Ram's laxman

The unexpected fever

The whole palace of Ayodhya seemed to be in a gloomy mood. The four little princes were not running around the palace, their laughter no more echoed through the corridor.

Shartugan was not trying to create havoc at every possible opportunity, Bharat was not painting the walls in all possible colours with his tiny hands, Lakshman was not there trying to pull pranks and running behind his Ram bhaiya. All these was ofcourse because Ram was not there with them.

The eldest raghunandh had caught fever,  it was nothing uncommon during the winter and he infact was healing quickly. But the problem was Ram's illness had affected his brothers more than it affected Ram himself.

Three of them were used to their Ram bhaiya being with them all the time. It was Ram that always saved Shartugan from their parent's scolding, it was Ram that Bharat first ran to, to show his paintings, it was Ram that three of them complained to when they had an argument or fight. Ram was the centre of the universe for his three brothers and they seemed lost without him and it didn't help the fact that they were not allowed to see Ram because their parents were afraid they would catch fever too.

Of all three, it hit Lakshman the most. Bharat and Shartugan missed Ram too but atleast it was easy to distract them with other activities easily, they were children after all. But the king and queens found it was impossible to distract Lakshman. No amount of toys or sweets or any other fun activities could distract Lakshman, he simply refused to touch them. It almost took an army to convince him to eat his regular meals, even then he ate very little and fell asleep only because he was exhausted and his little body couldn't handle it any longer.

It all started the morning Lakshman woke up to find he was alone in the bed. Assuming his bhaiya has woken up early, he got down from the bed, yawning and rubbing his eyes with his tiny hands.

Just as he was getting out of their room, he saw his mom coming towards him.

"Good morning maa" Lakshman said with a sleepy smile hugging Sumitra's legs.

Sumitra picked up Lakshman, "Good morning mere lal" she said ruffling his already messy hair and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Lakshman snuggled into Sumitra's shoulder comfortably.

Sumitra hugged him back for a little time before putting him down and kneeling near him.

"It's getting late Lakshman, you go freshen up and go join you Bharat bhaiya and Shartugan ,I'll bring three of you your breakfast" she said cupping his face.

Lakshman was still half asleep and so didn't notice that his mom didn't mention anything about his Ram bhaiya. He just nodded sleepily and went to complete his morning rituals.

Only when he went to meet Bharat and Shartugan he noticed his Ram bhaiya was missing.

"Where is Ram bhaiya?" he asked, his eyes looking all around the room.

"How are we supposed to know, you and bhaiya always come together right?" asked Bharat confused.

"Ah bhaiya, but Ram bhaiya was not in the room when I woke up, so I thought he came here without me."

"Lakshman bhaiya but Ram bhaiya never comes without you" Shartugan said innocently.

"What important discussion is going on here" asked Sumitra who arrived with their breakfast.

"Maa where is Ram bhaiya?" Bharat asked before anyone could.

"Ah about that ,I'll tell you but before that you three come and sit here" she said and instructed the maids to serve breakfast.

Shartugan rushed to sit in her lap, Bharat and Shartugan settled on either side of her.

"Your Ram bhaiya has caught fever and now he is in a separate room. He..",

"Where is he?, I'm going to see him" interrupted Lakshman, making a move to stand but Sumitra gently held his shoulders and made him sit.

"Other children are not allowed in the room, because you can easily get infected. So you three are not allowed to go there"

"But maa.."Shartugan whined

"No excuses, it will be only two or three days and Ram will be completely alright to play with you alright. Now eat your breakfast."

Three of them hesitated but nodded and started eating their breakfast.

Sumitra noticed Lakshman was not eating properly but decided she will make him eat lunch earlier, because she knew he was upset.

From there everything went downhill, the three brothers simply didn't know what to do without their Ram bhaiya and were in no mood to do anything even after their parents repeatedly assured Ram was alright.

Bharat and Shartugan were worried but recovered soon enough to continue their daily routines though with a little less enthusiasm but Lakshman was devastated, he simply didn't know what to do without his Ram bhaiya.

Bharat and Shartugan tried to include him in their games but Lakshman refused, his parents tried to engage him with all possible  fun activities but nothing worked.

Dhasarath even offered to take him to the forest,which was Lakshman's favourite thing to do, but Lakshman shook his head and snuggled into his father's chest.

The worst of all was Lakshman was not crying or throwing up any tantrum like his parents expected, he instead seemed totally subdued and detached from everyone totally unlike Lakshman and totally unlike a kid. He just sat there most of the time curled up in his father's lap or one of his mother's lap.

On the second day  afternoon,Kaikaye had enough of it and took Lakshman to Ram's room.

"Kaikaye, what are you doing , Lakshman will catch infection too" asked Dhasarath

"Swami I would rather see Lakshman with fever than seeing him like this, he is the loudest among my four sons and I haven't heard a word out of his mouth since yesterday, please swami" Kaikaye pleaded with tears in her eyes.

"Kaikaye is right swami, let her take Lakshman", Sumitra said.

Dhasarath caught Kausalya's eyes ,who was standing next to Sumitra, she nodded too.

The king sighed,"Alright, he might get infected but atleast then we would know how to treat him unlike now" he said.

As soon as he was taken inside the room, Lakshman jumped down from Kaikaye's arms and ran towards the bed where Ram was sleeping.

The smile that was absent till that moment returned to Lakshman's face and he just curled up under the blanket with his Ram bhaiya wrapping his tiny arms around Ram's waist.

"Nothing is capable of keeping our Lakshman away from Ram, is it?" Kausalya asked from the doorway, looking fondly at her sons. The other three smile at the statement, even if Lakshman gets infected ,it was worth seeing Lakshman smile like that.

On the third day evening, the fever had reduced and Ram was completely alright and to their parent's delight Lakshman hadn't caught any infection, so finally after three day everyone's mind was at peace or so they thought.

After that day Lakshman clung to Ram even more than usual, following him wherever he went, not letting his Ram bhaiya out of his sight even for a second.

It didn't take long for Ram to notice this and he decided to confront Lakshman.

Glossary:

Bhaiya: Brother

Mata: Mother

Raghunandhan: Brave man of the Raghu clan

Lakhan:Another name for Lakshman

Mere Lal: My Beloved

Swami: Husband

A/N : I'm going to make this a two shot too bear with me, I somehow end up making all my planned one shots into more. Vote if u liked the story and tell me about it in the comments.Stay safe guys😊