King Jarasandha stepped closer and applied a tilak of vermilion on Karna's forehead. The queen, Maharani Padmavati, followed, waving the harathi lamp in slow circles before Karna's face. Karna stood still, palms joined, eyes lowered in quiet acceptance of the ritual.
Once the rites were complete, King Jarasandha turned to his family. "Now, meet my house. This is my chief queen, Maharani Padmavati. My son, Jayatsena, and my youngest daughter, Dhavani."
Karna smiled and nodded to each, his expression warm but reserved.
Padmavati returned the nod with a graceful smile, Jayatsena bowed slightly with the confidence of a warrior, and Dhavani, her veil shifting slightly, kept her gaze lowered in shyness, though her cheeks flushed faintly.
King Jarasandha then gestured toward the palace doors. "Come inside. You must be weary from the journey."
Karna turned briefly to his Uparati. "Ranadhira, take care of the chariot. See that the horses are fed and rested."
Ranadhira nodded, his voice firm. "As you command, Maharaj."
Karna followed King Jarasandha inside, the group moving through wide corridors lined with torches and guards.
Because it was already late in the afternoon, Karna was shown to a grand guest room to rest instead of any talks.
The chamber was spacious, with silk drapes hanging from the ceiling, a large bed covered in fresh linens, and low tables set with fruit and water.
He rested there briefly, washing the dust of travel from his face and hands.
As evening fell, the grand feast began in the palace's main dining hall.
It was Karna's first such event in another kingdom, a lavish spread that stretched across long tables, with musicians playing soft melodies on veenas and flutes, dancers in flowing silks moving gracefully to the rhythm, and servants carrying platters of roasted meat, spiced curries, fresh bread, sweets dripping with ghee, and jugs of madhira wine.
Karna sat at the high table beside King Jarasandha, with the queen and the royal princess obviously absent. Not just them, apart from the maids that are serving the ministers and princes, and the dancers, no other woman was present in this feast.
As servants offered him a plate with meat, Karna politely waved it away. When asked, he immediately said, "I thank you for the hospitality, Maharaj, but I do not eat meat or drink wine."
The Crown Prince Sahadeva, already deep into his cup of madhira, his cheeks flushed, looked up with a raised eyebrow. "But you are a kshatriya, Sangyaputra. Eating meat, drinking wine, and enjoying the dance, these are regular activities for us. How else does a warrior keep his strength?"
Karna met his gaze calmly, without offense, and replied calmly. "I might be a kshatriya, Prince Sahadeva, but I grew up in Suryaloka and trained under Lord Parashurama. I have no habit of eating tamasic food or drinking madhira. And frankly, I dislike having such a habit. It clouds the mind and dulls the body."
King Jarasandha sniggered, a low, appreciative sound, as he tore into a piece of roasted meat. "But you have a great physique, Karna. Getting such strength without eating any meat, you must have worked quite hard."
Karna shrugged it off with a small smile. "Not really. I have divine blood, Magadha Naresh. And the discipline learned from my guru is stronger than any feast."
The second prince, Jayatsena, quieter, more thoughtful than his brother, leaned forward. "Rajan, I heard that your queen is a Gandharva princess. I bet you must have listened to amazing music and seen celestial dancers back in Gandharvaloka. So, how does our music fare compared to theirs?"
Before Karna could even reply, Prince Sahadeva interrupted, his words slurring slightly from the wine. "Brother, you can't compare our humans to Gandharvas. Our dancers and musicians entertain us, the mortal Kings. But they sing and dance for devas."
There was a hint of mockery in his tone, indirectly hinting that even Karna's wife was only suitable to be a dancer like the ones who are entertaining them currently, even if it was for devas.
The table grew quiet for a moment, but Karna didn't dig deep into the words.
Instead, he countered calmly, his voice steady and thoughtful. "Prince Sahadeva, Music and dance are the epitome of creation and destruction. Narada Rishi sings every day of Narayana while roaming all over the Brahmand, and even Mahadeva likes to dance to the music. And when it is time, Mahadeva will begin his tandava, bringing an end to the universe so that a new one can emerge with the sound of Om. So, there is actually no comparison between one's singing and another's. There is just singing and dancing. What matters is for what purpose those things are being done, and whether they fulfill that purpose or not, whether it is entertainment, destruction, or creation."
Sahadeva fell silent, his cup paused mid-way to his lips, his expression unsettled.
The others around the table shifted slightly, Karna's words hanging in the air like a quiet challenge to their way of life. More than a challenge, they felt more like Karna was pointing them out as the wrong people and was preaching to them. It hurt their ego slightly.
Meanwhile, King Jarasandha watched him thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing as he chewed.
But he didn't comment and changed the topic smoothly, his voice booming to fill the hall. "Anyway, let's not talk about those unimportant topics. Let's talk about interesting ones. Say, Karna, I'm curious about the rakshasa tribes you fought all by yourself without any army. Which one did you find the most difficult?"
Karna leaned back slightly, considering the question. "Well, in terms of strength, they aren't that strong at all. But the Chera rakshasas in the eastern hills… they were too stubborn for their own good. Most rakshasas would bow down once their king was killed in front of them, but these ones resisted my peace offering again and again. I had to eliminate their entire tribe."
Prince Jayatsena looked up, curiosity in his eyes. "Including the women?"
Crown Prince Sahadeva scoffed, waving his cup. "What women? Rakshasas are rakshasas. They are nothing but demons."
Karna shook his head at that statement, his expression serious but not judgmental. "No, not because they are rakshasas. Because they were evil who refused to stop killing. Evil cannot be seen through the lens of a man or a woman, Prince Jayatsena. Even Lord Rama killed Tadaka because she was evil." After a pause, he added, "I have given them the option of either shifting to Dandaka Forest and acting as they please, or staying in their habitats but stopping killing and eating humans who venture into the forest, but they refuse to listen."
Jayatsena frowned thoughtfully and said, "But they are rakshasas, Sangyaputra. It's their nature to kill and eat humans."
To that, Karna shook his head, "No, it is not. Just like how I chose not to eat meat, they can choose not to kill humans, too. But they didn't accept my words and resorted to using force instead. So, I had to do what I needed to do."
The conversation shifted again, but Karna's words lingered.
His dharmic preaching only made others unsettled; they found him very weird, his thoughts completely different from theirs.
King Jarasandha also understood why Karna had mentioned that he could not ally with Magadha as long as Magadha was allied to Mathura.
But then again, Jarasandha was a person who believed in strength.
If all Karna had was a mouth, it was all useless in Jarasandha's view. So, Jarasandha decided to wait until he fought with Karna and then decide what to do with him, whether to make him a friend or forget him.
*
Later that night, after the grand feast had wound down and the last notes of the veena faded into silence, Karna retreated to his guest chamber.
Instead of the bed, He walked to the wide window that overlooked the city and pushed aside the curtain.
The full moon hung low in the sky, its silver light spilling across the rooftops. He stood there for a long time, arms resting on the sill, eyes fixed on that bright disc.
It had only been a couple of days since he left Kanipura, and he had been away from her for longer stretches before. He spent weeks in the forests pacifying or eradicating rakshasa tribes.
Yet this time the separation felt heavier, sharper, as though the distance had grown teeth.
He missed the sound of her voice when she spoke to the twins inside her, missed the way her hand would rest on his arm during their morning walks, missed the quiet moments when they simply sat together and watched the city breathe.
The twins were coming soon, and the thought of being away at such an important time gnawed at him. If not for diplomacy, he would have gone right away to Roshini's side.
Karna's hand drifted to his waist, fingers brushing the curved dagger that hung there day and night.
He drew it slowly from its sheath.
The blade was short, practical, and made of dark steel that caught the moonlight in a dull, steady gleam.
The handle was gold, shaped like a blooming lotus, and etched with tiny Sanskrit syllables, a gift from Roshini a few months ago, on his 30th birthday. She had placed it in his hands with a small smile and said, "You are always protecting others. Let this remind you that someone is protecting you, too."
He ran his thumb along the handle now, and a small, wistful smile touched his lips. "Roshini..." he murmured her name to the empty room. He held the dagger a moment longer, then slid it back into its sheath.
At the same moment, in Kanipura of Dakshina Kalinga, Roshini also stood alone on the balcony of the Crown of Sun Palace.
The night air was cool against her skin, the full moon hanging bright and round above the city.
She leaned against the railing, one hand supporting the heavy curve of her belly, the other resting gently on the swell where the twins moved restlessly inside her.
As she watched the moon, she couldn't help but see the image of her husband in it, and an expression of longing immediately crept onto her face. "Husband..." She whispered under her breath.
A maid then approached softly, carrying a shawl. "Maharani… you need to take rest. It is also cold outside."
Roshini smiled, though the expression didn't quite reach her eyes. "I know. Just a little longer." She looked back at the moon, her voice dropping to a murmur again. "Husband… I feel anxious this time, for some reason. Don't stay away too long."
She rubbed slow circles over her belly, feeling the twins shift in response. "Your father will be back soon," she whispered to them.