Pradyumna runs out to the courtyard. He knows he has to find Maya.
“Maya!” he screams. He wants to tell her he has just killed a man. He can’t get the bloodstained floor with Shamabara lying there helpless out of his mind. He knows he could never be the same person he was before that moment.
He blinks. Shakes his head. Trying to rid of that awful image.
Wait. Is that a cloud of blue dirt? It whirls a bit. He shakes his head again, but it’s still there.
As a figure gradually appear, Pradyumna looks around to see where he can hide.
“Greetings, young Pradyumna.” A blue figure addresses him. He is adorned in gold jewelry; even his clothes are golden plates pieced together by thin golden threads. There is one bright red jewel stuck in the center of his forehead that gleams in contrast with all of the gold.
“Uh, you look like that image of Shiva?”
“I am Shiva,” the blue figure answers.
“Oh…” Pradyumna frowns. Why is he here?
“You need to find Mayavati immediately. She told you of your destiny. She is part of your destiny. Find her because she is your wife reincarnated and she needs you. Find her before it’s too late,” Shiva says.
“But…” Before Pradyumna can get another word out the blue figure evaporates into thin air and is no longer visible to his eyes.
Mayavati? Is that Maya? My wife? But, where could she be? The kitchen, he thinks.
Moments later outside of the kitchen, in the garden:
Maya sits hidden behind a bush.
He can’t find me right now. He doesn’t know I’m supposed to be his wife and I can’t handle seeing him get friendly with another girl, she thinks seething with anger. I can't tell him I'm supposed to be his. I need to get out of here.
“Maya!” She hears Pradyumna screeching intensely.
Nope. She shakes her head. I can’t do it.
“Maya, where are you?” He sounds concerned.
Before she can attempt to get out of there and run Shiva appears beside her. She shakes her head at him and whispers, “I can’t.”
“Go to him. You don’t need to say anything. It will be okay," he reassures her.
Maya takes a deep breath, nods at Shiva’s already evaporating figure, and gets to her feet.
“Here. Pradyumna, I’m right here.”
“Maya, are you Mayavati?” Pradyumna asks.
The question catches her off guard. What? How does he know? The look on her face must have given her away.
“Maya, you’re my wife! Shiva told me. I'm so glad I found you.” Pradyumna grins.
Mayavati nods but takes a step back. Shouldn’t she be happy that he knows? She wonders.
Pradyumna takes a step forward and gently reaches out his hand to caress her arm. With his touch her anger disappears with him. His fingers tenderly travel down to her hand and he pulls her gently towards him. She willingly allows herself to become wrapped up in his embrace.
“I am so sorry. I didn’t know. You are the one and it makes sense, " he says in low voice with passion burning in his eyes.
He frees one hand to run his forefinger along her neck and lift her chin up. Before she realizes it his soft lips have met hers. Her body relaxes instantly into his embrace as her arms go up to tangle her fingers into his soft flowing hair.
His lips leave hers as he trails kisses down her neck and onto her shoulder. She moans and his lips are there to meet hers again.
Suddenly she’s pushing against him. “Pradyumna we still have to make our vows; this can’t be happening.”
He groans and throws his head back, but after a second, he nods. “Let’s get this over with.”
Maya smiles shyly up at him happy he’s so excited to still have her by his side even in this new life.
“But first, I think you need to meet your parents,” she says.
Author's Note: The story was inspired by Usha Narayanan's version of Pradyumna alongside my own ideas. I figured it was time for Pradyumna to learn that Maya is Mayavati and supposed to be his wife. I was struggling with how he was going to figure that out, knowing myself I didn't think Maya would be very willing to tell him. I would be mad that he hadn't figured it out by that point. That whole thing where women expect men to know things? My goal was to show Pradyumna becoming a changed and better person (character development) as he just killed someone and now he's been asked to find the one woman he's supposed to be with. I asked a good friend for inspiration and he mentioned bringing in the guy that is the reason for Pradyumna's existence. It worked quite well and I owe him for the idea. I'm super excited that I got to include a bit of a love story within the hero's story. At the beginning of the project I wasn't sure if that was going to happen, but here we are. I had a lot of fun trying to depict a woman's mood based a lot on my own self.