjun had appeared to bear an special grudge against him.

This conviction of hers crashed the moment she saw the King of Anga pulling Arjun aside in the court, having a heated discussion and eventually stepping in to save their lives. That was not at all the behaviour of someone who favoured his rival.

The way he had dealt with Arjun spoke unmistakably of great affection, and his action--standing up against the whole court of elders--even more so.

Almost three weeks had passed before Draupadi came across the mysterious King of Anga in the palace.

"Greetings, princess," he said, smiling. "How are you settling in?"

"Oh, not bad," said Draupadi. "It is a charming palace if you can overlook the glowers thrown between the cousins."

Karna's smile turned wry. They walked towards the terrace together.

"Do you miss your home?" It was an unexpected question.

"Yes. Not as much as my twin brother, though." Draupadi thought she had managed to sound perfectly normal. She was good at that.

"I heard your twin brother is quite a handful."

"Who told you?"

"Er--his guru's son, Aswatthama...he's a friend of ours..."

"Ah, yes," said Draupadi. "He is a handful all right. He always calls me little sis, even though we are twins...and my sister and father are at their wits' end trying to get him to settle down..."

Draupadi realized she was rambling; she also realized that she had never thanked the person who had saved her life from ruination.

"King of Anga," she said, changing tack. "I never got around to thanking you for speaking up in the court that day."

"Oh, that's fine, someone needed to do it, you were new in this place and Arjun is far too timid when it comes to Yudhishthir's commands."

"So you--you did it for Arjun, didn't you?"

Karna looked astonished at the line of questioning.

"I also did because I could not let something as wrong as that go ahead in front of our eyes," he said. "But yes, for Arjun, too," he added under her keen gaze.

"I thought so," she said. "I thought it was...personal...for you."

Karna shifted uncomfortably.

"From what I had heard about you, I would not expect you to do anything for Arjun's sake," said Draupadi.

"Well," said Karna, sounding a little upset. "I am not sure what you have heard."