Hira

> *This article is about Hira, the granddaughter of Vikram and Gauri from The Star-Touched Queen Duology. You maybe looking for Hira Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez, the foster sister of Mini Kapoor from The Pandava Quintet*
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## Biological Information

### Parents

Raja of Bharata-Ujijain (Biological father)Rani of Bharata-Ujijain (Biological mother)

### Siblings

Chandra (oldest sister)Meghna (older sister)

### Other Relatives

Gauri (Dadi-Ma/Grandmother)Vikram (Dada-ji/Grandfather)

## Appearance

### Appears in

Rose and Sword

**Hira** is the granddaughter of Gauri and Vikram from A Crown of Wishes, which makes her a secondary character in Star Touched Stories and a main character in the third short story of the same book, Rose and Sword.

## History

### Early Life

Hira was born in the kingdom of Bharata-Ujijain to the royal family. Hira grew up with her two older sisters, Chandra, the oldest one and Meghana, the second oldest sister. Chandra, the oldest sister, despite being sweet natured and having a silvery and beauttiful voice, never played with Hira. Meghana, however, often entertained and played with Hira. Hira also liked to spend her time in her grandfather Vikram's study, who had kept many different stories there, along with little hand-written notes, which made Hira feel like she was having a secret conversation with her grandfather.

## Star Touched Stories

### Rose and Sword

The story starts off with a ten-year-old Hira, who can't bear hearing another minute of her sister Meghana's wedding preparations, but she has to, because her parents are the current reigning *Raja* and *Rani* of Bharata-Ujijain, which means that she and her parents have to stand for hours at the entrance of the royal palace and greet different people, who Hira has never seen or heard of. But Hira doesn't want to do this job.

What she does want to do is sneak outside and go to her grandfather Vikram's study, who had kept many different stories there, along with little hand-written notes, which made Hira feel like she was having a secret conversation with her grandfather. But unfortunately, her grandfather has been dead for years and Hira never even met him, which, strangely, doesn't make her feel that bad, because she knows that even her sister Meghana never saw their grandfather.

The thought of Meghana brings back a few memories of Hira. Since Meghana had been distracted due to all her wedding preparations, she couldn't play with Hira anymore, despite the various number of times Hira tried to have her sister's attention.

Once, Hira pretended to be a *vanara* and wore a fake monkey tail and ran around the palace apartments, screaming about the theft and blood deeds, that were soon to be paid. On another occasion, Hira had the cook painstakingly apply gold leaves to an apple (so that it looked like one of the fruits from her grandmother Gauri's stories) and pretended to eat it and turn slowly into a gigantic beast, with the help of a headpiece which one of her nursemaids made her, out of bent pieces of iron from the blacksmith's chambers.

So she had collected her most precious toys and covered them neatly with a gauzy fabric. However, things had not turned out well when Meghna had taken one look at the gifts and thrown away the bridal chest and all the toys. That night Hira had slept in the blacksmith's study.

Thinking about all these memories makes Hira sway a bit, which her parents notice and frown. Her father catches her and asks her about her health, and her mother takes her face in her hands. After some interrogations, her parents advice her to go to her Dadi-Ma and give her some company. This was a thing Hira didn't need to be told twice, since she loved her grandmother's company. Seeing her trying not to bolt, Hira's father sneaks her a candy, and Hira's mother warns her to come before the feast and bid farewell to her sister, to which Hira promptly refuses. She runs out of the threshhold, down the hall and darts through the chambers within moments, until she gets near her grandmother's chambers. As she crosses through the Garden of Sweets and Swords, Hira pauses to grab a silver bowl of gulab jamun and then grabs another one for her grandmother

When she reaches her grandmother's chambers, she requests a story from her grandmother, and her grandmother tells her the story of a bride who lost her bridegroom on the eve of her wedding. Sometimes Hira interrupts and adds her thoughts and voices her questions throughout the story.

Once Gauri finishes telling her the story, Hira asks her grandmother some more questions, after which Gauri hands him Biju, who is a snake necklace which can always identify between a truth and a lie. After talking some more, Hira bids goodbye to her grandmother and races out the door. She whispers to the snake that she'll never live a life of adventure and magic, and she can swear that the snake gave her the tiniest squeeze, and it felt like her grandmother's hand reaching out to her.

## Personality

Hira is shown to be mischievous like her grandfather Vikram, impulsive and yet compassionate and kind-hearted.

## Abilities and Tools

### Magical Abilities

* **Poison Immunity:** In Star Touched Stories, she is shown to be immune to any kind of poison, deriving the ability from her grandmother.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Gauri

Hira loves her grandmother a lot, and likes spending time with her.

#### Meghana

Meghana often entertained and played with Hira earlier when they were kids. However, since Meghna's wedding preparations have started for a few months, Meghna doesn't play with Hira naymore and gets kinda irked when Hira tried to grab her attention.

#### Unnamed Parents

Her parents have been shown to love her and take care her.

## Etymology

* Hira is an ancient word of Sanskrit origin which means “diamond.” The name can also mean "quintessence", "thunderbolt", "powerful", "and darkness".
* Hira thinks that the meaning of her name is better than her sister Meghna's.

## Roshani Chokshi's FAQ page on her website

> *"At this time, I think I've said all I've needed to say about the Star-Touched universe...but I \*did\* leave a small window open in the character of Hira, who (SPOILER ALERT) is the granddaughter of Gauri and Vikram. Perhaps one day I'll figure out what she wants to do and write the tale that gives her the space to do it!”*
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