Kiran and Neel

Kiran and Neelkamal are two ‘’friends’’ who met on Kiran's twelfth birthday. Neel and his brother, Lalkamal, showed up on Kiran's doorstep and saved her from a rakkhosh who had come to eat her.

It is implied (although not said) that Neelkamal has a crush on Kiranmala. And Kiranmala confessed in the book *Game of Stars* that she "like-liked him." And she refers to him as cute several times throughout the series.

The fandom refers to the ship as Niran.

## The Serpent's Secret

In the first book of the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond Series, *The Serpent's Secret,* Kiran and Neel have a shaky start. Neel comes off as rude and arrogant to Kiran, and she doesn't help to improve their relationship by accidentally inviting Neel's mother, the Demon Queen, into the Kingdom Beyond to snack on the prince Lalkamal and the stable maid Mati. However, after a while of quarreling and saving each other's lives, Kiran and Neel seem to realize how alike they were and got along much better.

* After getting chased by the Neelkamalas, Kiran blames Neel for what had happened. After she had been given his jacket, Kiran tells him not to think that it would make up for him almost getting her killed, but she cuddles into it and describes that it smells like him. Neel says, "Nah, I'd never think that" and smiles in a way that makes Kiran confused. Yes, they do get into an argument right after, but it was still a moment.
* Before retrieving the python jewel, Neel rambles on to Kiran about how he had lost the title of crowned prince and how his mother had been banished from the Kingdom. It wasn't exactly the best timing to be exchanging life stories, but Kiran assumed it was his way of coping with nervousness.
* After getting the python Jewel, Neel promises to catch Kiran from the high point she was at. Even though she had fallen on top of him rather than landing in his arms.Although it was short-lived, the two had a muddy moment.
* When Kiran is about to be turned into a snake by the serpent king, Neel refuses for it to happen and announces that he like Kiran the way she is.
* At the very end, Kiran asks Neel out to see a movie. He agreed, and Kiran observes that the both of them were blushing. (Awww, these cuties.)

## Game of Stars

In this book, Neelkamal is captured by Kiran's father, the Serpent King. Kiran finds out about this and of course, tries to save him, but Neel insists that she doesn't help him. He was saying it in a forceful and rather rude way, which hurt Kiran's feelings. But despite that, she continues to help him. When she comes to save him, Neel tries to push her away and tells her to go home. From what we readers could tell, Neel behaved this way so that Kiran wouldn't get hurt trying to save him. Although Kiran may not have noticed this, it wasn't that the Demon Prince hated her, but cared about her enough not to want her to be harmed.

When Kiran reaches the Serpent King's detention center in the Honey-Gold Sea, Neel is described as tired and dull, which Kiran elaborates is very unlike him due to his usual sarcastic and adventurous attitude. Neel leaps up when Kiran calls his name and they hold hands. Until Neel takes his hand away shoos Kiran away. To free Neel, Kiran was required to tear a wing of a bee. But Neel recognizes the bee as his mother's soul bee and for a short time, in confusion and despair, Neel believes Kiran tore his mother's bee soul's wing, when in reality, the seemily evil Rakkoshi Rani had sacrificed herself for her son's freedom.

## The Chaos Curse

Ah, The Chaos Curse.

* Neel seems to tell that Kiran is disappointed by the fact that she has to go look for the prince Lalkamal alone, and asks her if she's alright. He also thanks her for saving him, and grabs her hand, and tells her to bring his brother back.
* Before Kiran goes on her quest, Naya insisted they take a picture together. She chose a filter that put unicorn horns on them and made rainbows come out of their eyes. Kiran laughs and says "'That is not cute!'" and Neel replies "'Yeah it is'". YEAH IT IS
* After Kiran rescues Lal, she sort of snaps at Neel for not being there to help her when she was fighting the mythical dragon, Nidhoggr. It's said that she was acting this way out of happiness of seeing her friend again.
* Shortly before the battle in the courtyard, Neel starts freaking out because he doesn't think the Trojan Rakkhosh plan will work. Kiran tries to calm him down and tell him that it will work, but she starts to get nervous, too.
* During the courtyard battle, Naga says that he'll tell Sesha that Kiran's "hanging out with the cute prince again." Neel immediately pauses to say, "Cute prince, huh?" which embarrasses Kiran a lot.
* Later, when their friend Naya was injured, the two had to go back in time to get her the cure. Neel suggests that they hold hands, probably for safety purposes. As he says this, his voice cracks, hinting that he felt nervous about holding Kiran's hand, which also hints that he could like her.
* When the two are in the room where Naya is being kept, discussing what happened with their team, Kiran sides with Neel on his idea that his mother could not be at fault for what is happening. When Neel flashes her a grateful smile, Kiran says she felt her heart do an expanding trick.
* And then there was the moment right before their performance. Neel senses Kiran freaking out, puts a hand on her cheek, and points up at the moon, telling Kiran that she was watching over them. Kiran describes that they were close. If it wasn't their turn to go on stage, the two should have kissed. 👫👫👫

Even with all of this, Kiran and Neel seem completely oblivious to how the other feels. It's kind of irritating, but a lot of us manage to continue to have hope.

Niran for life :D