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

The first disastrous attempt

Karna's pov

A week of going back and forth between Anga and Hastinapur had yielded no brainstorm in Karna's head. He was perpetually waiting for the perfect opportunity to go and tell the Pandavas what he had learnt.

But the perfect opportunity never came.

He also had to ensure, whenever he was inside the palace, that he did not come across the Queen Mother by mistake. Once, she was there in the gardens when he entered.

"Karna," she had called, a welcoming smile on her face.

A smile that welcomed a friend of her nephew, but not a smile that welcomed a son.

It would have taken her just one minute to tell him the truth. One minute to accept him. But she would not do that.

"I am in a hurry, Maharani," he had said, and walked on without waiting.

 He automatically felt guilty because he did not like hurting people, but he expected Kunti would be confused. She would not be hurt.

But for all the times he visited the palace, his courage always failed when it came to his brothers.

Whether he would tell them individually or together was a question. The latter was far too daunting.

If individually, who he should start with was another question. Yudhishthir was, of course, the most sensible option. The twins would not be bad either, especially Nakul, the more easygoing of the two. Bheem was the least sensible option. And Arjun--he was out of the question.

Even if he wanted to build friendly ties with four of his brothers, he would ensure he left the fifth alone. He had hated Arjun too caustically and too long.

If he told them, would he and Arjun ever get another chance to duel and decide who was better? 

No. 

So he should try to force a duel first...

*****************

"You get the duel out of the way, Karna," said Duryodhan. "Defeat Arjun, prove your superiority. Then we will start finalizing our plot."

"Finalize?" asked Karna. "Have you got any idea?"

"Uncle suggested one. We will send them on a short pilgrimage, where the lodgings will be built by us. A lac house. Easy to catch fire."

"Duryodhan--" said Karna, and stopped, because he had no words.

"Isn't it foolproof?" asked Duryodhan, proudly.

"You cannot--you cannot just--burn your cousins alive--"

"You have no idea what we can or cannot do, my friend. Now, what about that duel? Any idea how we can initiate it?"

Karna was still grappling with the horror of the idea.

"Karna, you promised you would be with me whatever happened," said Duryodhan. "I am nothing without you, you know that."

"Of course I will never leave you side, Duryodhan, but--" Karna decided to change the topic. "How do we initiate the duel?"

"Perhaps you can directly issue him a challenge? Though he is a coward and would undoubtedly try to hide behind Pitamah or Guru Drona, I hope he would not turn down a direct challenge."

"I suppose so," said Karna dubiously.

"Go now, then," said Duryodhan. "He must be somewhere around."

Karna got up. He still felt overwhelmed at Uncle Shakuni's inhuman idea, and even more upset at how Duryodhan did not realize it was inhuman.