Aru Shah

Warning! This page contains spoilers for *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*. Enter at your own risk.

## Aru Shah

* Original
* RR
* RR2
* RR3

## General Information

### Alias

LiarArundhati Shah
Silo of Movie Quotes

Troll (by Aiden)

## Biological Information

### Parents

Indra (soul father)Suyodhana (father)

Krithika (mother)

### Siblings

Mini, Brynne, Nikita and Sheela (soul sisters)

### Other Relatives

Aiden Acharya (reincarnated wife)Uloopi (wife from previous incarnation)

## Appearance

### Appears in

*Aru Shah and the End of Time**Aru Shah and the Song of Death*

*Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*

*Aru Shah and the City of Gold*

**Arundhati "Aru" Shah** is the protagonist, main character, and point of view character in *Aru Shah and the End of Time*, *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, *Aru Shah and the City of Gold* and presumably *Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality*. She's the modern-day 15 year old reincarnation of the Pandava Arjuna and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she attends the private middle school Augustus Day.

## History

### Birth

On February 15th, presumably 2004, Aru Shah was born to Krithika P. Shah and Suyodhana, in an unnamed hospital in the Otherworld. When she was born, her father Suyodhana had decided to buy a gift for his daughter, which was the book *Where the Wild Things* Are by Maurice Sendak, but he never managed to gift her the book, because he was in some kind of hurry. However, as a tribute to him, Aru's mother always read that book to her when she was little.

### Life in the Museum

Aru Shah was raised in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta, Georgia, and had lived there for as long as she could remember. Growing up, the museum never kept any secrets from her. She used to do her homework under the giant stone elephant at the entrance, whom she would later name Greg. Often, she used to fall asleep in the theater and wake up just before crackling self-guided tour announced that India became free from the British rule in 1947. Aru even regularly hid a stash of candy in the mouth of the four-hundred-year old sea dragon whom she had named Steve. Once when she was 10, while swinging from the trunk of Greg the elephant, Aru accidentally fell and cracked her arm.

### Her Lonely Childhood

Even though she whole-heartedly loved the Museum and her mother, while growing up, Aru couldn't help but feel lonely. Because of the promise Krithika made to Suyodhana, her mother always traveled around the world in search of ancient artifacts, sites and treatises, trying to find something, *anything*, to help her husband *and* keep her daughter Aru safe. This led to the fact that Aru didn't exactly have a jolly time growing up.

She only had Sherrilyn, the Head of Museum Security, as her babysitter, who always watched *The Real Housewives of Atlanta,* but also took Aru out for ice-cream.

Another factor that lead to her having a lonely childhood was because of the obvious absence of her father, who was, in fact, trapped in a lamp the whole time. Every year on Father's Day, Aru made a card for her absent father, but the card always ended up in the trash can because she had no one to give the card to.

Another incident that happened was one time during a school dance at her school. Aru had been really excited to go to the dance, such that her mother gave her one of her real gold bangles. But on reaching her school, Aru realized that the dance would start with a Father-Daughter duo dance. In fear and anxiety because she didn't actually have a father, Aru pretended to sprain her ankle, and a teacher had to drive her home. Aru remembered crying all the way back home.

### In Augustus Day

A month prior to the events taking place in Aru Shah and the End of Time, Aru had joined a new school: Augustus Day School. When she had started the school, she had been positive that she would manage to fit in.

Unfortunately, that wasn't true. Unlike the other rich, and spoiled kids at that school, Aru didn't get driven from and to school in a 'sleek black car' and neither did she have a home 'offshore'. As to fit in with the other kids, Aru started her habit of making up things which often stretched truth to a far extent.

## *The Pandava Quintet*

### *Aru Shah and the End of Time*

When she awakes, Aru finds the entire room frozen in time, including her mother and friends. A talking pigeon steps out through an elephant statue's mouth and seeks to know the lighter of the lamp. Upon realizing that Aru lit it, he is disappointed and reveals that the Hindu gods are real, and that he is fairly positive about Aru being a reincarnations of one of the Pandavas because she lit the lamp. They are five brothers that waged war against their one hundred cousins and won, Aru is the first female incarnation of a Pandava, which the pigeon finds disapproving. It tells Aru that when one Pandava awakens, so does another and that they need to meet the other Pandava by traveling through the Door of Many. The Sleeper will stop time wherever he walks, and after nine days The Sleeper will reach Shiva who will perform the dance to end all time. When Aru inquires about his name, the pigeon asks her to call itself Subala, but Aru feels the name has too many syllables and plans to call him Sue, upon which it tells her that he is a male and Sue is a girl name, so she then calls him Boo.

Aru follows Boo into the elephant's mouth into a passageway and arrives at the Door of Many, she asks it to take her to the awakened Pandava who is related to Aru by divinity instead of blood. They are transported to Georgia, and meet Mini, the awakened Pandava. Both Aru and Boo were expecting a heroic person, and were taken aback to see the germaphobe Mini. Boo tells them to travel to the Otherworld then to the Court of the Sky to meet with the Council of Guardians to receive a quest and weapons. Aru feels jealous of Mini as she reveals that her parents had taken her once for her brother. It's too dangerous for driving, The Sleeper is out there looking for the girls' celestial weapons to release the Lord of Destruction. They enter the Otherworld through its entrance portal by attempting to grab hold of an invisible doorknob and imagining it to be a string of hope. The guardian Makara of the Otherworld is revealed when many lights of moths luster against its crocodile-shaped body. After confirming the two are humans, it opens the gate to the Court of the Sky.    At the courtroom of the Council of Guardians, there seven floating thrones (some transparent), Aru notices a single throne tarnished and rusty outside the circle, it had the faded letters U-A-L-A beneath it. The other gold thrones were for the apsara Urvashi, monkey-faced Hanuman, serpent queens Uloopi and Surasa, bear king Jambavan, and Lord of Wealth Kubera. At this time, the only council members who arrive are Urvashi and Hanuman. While Urvashi and Boo have an argument, Aru notices the remaining letters on the single throne are S and B, together 'Subala', realizing that Boo was one of the Guardians earlier. The pigeon introduces Aru and Mini as the incarnations of the Pandavas to the Guardians, but Urvashi refuses to believe this as the Pandava souls have lain dormant since the end of the Mahabharata War. When Aru tells them about the awakened Sleeper, Hanuman believes them and produces visuals on a screen, which show that both Aru and Mini's neighborhoods have been frozen in time, when the new moon comes this will be permanent. Aru inquires if anything else has happened, and Hanuman says that the mounts of the gods have gone missing. Urvashi realizes The Sleeper wants to cut off the gods' mode of transport, but still refuses to believe that Aru and Mini are the Pandavas. When Hanuman objects, Urvashi forces the siblings to undergo the claiming ceremony.

The Council of Guardians disappear and Aru, Mini and Boo are faced by five gigantic statues of the gods; Dharma Raja, Indra, Vayu, Nasatya and Dasra. They notice arrows suspended in mid-air above them from the ribbon-light walls. After performing *pranama* to each of the gods, the arrows begin moving towards them. Aru and Mini dodge several, but they are faced with many. A net made of lightning bolts suddenly stops Aru's arrows, the statues switch positions, Indra was facing down her with an amused expression. Both realize they are father and daughter respectively, a golden Ping-Pong ball appears in Aru's pajama pocket. Meanwhile, Dharma Raja threw down his Danda, shattering the arrows that were after Mini and determining he is her parent. A purple contact mirror appears in Mini's backpack. Being the daughter of Indra, Aru is the reincarnation of Arjuna and being the daughter of Dharma Raja, Mini is the reincarnation of Yudhishtra.
The Council reappears, and Urvashi is convinced the two are Pandavas indeed, but disappointed with their gifts. Hanuman is more optimistic, saying that the gods are mysterious. Urvashi directs them to go to the Kingdom of Death and retrieve the celestial weapons of the Pandavas before The Sleeper does. Within the Kingdom of Death lies the Pool of the Past, looking into which will reveal how The Sleeper can be vanquished once and for all.

For entering the Kingdom of Death without dying, Urvashi tattoos them a magical map with mehndi which will guide them to find three keys: the sprig of youth, the bite of adulthood and the sip of old age. The map is necessary for reaching the Kingdom of Death by taking them to the location the key is in by pressing the key on the map, the girls have nine days before the new moon. Before leaving, Hanuman recounts his childhood memories of a curse which required him to be reminded of his strength by someone else, telling them that they don’t realize their own strength.

Aru touches the sprig of youth on the map, transporting the three of them to a strip mall. The Sanskrit tattoos on Aru and Mini’s hand reveal that they now have eight days left. Aru discovers that her Ping-Pong ball returns to her when thrown, though she cannot decipher its usefulness. The trio arrive at the Beauty Salon with the sign saying "YOU’LL BE SO HOT, YOU’LL BURST INTO FLAMES!", where the first key on the begins to glow brightly. They meet the head-stylist Madame Bee Asura, and Aru is entranced by her. Mini points her to the portraits of several screaming women whose eyes are moving, and realize that Madame Bee is lying. Using Dharma Raja’s mirror, they see through the enchantments and realize that the she is actually an asura who is trapping them and has they first key on her head as a decoration without realizing its value. The asura appears and tries to catch them, but Aru and Mini dodge out of the way. Mini turns the compact to the Asura, terrifying her with her own appearance. In Aru’s pocket, the Ping-Pong begins to glow and she summons it to her hand. An identical ball appears in Mini’s hand, and then disappears, leaving both confused.    Aru uses the compact and find hand prints of ash, concluding that Bee Asura is Brahmasura, an asura who turns all she touches into ash. Aru realizes Mini’s mirror can break and make illusions, like the identical ball. Brahmasura reveals her original appearance, while Aru convinces her that they have stolen the first key using an illusion. When Brahmasura sees through the plan, they switch on a blow dryer and make her hair flow around wildly. Mini thwacks her in the head and the asura touches her head and turns into ash, the heroines retrieve the first key.

Mini and Aru talk about how it would be to be young forever and wonder if Brahmasura was also reincarnated. Boo appears and the girls reconcile with him, he enquires if the Asura recognized them and realizes The Sleeper is trying to gain more allies. Aru notices the frozen neighborhood and realizes The Sleeper is on their tail. The second key was at the Night Bazaar, but The Sleeper appears, catches Aru and squeezes her, mentioning her to be similar to her mother in being deceptive. Using her ball, Aru distracts The Sleeper and jumps into the Otherworld portal.
The group was now in an oak forest, while the girls discuss about the gods Boo is watching an anthill. He follows the ants, saying all ants go to the sage of learning, Valmiki. He has redeemed himself for murder over the years, Valmiki has mantras which will help them. They gradually reach an Anthill, where the ants have a rhyming conversation with them on behalf of Valmiki. The anthill then cracks and Valmiki steps out. He talks in rhymes and only considers those sentences which are spoken in rhymes. Valmiki asks them the rights to their stories of one day, the girls reluctantly agree. They are given their mantra and Aru touches the second key symbol on her mehndi map, but not before seeing the ants writing about the group's quest on a dark and stormy night.

The trio land in front of a Costco store, they have six days left. To them, it is the the Night Bazaar, they are to find the seasons for some weaponry. Mini reveals that her mother is a Panchakanya and that she once told on a boy named Dennis Conner who about to cut the hair of Matilda, a girl who got sick then bald.

Inside the Costco, many humans had animal parts, and there were strange trees that kids like to play with. The three start taking frozen food, but some of the items turn out not to be actual food. Suddenly, the Costco turns into a strange market, grocery carts were alive and acting like dogs. The clerk was a Raksha, he wanted them to place all enchanted items in crystal bins. They manage to proceed after the Raksha calls other stuff enchanting. The Night Bazaar really smells good, they saw a floating sign that said: THINGS YOU NEED. They chase after it, Aru manages to catch it and it makes a tunnel.
Down the stairs, Aru felt three winds of three temperatures. They were in a forest divided into six parts, there were trees with frost, rain, blossoms, dry leaves, scarlet leaves, and green leaves. It was the Court of the Ritus the six seasons. Winter and Summer appear, they say they are ateliers who make fashion for the Earth. Monsoon and Spring then arrive but Autumn and Pre-winter are in the outside world, attending to a number of designing needs. The four seasons start mocking them, so Aru tries to leave saying they don't need them for armor. When they heard they were Pandavas, Winter gives Mini a diamond bracelet, Spring gives them Petit fours to eat later, Monsoon give Aru a grey pendant that will hit any target and Summer gives Mini a headband that make the wear forget something important.

Another tunnel leads to a huge library with live Books, suddenly The Sleeper appears. Mini manages to freeze him long enough for Aru to bite aloof and silver Adulthood Book, then she spat out a silver coin, the second key to the Kingdom of Death. The Sleeper reveals Boo is actually Shakhuni, one of the Pandavas' greatest enemies, and takes him with him. Upon finding out that Aru was the one who lit the lamp, Mini calls her a liar and leaves to save her family. All alone, Aru reads some green book that contained her adventures. She realizes her lies against Madame Bee and the Seasons led to something good. She sees the birdcage The Sleeper was carrying, it contained little clay animals, the ones that the gods rode called the Vahanas. The magic headband made The Sleeper forget about this, Aru uses Indra's light to turn them back to normal. Uchchaihshravas takes her to a tunnel house, in case she needs them again she has to declare her name to the sky.

Inside was a cave that contained a cauldron of vapors beneath a statue of Shiva. Mini is there as well and they make up. The cauldron has something inside but it is filled with halahala poison. There is also a chandelier of fire above, so Mini hits it with stones so it will fall into the poison and turn it to gas. The thing was a small turquoise goblet with a silver liquid, Aru drank from it then spat out a key of bones, the sip of old age. After placing it on the floor with the other two keys, they all transform into a door. Mini talked to the door saying they would like to go, to the Pool of the Past, after some hesitation the door let them in.

Inside, Aru can hear the final words of people who died. The two meet the dogs Ek and Do (one and two in Hindi) who say they have to be dead to continue. Mini tells them she is the daughter of their ruler, Aru uses her ball to play catch with the dogs. With them distracted, the heroines go through a silver door. All around in blinding light, they witnessed how people died, they were in line for an office but Mini's compact proves that they all speak backwards. The sign said KARMA & SINS, at the end of the line was a man with a bulbous nose and miniature versions of himself, he is not Dharma Raja, he is Chitragupta who keeps a record of everything a soul had ever done. He says Yudhistira has never been a female before, but he and not even Dharma Raja could help them on their quest, gives them good karma (two tokens with mirrors) to get past the Halls of Death, a cookie that smell like books, soma so they won't get thirsty from the dead and a slim ballpoint pen.

The halls of death had three arrow signs: TO DARE, TO DISTURB, and TO DEIGN. Mini doesn't think dare sounds heroic and disturb sounds like their doing the wrong thing. Deign means ‘to do something that one considers beneath one’s dignity’ but an invisible wall wouldn't let the girls go any other way. There are only two days left til the new moon, Mini eats the wisdom cookie and realizes that it's a riddle. There is a hole below the deign sign, they slide down into a forest with silk dirt and tree you can walk through. Mini jumps into water thinking it will be a trampoline but it turns out to be quicksand, Aru saves her with a silk rope. Mini realizes they are in the Palace of Illusions made by the demon king Mayasura, it's giving them tests. After entering a mausoleum, the palace speaks to them. It doesn't believe their the Pandava brothers as they left their dream home, it shows them what each brother and their wife, Draupadi, liked to do by changing the scenery around the girls. The palace gives Aru a bow and arrow and sent fiery fireflies at her. She loses her arrow in forest, remembering the tale of Arjuna and the fish’s eye, Aru sense an Otherworld door and escape. Mini was arguing with a clone of herself, one of them vanished and the palace is now convince that they are reincarnated from Arjuna and Yudhistira. He is so sad they have to leave again, so the girls stay here and enjoy the palace a little while longer while learning more about it's backstory.

It starts to snow and Aru and Mini start to forget. Shukra, Guardian of the Bridge of Forgetting, emerges and restores their memory by getting rid of the snow on them. Shukra tells them of how he killed his wife and is now forced to have his mirrors around him to prevent forgetting. In order to cross the bridge, Shukra wants all of their memories. The girls refuse but it starts snowing again when they try to cross, Aru decides to break Shukra's mirrors. This works and they make it to the other side, but before disappearing Shukra curses Aru to forget something when it will matter the most.

On the other side was a giant cave, they look for celestial weapons which seem to be rotting. On the floor of the "Chamber of Astras, it said:

*Answers hide in plain sight,*
*Things aren't as they seem;*
*There's power to find here and knowledge to glean*
*But Time waits for no man, and Time has no ears,*
*If you don't move quickly, you'll meet all your fears.*

Suddenly, a celestial guard Timingala appears and tries to swallow the girls. Remembering Pixar's Finding Nemo, Mini suggests they look for the uvula. Aru realizes that this whale is the location of the weapons, their poking antics reveal the true gifts as Indra's Vajra and Dharma Raja's danda. It was the orb and mirror the whole time, they were awakened when the sisters tried to save each other. The Vajra's true form was too heavy for Aru, but Mini used the danda (which she nicknamed "Dee Dee") as a walking stick. Aru wants to get out of this Kingdom of Death, death had some claim everywhere. They reach a group of ponds but before they could leave Aru hears her mother. After observing her grandfather talking to his daughter and her putting the away The Sleeper's diya in the Pool of the Past, Aru realizes her mother loved The Sleeper (whose real name is ​​Suyodhana) and that she was his biological daughter.
At the place where bodies are reincarnated, the girls encounter a spider made out of clockworks and a dragon covered in eyelashes, they are Time and Wish respectively. Past Time explains that he is only one part, Future Time is invisible and Present Time can’t hold any one shape. They want something for them to leave if Time is to be saved, Mini tells them of the good deeds she has done but neither of them buy it. Aru shares the good karma she got from Chitrigupta with Past Time and Wish, who then let them go.

The girls exit in the middle of the road. Meanwhile, general public mistake the supernatural happenings to be a disease called Frozen Syndrome. The girls only have one day left before the new moon comes, but they know how to defeat The Sleeper. They need to find a place he doesn't like, they decide to go back to the museum so Aru calls upon the animals of the gods she freed to take them there.

Mini is amazed that this is the place where Aru lives. Her mother was still there, the two girls summon The Sleeper. Dozens of other demons show up before him. He's holding Boo in a birdcage. Mini sent out an allusion of Aru's mother, Boo escapes and The Sleeper gets trapped in a circle and gets attacked by the animals. The Sleeper disappeared into the walls and taunted Aru for being such a liar. In response, she uses Vajra to cut the chandelier down onto him. The demons have either fallen asleep or are currently out of commission, Aru transformed Vajra into a whip to get rid of the rest of them. The Sleeper breaks free and pins Mini and Boo to the wall, Aru had no choice but to surrender. The Sleeper grabs Vajra, he says he's killing her to free her as her mother didn't. He loses Vajra and it returns to Aru, she has a vision where an older version of her with Mini and three other sisters have weapon, but then it seems like they would turn on Aru and attempt to kill her! Aru gets nauseous at this, The Sleeper says he is not an enemy and that she shouldn't kill her. Aru doesn't believe her father, she tries to kill him but he escapes.

Aru starts lamenting about this "failure," she and Mini think it was the curse of Shukra. But time is restored because The Sleeper was not in the Kingdom of Death when the new moon arrived! Aru's mother and friends are freed, mother first because her friends were closer to the diya. Boo is still accepted despite the girls knowing what he has done in the past. Krithika allows Boo to be kept as a pet and Arielle, Burton, and Poppy awake. Using the pen Chitrigupta gave her, she blackmails them with their own secrets and they leave her alone. The Palace of Illusions says hello on a note Aru received from Chitrigupta.
Then the story opens at the end of winter break. Aru Shah is invited by Arielle to a New Year’s party but she rejects it. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for three hours, Aru and Mini learned war strategy from Hanuman, dancing and etiquette from Urvashi, and folklore from Boo. On Friday, after hearing an embarrassing story about Aru meeting the new boy at school, their first class was traditional dance (specifically, bharatnatyam) and etiquette with Urvashi. Hanuman’s strategy lessons were a lot more rugged, in the Night Bazaar and through a archway of chakora (moon bird) feathers was a canyon where the two are tasked to get a crown above it. While discussing with Hanuman about ways to get it, an alarm sounds and he tells them that something important has been stolen, something even the gods fear.

The following Saturday, Mini is at Aru's house and Boo is telling them to practice. A wolf holding a golden bow steps out and transforms into a girl to sniff and disappears as a bird, after that the elephant statue blared the alarm. Aru then sees the new boy nearby, Aiden Acharya who actually witnessed what happened. Boo tells them she is the next Pandava, leaving the two horrified. But they are ready whenever evil strikes.

### *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*

Mini tried to use Dee Dee but failed. A zombie dentist named Ernst Warren charged at them, the girls managed to hold him off only for at least twenty more to appear. Boo arrives using a vial of grey smoke so the girls can go after their sister. Aru used Vajra to lasso a grocery cart and they go to an arena where students train. In there, the thief and another girl were fighting for control of the bow and arrow, the latter looked exactly like Aru, much to the utter surprise of herself and Mini. The Pandava sister turns into a blue jaguar but the fake Aru throws her against the wall, she was *controlling* the zombies. Mini and Aru believe the fake Aru is a rakshasi as they could take on the appearance of gods, demons, and humans. The two try to fight her but the imposter escapes leaving them surrounded by fire. Up frpm the sky, Hanuman, Urvashi, and two other members of the Council of Guardians arrive. The two Pandavas used their weapons to shield themselves from Hanuman's water, then they check out the other Pandava. She blames Aru as the thief who blames her back, suddenly air began to lift the three off the ground. A flag, the symbol of Vayu, appeared over her head and turns into her own celestial weapon, a large, blue club. After blowing Mini away, she and Aru were getting ready to fight, Hanuman wanted her half-sister, Brynne, to stop. Aru was then shot into the sky.

Aru wakes up in a bubble with a hole in it, Mini and Brynne appear next to her. Using mind link, Mini says that Brynne is the reincarnation of Bhima the Strong, as she broke the glass bubble while Aru hurt herself trying. Down below in the Court of the Sky, the Council of Guardians was gathered together. One of them was King Jambavan, the gigantic bear. The four of them were arguing with a fifth member who says the bow and arrow was stolen from the naga treasury. It had to have been a Pandava as only they could get past Takshaka, the guard who was also present. The bow and arrow belonged to Kamadeva, the Hindu God of Love. The naga woman blames Aru and Brynne for this, she is Queen Uloopi who was a wife of Arjuna, Aru's previous incarnation. Boo and Hanuman try to defend them but to no avail. Uloopi thinks that the thief is affiliated with the Sleeper who was still at large since he failed to end time. When the council brought the Pandavas down, Uloopi revealed that the thief is kidnapping people and turning them into zombies without *actual* hearts and soon the effects will be permanent. The Pandavas are to prove their innocence by retrieving the bow and arrow in ten days. If they fail, they'll lose their memories of being Pandavas and the Otherworld, their souls will go dormant, and they will be banished from the Otherworld, *forever*. Aru was horrified at not even remembering Mini, Brynne is revealed to be part asura but it doesn't seem like she is the thief. Takshaka also says new Pandavas will come along if they fail, he and Uloopi leave through a portal he made. Brynne thinks she can do this alone but her sisters disagree, Boo can't come as he is suspected to be in league with the The Sleeper. Instead, the Council's witness who made them doubt their guilt with join them. He is Aiden Acharya, the new boy, Aru word-vomited, and he's actually a great student of semi-devine linage. Surprisingly, he and Brynne are revealed to be the best of friends. Boo is wrapped in a golden bar and sent away, he will only be freed if the Heartless are cured. Urvashi advised the quartet to first go to to the Warehouse of Quest Materials for supplies.

Aru goes with Mini to the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture and remembered the battle there with her birth father. Mini goes home to tell her parents where she's going, Krithika arrived to give her daughter a backpack of clothes and snacks. She never wanted to discuss the The Sleeper and Aru remembered when she told her the horrible story of Ekalavya's thumb. Arriving at the Warehouse of Quest Materials through a portal, Urvashi explains that they can take *one* item that will disappear on the tenth day, she also suggests they start by looking for the bow and arrow's owner, Kamadeva. Aiden reveals to Aru that he knew she was a Pandava because he used his camera, to zoom in on Vajra. Brynne chose metal sneakers to enhance her fighting ability and reveals that she just found the bow and arrow on the sidewalk, Aiden took a kit of UNIDENTIFIED NECESSITIES and Aru took a bottle containg a "bright idea." She remembers Boo telling them that Kamadeva lives in the Midwest, Brynne calls upon giant gazelles representing the four winds. They remembered Aru and Mini from their last quest and allow Aru to pick West first, Mini chose North, Aiden chose East and Brynne chose South.

While flying, Aiden reveals that his mother, Malini the apsara, is now a microbiologist and his dad is a lawyer, but they were getting divorced. The quartet land at Loves Park, Illinois in the Otherworld. Two signs on tree say that they need submitted identification and a guest pass to enter the gold door on the shore of the pond. A nearby swan's nest has a key, but when Aru took it the small swan with it suddenly turns giant and attacks them. Aiden grew two scimitars from the leather bands on his arms, Brynne tosses him the key and has him open the door. She tries fighting the swan as an elephant but its true target was the key. Aru has Mini make a duplicate for Brynne to fly away as a bird to mislead the swan.

Everyone manages to make it inside which looked like the lobby of the New York Stock Exchange. Kamadeva approaches them with hovering swords then shows them the time he made Surpanakha attracted to Rama and Laxmana and got incinerated by Shiva. While they were watching Kamadeva looked into their hearts so he can believe that they didn't steal his bow and arrow. But Uloopi wouldn't listen to him, she blames him for falling in love with Arjuna. He reveals that after he got incinerated, his wife Sita to the bow and arrow. But grieving his death, her soul song fled granting the bow and arrow a dark power. Anyone with enchantment knowledge struck by grief could carve out their own soul song, allowing them to use the bow and arrow to rip people's hearts out instead of joining them together. So after he was reincarnated and Rati’s soul song returned to her with him, he gave the weapon to Uloopi’s vault in the naga realm. If the thief's soul song is returned, the Heartless will return to normal. He can't with the Pandavas*’* quest due to all the Stock problems, but he does tell them the soul song is in the treasury where the thief stole his weapon. Once found, they must speak the true name of the thief to reveal the weapons' location then plunge the arrow through their heart to cleanse its dark power.

As Kamadeva takes them to an aquarium, a portal to the underwater realms of the Otherworld, Aru learns that Brynne's bracelets were actually melted trophies. For help, the god of love also gives them a card for the sage Durvasa, who will curse them for wasting his time. Crossing through on of the doors, the quartet arrive the Georgia Aquarium. Heartless people have been reported missing, a large group of them suddenly surround the four. Kamadeva told them to "take the door on the left," so while Mini uses quicksilver on her shield to make them invisible, they enter through a small driftwood door that smelled like the sea.
Inside was a long tunnel underwater, Brynne carries Aru so they can go faster as they have nine days left. At the end of the tunnel was like an airport terminal, except outside was ocean and there were sea animals with bubbles containing humans and creatures instead of planes. Aiden notices that all the Heartless are male, the terminal for naga realm was almost leaving. They managed to make it through the security despite some delays, a humpback whale takes them to the terminal for the Naga-Loka, the capital of the kingdom. But the Pandavas were rejected by an officer and Aru was pulled down into water. Fortunately, Aru Shah is somehow able to breath underwater and talk to fish. She witnessed a naga market and an eel taking passengers to the Will of the Sea, Vajra forces Aru board it.

She arrived at the Palace of Varuna, the god of the waters. While remembering the Ocean of Milk, Varuna's wife, Varuni, the goddess of wine, comes up and asks her to follow her. Varuna was watching cricket, his wife is disappointed in him and says some sort of prophecy about Aru surviving the sea. Aru explains the situation, but neither god will tell the thief's name, though they can give her a secret route to the naga treasury if they feed their pet. A blue crab leads Aru to an arena where her friends were trapped in cages from a naga guard, then he grows and reveals that he is the pet they have to feed. Aru's friends escaped the cages to help out, they need to fill the crab's belly with one of them. During the fight, Aiden has Aru light up her scimitars with her lightning bolt allowing him to do some serious damage to the crab. Soon after Brynne turns into a fly and gets swallowed, the crab vomits her up. Since the gods never said how long their pet's belly had to be filled, the crab reluctantly left and an exit appeared. After putting on air-bubble helmets, Aiden revealed that his mother gave up on being an apsara to marry his dad, he was the only one nice to Brynne due to her being part asura. Varuna lost his wife's bet, Varuni guided them to a dry but unsafe tunnel that will take them to the treasury.

Brynne revealed that she found out she was a Pandava last autumn when she saved her two uncles from a car crash, that was around the time Aru and Mini went to the Kingdom of Death. She was hoping to go to but she didn't, Aru said the gods must've have been waiting for the right time. Brynne's mother, who doesn't visit her, said her father was a musician. They reached the palace that was built for Uloopi and Arjuna. A nearby skull talks to Mini saying that they don't know the thief's name yet. In a cave, three snake ladies emerge, they guard terrible secrets, knowledge and treasure. As soon as Mini knows the the thief's real name, she gets taken away by the nagini. Aru got furious and Brynne for not holding her, she even tells her she only *acts* like a hero. The nagini reappeared and say that Mini is safely resting due to using her energy to obtain the knowledge. They wanted more and showed a vision of beautiful, young Uloopi pleading with her father to let her save Arjuna who cursed to be killed by his son. But her father didn't see any bother in this, yet says she must use her own jewel located on her forehead, it caused her to age. Another vision showed her using the jewel to bring Arjuna back to life, and another showed Uloopi and Takshaka talking about the Pandavas' deaths. Aru realized that this is why she has underwater ability and despising Uloopi is old. Before leaving, the nagini reveal that Mini is in the land of sleep near the Court of the Heavens and drop Uloopi's jewel for them to return to her. Aiden says they'll need a sage to protect them. After dreaming, where Mini communicates with Aru at a Home Depot, the amnesiac trio decided to go to the treasury and get the soul song first.

Aru gives Brynne chocolate to make up for earlier, having an asura or The Sleeper as a parent is difficult. Aru realized that Mini wants them to go to Durvasa to save her. Traveling beneath the naga city, the trio fell into the treasury full of snake statues and untold wonders. However, above them, Takshaka attacks them after turning into a complete snake. He wanted revenge against the Pandavas for burning down the Khandava Forest that killed his family. He used to be friends with Indra, but his rain was too much work to put out the fire, now Takshaka is friends with The Sleeper. The three were losing the fight against him, but remembering the dream with Mini, Aiden played Luis Fonsi's *Despacito*, which Takshaka hates. Using this opening, Aru finds a red orb with a chain, the thief's soul song! Unfortunately, Aiden's phone hit a commercial allowing Takshaka to counter, but Aru grabbed it and turned up the music volume, only for her to drop and break it. Takshaka demanded the song, it turns out he let the female thief steal the bow and arrow. Varja wouldn't work on him due to a Boon from Indra, Brynne and Aiden get defeated as well. But suddenly, bhangra music begins playing and a naga boy tells the trio to run. He is revealed to be Takshaka's grandson. Aru saw him at the Night Bazaar on her last quest, her wants her phone number, and after some hesitation, she gives it to him and leaves with Brynne, Aiden and the theif's soul song.

The three arrive at Little India in Edison, New Jersey. While having some *chaat* and *samosa*, Brynne gives Aru Aiden's camera as she pours water on him so he wouldn't pass out, he reveals that he named it Shadowfax. The thief's soul song didn't have any music, instead it had smoke and "fingernails" inside. On the back of the card Kamadeva gave them, Durvasa is at the DMV (department of *many voices*). When they introduced themselves to the card, it began folded into a clock and eventually span to let them know that Duravasa has accepted their appointment. Then it makes a trail for them it follow and crossing into the Otherworld, they found a small DMV/ashram everywhere they looked.

Inside, a yakshini girl named Iris refused them entry for three centuries unless they had a green ticket. So Aiden, part apsara, smoldered Iris allowing Brynne to sneakingly get the ticket. Up the staircase were Booths for the sages Durvasa, Bhrigu, Kindama, and Narada. The last sage cursed a gandharva to lose sense of time for listening to music when he was talking. Durvasa called for the Pandavas while giving specific curses to people, yet he simply leaves after refusing to help them. After Aiden's opened his locked door, they find themselves in a cosmic gallery. A statue named Shakuntula was inside a glass case in rows, Aiden remembered that she was someone Durvasa cursed from the old stories. The sage appeared and explained his motive for taking the gods immortality away and that one statue was apsara named Rambha. When they explained the dire situation, Durvasa decided to say that he can not tell them that Mini is at the Bridge of Dusk and Dawn because he wishes some endings could be avoided. He also didn't give them adequate protection in the celestial realms by speaking to them which will vanish after sunrise.

The three enter the Dreaming Grove of Ratri, home to the Goddess of Night. As soon as Brynne picked a silver fruit from one of the trees, three black hounds chased each of them. When Aru looked into one's eyes she saw The Sleeper, her sisters turning on her, and Boo imprisoned. They couldn't get to the bridge because they were trapped in a nightmare. Brynne was seeing Anila, her mother, disappointed in her, Aiden saw his mother crying about her relationship with his dad. Aru saw a Great Pyrenees in the reflection of the fruit, when she stood up to the nightmare hounds it got sad and turned into the white dog, then it woke up Aiden and Brynne making the other two hounds dissolve. Suddenly, Ratri appeared and revealed that the "apple" is a Dream Fruit, it shows what normally can't be seen like in dreams, she was responsible for Mini in their dreams. They can cross the bridge now, but are warned of Ratri's sister.
At the Bridge of Dusk and Dawn, the three found Mini sleeping in the air. Nearby was the Palace of Day, Ushas, the arrogant Goddess of the Dawn who drags the sun, lived there. She and her red cows appeared, but Mini wouldn't wake up. The other three said that they are in a disgusting bathroom with sneezing and the five-second rule, that worked. Brynne flew ahead as Aru turned Varja into a hoverboad to carry the others. But Aiden dropped Mini forcing Aru to pick her up, Aiden was sent towards the cows but just ended up riding one. Ushas was a huge fan of Malini.

When they were back at Durvasa, Mini took a POWER NAP she got from the warehouse. The earned more of the sage's trust by suggesting curses her was giving to people. He brought them to the astral plane, a sanctuary not revealed to anyone else. Brynne put the thief's soul song on the floor and Mini said that her name was Surpanakha, she was the sister of demon king Ravana and the one responsible for the war in *Ramayana*. After a while, her soul song shows her talking with Takshaka about taking the amrita, the nectar of immortality the gods had gotten with the asuras whom they reneged. It's located in a golden dome with a labyrinth containing serpents whose fire kills anything with a heartbeat, this explained the Heartless zombies, Surpanakha's hiding them in the Ocean of Milk.

With two days left before they are exiled, Durvasa advised the quartet *not* to go to the Mall of Meditation Groves to *illegally* get to the Great Swamp of New Jersey. The mall was filled with different environments for rishis and sages to meditate, yakshas were trying to outsell each other. Brynne muscled the others to a portal leading to the kiosk for the Morris Country, then she revealed to the yaksha that they are the Pandavas causing him to sound the alarm allowing the quartet to get through the portal.

When they arrived at the swamp, Brynne found the entrance to Ocean of Milk past some trees. But then five figures arrived, one was an asura who brought another taller figure nicknamed Sparky. Lady M, Surpanakha, told them to prevent any entry. A girl named Hira was forced show the quartet that Surpanakha was beautiful by transforming. Aiden recognized one as Navdeep from school, Mini cast an invisibility spell she mastered while sleeping, only for an asura to say a counter spell. But Aru traps them in Vajra forcing them to surrender, but Sparky was not caught and made their weapons disappear as he didn't like fighting.

He decided to challenge Brynne to an eating contest so they can enter the Ocean of Milk. The food included lentil soup, naan, chutney, idli, and more. The contest begins, Sparky and Brynne talked about occasions where they ate lots of food. For dessert, there was rasmalai and halwa, Aru noticed Sparky changing when he ate while talking about is life. Brynne lost the contest as she was already full, but it turns out she lost to Agni, the god of fire. Flames began to inadvertently engulf the area around them, the Pandavas unsuccessfully asked their spiritual fathers for help, so Aru threw the BRIGHT IDEA bottle at Agni to push her idea of nothing edible onto him. Suddenly, the previously burned area turned rich with jewels. Agni gave them their weapons back and allowed passage into the Ocean of Milk. When questioned about the Khandava Forest, he told them the tale of Jaya and Vijaya, it proved that while life isn't fair, things don't happen without an unknown reason. Aru remembered something her mother told her, villains can do heroic things and heroes can do villainous things. Agni decided to bestow the quartet with gifts, Mini received a Night Flame so she would never be lost in the dark, Brynne's wind mace received a new flaming ability, Aru received an *Incendiary Offers for Future Use* coin so she can receive a weapons in the future, and Aiden's Shadowfax was added eternal memory and battery.

Under the Ocean of Milk, there was leftover treasures from when it was churned. The quartet could see a golden glow far in the darkness of shadows, while talking about his mother Aiden said that he liked Aru, but later panicked and added that he liked her as a friend. They reached a green glass tunnel that to the dome where the *amrita* was. It was surrounded by a Heartless army, two talking nagas were right next to the tunnel doors. Mini used her shield so they'd sneak to the doors, but one guard made the Pandava girls trip when he practiced dancing to bhangra. When the two nagas detained Aru, Surpanakha arrived and sent the guards to the outside, but she turned out to be Hira the rakshasi. She revealed that she is part of the Otherworld Foster Care System and Navdeep's family took her in, apparently he just acts arrogant when he's with his friends. Brynne offered to take her in, her uncle was a descendant of Mayasura, the architect who built the Palace of Illusions.

With only a few hours remaining, they searched the perimeter of the dome. Mini accidentally touched the dome with Dee Dee, causing the celestial weapons to become powerless. The Heartless came to life and Takshaka and *beautiful* Lady M carrying the bow and arrow arrived. She said that her real name is not Surpanakha, the naga king didn't trust Uloopi after she fell in love with Arjuna. Lady M tried to persuade them in joining their cause by saying that stories die after they are stopped being told unless people find parts, polish them up, and breath life into them. That's what she wants the *amrita* for, not for herself, if they plunge the arrow in her heart, she will disappear with her true story, her soul would become a song of death. Her parents named her Meenakshi when she was born, the reason she wanted to marry Rama or Laxmana was because Ravana killed her greedy rakshasa husband. But Laxmana ridiculed her and her furious pride made her attack Sita. She's more than a monster in a story, she's a scapegoat who suffered disfigurement, she wanted to be remembered for her triumphs. However, now she was beginning to look more demonic as people imagined her, but she needs the *amrita* because many others feel the same way, including The Sleeper, in fact it was *his* idea. Aru pointed out that the things Lady M and her own father did weren't right, but then she told the five about what happened with Sita and her, she gave them five minutes to think this over.

Hira was a bit *too* sympathetic of Lady M, Aru remembered The Sleeper's foul army, she and her friends decided to fight. If they don't, they'll be banished and the Heartless will stay like that forever, two wrongs don't make a right. Aru got the idea of using Hira as an impostor Meenakshi, but she doesn't tell her until later when she had an opening. When Lady M returned, Aru wanted Kamadeva's bow and arrow, their weapons came back. But Meenakshi fired the arrow at Aiden, who was now Heartless.

Upon the signal Mini threw Dee Dee over Lady M covering her with the shield. In the fight, Takshaka took control of the arrow but couldn't find Lady M, soon disguised Hira arrived and took the arrow. The real Lady M escaped Dee Dee, but when Aru got the arrow she reluctantly plunged it into her chest. Her soul did indeed become a song of death, it sounded like ice creeping across a window pane, a warning shout unleashed a second too late, water closing over your head, and the silent chime of a moment that has been forgotten forever. However, all the Heartless zombies, including Aiden, came back to normal. The sound of the celestial mounts were heard to take the Heartless to their homes, but Takshaka revealed that the quartet have missed their deadline before leaving through a portal. Lady M looked beautiful again, alas she then faded, the quartet vowed to remember Meenakshi's full story.

Takshaka returned with Uloopi, Urvashi and Hanuman, the former naga king denies any involvement with the theft. So they returned to the Court of the Sky for a trial with the Council of Guardians. The Pandavas explained what had happened to them on their quest. Suddenly, Aiden arrived and showed the Council Shadowfax that contained a hologram of Takshaka admitting that he hid Uloopi's heart jewel. At this point, Aru returned the jewel she had in her backpack, the queen thanked and apologized to the Pandavas and had two guards take Takshaka away, then Boo returns.

Two weeks later, the Pandavas were practicing balancing book on their with weapons surrounding them. Boo advised them that there will soon a war where The Sleeper would be faced again. He too felt sympathy for Meenakshi due to his own past in avenging his sister, he decided to teach them about the bad stories of the Pandavas as well. One hour later, they arrived at the Soul Exchange to return the bow and arrow to Kamadeva. The god of love promised Aiden Acharya an arrow so he can try to get his parents back together, Mini received a box which can erase a minute of time, Brynne got Kamadeva's favorite cookbook, and Aru received a spotlight that makes the world see her in a different light. He wished the Pandavas well, and Aiden said he wasn't a Pandava like he's been saying throughout the whole book, but Kamadeva reveals that his *is* one by marriage, he is the reincarnation of Queen Draupadi, the Pandavas' wife.

February 15th was Aru Shah's birthday, she was dressed as Gandalf because she has invited her friends, including Hira, to binge-watch Lord of the Rings together. Boo has given fifteen minutes off from their weekend training session. However, the The Sleeper has not yet been found and Takshaka was revealed to have escaped his jailers. Aru has heard rumors through the Council of Guardians of Kalpavriksha, a tree that grants wishes, and other treasures from the Ocean of Milk. But right now, Aru's party was almost starting. Aiden threw the arrow he received at his mother which made her feel happy, Aiden decided to use it to help her see herself the same way he does.

That night, everyone was lying around the room, they were tired from the party. At midnight, Aru received a text that apparently came from Takshaka's grandson who helped them. He said he going to call in on Aru's favor. When she went to sleep, she dreamed she was in a forest with the dog from the Grove of Ratri. Suddenly, a pair of younger twin girls showed up claiming she was in *their* dream. One of them received a vision where Aru Shah would save the two the following year.

### *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*

Aru remembers Boo and Hanuman explaining them about their mission. They were to rescue two people, of which, one of them was a clairvoyant. A clairvoyant is a person who can see the future and prophesize and given the fact that the Otherworld was waiting for a prophecy, this mission seemed pretty important.
Brynne suggests that she could blast the booth, where the targets are hiding, with wind, to which everyone disagrees. They go through all the options they have, which included Aru start it with Vajra: it could fry the clairvoyant and Brynne trying to move the wheel by gently pushing it with some wind, Aru says they don't have time for gently. After coming to a decision, Mini suggests that she and Aru could climb the Ferris Wheel and scan the booths for the targets. After some protests, Aru reluctantly agrees.

Aru and Mini began to climb the wheel when Aru starts to sing the theme song of Spiderman. When questioned by Mini, Aru quickly shuts up and says that it was an illusion of the wind.

About fifteen feet away, across a slender metallic bridge, was a glass-encased compartment big enough to hold two people. Its red door was shut tight, and the inside was dark. Aru aimed Vajra at the door hinge and threw it, only to reveal nothing. Mini confirms through Dee Dee that there were no magical enchantments.

They check the remaining four booths, only to find nothing. As they were moving to the last booth, Brynne's panicked voice interrupted their thoughts to inform that the demons have found them.

As they entered the last booth, they sensed the two targets. And a rakshasa.

As the bull-headed rakshasa advanced on them, Sheela tries to control the prophecy which is on the verge of arrival. Brynne sends a gust of wind, with a prior warning, to protect them. The rakshasa disappeared into thin air, only to materialize when the wind was gone. He quickly sent a piece of onyx to distract Aru, while sending tendrils of shadows towards the sisters to knock them off the Ferris Wheel. Aru called out for Vajra, to which, Vajra turned into a hoverboard and saved the two sisters.    Aru had a plan to rescue the targets from the rakshasa. She had Mini make all the booths look identical to the one holding the targets and Brynne to send a gust of wind towards the rakshasa to topple him off the booth. When the rakshasa fell to the ground, the Pandavas and Aiden knocked him unconscious.
When they bring the two targets from the Ferris Wheel, they claim to be Pandavas. After realizing that demons can absorb information even while knocked out unconscious, they decide to carry the demons to Court of the Sky through the Magical Dead Zone, as the targets are underage to have access to a portal through the Night Bazaar. Ordinary mortals refuse to believe in magic, and therefore ignore it. However, within the Dead Zone, the people who are banished there attempt to flee with them, causing the rakshasa to awaken. This allows it to hear the Prophecy Sheela speaks, then it escapes. Nikita and Sheela later get claimed by the Ashvins, revealing themselves to be the reincarnations of Nakula and Sahadeva respectively, their weapons were currently a green heart and silver star placed on their throats.
The Pandava sisters, along with Aiden sit on a bench on the outskirts of the Night Bazaar. Aru relieves the dreadful conversation they had with their mentor, who had flown back to the Council to triage, which just sounded like adult-speak for ‘You really screwed up’ in Aru’s mind.
Aru looks at the beautiful Night Bazaar and the glittering *chakora* forest, and ruminates about the fact if she really is fighting on the ‘right side’. However, she is interrupted by Sheela questioning her about the beauty of the Otherworld. Aru looks at the Otherworld, which is decorated beautifully with colors, resulting in a dazzling fiasco and flurry of glittering colors. The others cheer up when Aru mentions that the Otherworld has been decorated so alluringly for Holi, which is the Hindu festival of colors and also Aru’s favorite Hindu festival.
Whilst everyone is discussing about the festival, Aru calls Aiden ‘Wifey’, which makes Nikita ask them about that seemingly intriguing nickname, and Brynne adds and lists all the reasons as to why Nikita could call Aiden by the nickname ‘Ammamma’, as well. And then, after being inquired again about the nickname ‘Wifey’, Sheela tells them the story of Princess Draupadi and her marriage with all of the five Pandava brothers.  She finished the story with the tragic fact that Draupadi loved one brother more than the rest, and after finishing the story her eyes glowed silver and she looked straight at Aiden and asked herself if that fact was true even lifetimes later.

The concerned Council of Guardians, (namely Hanuman and Urvashi) visit Lanka, the City of Gold, as the Prophecy mentions a false treasure. The Prophecy mentions a 'tree at the heart', which the Pandavas to believe refers to the titular *Tree of Wishes*, Kalpavriksha. They visit the gardens in Amaravati where they think it is kept, but Nikita reveals it is a fake and that a hint to the real tree's location is kept in the Crypt of Eclipses, where there lies secrets, which is inside the House of Months. They decide to go on a quest to find the tree. Since they need a key to open it, they decide to visit Vishwakarma, the Hindu God of Architects, first. The quest is kept secret from all others, except Boo, as they were forbidden from helping the devas. Aru is unexpectedly visited by a Naga prince named Rudra. He was the same Naga that helped them in their previous quest. Rudy insists on joining the quest as claims he can get them an audience with Vishwakarma.

They visit Vishwakarma who, after hearing their request, warns them that a key to unlock any lock needs to be *alive*, and live no things demand answers. It is revealed that the Sleeper once tried to find the tree, but whether he succeeded in reaching it is unknown. He was changed after the experience, though, and left 'parts of himself' along the way.

The Pandavas sneak inside the House of Months, and sneak past Rahu and Ketu, the head and body of an Asura that takes the form of a dragon. The Yalis, keepers of the Crypt, are initially suspicious, as they can sense their celestial weapons, but agree to take them to the Crypt. The Pandavas find a wooden bird, with its voice broken, which holds a memory of the Sleeper. Aru accidentally drops it, and Rudy tries to catch it, unwittingly setting off an alarm. It is revealed that the Yalis have the pillar that contains Narasimha, the wrathful fourth avatar of Vishnu. Aru bargains with the Yalis and they narrowly escape Narasimha. The bird she was holding calls out to Garuda, who initially suspects them of stealing it, since Rudy is a Naga, but they are saved by Boo. He converses it into a message, which can only be deciphered by Chakora birds. Boo reveals that the Sleeper kidnapped Sheela and the group is deeply impacted. He also says Nikita is in the custody of the moon god. They travel to the Chakora forest, where they meet Sohail, a Chakora bird who is rejected by the others for his tendency to fall in love with luminous objects. The birds agree to decipher the message, for each one of their secrets, which they force them to say. The birds also reveal they know who Aru is, and give her the memory of the Sleeper, wherein he names her.
They go up to the Chandra Loka, as the revealed riddle mention roots, which leads them to believe that Nikita might have the answer. So they retrieve her and are left on a supermarket where there are magical plants. Nikita speaks to them, and they find out that the tree is in Atlanta, in a floating island. While on the way there, Nikita and Aru reconcile.

The Sleeper ambushes them with his army. The other Pandavas rescue Sheela, while Nikita and Aru flee to the Tree of Wishes, where Aru leaves Nkkita behind to protect her. Aranyani, owner of the Tree, warns her of the price, and gives her the final memory of the Sleeper. She also reveals that Boo made a bargain with the Sleeper to protect them, which hurts Aru deeply. She is conflicted and loses touch of good and bad. Nonetheless, Aru makes a wish, which is wiped clean from her memory. She pays the price of the wish immediately, as she is taken by the Sleeper.

Aru awakens chained, and meets Kara, a girl who claims to be the Sleeper's other daughter.

### *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*

Between bites of the delicious deserts cooked by Brynne, Aru first starts off with Kara and her history, which included everything Kara had told her. When Aru voices her question about Kara's history, Brynne raises another explanation. Apparently, in the Otherworld, the rich families can pay a timekeeper to take a baby and put it in stasis until the parents are ready to raise it. The timekeeper, can't change time, but they can hold pockets of it, and it is a whole another level of magic. After some more questions from Mini, Aru interrupts her two sisters, informing them that the Sleeper's army is on marching to Lanka, the City of Gold, at that very moment. They've been planning to attack on Lanka within that week. Instead of the shocked masks she expects her sisters to wear, the sisters wear masks of resignation, since they already know that, courtesy of the invitation that Lord Kubera has sent them. When questioned by Aru, Mini goes to show the invitation Lord Kubera sent them, but Brynne stops her, pointing to Kara, since the two sisters still don't find reason to trust the newcomer. Aru goes out of her way to tell them that she trusts Kara, despite her being the daughter of the Sleeper. Then she notices the sudden quietness of the whole place and inquires her sisters of the others, namely her little Pandava sisters Nikita and Sheela and the Naga Prince who accompanied them on their previous quest, aka Rudy.

Brynne and Mini fill in Aru on everything that happened after she was abducted. As it turns out, Boo had tracked down the twins' parents and he used his status as a member of the Council of Guardians to speed up their immigration paperwork. Aiden then interrupts the sisters and show them a holographic scene of all that happened. The scene also shows the sudden gold rain that occurs, which mainly consists of literal golden coins falling from the enchanted sky of the Night Bazaar, and a loud voice announcing the following:

*Intelligence from Lanka has found traitors in our midst! By order of acting Council Leader Lord Kubera, ruler of Lanka and God of Wealth and Treasures, all travel to and from the Otherworld is terminated until further notice! Lord Kubera has also hereby disbanded the Council until investigations have been completed*
Right after the message, the two Pandavas and Aiden continue to fill Aru in on all that happened, finally stopping at the topic of Kubera's invitation, while discussing Kubera's grand, golden *Nairrata* army. To show Aru the invitation, Aiden flips a coin on the table and a golden mongoose appears on the table, out of which a deep and smooth voice comes out. The voice invites them to Lanka, the City of Gold in three days time and demands them to compete in the trials of Lord Kubera and win the *Nairrata* army as the reward. While talking about the invitation, and how Aru is the supposed traitor, Mini and Brynne stumble upon the topic of how people think Boo is still the traitor, and Aru confirms their suspicions. She tells all that she saw in the Tree of Wishes, but none of the sisters believe her, which makes Aru all the more frustrated.

In an attempt to change the topic, Brynne asks Aru what she wished on the Tree and and Aru admits that she doesn't remember. This makes Brynne all the more suspicious and Aru all the more frustrated, which results in Brynne ultimately attacking Aru, though fortunately, Aiden and Mini manage to stop a potential war between the two sisters. Aru confesses that the only thing her mind can conjure up is a vision of snow and a bridge and then Mini realizes that the reason for Aru's intriguingly selective amnesia is because of the curse Shukra, the Guardian of the Bridge of Forgetting gave Aru on her first ever quest to the Kingdom of Death nearly three years ago.

After informing Aiden and Brynne about all that happened on the Bridge of Forgetting all those years, Aru repeats her first voiced question about the disappearance of her mother Krithika P. Shah, to which she finally gets her answers from her sisters.

All this while, all the four Pandavas and Aiden have been unbeknownst to the fact that Kara had woken up, and had heard part of their conversation.
At first, Brynne is extremely miffed and untrustworthy of the new daughter of the Sleeper, going as far as imprudently and blatantly refusing the help of Kara, and challenging her to prove herself in a fight. Kara, surprisingly, accepts and there and then, a fight between the Daughter of Vayu and the Daughter of the Sleeper breaks out. To entertain herself, and partly as a joke, Aru even goes to make popcorn to watch the show in peace, something that disdains Mini, as she is concerned for both of the sisters.
After the magnificent fight, the outcome of which Kara being victorious, the Potatoes finally accepting Kara into their group, although quite begrudgingly on Brynne's side.

    After some discussions, the quintet decides to head over towards the Dahlonega Gold Mini, since, according to Kara, *'all gold* *roads lead to Lanka'* and the Dahlonega Gold Mines are the nearest place to Atlanta where some gold can be found.

Once they reach their destination via the bus, the Pandavas along with Kara soon start to realize that the place they've reached is the Dahlonega Gold Mine *Museum*, and not the real mine. When all of them are in search of the golden roads to Lanka, two golden hamsters appear in front of them.

Once they arrive, the exchange introductions, the cheerful hamsters introducing himself as Sonu and the less cheerful and grumpy hamster introducing himself as Kanak, Sonu explains the Potatoes about all the cities the gold roads can lead to.

While reaching the souvenir shop, Sonu hands them a pamphlet with the words *"this is a pamphlet :)"* written down on each line.

When the rest of the group walked into the shop, **Aru** lingered in the place for a minute, distracted by the ghost window. Kanak then explains that the history of "Dahlonega" has more to it. He proceeds to tell her that the place was name after the Cherokee word for gold. The first nation people had known about the gold for hundreds of years, until the white people had come and seized the place, making the gold theirs. After finishing, no matter what, Aru couldn't shake the feeling that the place was cursed, even if it shined with gold.
In the souvenir shop, there was a large courtyard, that was very empty, and on a distance, there stood three archways. The first led to the mouth of a cave. The second looked identical to the first one, except, it had small pieces floating in the middle of its opening. The last one, however, looked very foggy, leading to Aru believing that it would lead to Lanka.

    The group agreed that while Aru and Kara are off buying souvenirs, Brynne, Mini and Aiden would cause a distraction, so they can escape to the gold road leading to Lanka. When asked for his much to pay, Sonu replied that they have to pay a thousand of anything. Kara, then, told Aru that they can pay a thousand salt crystals. Satisfied with the payment, the marmots left them.

As the Potatoes run for the exit, causing major chaos, the marmots are outraged, making sure that the Potatoes are never welcome here again.

## Physical Appearance

Aru Shah is an Indian-American girl who begins the story at the age of 12, turning 15 by the end of *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*.

In all official art she’s shown to have a braid, but numerous times in the publications she’s referred to her “chin-length hair”, and later, when she’s 14, as having grown out her hair to shoulder-length.

She also mentions that her eyebrows are close together, almost forming a unibrow, and that she sucks in her nose when she smiles at Aiden implying that it’s at least somewhat large. She refers to herself being skinny a few times, and mentions she has no muscles when comparing herself to a statue of Arjuna. Her mother is very beautiful, but Aru thinks that she doesn’t resemble her a lot. In general, Aru views herself as not particularly pretty.

Aru likely has black hair, as both her mother and her father are mentioned having black and dark hair, respectively. She likely has medium dark skin, as she describes it as "chestnut brown", and she's warned to not go outside or she could tan darker. Judging by her description of her parents as well as her official art, it is also probable her eyes are dark and round.

However, by the end of *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*, a visible change has been seen in her appearance. According to Urvashi, Aru is starting to look like her mother. Her skin still remains darker than her mother's, and her hair wasn't as curly and glossy, but her hair was thick and heavy and fell past her shoulders.

Aru wears her Spider-Man pajamas throughout the whole story of *Aru Shah and the End of Time*. Her little sister, Nikita gifts her magical yellow pants that are apparently very flattering on her in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*. She prefers to walk around barefoot, but she can fit into her mom's shoes by the time she is 14. Despite the fact that Aru is 15 and has grown-up, her love for her pajamas still remains, as that can be seen when she says that she still likes to spend her entire in her pajamas. On her fifteenth birthday, Aru wears a gorgeous outfit which had been designed specially by Nikita. The top was made of black velvet studded with gold pearls, with ballooned sleeves that secured delicately at her wrists. Her skirt was dark gold and high-waisted, with a pattern of gold-foil lightning bolts.

## Personality

Throughout the Books, it is said numerous times that Aru is a very imaginative person. At first, it shows that she is lying, but instead of using it in a bad way, she uses her imagination to her advantage, like using it for strategy, empathizing, and breaking through illusions and magic.

Aru is also a really compassionate person and caring person. She puts her friends in front of the Devas and cares for their safety and well-being, far more than her own She even sympathizes with Meenakshi, who is the antagonist in Aru Shah and the Song of Death. Aru is characterized by her sarcastic, smart and sassy sense of humor and playful demeanor. She is also shown to be a practical person, doing whatever it takes to save her friends. Aru also tends to be quite an awkward person as well.

Despite that, Aru is shown to have a more serious, sad and lonely side. In *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, we see a particular memory of Aru at the 6th-grade dance. Aru is extremely excited about the dance, but when the Father-Daughter dance starts Aru freaks & fakes an injury. One of her teachers drives her home, & Aru cries the way home. Growing up, Aru has often been neglected by her mother and has no father, so she hates it when the rich students in her school brag about how their parents are. She even gets angry when Mini asks if her mother really never showed her the Otherworld, because Mini's parents did. In the face of danger, Aru easily takes on the role of the leader, implying that she is a serious person.

## Abilities and Tools

* Demigod Abilities
* Gifted Abilities
* Magical Items

* **Pandava Mind Link**: She shares a telepathic mind link with her other Pandava siblings. Originally, she could only communicate with Mini, however, since meeting Brynne, Nikita and Sheela, she is now able to connect with them too.

- **Water-Induced Abilities**: Due to Uloopi's relationship with her previous incarnation, Arjuna, the queen has granted her water-induced abilities.
	* **Underwater Breathing**: Aru can breathe underwater.
	* **Zoolingualism** (limited to Marine Life): She can understand and talk to marine animals like fish.

* **Vajra**: It is her main weapon, a lightning bolt from her spiritual father, Indra. She wields it in battle in a wide variety of ways, Vajra having the ability to transform into other lightning-based forms. When she is not using it, she turns it into a bracelet. The bolt always returns to her hand except through divine interference. Celestial weapons can’t fight other celestial weapons.
	+ **Board**: She can turn it into a long hover board that multiple people can stand on.
	+ **Javelin**: She can throw it like a javelin at her targets.
	+ **Net:** She can turn it into a meshing net and use it to capture enemies.
	+ **Light Emission**: She can use the ball form of Vajra to emit a bright light to help her see in the dark and stun her enemies.
	+ **Rope**: She can turn it into a lightning rope and bind and enemies hands and feet.
	+ **Sword**: She can turn it into a lightning sword and fight off enemies with it.

## Relationships

### Friends

* Mini Kapoor
* Brynne Rao
* Aiden Acharya
* Rudy
* Nikita Jagan]
* Sheela Jagan
* Boo

Aru and Mini quickly became friends during their first quest together; although they have a few rough spots, like when Mini discovers Aru lit the lamp to impress a couple losers, but they apologize to each other soon after the fact, as they do for the rest of their arguments, and trust each other a lot. Aru thinks that while Mini is a little weird, she’s wise, and Mini seems to hold Aru in high regard as well, although she’s somewhat oblivious to Aru’s feelings.

Aru and Brynne had an antagonistic start to their relationship, to say the least, due to a combination of circumstances, conflicting personalities, and jealousy. They truly become friends after Mini is captured, and they all share dreams with her where she tells them, among other things, to not blame each other, and after Aiden gives Aru a 100 Grand and a space to clear the air with Brynne. They commiserate about family and become closer; Brynne even shares the bar with Aru. So after that, they become pretty close friends, joking around together and teasing each other.

Aiden and Aru had a rocky start to their relationship. Aru, having a crush on him, bumped into him one day, and in their first mutual interaction she word vomits on him and runs away. When they met again in *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, he seems somewhat embarrassed when Brynne lets on he talked about that encounter with her in front of Aru. Throughout the Book they become friends. A few times, Aiden says that he obviously doesn’t feel romantic feelings for Aru, and Aru, embarrassed, agrees, and she seems to be over her crush at the end of the Book, although there’s still a possibility they could fall in love. A significant step in their relationship occurs when Aru notices Aiden sulking in his lawn during her birthday party and he brings her along on his mission to Parent Trap his parents; however, Aru helps show him that what he really cares about is whether his mom is happy and loves herself.

There is also a part in *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, where Aiden, Brynne, and Aru are discussing what happened previously, with their fight against Takshaka. Brynne and Aru were filling Aiden in, as Aiden had been knocked out. After Aru is done explaining what happened, Brynne says "A boy asked for Aru's number." To which Aiden responds saying, "Why?" Aiden's comment really hurt Aru, but she says sarcastically, "Wow, thanks." Aiden blushes and starts to say something, but Aru cuts him off.

Several times in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, he hints that he might have a crush on her, whether he recognizes it as such or not, like when he stares at her after she gets her new outfit from Nikita, when he implies that she's beautiful when she says Sohail the chakora bird viewed her as hideous, or when after using the key, he openly stares at her for a full second, implying that the key has unlocked a feeling within him.

There is also a part of the beginning of the Book where Sheela tells the story of Princess Draupadi (who was reincarnated into Aiden) and the 5 Pandava brothers. She ends her story with; "The only sad thing was that she loved one brother more than the rest." After she finished her story, her eyes flashed silver, according to Aru, and then said, mostly to herself; "Even lifetimes later?" Aiden then responded and said, "What are you talking about?" Sheela could possibly be referring to Aru (reincarnated soul of Arjuna), but we will have to see in the coming Books. The reason why Sheela would be referring to Aru, and not Brynne, Mini, Nikita, or Sheela herself, is because Aiden only sees Brynne as his best friend, Mini as his sister, and the twins as his friends, leaving the only other person to be Aru. We don't really know how Aiden feels about Aru, but it is implied he has a crush on her.

Aru first saw Rudy in *Aru Shah and the End of Time*, when he winked at Mini causing her to walk into a pole. She officially met him in *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, when he rescued her, Bynne and Aiden when his grandfather Takshaka was attacking them. She got flustered when he asked her for her number, and initially refused on principal, but gave it to him after some persuasion.

Later in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, he joins Aru and her crew on their unofficial quest to find the tree of wishes, Kalpavriksha. During the book, they become friends with each other, despite Aru initially being annoyed at him. During the book, it might suggest that Rudy has a crush on her, like when he asked her to come to his father's palace, or when he said that she wouldn't like the store they visit.

Nikita is somewhat cold to Aru at first. Later, when Aru sees her nightmare, Nikita is grateful for her help -- she sends Aru a thank you note, although she's careful to not let it get too heartfelt. She's initially worried about being vulnerable with Aru, but Aru quickly grows to view her as a little sister and teases her. Nikita soon grows to believe in Aru strongly to do the right thing, protect her and her twin, and be generally a big sister.

Sheela likes Aru well, and talks to her briefly, but honestly, during the dream in which Nikita was making the Pandavas clothing. Aru seems curious towards Sheela's more closed off attitude, and feels worry for her when she sees how scared she is from the nightmare.

Aru likes Boo a lot -- when he was revealed to be Shakhuni, she forgave him quickly, and is quick to jump to his defense. However, she’s not very respectful to him, especially when he forces her to do Pandava training.

Later, in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, she feels betrayed by him.
### Family

* Krithika P. Shah
* Suyodhana
* Indra
* Kara

Aru has an overall favorable relationship with her mother, who used to tell her bedtime stories and cares deeply about her. Krithika hid the fact that Aru was a Pandava from her. At the start of *Aru Shah and the End of Time*, Aru isn’t overly close to her mom, but by the beginning of *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, they’re closer, talking about feelings a lot, which Aru dislikes, and her mother acting as a mentor to Aru.

Aru is determined to defeat The Sleeper, although she’s worried that when the time comes, she’ll be too weak. The Sleeper has always known that she is his daughter, but she only realized part way through her first quest. At the end of the first Book, he invites her to join him when she fails to kill him, and then vanishes. He seems to care about her, but he overall cares more about getting revenge on Krithika and whatever other nefarious plans he’s making. He also seemed to be excited to have a child; in the vision Aru saw in the Pool of the Past, he was wearing an I’M A DAD! T-shirt and holding Aru. He doesn’t really know Aru, but that makes sense, due to him never interacting with her for twelve years; he did, however, know her well enough to exploit her insecurities. Aru, on her part, is bitter; when Meenakshi tells her that he misses her, she says he tried to kill her. She also doesn’t see him as a father but as a puppet-master pulling strings. But she also doubts herself when it comes to him. She’s afraid she’ll let him go again, or even join him, and she’s especially worried she’ll turn out like him, a villain.

Later, in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, Aru sees that he did actually care about her, but makes the choice to defeat him.

}
Aru was initially not thrilled to be the daughter of Indra, because she had a lot of expectations placed on her. She also was underwhelmed by her gift of a Ping-Pong ball, although she soon warmed up to Vajra. Her father never interacts with her directly, which makes Aru kind of jealous of Brynne, but he does seem to be guiding her through Vajra, and occasionally sends weather messages to her, such as how he expresses he’s disappointed in her.

Kara is Aru Shah's maternal biological sister and half soul sister. She appears during the epilogue of *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*. She apparently already knows who Aru is, as she calls her Arundhati, which is her real name. Her father is The Sleeper, however, that may not be true. In the prophecy, it says one sister is not true. The Pandavas thought the prophecy was suggesting one of the twins was not true, but since Aru now has a half sister, it could very well mean Kara is not The Sleeper's daughter.
## Etymology

* **Arundhati** means the morning star. Arundhati is a Sanskrit/Hindi name of a star which was named after a type of climbing plant, possibly meaning “not restrained” in Sanskrit. Her name is the same as the sage Vashista's wife: Arundhati. Vashishta was the priest and preceptor of the Ikshvaku Clan, the clan of Lord Rama.
* **Shah** is another term used for 'king' in Iran, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Persian language.
* **Aru's** name derives from the Sanskrit word aru **(अरु)**, meaning sun.
* Her surname, **Shah** is derived from the Sanskrit word sadhu **(साधु)**, meaning saint.

## Trivia

* Aru's mother speaks Gujurati, and Aru’s picked some up from her, particularly swear words and names of different Gujarati food items
* Aru owns Spider-Man pajamas.

* Her favorite color is green

* Her favorite dessert is tiramisu

* Her favorite superhero is Spiderman.
* Her birthday is February 15, making her an Aquarius (♒️), which is an air sign and fixed sign associated by the water-bearer. This suits her personality as Aquarian’s are known for their leadership skills and imagination as well as their tendency to lie.
* Aru leads the afternoon visitors’ tour every Saturday; she wears a crisp scarlet vest with its three honeybee buttons and imitates her mom’s museum-curator voice
* Aru grew up reading and doing her homework beneath the giant stone elephant at the entrance of the museum
* She often falls asleep in the theater, and wakes up just before the crackling self-guided tour recording announces when India gained independence from Britain
* She regularly hides a stash of candy in the mouth of Steve, the four-hundred-year-old sea dragon statue in the west wing of the museum.
* A month before the events of *Aru Shah and the End of Time*, Aru moved to Augustus Day School, which is costing her mom a lot, which does not help Aru’s nerves at tests in addition to her horribly unfashionable shoes
* Aru is excellent at chess, does choir, and can remember facts she heard just once
* Aru lit the Lamp of The Sleeper at 4PM
* She named the stone elephant Greg after Mini’s suggestion
* Her name was chosen by The Sleeper
* Her birthday, February 15th, is one day after Roshani Chokshi's (the author) birthday, which is February 14th
* The covers of the Books and official art are not representative of what the text describes her as looking like
* Aru is the first protagonist of a Rick Riordan Presents Book.
* Her favorite superhero is Spider-Man, though starting with *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes* she is more into Iron Man.
* She also loves movies, quoting and referencing them many times, such as her telling The Sleeper to not say he's Inevitable, as that is Thanos' line. She also references movies such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc.
* Aru would *never* wear denim on denim
* When Aru was 11 or 12, she went to a school dance, but only stayed for twenty minutes before demanding that her mom take her home
* Two years before the year Aru turned 13, Aru started staying at the museum's annual fundraising project during Halloween instead of trick-or-treating. She dressed up as a flying-blue-monkey, which took three weeks to put together. Unfortunately, her effort was not appreciated by most, seeing as her costume hadn't dried in time and she got paint all over the patrons. This would be forever known in museum circles as the "Blue Monkey Scandal"
* In the bonus scene (happening sometime before Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes but after Aru Shah and the Song of Death, Aru dresses up as Winnie Sanderson from Hocus Pocus when she attends an Otherworld Halloween party, expecting to be in a trio with Brynne and Mini; unfortunately, Mini was allergic to her wig and Brynne thought Aru was joking, so Aru was alone in her costume
* Aru is an Aquarius Sun and Aries Moon.
* She visited Oakland Cemetery once, and said she loved it.
* She tried to electrocute herself with her lightning bolt and woke up 6 hours later with a splitting headache, a twitch in her left eye, and a serious case of frizzy hair.

## ReadRiordan's Articles On Her

> *“A 12-year-old Indian American girl who has a special gift for bending the truth, Aru is determined, brave, and tragically underdressed for adventure. .. Aru Shah lives in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta, Georgia, where her mother works. She has a vivid imagination and a tendency to stretch the truth, but she never would have dreamed that she is a reincarnated Pandava and the daughter of a god."*
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> *"Aru Shah is a 14-year-old Indian American girl who just happens to be the reincarnation of Arjuna, one of the five heroic Pandava demigods from the Mahabharata. As such, it’s her destiny to save Otherworld, the home of the Hindu gods, from the wrath of the evil Sleeper."*
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