Some time after…

Before the Kuru’s palace. Karna is waiting. Vidura comes on a chariot.

Vidura [Coming down form the chariot]

Thank you, tell the others that the Pandavas are coming shortly; they should be ready to receive their horses and luggage.

Karna Vidura.

Vidura Karna. Hello to you.

Karna Did you mean the Pandavas? Are they coming? All of them?

Vidura Yes, they are. They will be arriving in a matter of hours. I set out before them to make the servants ready for their arrival.

Karna Does it mean… Vidura, how did they respond? What did you tell them?

Vidura You can not think for yourself? It is strange that you ask me now, when we discussed this matter so much before I departed. I knew their answer even before I embarked to see them.

Karna I thought… maybe they had some other answer, a change of heart.

Vidura A change of heart indeed! No, they did accept the challenge.

Karna But you must have talked against it.

Vidura of course I did! I told them all what I think, as I did to King Dhritarashtra before his son poisoned his mind with tasty words. And, I also told them about Sakuni.

Karna That he will be playing and not Duryodhana.

Vidura Yes. Sakuni reputation as a professional gambler is well known. No ordinary player can win him on dice. Yudhishthira understood and said most clearly that this will lead to a quarrel, and a quarrel among kings is as discord between the day and the night – it affects everybody.

Karna Yudhishthira knows this and still he comes to play?

Vidura Like a charmed deer he walks into a trap and his downfall. It is assured as the night is coming.

Karna And his brothers? They did nothing to stop him?

Vidura Do you something to stop your brother? Or brother in arms, for I know not how to call this bond of you two. In truth, if this matter pesters you so, stop it then! You can talk. Speak your mind.

Karna What did Arjuna say?

Vidura He said nothing.

Karna Then I shall say nothing.

Vidura They all accepted Yudhishthira command without second thought. I must leave you and notify the king of their arrival this very night. But I will ask of you one thing, if you see this as wrong, and it is very wrong, do something about it.

All Exit.