The little girl heard most of what her brother said with enthusiasm, but there was suddenly something that she found distasteful. "Hmph!" she snorted, crossing her arms together and turning away vividly to present her brother with her profile. "Even if the world is large, it is only as big as grandfather's two legs. At a uniform rate, distance travelled is equal to time. One only needs to adjust that rate and they can cover the entire land in mere hours if they so need to. Why do you need to feel small Vaju?" the pointy chinned little lady asked haughtily. "And I don't care if you do, but how dare you say Rthandhra is small, and is a mere speck!"

Rattled by his sister's intelligence as he often was, little Vajradandaka babbled, "But if you stay still—"

"So who asked you to stay still!" Varunapriya hit his head with her knotted dupatta, the little metal bells flicking his face harshly. "Man always strives for something, nobody stays still. Distance is large, so what? You are not small. You have no idea yet what sort of a colossal existence a royal prince is. That is why you compare your dick to everything to find out how big you are. No wonder you're so disappointed."

The nine year old girl was arguably influenced by her mature sisters and cousins. Girls who share everything with each other, tend to mature faster when they grow up together, rather than boys and men who bottle things up to protect their individual nature.

"Chee*! Dirty mouth, go wash it with soap," the little prince royally ordered, based on sound logic.

(*An exclamation of disgust, like 'yuck' or the text slang 'eeww'.)

"You're the dirty mouth!" little Varuna smiled shyly, pushing her brother. She was a little embarrassed to use the dirty slang in front of her brother, who all the sisters wanted to keep pure and innocent. In front of the two brothers anyway, the sisters were pure as pearls.

"Anyway," Little Princess Varunapriya quickly changed the subject, "Before we talk about the rest of the world, first tell me why you aren't wasting time with those lame courtiers like you usually do? At this hour, it's hard to find you anywhere close to the west wing, let alone in your secret place."

The little prince looked away, his forehead weighed down lightly. "Uh…I'll tell you about it later. Don't ask me now, it'll only spoil the mood. But first, Varu, one must speak respectfully of the ministers of court. After all, they are the links through which we royals are able to serve our people. Without ministers, we might as well be despots who plunder the people's wealth to act wantonly as they please."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Varunapriya snorted haughtily, "If they weren't always licking your boots so enthusiastically, I would've been more respectful like you said. What you said only applies to ministers who actually 'serving' the people. These jackals who serve in dad's court are the real despots. Why? Do you disagree?" she threw up an eyebrow, asking.

Vajradandaka who was still in the learning phase knew better than to form judgments too easily. He remembered grandfather once said, 'Those who look from the outside do see clearly, yet they do not know what it is like inside. From the outside, they can see and tell that the water is murky, but is it possible for them to tell what it feels to swim in this water? Can they tell the water's depth?'

"Not everyone is like that…" the boy shrugged it off, his mind wandering, "Besides, even if they lick my boots, so what? I'm going to be the second most powerful person in the country soon! Who knows? Maybe father-Indra will retire after this campaign in the west, and big brother will take the throne! That would be so cool. At that time, he he, I can attend court every day and sit on the high seat under the throne, not some lame cushion at the edge of the steps."

Surprised, Varunapriya exclaimed. She pinched her little brother's ear harshly, "Dad, retiring? Where did you get this idea from? You jackass, is that a kind of thing you can say casually? Are you so thirsty for power that you decided to have such renegade thoughts even!"

"Hisss…! Elder sister, don't pinch me so harshly. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay?!"

"Hmmph! You're sorry. Do you think sorry works? I will rip off your ear if you don't explain why you're having such thoughts."

"It's…Hiss, gently! Hiss…It's nothing. It's just something that happened yesterday…It's the reason why I didn't go attend tea time with the courtiers today…and…and…" he stuttered in his childish staccato, "I just said it, okay? I wasn't thinking, and I certainly didn't mean it!"

In the main palace, there is a huge courtyard with tea and light entertainment every evening for people of the court and other nobles to socialize and relax. Only once in a week or during special days and festivals does this tea time stretch all the way into the evening where large scale entertainment happens. Normally, this hour was meant for the officials to rehash the day's matters and discuss state issues in a relaxed environment. The little prince has a habit of 'going to play' at this main courtyard every afternoon.

"A royal prince is supposed to 'think'!" she twisted his ear sharply, evoking a painful 'ow!' from the boy. "If you don't think, who's going to think? The man who milks the cows in the Goshala**?"

(**A barn for cows)

The poor little prince tried many different positions to get away from the pain, coiling to and fro on his knees like a snake dancing to the flute. "I won't. I won't. I won't say things like that without thinking again. Elder sister, don't punish me!"

"Hmmph! You boy, consider this your final warning. A prince's mouth can only produce pearls, not bullshit," the round-faced little girl said angrily, with her hands on her waist like some mature Devi.

"If something happens out there in the battlefield that father-Indra has to retire early because of it, I will certainly hold you accountable! I won't forgive you so easily that time. I won't forgive you at all."

Vajradandaka's heart skipped a beat. He had forgotten that his father was braving the frontlines, fighting barbarians at this very moment, and spoken carelessly.