Slavery did not exist as an industry in the past, but it was somehow on the rise in the recent one hundred years.

"It must be abolished," the prince said with a stern face, "One must unite the lands to do so." He nodded heavily.

Kush felt a firm conviction in the prince's words, but he didn't hear him say he will do so himself. So where does the conviction himself? This was yet another privilege of the rulers, he understood later. Merely having a stance will make a difference far reaching in the world. How can anything that comes out of the prince's mouth be without value? That's why Varunapriya reminded him back then that only pearls must come out of his mouth, not bullshit. For his words always had great value. His conviction now, had greatly influenced his counterpart who was like a floating duckweed in the water at present. His teacher wanted him to conquer, to rule. But what for? Why in the world…?

Now he had an answer. He had a direction. Even he found it strange. Don't I hate the boy? Don't I resent him at least? So why does he fill me with such conviction with just a few words?

This is the pride of a royal. The pride of a true Kshatriya. Its light is unrelenting. When it spreads, it can set the whole world on fire.

The two boys talked a lot more in the following days. Kush was not as aloof as before, coming and going as he pleased. He was a lot more attentive, bringing food at every meal time, sharing information about the pursuer's whereabouts. He did all this even though the assassin prince duo had nothing else to trade with him. He even joked about treating this as an IOU. Surprisingly enough, even though both boys couldn't speak in the other's language, they could both understand the other's native tongue. If they run into any major blocks, the assassin or the teacher who had more worldly knowledge than these two would come to their aid. Of course, there was another solution for this communication problem that could easily resolve their issues in one go. They could both speak in Sanskrit, the mother

language! But being kids, they both hated that. The rigidity of the language and the umpteen rules meant it was more suited to those stern old Brahmins who like to admonish kids like them all the time. Kush was not very proficient in it as well, unlike the bookish little prince who can still manage a degree of fluency while conversing in it. But even he doesn't like it. So they decided to stick to their own respective tongues.

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Kush was surprised when he heard about the little prince's deductions. He was indeed brought here by his teacher for wilderness training. Being from a cold region, he was having a harsh time in the drylands before he met the prince. But even harsher training was to follow when they move further west into the desert. And then they will reunite with the troop and meet with those people…But Kush couldn't share that with the prince, of course.

Kush heard several other deductions from the prince, especially about the society he was from and some other places he had visited. He didn't share much with the prince about how those places were run apart the barest details like slavery, etc. But the prince was about to talk in detail about what kind of mentality the rulers have, how much the citizens worship their sovereign and why, what keeps their civilization intact and so on. One has to know that the western drylands were not even as connected with the central lands as the prairies in their east, which by themselves were pretty remote. But still, the prince couldn't just describe these lands in an outsider's point of view, but could actually give a vivid description of how these places worked from the inside. It felt like he was at some remote corner of the world, but surprisingly, he could see everything from here. Even after years of moving around, Kush didn't feel like he had seen much of the world. But the little prince did so just by remaining stationary. What sort of wisdom was that?

Just when the little boy was beginning to be truly impressed by the distressed royal, to an extent where he would've sworn loyalty to him with just a little prompting, the little prince suddenly slipped into a coma. He wouldn't wake up no matter what was done, throwing his guard's heart into a disarray. It seemed like it was the end of the road for the famous ten year old.

Frantic, Chandra Kush ran to his teacher, his big doe like eyes inherited from his mother welling with water. He looked absolutely pitiful, standing there, alone in the night wind, seeking help from the most powerful being he knew in the world.

But she was still motionless. Resplendent like the moon. Breathtaking in solemnity, yet unable to be moved. Glistening and quiet in the endless night…

She's as mysterious and final as death, thought Chandra Kush, for the first time realising how truly alone he was in the universe.