"Aren't the gardens wonderful?" Ram asked, looking around in awe. "So beautiful, so colorful! I wouldn't mind if I could stay here forever, instead of the palace." he pouted at Janak's grand castle, gold rooks and tops shining and sparkling in the sky.
"Oh really? You compliment these gardens more than me!" Sita laughed, picking tiny pink flowers, and placing in the crook of her arm to be put in the beautiful, clear crystal vases that lined the halls. "Sometimes, I think that you should marry the flowers rather than me." Ram shook his head as if insulted.
"I wouldn't marry anyone other than you, forget anything! Thank goodness Lakshman brought me back to my senses, or else I would have walked off. Honestly." Ram snorted at his stupid self as Sita nodded agreeingly. She couldn't imagine a life that wouldn't have Ram in it now that she was so close to marrying him.
She looked around the gardens. "Speaking of your brother, where is he? He and my sister have become quite good friends, have they not?" Ram nodded ahead, keeping his eye open as well. Who knew what would happen if Lakshman was left alone for too long? Sure, he wasn't Shatrughan, but he was so close to him in blood, Ram knew the inner Shatrughan in him would show up some day.
"No!" they heard a shout from far away. "No, I am not done with the carving, it takes a few days!" Sita laughed, her cheeks turning a light red in amusement. Ram stared at her as she giggled. The tinkling sound in his ears alleviated all of his fears, made him want to hear more.
"Urmila has been obsessed with carvings ever since she saw the first one your brother made. He's quite talented, you know?" Ram nodded along without knowing what she was saying, just intoxicated at the sound of her laughter, addicted to it. He felt Sita's eyes on him, and shook himself out of his trance.
"It-um it takes Lakshman only about a few hours to." Ram mentioned. Sita widened her eyes, and looked far off as if she could actually see the pair of friends. Her eyes filled with mirth as she thought of the situation where he was actually delaying the carving, and Ram sighed. Life without Sita was a useless one, and it was good he had come to that conclusion soon.
Like water and air, Sita's happiness was necessary for him to continue breathing, being an existence upon this Earth. Every time he heard the light jingling of her anklets, he would look up eagerly, his eyes straining to see her. Each evening, as they were separated, and had to go to their own quarters, Ram refused to eat, or drink until he saw his soon-to-be wife again.
Her laughter made him happy, he felt like he only existed for her. He had never felt this way for anyone, no one made his heart beat as Sita made it. It was impossible for him to put all of his life based on one person, and yet here he was, lovestruck and on top of the moon. Sita had seemed sad lately, though he couldn't figure out why.
"Does Ayodhya have gardens like this?" Ram bit his lip, thinking about it. He was certain Ayodhya had gardens, he would often use them for meditating, but not like this. No place on Earth had gardens like this! He turned to Sita, and one look at him answered her question. Sita pouted a little, and her shoulders seemed to slump, but she continued picking flowers with a sense of lasting determination.
"Does Ayodhya have large, green fields, prosperous and filled with rice plants, like we do? Can you see the happy farmers working, chewing on wheat ends and sweating so that we may eat?" Sita inquired, turning her face away from him.Ram thought it over in his mind, teetering from one foot to the other.
"We have farmers and fields, but no rice fields, and certainly not this prosperous! I wish we did though, they're a beautiful sight to see, not just for the economy." Sita swallowed, and Ram tried to cheer her up. "We do have markets, filled with people! You can see merchants from lands far away, tall and short, lean and stout." Sita smiled at his attempt, and nodded.
"Does Ayodhya have skies so blue and clean? Can you see the birds flying in v shapes, such a close and tight-knit family that will never be separated?" Ram looked up, peering into the heavens as he thought about it. He could only recall grey skies, and pouring storms that shook the grounds of the palace.
"No. We have plenty of clouds and rain, but no blue skies like the ones Mithila has. I wish we did though, they are quite beautiful." Sita sighed, and set down her flower basket. Ram sighed as well, sharing her emotions.
"You've gone completely mad, lady. Completely. Give me my dagger back!" they heard a dangerous roar that sounded eerily like the roar of a lion. Ram winced. Lakshman had been partial to that dagger since 10 years ago, when Guru Vishwamitra and he had given him a joint birthday present. Sita clenched her jaw. Urmila was never that great at being a hostess, nor great at manners.
"No, no I won't! You'll get it over my dead body! Or, you'll get it once you finish that carving." Ram widened his eyes, looking over to Sita. One time Riku and Daura had attempted to steal it. That did not end well for them. Sita seemed to understand, and set down her basket again, ready to give Urmila a good telling-to.
Right then, Urmila came zooming past them, laughing tauntingly, and climbed up a tree in no time, sitting on the branches. Sita smacked her forehead and got out onto the pathway, but Ram pulled her back just in time as an even faster Lakshman ran past them at such a speed that you could only see a blur. However, he quickly stepped a few back.
"Sorry, bhabhi!" he touched her feet in apology, and then walked over to the tree and glared at Urmila, who was sitting high up in the branches, and folded his arms across his chest.
"Give me back my dagger." he stated stonily, folding his arms, and looking up at Urmila. She shook her head and swung it between her fingers tauntingly. Lakshman growled, reaching up, but Urmila had climbed to the very top of the tree, and even his tall self barely brushed the handle of the dagger. Lakshman stopped trying, and paced on the ground agitatedly, before looking up again.
"I won't trouble you anymore! I won't even talk to you anymore! How's that?" Urmila, apparently, did not like that proposal, and frowned, shaking her head. "You know I can't climb up there, with all of this." He gestured towards his crown and necklaces. "Look, I'll leave you alone! I'll even give you the carving today! Give me back my dagger!" Ram and Sita watched the exchange interestedly.
Urmila very much did not like the idea of him not talking to her anymore and 'leaving her alone' and made it very clear that she would not agree to that statement. Lakshman began to frown some more, losing his patience, of which he had very little to begin with and with one kick, kicked the trunk of the tree, shaking the branches so much that Urmila fell.
Lakshman reached his arms out...and managed to catch Urmila bridal style. They stared at each other for a moment incredulously, but the dagger began to fall from the tree as well, and without thinking twice, Lakshman dropped Urmila and caught the dagger. "See, that wasn't that hard!" he exclaimed, kissing the handle of the dagger before putting it right back in his waistband. "You wouldn't have even fell if you had just given me the weapon beforehand." And with that, the younger brother walked away as Urmila brushed herself off, sniffled as dignifiedly as she could in the situation, and pointedly walked the other way.
Sita burst into laughter at the scene, but Ram noticed that something seemed to weigh heavy, and it reflected in her every giggle that something seemed to hitch in her throat as if she was choking. Eventually, Sita swallowed, and excused herself, leaving Ram behind, all alone.
"How was that?" asked Urmila, walking up next to Ram. "Did it make her laugh?" Ram whirled around in surprise.
"You did that on purpose?" he asked. The friends shook their heads at the same time, Lakshman placing a hand protectively on the hilt of his dagger as he glared at Urmila. She could have broken her bones, falling from that tree! She could have gotten hurt, and that pained his mind so much, for some reason.
"She actually stole my dagger, but once we noticed that Sita bhabhi was sad, we decided to act it out a little bit. However, it was not in our plan to climb on trees! Honestly, you could have gotten hurt!" Urmila turned towards him with wide eyes.
"Since when do you care if I get hurt or not?" she exclaimed, putting each hand on one side of her hip as she confronted him. Something in her heart seemed to flutter at that statement of his. Lakshman rolled his eyes, however, shaking his head as he began to walk away.
"Since I began the carving, Devi. You're going to have to pay me for that, and I don't want to do work for someone that's dead." Urmila huffed, and followed him as they began their patrol of the gardens again. Ram stared at their retreating bodies, shaking his head. He would have never had believed, had somebody told him, he would have laughed that they could possibly be friends...
Now was the question of why Sita was sad. He didn't really know, he wasn't much of a ladies' man, didn't know much about women actually, but he knew enough to realize that something was eating Sita up from the inside, and that troubled him. Well, he wasn't much of a ladies' man, but he knew who was!
"Dear Shatrughan," he muttered, grabbing a piece of parchment from his pack and a quill, and dipping it into a bottle of ink that smelled like smoke and sharpies, began to scratch onto the paper. A bird perched on his shoulder, and he handed the letter to the Passenger Pigeon, who took flight towards Ayodhya.
Ram received his response later that night.
Dear Ram bhaiyya,
Oh wow! So you are getting married & you love your wife too? This is the romantic tale of the century, mind if I write it down? Well, for someone who is about to get married, you are pretty clueless, but let Shatrughan, the ladies man supreme, assist you, free of cost! She said the "tight-knit" family of birds that would "never be separated" . Isn't it obvious, bhaiyya?
She's going to miss her family! She's going to miss her home! She's asking if Ayodhya is anything similar to try and alleviate her stresses, and you answering in the negative really didn't help that! You should plan something for her, a party or something. I don't know, I think parties and artistic things are more of Bharat's thing, aren't they?
Good luck, I guess! Also, give Laksh my best wishes. I do miss him very much, his glares and his jokes. Come back soon!
Lovingly,
Shatrughan, AKA the Ladies' Man!
Ram wanted to laugh, but what Shatrughan had said made a lot of sense! He should plan a surprise party! But how could he do that in Sita's home? It was impossible! Ram leaned back, and thought for a moment.
"Hey, Ram bhaiyya!" Lakshman walked into the room excitedly. "Guess what Maa Sita's favorite color is? Red! I wouldn't have thought it! And her favorite food is-why are you staring at me like that?" Ram had stood up and was gaping at Lakshman as if he had never seen him before.
"I-I'm going to plan Sita a surprise party, she's scared of leaving home, you see? And you, dear brother, are going to help me!" Ram grabbed Lakshman's shoulder and placed him on a chair next to him, and they both hunched over the planning sheet.
As the night droned on, the brothers slaved over a party for someone they had met scarcely a month ago. Ram closed his eyes in prayer. Hopefully, Sita would like the party. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully.
"Open your eyes!" Ram removed his hands from her eyes to reveal a large painting of the entire royal family, framed in an intricate gold frame. Right in front of her were multiple assembled gifts, and the entire royal family.
"We thought you might feel homesick, so we planned a party! You can bring everything they give you to Ayodhya to remember your family by." Sita looked around in shock, surprise, and happiness, and Ram felt adoration swell in his heart.
"Y-You all did this?" Sita whispered in amazement and in thankfulness. She was responded with a nod from everyone there, except Urmila, who was not clued into the party, and scowled playfully at Lakshman.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked him, punching his shoulder. "I could have helped, honestly! Why are you smirking?" Lakshman quickly removed his smile, replacing it with a blank face.
"Well, you remind me of my brother, Shatrughan. Can't ever keep your mouth shut." Urmila gasped in surprise as Ram marveled at the uncanny coincidence. "Well, it's true, Urmila! The similarity is amazing between you two!" Urmila folded her arms stubbornly, and insisted upon looking away.
"Um-Thank you!" Sita squeaked, and Ram turned around gracefully. "It's really kind of you, I didn't think you'd figure it out, honestly, I masked it very well." Ram laughed and nodded, and decided not to tell her of the blabbermouth Shaturghan, who identified himself as the Ladies' Man, had assisted him.
A/N-Yes, this chapter was pretty much pointless, but if you think about it, most of my chapters don't really contribute to the majority of the story, do they? After the wedding, I don't want to immediately move onto Lakshmila, I want to give Sita and Ram some time to bond, and by some time, I mean one chapter. I made Lakshman and Urmila playful friends at the beginning, instead of enemies to suddenly fall in love.
Speaking of Lakshmila, that's what's going to happen for the rest of the time. No more SiRA focus, Lakshmila, Shatru-Kirti, and Bharma will be center-action. The jealousy thing will be a little later, okay? We still have a long while to go until they actually get married, so hold up!
I can't believe that 30-something chapters are done and we aren't even halfway through the story. Like whaaat? That's practically impossible, at this rate, I'll have written 60-something chapters once the entire epic is done. I wonder what I'll do next? Maybe a set of Lakshmila and SiRA one-shots? Would you guys like that?
Shoutout to: Ramayana_lover!!!!! Your story is so awesome, and I am eagerly waiting for updates! I really enjoy how you show the brothers. I will try to write some angst, because people do seem to have enjoyed that, but I'm trying to figure out where to incorporate it....hmmm.
Credit to-@parampremika for the cover