Yudhishthira and Bhima - Patience vs. Vengeance

The tree Bhima struck split clean in half. Then the next. Then the next. Yudhishthira watched from a distance as his brother's rage destroyed the forest around him.

Yudhishthira: "Bhima."

No response. Another tree fell.

Yudhishthira: "BHIMA."

The giant turned. His eyes were wild, his breathing heavy.

Bhima: "Don't talk to me about patience. Don't talk to me about waiting. Don't talk to me about dharma."

Yudhishthira: "I wasn't going to."

Bhima: "Then what do you want?"

Yudhishthira: "To understand. What pushed you over the edge today?"

Bhima: "Today? Not today. Every day. Every single day I wake up in this forest when I should wake up in my palace. Every day I see Draupadi gathering firewood like a servant when she should be served. Every day I remember Dushasana's hands on her, and I do nothing."

Yudhishthira: "We made a vow."

Bhima: "You made a vow! I was too busy being gambled away to have a say in it! Thirteen years. Thirteen years of swallowing rage while they sleep in stolen beds. And you—you walk around like a saint, preaching acceptance."

Yudhishthira: "You think I don't feel it?"

Bhima: "I think you feel it and do nothing. That's worse."

Yudhishthira stepped closer. Close enough that Bhima could strike him if he wanted.

Yudhishthira: "Every morning, I wake before dawn. I walk to the stream. I stand in the water until my feet go numb. Do you know why?"

Bhima: "Some religious ritual—"

Yudhishthira: "Rage. I stand in cold water because otherwise the rage would consume me. I count my breaths—one hundred, two hundred, three hundred—until the urge to march to Hastinapura and burn it to the ground subsides enough that I can face my brothers without screaming."

Bhima: "You don't seem—"

Yudhishthira: "I don't seem because seeming is all I have. If I show the rage, you follow it. Arjuna follows it. We attack without preparation, without allies, without strategy. And we die. The Kauravas win. Everything we've suffered becomes meaningless."

Bhima: "So we just wait? Like animals in a cage?"

Yudhishthira: "We wait like hunters. There's a difference. This rage, Bhima—it's energy. It's fuel. Right now you're burning it against trees. In thirteen years, you can burn it against Dushasana's chest."

Bhima: "Thirteen years is forever."

Yudhishthira: "Thirteen years is nothing compared to the eternity of failure. We get one chance. ONE. If we attack now, half-prepared, driven by emotion—we lose everything. Not just our lives. Our revenge. Our justice. Draupadi's satisfaction. All of it, thrown away because you couldn't wait."

Bhima's hands slowly unclenched.

Bhima: "I dream about it. Every night. Dushasana. His blood on my hands. His heart in my mouth. And then I wake up, and it's another morning in this forest, and the dream is still far away."

Yudhishthira: "Hold onto the dream. Feed it. Let it grow. And when the time comes, it will be exactly as you imagined. I promise you."

Bhima: "You can't promise that."

Yudhishthira: "I can promise that I won't stop you. When the oath is complete, when the war begins—I will point you at Dushasana like an arrow and let you fly. No dharma, no restraint, no rules. Just you and him and everything you've saved for this moment."

Bhima looked at his hands. They were shaking—not from anger now, but from something else.

Bhima: "And if I can't wait? If the rage breaks through before the time is right?"

Yudhishthira: "Then I'll stand in your way. And you'll have to decide if killing me is worth losing everything else."

Bhima: "I wouldn't—"

Yudhishthira: "You might. In the worst moment. That's why I'm asking you now, in a calm moment: choose. Choose the long victory over the short explosion. Choose to save your rage instead of spending it."

Bhima was quiet for a long time. The destroyed trees lay around them like fallen soldiers.

Bhima: "I'll try,"

he finally said.

Yudhishthira: "That's all I ask."

Bhima: "But if you're wrong—if this waiting is for nothing—"

Yudhishthira: "Then we'll be wrong together. And at least we'll be wrong alive."

Bhima almost smiled.

Bhima: "You're not as weak as I thought."

Yudhishthira: "I'm exactly as weak as you thought. I just hide it better."