Right now, his prized horse's heart beating underneath him became one with his own as he thought first of solitude and multitude. In his mind, becoming clear was a picture of a great void where only darkness resided for as far as the eye can see. Seeming not so far away was a giant star shining white and exceedingly bright. It was hard to look at it for long. It felt like the sun, but was cold and disturbing. It was as bright as the sun, no it was brighter, yet all that the eye could see was only darkness. Vajradandaka was disgusted. He felt it was a waste of resources. After all, the Adityas held the sun in great esteem.
Softly, as though coming from a great distance, reason occurred to him. In the void, there is nothing for the light to reflect upon. Therefore everything was dark.
Suddenly, a giant metal cylinder came at crashing speeds. It startled him greatly. It had two reflective wings attached to it and several other little appliances that didn't make any sense. Vajradandaka frowned. But before he could make heads or tails of that sight, out popped a capsule from that metal box, the size of an elephant and its baby. The capsule was moving in a fast trajectory coming closer to him at every second. It became unstable soon and in the blur, Vajradandaka saw through a glass case where a strangely dressed woman was seated. Surrounding her were screens and sensors and knobs, none of which he could make sense of. He only thought it was all mystical. Suddenly, the capsule was shaken completely from its trajectory and flipped chaotically, losing its footing in outer space.
"Mom!"
Apart from the swishing winds, the forest was as though dead, not a being in sight, not a movement to be seen. Currently riding in a stretch of barren land with only a few reeds and clumps of cactus to be seen, the little prince's dazed utterance was clearly heard by all.
The platoon commander Shaura rode ahead to be side by side with the prince, asking gently, "Little Prince, is something the matter?"
"Hmm?" the prince said in a daze, while whole vision filled by the face of that panicked, yet graceful woman. She looked so beautiful...
Replying distractedly, he pointed to one of the reeds and absently laughed, "Mom. Uncle Shaura, that whitish reed over there is precisely what my mother is named after. Sara-devi."
"Oh, that's right," the platoon commander remembered, "Sara is the reed that the esteemed late queen's maternal clan, Yaru vansh uses as its totem." And then he chuckled, eagerly pointing, "Oh and little prince, there's a prickly pear over there as well! Look!"
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He didn't see the dangerous look in Little Prince Vajradandaka's face as he salivated, "It must be really tasty. This type of wild prickly pear can actually be pickled in honey and lemon to make a very tasty dish."
The vice-commander cleared his throat loudly from behind telling the boss to shut up. Unfortunately, the commander was on a roll, talking about the elaborate varieties that his wife makes with prickly pear.
"You bastard! I'm going to kill you!" the little firecracker lost it and directly jumped off his horse to bring the old platoon commander down, a move that made the whole platoon nearly have a heart attack. Thankfully, the trusty head of prince's personal guard didn't lose his balance and fall down. However, that only meant, the little prince got a solid grip on him while he pummeled him where he was. The old guard pleaded his case tearfully, but to no avail. The rest of the platoon came to a slow stop around the commander's horse and made bets with each other about how long this session of pummeling will last.
To understand what happened, one must visit an anecdote from the little prince's life. The little prince was once surrounded by learned Brahmins who came to witness his renowned wit in his classroom. He was studying with other princes and princesses from the royal palace along with other noble children of high status. The topic of the day was etymology. To make it interesting, the teacher touched upon the meaning of names and that is when the prince first thought about the meaning of his mother's name. It was simply Reed Goddess. And then his teacher explained to him about root words and how the root word of his brother's name Vajra could either mean diamond or thunder. Vajradhaara means to have a tip as hard as diamond. It refers to a swordpoint or a spearpoint, etc. Similarly, his grandfather who was named Vajradhrak had a root word that meant thunder, giving his name the overall meaning of wielding thunder or a wielder of thunder. Now asked to derive the meaning of his own name, the famously intelligent prince stylishly came on to the stage and explained, the Vajra in his name should mean thunder and 'danda' means to punish, so his name should mean 'the one who punishes with thunder'! He even coolly assumed a pose and called himself 'the Thunder Punisher'. Meanwhile, one of sisters who was older to him by one year and was an absolute menace went into the garden and had the servants tow along a large, graceful cactus. It was precisely the prickly pear.
When Vajradandaka looked at her a little startled by her antics, she announced loudly to the class, "This is your name! Stupid Cactus! Did you never wonder why grandfather calls you Little Cactus? You dumbo!"
And that is how the dignified prince ended up becoming the laughing stock of not just the class, but also all the visiting scholars who came from distant provinces only to see his great wits in action.
From then on, the prince tended to become very prickly whenever someone talked about the prickly pear. Who could've guessed that such a powerful sounding name was associated with an ugly plant? And why would his mother name him after a plant anyway? Even going by the fact that she herself was a reed, a cactus is just further degenerating in taste.
The little prince kept on pummeling the platoon commander with endless energy, even demanding in a shrill voice, "Take off your armor! Take off your armor, I want to hit you! Don't cover your face, how dare you!"