Mini Kapoor

* Original
* RR

### Siblings

Aru Shah, Brynne Rao, Nikita Jagan, Sheela Jagan, Kara (soul sisters)Unnamed Brother

### Other Relatives

Unnamed Grandparents (on both sides)Aiden Acharya (reincarnated wife)
Enrique Mercado-Lopez (Great-great-great grandfather)
Zofia Boguska (Great-great-great grandmother)

## 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

**Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-López** is one of the protagonists and main characters 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 *Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality*.

She is the modern-day Half-Filipino and Half-Indian reincarnation of Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava brother, who was infamous for his wisdom, and the soul daughter of Dharma Raja. As of the latest book, she lives in Texas with her parents and her older brother.

## History

### Early Life

Mini was born to a large family. She grew up relatively happily and normally, although there were familial conflicts about her Indian and Filipino heritage, and she herself was expected to become a doctor instead of a Pandava (in addition, which everyone expected her brother to be), which caused or contributed to her numerous phobias and fears related to death.

## The Pandava Quintet

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

She meets her spiritual sister Aru Shah, and Boo who tell her that she is a reincarnation of one of the Pandavas. She's already been to the Court of the Sky once before for her brother, something which makes Aru quite jealous. 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 its 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, out of seven floating thrones, 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 (salutations) 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 a '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 Madame 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.

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 appears, 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 eats 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. Then Mini bids Aru goodbye and goes back to her home through a magical portal.

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, *Bharatanatyam*) 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*

One Saturday, while training in the Otherworld, a herd of zombies attack Night Bazaar. During the attack, Mini and her soul sister Aru hide under a table. When they are found, Aru launches Vajra at them and both the girls make a run for it. When they are cornered by the zombies because the grocery carts blocks their way, Mini tries to use Dee Dee (Death Danda), but fails. Then Boo saves the two girls, but when they arrive at the arena, Aru and Mini find the thief fighting over a bow and arrow with a girl that looks exactly like her. The thief, who turns out to be Brynne Rao, and Aru are accused of stealing the bow and arrow which belongs to Kamadeva. The Council of Guardians threatens to banish all of them and wipe away their memories of the Otherworld. But, they are allowed to prove their innocence by retrieving Kamadeva's bow and arrow in ten days. So, Aru and Mini, along with Brynne and Aiden Acharya must journey through the Naga Realm and retrieve the God of Love's bow or be banished from the Otherworld forever.

Later, in a bonus chapter, it is mentioned that she goes to an Otherworld middle school Halloween party along with Aru, Brynne and Aiden. She goes there dressed up as an unicorn though Aru told her to be dressed up as Sarah, who is one of the Sanderson sisters from *'Hocus Pocus'*.

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

Fourteen year old Mini Kapoor and her friends are sent on a mission to rescue two "targets," one of whom is about to utter a prophecy that could mean the difference between victory and defeat. Turns out the targets, a pair of twins, are the newest Pandava sisters, though the prophecy says that one sister is not true. When the Pandavas fail to prevent the prophecy from reaching the Sleeper's ears, the heavenly attendants ask them to step aside. But, instead of stepping aside, Aru, Mini, Brynne, Aiden, and Rudy go on an unofficial quest to find the real Kalpavriksha (a tree that can grant wishes) as according to Sheela's prophecy. At the end of the book, Mini is seperated from her sister Aru.

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

Mini chastised Aru when she made popcorn for the fight between Kara and Brynne. When Kara's light and Brynne's fire come in contact, lava is created, and Mini, the quickest to act among Aiden, her, and Aru, slammed Dee Dee down on the floor, and created a shield for the museum, as purple light ribboned the walls. Unfortunately, the popcorn was spilled, and Aru lamented the waste. Half an hour before they left for the bus to the Dahlonega mines, she packed bags, while Brynne and Aiden figured out food and logistics respectively. At the mines, Mini wanted to buy something from the souvenir shop, since she felt bad for the marmots. When they picked the wrong ball on the gold road, and during the execution of Kara's plan, she flipped herself out of the hole using the shaft of Kara's trident, Sunny, as support. When they ultimately reached Lanka, a purple spotlight (possibly to represent her and her weapon, Dee Dee's auras) glared down on her as she and her sisters (and reincarnated wife) watched the spectacle Kubera had set up for them. After the quest in Kamadhenu's moo-tique, they had to go through an abandoned train station in Naga-Loka. The group was accosted by a beggar called Tanutka, who pretended to be a magician. While they all felt pity for him, none of them except Mini could look him in the eye, which meant only she passed Kubera's trial, and ensured that their quest was not called off altogether. After witnessing Tanutka (who was really Uttanka in disguise)'s story, they chanced upon a blue lotus, which let out an unearthly perfume. When she, Aiden, Brynne and Aru inhaled its scent, their eyes turned different shades of blue, and were forced to battle their dopplegangers. Aru managed to make the dopplegangers vanish, but at the price of Kara's consciousness. They met Shikhandi, who showed them his story too, and then told them they passed the second trial. After walking through a tunnel, they met Rudy, their old friend, and began explaining their trials. Rudy didn't know where the line, *"And last, the sky shall test your sight",* meant, but he invited them to use his parents' Anywhere Elevator to find out. While the others tried to deliberate how to open the elevator, Mini tried to speak up, but Rudy ignored her. Brynne and Aru chastised her, and she then decided to speak up freely, and used the same method her great-great-great grandparents, Enrique and Zofia used to open the elevator, while using the key Rudy provided. Brynne clapped when the elevator opened, and said, "One, that was awesome. Two, why would your great-great-great grandparents need to open a safe?" to which she responded, "I have no idea." She ordered the elevator to take them to the place where the third trial would commence, which was the palace of the Sun. There, she met her grandmother, Saranyu, and Saranyu's clone, Chaya. Both of them told the Potatoes to choose who was the more beautiful goddess, with conditions attached. Saranyu claimed Mini's vote through blood, and finally, when the deciding vote's responsibility was on Aiden's shoulders, he gave an answer which let them go through the halls of the Sun, and made sure the goddesses healed Kara. After the completion of the trials, and before the battle on the shores of Lanka, Mini and her sister's Pandava powers kicked in, and didn't leave them after the battle. Mini's enhanced powers let her create, manipulate, and control shadows. She created cobras which struck down squadrons of the enemy, all the while her eyes glowing a shade of violet. She mourned Boo's loss during the battle, and fought harder than ever. After the battle, Kubera gave them Boo's egg, and during the eight month gap between their quest in Lanka and Aru's birthday, Mini built an incubator after researching nesting patterns for birds, while eagerly waiting for the Boo-egg to hatch. In preparations for Aru's fifteenth birthday, she and Kara decked up the museum for the party, making it look like a carnival. During the disastrous events that followed the Sleeper's coming, Mini lost her main weapon, Dee Dee, to the *antima astra,* while Aru lost Vajra and Brynne lost Gogo. She then vowed to stay by Aru's side after the party was over, and after Kara betrayed them, and after the *yakshas* sent to fix up the lobby where it all had happened.

## Physical Appearance

Mini is an Indian-Filipino four-foot-tall girl around Aru’s age, although she’ll probably grow to around 5’2”. She wears glasses, and is half-Filipino on her father’s side, and half-Indian on her mother’s. Her milk-chocolate eyes are uptilted, and her skin is light gold, like watered down honey. She has chin-length, straight, glossy hair. Her bangs are likely long, as she has to use a hair barrette to keep it out of her face.

At the beginning of *Aru Shah and the End of Time*, in her first appearance, she’s shown wearing eyeliner in stripes on her cheeks, like warpaint, and a large backpack that makes her appear like a turtle. Starting from *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, she starts wearing more all-black outfits, black eyeliner, combat boots, and the occasional T-shirt with a skull on it. Later on, in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, she continues her 'Daughter of Death' dressing style, but dons on a plume colored skirt and sweater, which were Nikita's magical clothes for her.

## Personality

Mini is an extremely passionate and caring person. She cares a lot for her friends and sympathizes with Hira who she barely even knows. She feels guilty and sad, just at the thought of doing something wrong. She is also somewhat fretful, often fussing over things that seem inconsequential to Aru and the others, such as sanitizing everything she sees. This habit of hers owes partly to the fact that she has so many phobias.

Despite, that, Mini has a more mature and intelligent side. She is also very brave. Throughout the books, it is shown that despite her weirdness, Mini is the wisest and most mature of all of them. She is intelligent, as she wants to become a doctor when she grows up, likes reading books, and knows lots of fun trivia and different facts of Biology.

## 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 Aru. However, since meeting Brynne, Nikita and Sheela, she is now able to connect with them too.

- **Night Flame:** It is a beautiful burning rose with black petals that makes it so one is never lost in the dark. She received this from Lord Agni after she and her siblings satisfied his appetite. When not in use, it can turn into a black barrette, which Mini uses to keep her long bangs out of her face.

- **Wisdom:** Being the daughter of the God of Justice and the reincarnation of Yudhishthira (the wisest Pandava brother), Mini is extremely wise and knows how to make impossible decisions.

- **Ability to talk to bones:** In Aru Shah and the Song of Death, it is shown that Mini is able to talk to bones.

* **Danda of Dharma Raja**: It is the four foot danda staff of her spiritual father, Dharma Raja, the god of Death and Justice. With it, she can cast illusions and spells of protection. However, she is not yet well versed with it and has trouble creating the spells. The danda turns into a compact mirror when she isn’t using it.

	+ **Force Field**: She can put a force field around herself and others to protect against harm. She did this multiple times throughout Aru Shah and the Song of Death.
	+ **Invisibility**: She can make herself and others invisible though it is difficult for her to do so.
	+ **Mirror Illusion**: She can cast a force field around four people. Those from the outside will seem to be looking into a mirror. She used this to confuse and distract a horde of zombies.
	+ **Umbrakinesis:** Due to her enhanced powers in the Battle of Lanka in Aru Shah and the City of Gold, Mini can manipulate and control shadows.
* **A Minute of Time**: A small golden box is not all that Kamadeva’s gift to Mini is -- it’s a minute of time that can erase a full minute of words you didn’t mean to say. It’s apparently very handy for first-time crushes.

## Relationships

### Friends

* Aru Shah
* 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 of 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 might be weird, she’s wise, and Mini seems to hold her in high regard as well, although she’s somewhat oblivious to Aru’s feelings.

At the beginning of Aru Shah and the Song of Death, Brynne mainly ignores Mini or thinks she’s weak, while Mini tries to smooth things over between the quartet. She also has a lot of empathy for Brynne, giving her good advice. Brynne seems to like her too, since she’s as angry as Aru that Mini’s captured and wants to rescue her. Brynne and Mini also seem to be pretty good friends by the end of the book.

As seen in the later books, Brynne and Mini are best friends, Brynne always encouraging Mini to stand up for herself, and Mini always siding with Brynne and caring for her.

Aiden and Mini serve as the respective peacemakers of their friend group. They bond briefly over knowing about various diseases while riding on the wind gazelles to Kamadeva, and later Mini comes to view him as a brother.

Mini and Rudy first met in Aru Shah and the End of Time, when Rudy winks and smiles at Mini, causing Mini to walk straight into a pole.

They didn't formally meet until Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, when Rudy requested to go on the unofficial quest with them. Mini acts awkward around Rudy, because "she hasn't mastered the art of the boy yet". Whenever she talks to Rudy, it usually makes Rudy uncomfortable, disgusted, or disturbed. She also is shown to be quite sad when Rudy openly flirts with Aru in front of her. Aru initially feels excited when Rudy invites her to his castle, as she has never been invited anywhere with a boy before. However, when she sees how sad Mini looks, she immediately regrets her excitement, as Mini has a crush on Rudy.

Despite this, when the situation calls for it, Mini sometimes brave, indifferent and subtly cold towards Rudy, to show her real power and potential to Rudy.

In Aru Shah and the City of Gold, instead of leaning towards Aru for ideas during quests, Rudy seems to find Mini more reliable and focuses on her instead. Nearing the end of the book, when Rudy returns to *Naga Loka*, he winks at Mini, even though she acts indifferent towards him.

Nikita and Mini don't interact much, but they become friends after a rough start. Mini continually is very kind to Nikita and Sheela.

Sheela likes Mini the most out of all the Potatoes, and Mini likes her too, feeling kind of maternal towards her.

Mini cares a lot for Boo, always feeding him Oreos and is quick to jump to his defense. Unlike her sister Aru, Mini is always very respectful towards Boo.
### Family

* Unnamed Parents
* Unnamed Brother
* Dharma Raja
* Hira

Mini loves and cares for her parents a lot, but since they expected her to be a doctor instead of a Pandava; they expected her brother to be a Pandava; they often put a lot of pressure on Mini. Now that she’s known to be a Pandava, she’s worried she’ll mess up, which isn’t helped by her family setting up a “full-blown Pandava regimen” for her. However, they do care for her back, which Aru notes when she visits.

Apparently there was this huge fight in the family when Mini’s mom tried to teach her Hindi; her lola thought they were trying to make her more Indian than Filipino.
Not much is known about Mini's relationship with her older brother. It can be assumedly stated that she loves her brother as well; she kept his secret about hiding a picture of his teammate from the soccer team at school under his pillow from her parents, even though it has been stated many times in the series that she is honest, proving that she really does love her brother.

Mini was at first distraught that her soul father was the Dharma Raja, as she’d hoped he'd would be one of the Ashvins.
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.

## Etymology

* **Yamini** is a Hindu/Sanskrit *Yamini* Indian feminine name, meaning "starry night". It also means "Artistic" or "Light in the Dark". "Light in the Dark" could either refer to her Death Flame, so that one never gets lost in the dark, or it could also, refer to Mini being the optimistic and hopeful one, who never turns off her light, even in the darkest of times.
* **Kapoor** is a Hindu surname, which originated with the Punjabi-Khatri community in North India. It derives from a personal name meaning 'camphor', which is spelled *Karpoora* in Sanskrit.
* **Mercado** is a Spanish surname and is a topographic name for someone living by a market or metonymic occupational name for a market trader.
* **Lopez** is a surname of Spanish origin. It was originally a patronymic, meaning "Son of Lope", Lope itself being a Spanish given name deriving from Latin lupus, meaning "wolf".

## Trivia

* Mini doesn’t know if she’s allergic or not, but she’s afraid of bees.

* Mini is Half-Filipino Half-Indian like the author Roshani Chokshi.

* Her favorite book is The Golden Compass.

* Mini has a "Top Ten Ways I Don’t Want To Die List". #1 is 'Death by Halitosis' and #3 is 'Drowning'.

* Her favorite meal is pancit.

* She has arachnophobia.

* Her brother was originally thought to be the Pandava brother of the family.

* According to the Sleeper, after he listened to Mini’s heartbeats he summed up that her father wears a cross beneath his shirt and an *agimat* necklace passed down from his family in the Philippines; her brother hides a photo of his soccer teammate beneath his pillow and swore Mini to secrecy when she found it; and her mother’s hair smells like sandalwood.

* The underside of Mini’s wrist would look good with a yellow stripe, similar to the stripes of Yellow Stripe and Red Stripe, two naga guards -- meaning her skin tone looks good with the yellow color.

* Mini calls her grandmother on the Filipino side her *lola.*

* She was named "Yamini" after her maternal-grandmother.

As confirmed by one of Roshani Chokshi's Instagram AMAs for the Pandava sisters:

* Mini’s zodiac sign is Pisces, a water sign and mutable sign associated with fish; more specifically she's a Pisces sun and Virgo rising. Her birthday is February 29, notable for being a day that only happens on leap years, meaning she was born on a leap year, which most likely means she was born in 2004.

* Whenever she washes her hands, Mini mentally sings "So Fresh, So Clean" by OutKast.

* Mini's pet peeve is people who walk into an occupied elevator without asking if it's okay with the other people.

* Mini once told Aru and Brynne that they gave her a sense of power, but it made Brynne stress bake, and although Aru tried to say something nice, she kept doing it in a Jeff Goldblum impersonation, which Mini told her didn't count.

* Mini's favorite cartoon is Gravity Falls.

* Her comfort food is Arroz caldo, otherwise known as Aroskaldo, a Filipino rice and chicken gruel.

* Mini's brother was happy for her when she turned out to be a Pandava sister.

* Her mother made Mini take piano for 6 years. She didn't like the keys because she didn't know what was on them, but she knows how to play "fur elise" (and only "fur elise").

* Mini is a Pisces Sun and Virgo Moon

## ReadRiordan's Articles On Her

*“A young Indian-Filipino girl who joins Aru on her quest, Mini has aspirations of becoming a doctor, despite being a massive germaphobe. Not just called Mini because she's four feet tall. Always wearing a heavy backpack that makes her look like a turtle. .. Aru Shah's plucky sidekick and Pandava sister Mini is an unlikely demigod. She's highly germaphobic and keeps her EpiPen close at all times in case of allergy attack. Yet she's also incredibly brave and can turn eyeliner into warpaint like nobody's business”*

*“Mini, full name Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez, is a half-Indian, half-Filipino American girl and the reincarnation of the legendary Pandava brother Yudhistira. As an aspiring doctor, she’s always prepared for any health emergency the Pandavas may face. Even imagined ones”*