The Princes of Ayodhya-The Ramayan Through Short Stories

Confidants and Expectations

"Ram bhaiyya?" Ram looked up from his bow and arrow curiously at the hopeful sound, and found his second brother staring back at him. Lakshman took a deep breath, and began.

"Today, Bharat said I would never get married, because of my temper. I do not want to get married, bhaiyya, but you have to, right?" He didn't allow Ram a chance to say anything before continuing. "What do you want in a wife, Ram bhaiyya?"

Ram set down his weapon sadly. Bharat really ought not to have said that to poor Laksh, and Ram had full faith that he would eventually find a wife. But if he didn't want to...well nobody could really force him!

"Well, I want someone who is kind." Ram let his thoughts drift away for a second, before coming right back. "someone that pays attention to the wishes of the kingdom, she will be the Maharani, you see?" He swallowed hard, and continued speaking.

"Someone that is strong, from the inside, and is loyal to me. Someone that understands the bond between us. Someone who appreciates her surroundings, loves my family as her own." Slowly, Ram began to develop a picture. Weird, that she looked just like Sita from the hermitage, just all grown up. Lakshman waved a hand in front of his brother's face, and upon finding no response, allowed him to daydream for a while...

When Ram came back to life, he found it most courteous to ask his brother the same thing. Lakshman had an entirely different answer. "Someone who can deal with my tempers well, someone who is loyal to my brothers equal to me, someone who does not expect much of me as I am not that great of a husband-material, someone who has the emotional strength to accept that if I go into the battlefield, I may not return, and someone that supports your wife, my bhabhi, to the complete extent."

Ram grimaced. Not husband material? Bharat had really gotten to him, hadn't he? But he wasn't quite done yet. "Someone that appreciates me for who I am, as I will do that to them, someone who can laugh with me, for I will laugh with them, someone who is happy for my accomplishments, as I will be happy for them, someone whom I can express my feelings with, in hope that they will do the same, and..." Ram raised an eyebrow.

"And...?" he prompted. "And someone who appreciates my amazing carvings!" Lakshman finished happily. "There is no one in the world who has all of those characteristics, bhaiyya, and so I will never marry, and will remain devoted to you forever, til death do us part!" Lakshman gave him a quick hug before drawing his sword and heading towards the practice area, leaving a distraught Ram. Bharat really did not know how much his words affected Lakshman, did he?

Ram knew that Lakshman just wanted a friendly companion, someone that would trust him, and he them. Someone that was loyal to him, for Ram had full faith that his brother would be loyal to his wife. Preferably someone who would not fight with him, someone that knew how he acted, and someone who was genuinely kind. Unless she was all of those things, Ram thought, then the woman did not deserve his amazing brother.

Sudden Setting Change

"Sita!" squealed Urmila, patting the bed near her. Her sister came running in dutifully, plopping down beside her enthusiastically.

"You are nearing the time when you will get married!" she teased, and Sita turned red, squirming around a little bit. She had always wanted to marry the man in her dreams, but as he did not exist, that was a stupid wish not even her doting father could grant. Her childish days were drifting away, slowly. Urmila spotted her sister's worry, and decided to try and cure it with some talking.

"What do you want in a husband, Sita?" she asked, leaning in, hands under her chin and jaw. Sita glanced over. Now, this was a question she could easily answer.