The Princes of Ayodhya-The Ramayan Through Short Stories

The Grand Arrival

      "My future father-in-law has called us to the Assembly Hall, Lakshman, and here you are, Lakshman, sitting down and brooding. What on Earth happened?" Ram cried. Lakshman looked up sharply, scratching the back of his head cluelessly, then standing up.

"Urmila has been a bit distant lately, I don't even know why. I'm contemplating if I did something mean, or wrong." Ram shook his head, rolling his eyes. At this rate, his brother wasn't going to figure it out in his lifetime. It was pretty obvious that Urmila loved him, the way she looked at him when she thought that no one was looking, the way she looked up eagerly at his voice, the way she listened to his words so closely, it was as if she needed them to continue living. There was no way he hadn't noticed!

"Bharat and Shatrughan are coming today, and you're thinking about-" Lakshman stood up suddenly, and a scarce smile showed up on his face as all his thoughts of Urmila were pushed into the background hastily at the thought of his brothers.

"What are you waiting for, bhaiyya? Let's go!" With that, he leapt up from the bed, grabbed Ram's arm, and began to pull him to the hall. He pushed the heavy golden doors open effortlessly, and dragged Ram into the Hall, where they stood next to each other, beside the four princesses, right in the center.

The hall was large, deep, and looked very similar to the throne room, where the swayamvar was held. However, this hall had, instead of multiple thrones upon which visitors sat, large, cushioned, plump chairs where one could discuss a variety of topics, from the foods in the market, to the weather(a beloved classic), to wars, treaties, and alliances. Nothing was barred or prohibited from being talked about, and that was why Janak decided to meet the two brothers who were coming here, feeling that the dazzling gold-ness of the throne room would blind them immediately, impairing them, and therefore making them decline the alliance, and even more frighteningly, the marriage!

"Oh good, for a moment, we thought you were your brothers! I was so scared, I didn't have any effortless, obnoxious, one-liners ready!" gasped Mandavi, who was immediately smacked by Queen Chandrabhanga, mother of Mandavi and Shrutakirti, wife of Kushadwaj,who was the younger brother of Raja Janak, and who along with his wife, had come to observe the wedding of their niece.

"Your one-liners are so horrible, instead of making them leave you alone, they would practically die from humiliation that they had ever come across you. How we hold our heads high with you in our family, no one knows." she huffed, leading to great laughter from everyone but...you guessed it...Lakshman. Urmila had gotten over her momentary avoiding of Lakshman, and even seemingly unreciprocated love couldn't suppress her constant chatter and cheery personality.

"Hey," and she poked him in the arm, pouting. Lakshman whirled around, and sighed in relief, almost hugging her, before quickly stopping his emotions from taking free reign and ruining his well-kept image.

"Thank goodness! You hadn't poked my arm in two days, and I was beginning to get worried! What happened to you? You didn't bug me, didn't tease me, didn't even talk! I was beginning to think you had been possessed by a spirit, or worse, you and Mandavi were co-conspirators in a prank!" He narrowed his eyes at her as Ram and Sita looked craftily at each other in the background. "It wasn't a prank, right?"

Urmila shook her head. "No, I was sick." Lakshman seemed to take that explanation without offense, but his mind was still alight with suspicion. There was no way she was sick, no coughing, no sneezing, none of the occasional sniffling that Maa Sumitra did when she was sick. And she ate cold foods without a second thought! He chewed on his lip thoughtfully. Something was very fishy indeed.

Suddenly, the court announcer sat up straight. "Proceeding, the honorable Prince Bharat, 2nd son of the honorable Dasharath of Kosala, son of Kaikeyi of Kekeya, descendant of Ikshvaku , Protector of the Raghu clan!" And in walked in Bharat, smiling politely, waving at the courtiers, and taking blessings from King Janak's feet.