Author's notes:
Bit late but i managed.
…..
…..
A huge bonfire dominated the place which their family mansion once stood. A close servant to their mother took them into hiding. But she ran back, her mother and father stayed for what would be the death of them. One's they'd once called brothers, betray them, or was the other way around. Her father had always whispered quietly that he would get just desserts for what he had done years before. "But I'll never let both of you pay for our sins." Paresh said before sending them away.
By the time she slipped through the servant's grasp and returned to the mansion, it was already in flames and the bodies of her parents were charred bounded to a stake.
"Check out the loot on these traitors!" One of the nine men with golden sashes around their arm held up a jewelled necklace.
She instantly recognised it as her mother's her real mother's necklace who had long died from childbirth. For Bipin wasn't her full blood brother but half. Nevertheless, his mother cherished her as her own as well. But that was the only keepsake she had.
She ran up to the man and clawed her way to the necklace.
"Urgh! Help!" The man cried out as a seven-year-old scratched his face out into a bloody mess.
His friends wrenched her off him and struck her in the gut to pin her down. Followed with viscious blows to her fragile little body till she could barely move.
"Is it the traitor's brat?"
"Who cares, we'll need to show something to Jaswant after this."
Another man grabbed her by the hairs and lifted her up, she screamed and whined from the pain.
"But we don't need her entirely, just the head will do." He said raising his kukri in the air to behead her. The other men were silent, hesitant to stop him, they dared not trifle with one of Jaswant the fanatic's lieutenants.
His hand sliced the air towars its final destination which was her neck but never reached its target. (Clang) The knife clattered upon the ground and a burst of blood gushed out from the man's chest that had a ten-inch gape in it. His grip loosened and he fell to the ground motionless.
"The hell! Who ar- GYYarrh!" A flash of steel swooped about in the night parting the heads of the remaining eight before they had to scream in agony or retaliate.
The girl, named by her mother as Maya. Too weak to get up peered through her heavy eyelids at the person that came to her rescue. The face was clouded due to the darkness setting in because the flames were dimming.
"For all that is to come, have faith."
But she recalled the man's silhouette as the man picked her up and took her away to her new home with the Khati Household. Her fatigue and pain begun to overtake more than she could handle and fainted. When she came to within the Khati household, Bipin was by her side crying his little eyes out and to her surprise, her mother's necklace was lying by the bedside table.
But from passing out that night, she'd forever lost the chance to find her benefactor. Although the last words he said to her was what gave her the strength to change her fate for herself and Bipin's dire fate.
…
…
"…..-ander…..Commander!" Maya woke up from that call.
"Yes?" Maya shook the fuzziness she'd been experiencing from awaking from her afternoon doze off. She had been working to replenish the Army, the Guards paperwork was already done. Lately, things had been thrown to her by Queen Min because of her 'maternity leave'. The work should have gone to Colonel Raja but Yuma had designated her to do the load, she could have sworn Raja left with a smirk.
"I've brought in the list of procurement requests from the nine regiments you asked for."
"Yes, thank you….."
"You look tired, ma'am. After we have finished this order of work, I'll handle the rest. As for now, shall I read them for you instead?" Maya smiled at the young officer for his thoughtfulness who blushed slightly.
"Yes, please."
"Uh- yeah. Ahem! For the first one, it seems as thought they've all asked for the same thing. In their words: "That 3-barrelled 12.7mm minigun at the King's party." It must've left an impression on the officers that attended the King's birthday."
"Denied." She shot down their request instantly.
"We'll need to file a reason."
"The miniguns aren't constituted for long-term use, having them in their inventory means they'll need to be supplied the parts regularly. Besides, Samar has his hands full providing those systems for the helicopters first." The last she counted was twenty, some were bought by the Indian special forces.
"Very well, I'll do a draft on that. The next is on requests for thermal optics and reflex sights. The reports suggest an increase in lethality per average trooper in patrols by fifteen percent."
"…." It was to be expected, improving their soldiers ability to take quick reactive shots and to identify the enemies presences with the thermal imager in day and night was a valuable asset to have and potentially saved lives.
"The distribution will remain the same for the thermals, one per platoon. They don't come easily in supply. But reflex sights I'm willing to distribute to each rifleman."
"I'll inform logistics to handle the distribution then. I think you should retire, I'll handle the rest, ma'am." Maya nodded and got out of the armchair and picked up her bag, leaving the Royal Guards executive department at the Royal Fortress.
Usually a car would fetch her down to her home for the last six months. She took the time in the staff car escort to take a look at the ever-majestic scenery of the Kyrati mountains and valleys. She wondered if in future that view would remain, as at the rate of how developments were going Lakshman and other places might turn into full cities with skyscrapers. One of the most impressive civil developments since the beginning of the Min dynasty when a certain woman had made reforms for the country was the railway line stemming from Mumbai all the way to Lanka from the Western corridor of Kyrat. This allowed several hundred tons of imports and exports to be shipped without the costly use of airplanes to deliver large loads quickly. It also created a boom in the industry for development of infrastructure. Lakshman's vocation school allowed training for personnel to be equipped with the adequate know how of building, welding, project management and use of heavy vehicles.
She was glad Ajay wasn't just funnelling money into extravagant spending on the army and defense industry. Just in these few months he'd used nearly five billion green notes equivalent on imported arms from Russia, Southeast Asia and Europe. Seventy percent alone was used on the S-Program which highlighted the exorbidant amount for the riskiest project that Kyrat or any himalayan nation had ever embarked.
But it was that or Kyrat constantly struggling to be recognised as a legitimate power, this was the reality of the situation for them. Ajay's plan matched his reckless and relentless attitude which was being imprinted on the Royal Army, not necessarily a good thing when there is a time they should back out from something and don't.
She recalled how Yuma snorted at his claim to become a good king when he first arrived. But since then, she'd watched his change in behaviour. At first, he cared for nothing. But softened on his returned from Banapur much to her surprise. She witnessed him mourn for a girl he barely knew, a simple yet determined girl in the Golden Path. From there, he gave up on saving anyone affiliated to Golden Path and viewed them with extreme animosity, Jalendu Temple burned to a crisp to express his rage. From there, it grew to such heights that it caused him to go out of control. A byproduct of a narcotic he said, but she wasn't convinced. No drug could do that, not at least one known to the public. Ajay had a dabbling in something supernatural in Kyrat, but it wasn't just him. Sabal, the Devas and his father Mohan were all associated with something so deep and threatening that Ajay intentionally hid it from everyone.
To think he was supporting the kingdom against such a grave threat all by himself was almost unknown to the kingdom said lots about his unnoticed dedication to getting Kyrat out of there terrible situation and state. Maya had a feeling Noore knew a lot more than she let on, in fact it felt like Ajay trusted her more than anyone else. His accomplice in their endeavours to seek redemption and forgiveness. For Noore's work though forced was still done by her hand, Ajay's crime which he would never say. Happening in the states before he came perhaps.
Maya rubbed her head in pain from the mass of information she was processing for no reason, on top of that reminiscent dream she had about the fall of the Kadayat Household and the death of her father and step-mother. When the staff car dropped her off at the house road. She walked up the steps to Ajay's homestead looking forward to a hot bath and a scrumptious meal brewed up by Bhadra. She couldn't imagine dinner not done by her anymore, she was thoroughly a Bhadranist concerning appetite. It was too bad for Ajay that he chose to work in Lanka when he could have left them to it. But he stayed to guide the PDF in their training and tour of Lanka, which they had both objected to with High Command. But someone from the Canton corridor was pulling some strings. What that did was weaken the military presence in Lakshman that was already running on only PDF as a defense and armed police officers at most.
What did that do? Maya suspected the Canton families were eyeing Arsenal One of Lakshman, being the most developed. It was pretty obvious from Yuma the Min family was planning something in regards to the throne as the political landscape changed with the announcement of Yuma's soon to be born child. The dire strait of this was that in the eyes of the court, there were now three candidates for the throne. Badala, Yuma and the child. But the child's presence could be manipulated in such a way where they would turn on Ajay under pretext he was attempting to take the throne with his chances lowered.
Why Ajay chose to keep dwelling on the subject of ascending the Kyrati throne was beyond her, although she felt as if he never wanted it to begin with. Even though it allowed him to change the very geography of Kyrat instantaneously.
(Purrrr) Maya looked up to the porch of the house to find a familiar friend.
"Bishal! (Whistle) Hey there!" The big cat pounced on her and licked her plenty.
"I missed you too…Mmmm.. and boy have you grown quite a bit. Come on, let's get you some treats." She opened the door for her friend to enter the house while she took off her shoes.
(Growl) (Bark Bark)
-Oh, shit!- She forgot that there was another animal occupant in the house. She quickly went to get between them before they started clawing and biting eachother to death.
But then- (Whistle)
Then both creatures went of their hind legs at the sound of the hunter's whistle that wasn't from her.
(Clap) (Clap) (Clap) "That was amazing!" Applauded the other house resident.
Maya came in stunned by the scene of the two-sitting side by side. Cat and dog in harmony, she looked towards the auditor of this joke to find Darshan sitting at the table where Bhadra served him some tea with cakes that she also ate and drank.
"Ah- Maya! Welcome ba-." Unfortunately her attention wasn't focused on Bhadra but instead the one that took her best of friends away without permission.
"Do you have anything to say, specialist?" Darshan took a sip from Bhadra's tea.
"I've enjoyed Miss Rishal's afternoon tea thoroughly to my satisfaction." Bhadra giggled.
"What had you been doing to my friend?" She asked in a cold and icy tone.
Darshan returned her stare with a strange aura that completely destroyed her focus, even though there was hardly any hostility from his end. She blinked a few times to get back her senses, Bhadra looked baffled as to what happened and why Maya suddenly quieten down.
"Your Dharmic guardian was a little worrying so I had it trained a bit." He didn't lie in what he said. Still, Maya didn't like that he just up and took him.
"Stay close to him from now on. He'll be a greater protection to the unseen than Ajay Ghale could at the moment."
"Eh?" She was utterly confused by what Darshan just said to her, it sounded almost as if Darshan was in the same world as the Golden Path leaders and Ajay.
"I'll be off on my own accord, thank you for entertaining me Miss Rishal. It was a memorable experience."
"Ey! Anytime, Darshan. Just glad you returned Maya's animal buddy too!" Bhadra waved from the kitchen as she was preparing dinner. From the looks of things it seemed as if she had gotten along well with him.
Darshan turned to the door but looked towards Maya to extend his salutations and goodbye before he left.
"I'll be taking my leave-."
"Just hang on a minute." She said gritting her teeth, she wanted an explanation.
"No. Time is short, what Ghale has done has just accelerated this conflict to go into second gear. Things will be more perilous than they've ever been. I'm leaving." He turned to leave her without waiting to hear if she approved or not. Just as he was at the door he stopped and said almost too soft to hear but she'd heard it.
"For all that is to come, have faith."
"Eh-…. What did you-..?" Darshan departed before she had the chance to finish her sentence.
Her mind thundered with that familiar phrase he used at the very end. What the man who saved her from certain death at the Kadayat Household almost sixteen years ago told her. The image of that man overlapped with Darshan's all too familiar silhouette.
"Don't tell me-…."
