I Control My Fate

story by Sameer Raote

Life of Tashmaini Rosi

PRE 10/03/5799 – PRE 5641

Tashmaini Rosi was a cute little girl born during one spring sunrise of the Rosi kingdom. At a very young age Tasmi became aware of her truth. In this beautiful feminine body resided the spirit of a God. The moment she realized that that’s when her mischief began.

Tasmi was always in control of every situation she was in. Even as a child when there were some kingdom related decisions to be made she would find a way to sway them in her favor. Not to satisfy any sinister intentions. Rather she did this to correct decisions that were at times wrongly taken by the king, her father.

Tasmi was trained to be a queen but she learned to be a king. She liked the control, the power to do good. She was clever, sly and manipulative but in a good way. She was so good at it that nobody could track the origin of the thought back to her. Tasmi loved running the kingdom from the shadows. But at one point her parents decided that it was right time for her to get married.

A contest was arranged where princes from all over the world were invited to compete. Although she never said it, Tasmi had already made her choice. It was prince Karam Veer from Veronya kingdom. The reason for her choosing him was very strong. That’s because the bond they shared transcended this mortal life. He didn’t know but she did.

She realized that Karam wasn’t the most competent candidate to win all the competitions by himself. So she tweaked a few things here and there to make sure that he wins. This way without her saying a word she got married to the one she wanted to.

Life changed gears when she moved to Veronya kingdom. Tasmi’s birthplace was a peaceful small kingdom in the hills. She was happy living a low key life which is why this sudden change was difficult for her to adjust to. Life in Veronya kingdom was restrictive. A lot of do’s and don’ts the royal family had to adhere to. The life of constantly being under the scanner of people didn’t suit her. There were so many rules to follow that Tasmi’s mischievous side didn’t get space to breath.

She wanted an out from this situation but in the right way. Fortunately her intentions aligned with her husband’s as he was not ready to take the responsibility of a king. She might have nudged him to get an idea of living a simple life in forest far away from the busy royal life of the kingdom. When her husband chose exile for him Tasmi obviously followed.

The newly wed couple and Karam’s brother started living there in the forest. She was enjoying her life. From time to time she would meet passing by travelers and really connect with them. Since they didn’t know her true identity she wasn’t under the obligation to act in a certain way.

Tasmi was a good listener and a problem solver. Whenever Karam found himself in a difficult situation she would advise him. Some might say that this is the quality of a good queen. But Tasmi didn’t like the idea of being a queen. When Karam did not know what kind of a king he wanted to be, she suggested him to compile his thoughts in form of a book. She was the one who inspired Karam to write the foundational text for democracy called Divykatha.

This was good. She controlled everything around her including her fate. Still sometimes her suggestions backfired. Like when she suggested Karam to write, he dove deep into that job. Result of that he started neglecting the duties of a husband. He started ignoring Tasmi, though not on purpose. This led to her spending lonely time in the forest.

At times Tasmi had doubts about the love he felt for her. Although Karam was pretty affectionate, loving and caring most of the times he never went to extreme to express his love for her. Even during the competition to marry Tasmi she saw no desperation in Karam’s eyes. Probably by cheating she made it easy for Karam to win.

Tasmi wanted to test his love for her. In those days Tasmi knew that a shadowy figure was following her. One day she confronted him revealing it to be the evil king Raghvan Kai. Tasmi was unaware of his reputation. So she naively flirted the idea that Raghvan should abduct her and take her his kingdom.

Tasmi hoped that she would be caged in a nearby kingdom and her husband would come to rescue her. But suddenly things became real when her abductor threw her in a flying vehicle and traveled to a kingdom across the sea. Raghvan put her in a jail. It was a scary situation but Tasmi wasn’t scared. Something else was going on in her mind.

Coming to the hostile environment of Kai kingdom she realized that life isn’t all happy everywhere around the world. There are many people here treated as inferior and as slaves. The worst part was that they had accepted it as a part of their life. So they didn’t see that as a problem.

Tasmi wanted to fix this situation. While she was trapped in the cage she saw a strange behavior in evil king Raghvan. He was the most ruthless being of the kingdom abusing his power for personal gain. This was during the day. But during night time Raghvan would come to her cage to simply talk. At this time Raghvan was not himself. All he liked to do was talk. He never forced her to love him back or tried to marry her. During these conversations the Kai king was honest and reasonable.

Tasmi initially might have resisted the idea of chatting with her abductor but soon she got comfortable. She tried to teach the emotionless Raghvan some empathy. She tried pointing out what was wrong with him and what he should do to fix that. Things were getting better over the long time she was there.

Meanwhile Tasmi’s husband wasn’t going to stay quiet about it. Kai was one of the most dangerous place on the planet of that time. So going in, freeing Tasmi and coming out was not going to be easy. Karam sent a trustworthy messenger to get Tasmi out. But then Tasmi refused.

Unknowingly Tasmi had triggered a revolution in Kai kingdom. The slaves were fighting back, demanding a better life. Now she couldn’t leave without finishing the job. She sent a message back to her husband that the only way to free her was war. Further Karam’s messenger was caught. This made Raghvan very angry and forced him returning to his old ways.

Tasmi witnessed the war event unfold from a cage high up on the mountain. It was unclear who was winning and who was losing. While Raghvan was armed with his demonic weapons, Karam and his army was said to be blessed by the gods. After a lot of fighting Karam finally won ending the unjust rule of Raghvan Kai.

Further the exile was over. This meant that they were ready to return home, to the Veronya kingdom. Everything was happy. Karam Veer was crowned king and Tasmi became his queen. Things were all good but not for long. Becoming a queen was a big thing. Tasmi was getting more attention than what she is used to. Her every action was critically observed. Further a rumour floated since her arrival that she possibly cheated on her husband during her captive days.

The people of the kingdom didn’t outright accused her but there were whispers wherever she went. Further Tasmi was not a great queen. She couldn’t stay silent during meeting of the ministers as a queen should. She used to interrupt and interfere with kingdom related decisions whenever she felt was right. The ministers didn’t like that.

When the murmurs became loud and reached Karam’s ears he raised this issue in front of his public. While he never doubted his wife’s loyalty he wanted the public to decide whether she should stay as a queen or not. The people chose trial by fire to prove her loyalty. Tasmi did that without any question and survived. But then people hinted to the fact that she survived due to the demonic practices she learned at the Kai kingdom.

While people were thinking of ways to punish her, which was humiliating, she kind of suggested to be exiled from the kingdom. The people made that decision and Karam did not object. The next day Tasmi was out of the kingdom.

Little did they know that she was pregnant when she left the kingdom to live in the forest. Tasmi liked lived in the forest, free of judgy eyes. Obviously she missed her husband, the love of her life, but now she had two more lives to care about. Yes, she gave birth to twins.

Life in forest alone was difficult but nothing she could not manage. Giving birth to twins certainly upped the challenge. She was living in a small community of people who recently migrated to this forest. Meanwhile she was constantly in touch with the new king of Kai kingdom. The king who replaced Raghvan after he was killed by Tasmi’s husband.

During Tasmi’s time in the Kai kingdom she forged a strong bond with its people including this new king. Since he became a reluctant king he had no clue how to do the job. So quite often he used to ask Tasmi for advice regarding important matters. When he learned that Tasmi is no longer living as the queen of Veronya kingdom he was more than willing to invite her to stay in Kai kingdom.

This way the children and she would get to live a better life surrounded by people who adored her plus it would be a great help for this new king. When Tasmi arrived the king wanted to handover the throne to Tasmi but she refused. She preferred to manage the kingdom from shadows, i.e. as an advisor, just like how she did it as a child in Rosi kingdom.

The twins grew learning all the things a king needs to. The king of Kai kingdom ensured of it. Although they were the rightful heir to the Veronya kingdom’s throne Tasmi wasn’t sure if they would get it. Further she feared they would be branded as illegitimate children. That’s why she hid their true identity from the world and her husband Karam.

When they were old enough Tasmi’s son took the throne of Kai kingdom as the current king willingly stepped down from his position. At this point Tasmi couldn’t keep the truth of their identity a secret anymore. Karam got the news that he is a father two grown adults and immediately he left to Kai kingdom to meet them. Further he also expected to see his wife Tasmi there. But by rule they are never to see each other again. Hence by the time Karam arrived at the Kai kingdom, Tasmi had disappeared and nobody knew where she went.

The truth is since the time Tasmi laid her foot on Kai kingdom long time back, she was in awe of the scientific advancement of Kai kingdom. They were so ahead of the time that to other kingdoms what king Raghvan did was considered as demonic practices. One specific experiment that had her attention was of ‘chariot to heaven’.

Basically people of Kai kingdom believed that the sky was a roof and dimly lit planets and the sun were moving holes cut out to let the light from the heaven pour on the earth making things visible (There were no visible stars in the sky during that time due to one specific reason). Since Raghvan believed that his mother died and went to heaven, he was building a space ship to take him there.

When Raghvan died his work was still unfinished. Tasmi knew that as they talked frequently about it with Raghvan during their night conversations. When Tasmi came to Kai kingdom again she finished constructing the space ship in secrecy. Her final adventure was a one way trip to the heaven i.e. to the sun. She went there just before her husband arrived never to be seen ever again.

END

written by Sameer Raote

back to TASHMAINI ROSI