Chapter 17

At night, Ann went to Sundarta and George's bedroom, to check her daughter's psychology. And she was right: when she knocked and the prince opened the door to her, he got surprised and happy to see her, but she noticed that he was a bit worried: "Mother! How are you? Come in please."

Ann found her daughter inside, sitting on the bed, wearing Indian getup, holding her legs toward her chest, putting her head of her knees and silent.

She asked her godson about her, and whispered: "She's totally missing Michor…"

Worthington got in and sat on the edge of the bed, next to her daughter. And she started speaking while George got out of the room to give them some privacy.

When she looked at Samantha, she found her crying very lowly. Ann interrogated her although she knew the answer: "Darling… what's going on? Tell me…"

Samantha looked at her with balled-eyes. And then, she answered: "I'm missing them…"

The mother put her hand on her daughter's cheek, and explained: "Sweetheart… this is your home now… You've come back to your origins… You're now the princess of kingdom of Great Britain that the public has been waiting for… All of princesses do this once they get married…"

Sundarta murmured after she held her legs again: "I've never left the palace of Michor only for hunting…"

She shut then she said again: "My parents are missing me for sure… I can feel their dense tears dropping off their eyes once they left Kensington palace…"

Somehow, the two words "My parents" hurt Ann. And that was normal: after all, Ann Worthington is the mother of Samantha, no matter who adopted her. But, she decided to ignore that simple injure in her heart, and she added: "Never mind, Samantha… Chandramukhi and her husband will try their best to ignore these feelings of yearning and sadness… And you must do the same. Otherwise, they'll get sadder if they realize that you are sad…"

Sundarta smiled to her mother and she finally got relieved. The latter kissed her forehead, wished her a good night, and then she left her with her thoughts…

***

A month later, the royal family was having lunch: Edward was sitting in the middle, between George and Sundarta, and Ann was sitting next to her daughter.

The king reminded: "My birthday is on next week…"

Everybody there wished him a happy birthday, while Sundarta was still silent. However, Ed meant something else; he asked Sundarta: "Princess Samantha, in your kingdom's traditions, how do you celebrate someone's birthday?"

She took a short sip of water, and answered briefly: "It's much different than yours…"

"Well, because, in case if you didn't get any present for me, you can dance for me as my birthday gift…I want my people to watch your amazing talent in dancing…" Ed finally declared.

George got bothered: he felt that his father was somehow insulting and pressing on his wife. He maintained his calm first but he exploded, saying but still polite to him: "Father, please stop… You're disturbing her…"

"Ah! Never mind, George! I'm not! I just want a dance for my birthday…" Ed ignored the accusation with a joke.

"That's ok." Samantha agreed. "I'll dance for you on your birthday… And happy birthday."

She said that without even eye contacted with anybody: she was still eating calmly and sedately…

***

After lunch, Sundarta and George were in their bedroom. The wife was arranging some clothes in the wardrobe while the husband was sitting on the edge of the bed and thinking.

Samantha cut George's thoughts, informing indifferently: "Your father is mean…"

"He was insulting you, right?" He wondered angrily.

"I don't care if he swore at me: if someone cursed me, he's cursing then himself. He's expressing then loudly and honestly that he's impolite and ethic-less. But what I care about is if someone cursed my culture: dancing doesn't work that way. Dancing express emotions, stories, feelings… Dancing is everything. Each move expresses something. The sage Bharata Muni himself, the father Indian theatrical art forms, wrote the Natya Shastra, the text which worships the dance."

George stared at her for a while, then he expressed his surprise, joking: "I've never seen such a wise and cultured woman like you before."

After, his smile disappeared: he remembered what was making him thinking at point of daydreaming.

His wife noticed that. She sat next to him and wondered tenderly: "My love, are you okay?"

He laughed sarcastically: "It's just…I'm going back to India…"

Sundarta got shocked: "What? … Now?"

"My father still wants to make other contracts with kings of south Asia…" He sadly murmured.

She kept silent for a while. Then, she asked him: "How much time you're going to stay there?"

"I don't know… My father wants me to deal with more than a one kingdom. He looks now to other southern-Asian countries…So… It may take me even months…" he explained.

"When you're going to leave?"

"At next week." He briefly answered…

***

It was Ed's birthday. George had already left. People celebrated the birthday without Sundarta; she was getting ready with her back-dancers for the dance…

Finally, at night, Ed's family and friends got gathered in a wide room looked like a theater one: there was a big circle and many benches were surrounding it.

Among them, there was Ann who never ignored the bad feeling she was still having.

After that everybody got his place, either sitting or standing, Ratan got in, accompanied with some men and women dancing slowly. With his loud clear voice, he screamed as usual, introducing the dancer, in English: "A princess as beautiful as a goddess has come from Heaven! A princess as beautiful as a goddess has come from heaven! With her precious jewels, she has come! With her precious jewels, she has come! Everybody now is looking at her! Everybody now is looking at her! She's here to tell his majesty her love story! She's here to tell his majesty her love story! When she twirls, she becomes a golden lotus with her Ghagra! When she twirls, she becomes a golden lotus with her Ghagra! Here's The Adopted Princess! Here's princess Sundarta!"

Finally, some other back dancers came in with little version of Raga (type of guitars) and little drums: these back dancers were also the band.

Then, Sundarta came in, walking slowly as usual, nude makeup and bare foot, with a golden Ghagra choli (type of saris) until she stopped in the middle of the room, as known of course that she adored the golden color.

She did the Salaam to her step-father, and she started dancing and singing too.

The song was talking about how Sundarta left her family and home to live with her love and husband, and how she even met him: she was basically talking about her life in general and her personal one in particular.

During the Kathak dance (a traditional one), Ann was shedding tears: she was terribly happy and proud of her daughter. For her, she was the most beautiful woman in that room. However, other women behind her were still following Sundarta with evil jealous eyes.

At final, when the dance was over, The Adopted Princess walked and did the Pranama to Ed, and she said: "Happy birthday, your majesty…"

And then, she left the room…

***