Satataharitam - Short Stories On Narayana

idk title (somewhat angsty)

Lakshmana sat outside the cave one afternoon in Kishkindha, the monsoon clouds only setting in before it would begin to pour in the evening. He hadn't been able to stay in the same place as his brother, with nothing to say, and the silence being the most painful he had ever felt.

He was fiddling with his sheathed dagger because it was really the only thing he had in hand. Suddenly, he heard slow footsteps towards himself from the forest. He stood up, readily armed in case there was an attacker, but it was the Crown Prince of Kishkindha.

He sat back down as Angada smiled. "Why are you sitting here, Bhrata?"

Lakshmana shrugged and tried to smile. "Just like that, really. I was getting bored."

Angada sat down next to him. "You seem bored here too."

"Hmm, I am." he turned to the prince. "Why are you here, though?"

"Hanuman suggested that I should meet Prabhu and you. I thought it was a good idea. I wanted to speak to you anyway."

Lakshmana's eyes went wide. "Me?" What was so interesting about him?

"Yeah. If you don't mind, I was curious about something."

"What?" he asked, the frown on his face evident.

"Did you or did you not recognise Devi Sita's jewellery that day?"

Lakshmana nearly stopped breathing at the mention and Angada noticed. But he wasn't too sure of what to say. Thankfully for him, Lakshmana didn't let the silence triumph and he spoke up almost instantly. "I did and I didn't." he said, sounding quite composed as opposed to what the paling of his face suggested.

Angada scanned his face with curiosity evident in his own. He was possibly the most mysterious person the prince had ever seen. "What does that mean?"

Lakshmana let out a shaky breath to ensure his voice didn't quaver when he spoke. "She's like my mother, prince. I could only recognise the anklets because I saw them everyday when I took her blessings. The rest of her jewellery, I don't know what it looks like. I never looked up and observed her to know."

"Oh!" Angada hesitated a little but was curious to know more about Sita. He knew of her intelligence already, to be able to leave clues for her family to trace her with even while getting abducted was something only a qoan with immense strength as well as intelligence could do.

Lakshmana noticed his curiosity. "Is there something else you want to ask?"

"If you could...could tell me more about Devi Sita. I'm really just curious. Princess of Videha...?"

Lakshmana chuckled. Angada reminded him of him and his brothers when they were in their late teens and early twenties. "Yes, yes. Princess of Videha. Queen of Kosala." He was almost saying it like a prayer to Ishwara and a word of assurance to himself.

"Not yet, righ-"

Lakshmana's faint smile faded.

Angada winced. He wasn't used to filtering his words, though he never meant any harm. "Sorry."

Lakshmana was quite like that too. His habit of filtering words was a very recent development. He was fundamentally someone who spoke his mind. Angada was doing exactly the same. Thankfully, life hadn't shattered him the way it had Lakshmana. And so, he smiled. "You're not wrong. She will be crowned queen soon after the fourteenth year of our exile is completed."

Angada nodded. They sat in a moment of silence until Lakshmana got awfully uncomfortable with it. Silence made him feel his pain more prominently. "You said you wanted to know about Sita Maa?"