"Attention everyone! His Highness, Emperor Jalal-uddin-Muhammad is arriving!"

Jalal entered the room and asked all the servants to leave. He then wished his mother and sat beside her.

"Is everything okay, Jalal?" Hamida Banu enquired.

"Yes, Ammijaan! I want to talk to you about something."

"If this is about why I gave Jodha the ring, then I did that because it was what I had to!"

"But you know Ruqqayah had wanted it since so long. You could have at least considered her."

"I cannot give it too just anyone. Your father...he made me promise that I would give it to a princess you'll marry on 6th February, 1562. I have to do as he says!"

"What? How is that even possible?"

"I know you will not believe in all of it but your father believed in stars and everything and he wanted to know who will be by your side forever, so he checked your stars the time we were away from you and discovered that you'll be married on February 6th, 1562 and that I must give the ring to the woman you get married to on that day."

"How is that even possible?"

"Jodha is a good girl. I am sure she will learn to take care of you. Give her time."

"I...I think I must leave now. I have something important to do."

"Jalal, I know you don't believe me. I don't hold any personal grudges against Ruqqayah! When you will believe truly that Jodha is the one for you, come to me! I'll show you the prophecy."

Jalal said nothing but just bowed to Hamida and left.

That day he was rather confused and dismissed the meeting at diwaan-e-khaas. He retired to his chambers soon and decided to sleep. But sleep wouldn't come so easily. His thoughts were drawing back to Jodha. The way she was startled to see him inside her tent, the way she reacted. The day when she was wounded and today when she accepted his hand and when for the first time she directly looked into his eyes. Those sparkling beautiful eyes. Her face was red and had tints of wetness showing that she had previously been crying. Yet she managed to look so peaceful and serene and beautiful. Surely, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. The rumours he had heard about her were not false claims after all. He had she was a fierce Rajput princess but she seemed far from fierce.

That night, when sleep came, he could not recall. The next morning, after an intense hour of fencing as he was heading towards the bathing chambers, he smelled incensed burning. Considering some place to be on fire he followed the smell only to spot Jodha offering prayers to the tulsi plant. He had heard that Hindus worshipped the tulsi plant as a holy plant but why was she using fire for praying was beyond bis understanding. He thought that fire was used only on big occasions like marriage, but here she was praying to her god, carrying a gold plate with an oil lamp, some flowers and some sort of red powder.

He was about to prevent her from doing it, when he recalled that he was the one who had allowed her to carry her rituals and practices in full swing in a way that it did not disturb the inmates of the fort. And surprisingly no one was actually complaining. It was only him, who was having problems.

She completed her puja and as she turned around her veil dropped and he could see her face clearly. Her long dreadlocks were wet and covered most of her face. She was holding the plate so she could not manage putting her veil back, and she was struggling when she saw him gaping at her. She grew conscious and tried to put the thal somewhere else but then he steeped closer and helped her put the veil back, leading to a very intimate moment between the two. She thanked him and offered him the sweets and aarti. She then smiled and asked for his permission to leave. Clearly, she was different. Watching her, simply watching her, made his heart beat twice faster.

"Your Royal Highness, how may I serve you?"

Jodha turned around to see one of the maids standing next to her. She was a Mughal maid from the fort itself.

"Who has sent you?"

"Your Majesty, Her Highness Queen Mother, Hamida Banu, has sent me to be of your special help and help you know the place better."

"You are welcome here. You can ask my chief maid to give you instructions! And while we are discussing about it, can you tell me about the other important queens here?"

"It would be my pleasure, Your Majesty! Since you are new here, I will inform you on everything as the Queen Mother has instructed me to, but before that you must thank her for being so kind so as to send me. This will make her think that you notice and care and are intelligent."

"Alright. I would have done that anyway, but I have heard that Queen Mother spends this time of the day wandering in the gardens. It would be bad if I interrupt. So you tell me what I asked for and then I'll do the needful."

"Apologies, Your Royal Highness, if I was rude in anyway. I am just trying to show a Rajvanshi Queen her place in Mughal world." The maid added mockingly.

Jodha knew she was not here to help her but to show her that she was an outsider. She didn't do anything and simply asked her to take a seat.

"If I must speak, I will start by informing you about Her Highness, Ruqqayah Sultan. She is the emperor's first wife, and they were wed at the age of nine. She is a rather talented and dangerous woman. The emperor is most attached to her, but her only regret is that she is not able to produce an heir for the Empire. The second..

"An heir to the Empire? That is all she wants? I thought she must be sad for not being able to have a child."

"I haven't finished as of yet. I am myself not very fond of her, but unlike you, she never interrupts."

The maid was rather elderly and by now Jodha had understood how much she [the maid] hated her.

"I am sorry for interrupting. You are just like kaakisaa, I must say. Please carry on."

"I intend not be like anyone. Anyway, the second Empress is Salima Sultan. She is a widow of His Majesty's regent, Bairam Khan. The emperor married her to give Rahim protection and a father's name. Rahim is Bairam Khan's son. Do you know about Bairam Khan?"

"I have heard Shehenshah called him "Khan Baba"."

"You are not as dumb as I thought."

"If you must know, I have my sources."

The maid was rather shocked. She had been serving as a chief royal maid to Hamida Banu for twenty years and never once had she come across any princess, so tolerant and with such good behaviour. She did interpret her wrong? It might be that this is all a pretense. Anyway, the young queen was better than she had assumed.

"Very well then. This is it for today."

"The third Empress? I've heard that His Majesty has many women in his harem."

"All of them are not empresses. They are aghas, or concubines, who have a much lower dignity. Not everyone gets to be Malika-e-Hindustan."

"Apologies, I didn't know. But what about the third..

"I don't know much about her. I must leave for today."

As the maid left, Jodha followed her to stop her but her attempt failed as she stumbled upon someone else, and by this time the elderly maid was out of sight. Cursing her luck, she got up and saw an elderly woman looking down on her. She was wrapped all around in white coloured cloth. She looked scary. Jodha helped herself and then apologized to the old lady in a very casual way and left.

A few hours later when she was preparing for dinner, her Rajput chief maid came running to her chambers.

"Why are you running so much? Are you participating in a marathon? Well, you must know its just for men!"

"If you are over with your sad jokes, come to reality."

"Huh? Reality? What are you talk..

"Let me complete! Have a seat."

Jodha did as told. She was a princess, but usually accepted others commands like they were the dominant and she, the inferior.

"Do you know about Maham Anga?"

"Such a scary name. Is she your mother-in-law?"

"Jodha!"

"Okay, seriously, I don't."

"All over the harem, the rumour has spread that you stumbled upon her and apologized in a very casual manner."

"Oh! The old lady who was wrapped in white cloth?"

"That old lady is His Majesty's Badi Ammijaan!"

"Ammijaan? How many mothers does he have?"

"Two. And I expect you to respect them both." Both Jodha and the maid turned around to see Jalal standing there.

"Leave us alone." He commanded and all the servants emptied the room.

"Greetings, Your Royal Highness!" Jodha said as she pulled her veil back and covered her face.

"Have a seat, Jodha!" He ordered and sat in front of her. She sat down. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.

"I am extremely sorry for what I did earlier. If I would have known.."

"That's alright. But just know the people who are important here and treat them well!"

"Sure."

"I heard Rambai is in your service!"

"Rambai?"

"Yes, Ammijaan told that she sent her oldest companion at your service!"

"You mean Kaakisaa?"

"How can Rambai be Kaakisaa?"

"They resemble a lot. Plus, she is quite old so I cannot simply refer to her as a maid."

"That is very true indeed."

"But she is kind of weird too."

"Weird?"

"She was telling me about your queens, and when I asked about the third empress, she said she won't talk anymore. Even when I forced her too, she said that she doesn't know much about her! Is the third empress, umm, alive?"

"Alive? That is an interesting question. Well, why don't you wait and ask Kaakisaa herself?"

"That's the problem. I am very impatient."

"Well in that case, learn to be patient."

"Okay."

"That reminds me, tomorrow we have a function, the details of which Kaakisaa will inform you!"

"Is it important for me to come?"

"You don't want to?"

"It's not like that. I...well...people don't like me here so...

"Then let them hate you. You are going to be queen anyway."

As he left, she felt rather happy and relieved that she opened up to him and now she was confident enough.