The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 9

If not for the sudden jerk in the palakku that she was traveling, Sembaruthi might never have got up from the wonderful dream she was floating in. The hill temple incident was as fresh in her mind as a new born baby. Delicate, soft and inducing a spring of tears from the heart every time she thought of it. She loved every single moment of it and lived every moment of it whenever she thought about it. She had never expected Maithreyan to have proposed to her in such a situation. Neither did she understand what had made him propose to a girl of her background. The inner ego deep beneath her heart had kept on whispering till date that the beauty of her eyes was the fuel that had immolated Maithreyan’s passion. But her outer ego suggested that it was neither her decision nor Maithreyan's decision that united them but his almighty lord Arivamudhar’s decision that had brought them together. She had visited the hill temple at least a dozen times in a week after his proposal and every time she climbed up the hill, she would be overfilled with joy. Maithreyan had come back after two weeks and married her and had taken her to Ponvilayur. They were blessed by everybody in Maithreyan’s family, King Kunjidhapadhanaar, Queen Maargazhiyaal, ministers, poets, soldiers, palace women, and everybody she met in the first week of stay in the palace. It was a dream come true for the poor painter’s daughter. To be honest it was never a dream for her at all. It was purely god’s wish, she could sharply sense and she was just a mud toy that danced to the lord’s tune.

She woke up from the dream in a flash. The palakku was shaking abnormally and fear clutched her face. She could see all of her maids shaking to and fro and she decided to scream for help. Her expressions changed to that of a terrified female deer caught in between two male tigers and she started to sweat profusely. She sensed that the speed of the palakku had increased considerably and she had to stop it somehow.

Finally the sound blasted out of her throat as the word ‘STOP’ came out like a thunder blowing apart two clouds on either side.

The palakku came to a halt. Sembaruthi’s breath settled down slowly. She looked at her maids. Everybody had a puzzled expression. She did not understand.

She threw questions at each one of the maid’s faces “Why are you all looking at me like this? What is happening? Why did the palakku move so fast? Speak up girls… tell me what is up with you all?”

Imayaazh answered slowly.

“Akka… It was me who suggested moving the palakku a bit faster. The sun is already away from the head and it has started to get dark. We have to reach Chinnayar’s place as soon as possible. The way we were moving, we would have never reached Chinnayar’s place before it is very dark. And he might get worried about us. And Akka, don’t you remember me asking you for permission to move the palakku a bit faster? And don’t you remember nodding your approval? I think you were asleep. I should not have gone by you nodding your head. I am really sorry Akka. I won’t do the mistake again. “

Sembaruthi was ashamed at herself. She had nodded her head without her knowledge. With such an important assignment on hand that Maithreyan had given her, it was really stupid of her to get lost in thought like that. ‘ I have to be more careful. I must control my senses. I should not allow them to take over me.’ She told herself.

She turned her head towards the screen that was separating her from the sevagars, pulled it across and spoke.

“How long will it take to reach Chinnayar’s place from here?”

A male voice replied.

“We started a bit late in the morning raniyaarey and so it will be very difficult to reach Chinnayar’s place before the moon comes over the head...”

“How many of you are here now?”

“Seven sevagars rani… four to carry the palakku and three more running with torches along with us “

Sembaruthi thought for a moment.

“Ask one of the three to run to Chinnayar’s place and convey him the information that we won’t be able to come to his place. Make sure he talks as politely as possible “

“Sure rani… but then where do we stay tonight?”

“We shall go to the Durga Devi temple with lights that I can see at a distance from here.”

“Sure rani… but I am just worried about the comfort that you will get in the temple”

“That is not your problem Sevaga… we can adjust… just take us to the temple there”

“As you wish raniyaarey”

She closed the screen and turned back towards Imayaazh.

“Do you girls have any problem staying in the temple tonight?”

Nobody replied.

After a moment’s silence, one of the maids replied

“We are worried about your safety Akka”

“I don’t think Pavazhanaadu’s men would come inside a temple drunk. And I assume there must be a poosari in the temple who would take care of us. And there are the sevagars who are with us. Moreover this place seems to be like a desert. There is no town or village here. And so the chances of men roaming around after getting drunk is very low. Moreover we all have knifes with us. That should be enough to save us for the night. What do you girls say?”

The mention of knives to save themselves had made the girls look terrified. They were avoiding Sembaruthi’s eyes and were looking at each other.

At this point a shrill sound came from a distant nowhere. It had suddenly become much darker. It made Sembaruthi shiver and gave her a chance to revisit her decision of going to the temple. But something stopped her from calling off her decision. The palakku had by now picked up speed and was now moving steadily towards the Durga temple and a Sevagan had already started running towards Chief painter Chinnayar’s place to announce that the girls were not coming there. Semabaruthi and her gang of girls had just to wait and watch how the night unfolds upon them.