Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

Next morning dawned with a grumpy looking Yash waiting outside the girls' dormitory. He came to stand there at 6am. These days, he didn't know Mriga's schedule but assumed that she would not get out of her hostel before this. After waiting for twenty minutes, he finally saw her arrive but much to his surprise, from the other direction.     

"You?"     

"You?"     

Both of them looked at each other in astonishment.     

"What are you doing here so early in the morning," Mriga asked him.     

"Where are you coming from, so early in the morning?" he asked at the same time.     

"Uh… I went for a walk. During the long stressful day, it becomes difficult for me to find some quiet time for myself, hence I start my day in this manner. But why are you here at this hour?" she covered up.     

"I… that is, we… I mean yesterday we seemed to have parted on a wrong foot and I didn't want it to linger on in your heart or mine. So I just wanted to come and see you," he said shyly.     

Mriga looked at his embarrassed face and blushed as well.     

Her tongue seemed to be stuck inside her mouth.     

They both stole furtive glances at each other before she mustered some courage and asked him, "why don't we make a new plan for the coming holiday? My treat this time."     

He nodded enthusiastically and said, "yes, let's do that. I promise not to bring any assignment along with."     

"This is it. I am going to tell her about my feelings EXPLICITLY on that day. No more waiting," he told himself while heading back towards his room.     

They had chatted for a couple of minutes before going back in to their respective hostels to get ready for their classes.     

"Why do you look like an overripe apple this morning," Ishani cornered Mriga in the common bathroom.     

Trying to keep her expression nonchalant, she replied, "I guess it's because I asked someone out on a date this morning."     

The neem stick which Ishani had in her mouth for cleaning her teeth, fell on the floor.     

"You did whatttt?" she asked in disbelief.     

Mriga's radiant smile gave her all the response that she needed.     

"Didn't you spend the entire evening yesterday cursing him and feeling sorry for yourself? Wait a minute. We are talking about the same guy here, right? I mean you haven't sought someone else as revenge, no?" Ishani asked, confusion evident in her eyes.     

"Arghhh, can you stop reacting like this? Yes, we are talking about the one and only," Mriga clarified and went on to explain the happenings of this morning to her friend.     

"I see. So the love birds couldn't stay angry with each other for more than a few hours. Good, I am glad that both of you left your stupid egos and made up. Else I would have had to spend countless minutes trying to play love guru again," she said, melodramatically.     

Mriga rolled her eyes at her friend's words and started to walk away.     

"Hold on. Isn't it a full moon on this weekend?" asked Ishani.     

Chandragarh followed the Lunar calendar for calculations of their months and days. It was calculated from the advent of one New Moon to the next. A month usually comprised of 29 days. So if a person was born on a new moon day in a particular month, then her birthday will be celebrated next year in the same month on the new moon day.     

Chandragarh followed a seven day week and the seventh day from the new moon day was considered a holiday for that week.     

Mriga had been born on a full moon night almost fifteen years ago and hence by those calculations, it was her birthday on the coming holiday.     

"Oh! I had forgotten about it completely. Umm… should I cancel the plan and spend the day with you?" she asked apologetically.     

Ishani rolled her eyes and looked at her friend in disbelief.     

"Are you crazy? You want to cancel a beautifully planned birthday date with your crush and spend it with me? At this rate, you won't find a guy for yourself ever and will reduce my chances at the same considerably, as well!!" she replied with a shudder.     

Mriga stuck her tongue out at her best friend's harsh declaration.     

"Should I tell Yash about her birthday or should I let him discover it on his own? Umm… with his poor track record up till now, I think he needs all the help which he can get. I might as well aid him in planning this otherwise he will turn up clueless that day," Ishani thought mischievously.     

Later that evening     

"Guruji, why aren't we playing chess today?" Mriga asked Prithvi the minute she entered the musty room.     

As was the routine, she was expecting the table to have the soft cloth with the chess markings and the wooden pieces on top of it.     

"I got bored of it. So we are going to do something different tonight," he said and placed a huge tray on the table.     

The tray seemed to have some objects on it but was covered with a piece of cloth. Mriga had learnt the art of patience from Shaurya and waited for Prithvi to give her details.     

"I asked Saraswati to put a few items on this tray. Even I don't know what all is here. So what we have to do is – take a peek at the contents of this tray for three seconds. There are twenty different things kept here. After the time runs out, we will replace the cover and start writing what all did we see. The winner is obviously the person who saw and remembered more items than the other. Understood?" he asked.