Hira Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez

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

**Hira Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez** is a secondary character in Aru Shah and the Song of Death. She's a rakshasi girl who joined Aru, Aiden, Brynne and Mini after they defended her from her foster brother's friends, who worked for Meenakshi, in the New Jersey swamp area. Later, she's adopted by Mini's family and taken out of the Otherwordly Foster Care Systems.

## General Information

### Affiliation

The OtherworldMeenakshi

Navdeep's Family (formerly)

Otherworld Foster Care System (OFCS)

Mini's Family (currently)

## Biological Information

### Parents

Mr Kapoor Mercado Lopez (foster father)Mrs Kapoor Mercado Lopez (foster mother, Pachkanya)

Navdeep's Father (former foster father)

Navdeep's Mother (former foster mother)

Unnamed Biological Mother

Unnamed Biological Father

### Siblings

Navdeep (former foster brother)Mini Kapoor (current foster sister)

## Other

### Residence

Otherworld Foster Care System (formerly)Navdeep's House (formerly)

Mini's House (currently)

## Appearance

### Appears in

Aru Shah and the Song of DeathAru Shah and the City of Gold (mentioned)

## History

### Early Life

It can be implied by Navdeep's taunting about Hira's nonexistent family, that her family are dead, missing, and/or she has been abandoned.

Adoption By Navdeep's Family

Hira is adopted by Navdeep's family and joins Meenakshi with him and his friends. She's very impressed by Meenakshi and sympathizes with her.

## The Pandava Quintet

### Aru Shah and the Song of Death

Hira, Navdeep, Sparky, and two others appear to prevent Aru Shah, Mini Kapoor, Brynne Rao, and Aiden Acharya from entering the Ocean of Milk. When Mini calls Lady M a monster, Navdeep orders Hira to transform into her, showing her beauty. When one of the male asuras teases Hira about her looks, Brynne attacks the group with the Mace of Vayu.

Later, she poses as Surpanakha when Aru, Mini, Brynne, and Aiden are captured by the two nagas. Hira is the most sympathetic to Lady M's story, but she agrees to transform into Lady M to trick Takshaka into giving up Kamadeva 's love arrow to them. This allows Aru to kill her and free the Heartless Zombies, including Aiden.

In the aftermath of the battle, Mini's family decides to foster Hira.

### Aru Shah and the City of Gold

Though not physically appearing in the book, according to Brynne, Hira now stays with Brynne's uncles Gunky and Funky, when asked by Aru. Brynne says that Hira is 'fine', but a light tint appears on her cheeks and she trails off, not completing her sentence.

## Physical Appearance

Hira has bright hazel eyes, light brown skin and dark hair. Though she is able to change her appearance at will as a rakshasa, she shows discomfort at this and seems most comfortable in this form. Hira was described as young and wearing a hoodie. In the Ocean of Milk, she is wearing a borrowed sweatshirt and jeans that were too big for her.

## Personality

Hira is very soft spoken, not speaking up when treated wrongly and tending on the quieter, less assertive side. She cares about people; when Meenakshi is telling her story, she seems sympathetic.

Hira believes in people who don’t deserve it -- she believes that her brother cares about her, and while that may be true, that doesn’t make up for his terrible treatment of her. She also doesn’t question that Meenakshi is good when she recruits her and Navdeep.

## Abilities and Tools

### Magical Abilities

* **Shapeshifting:** Due to her being a rakshasi, Hira can shapeshift extremely accurately into any form from animals to people (fake or real), like all rakshasas.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Navdeep

Navdeep treats Hira unkindly when he’s with his friends -- however, Hira says that Navdeep is nicer when his friends aren’t over and lets her get the bigger piece of dessert sometimes.

#### Mini Kapoor

Mini is upset at Hira’s treatment by her brother and his friends. When Brynne literally blows them off their feet, Mini shields Hira with a bubble, smirking slightly. Afterwards, at Aru’s birthday party, when everyone’s asleep, Mini and Hira curl up on the couch together.

### Friends

#### Brynne Rao

Brynne is upset at Hira’s treatment and calls her brother and co. pigs and blows them into the mud. Later, Hira and Brynne seem to be friends and on good terms, and both are invited to Aru’s party. Brynne also sympathizes with Hira’s predicament with the terrible Otherworld Foster Care Program, and offers to have her uncles set something up for her, which ends up happening.

#### Aiden Acharya

Aiden is somewhat suspicious of Hira at first, questioning her, but lightens up when she tells him about her family situation, and they seem to be friends, if not interacting a lot.

## Etymology

* Hira is an ancient word of Sanskrit origin which means “diamond.” The name can also mean "quintessence", "thunderbolt", "powerful", "and darkness".

## Trivia

* Hira became Mini's foster sister after the quest in Aru Shah and the Song of Death.
* Hira also shares her last name with another character written by Roshani Chokshi, Enriqué Mercado-Lopez
	+ This is because, as later revealed in Aru Shah and the City of Gold, Mini, her foster sister, is the great-great-great granddaughter of Enrique.