The Inseparable Princes

26. Twins in Trouble

"Well, you should seriously reconsider this idea, Urmi!" said Shrutakeerti.

"No! Never! Well, Lakshman said that we wouldn't prank each other. And that too in the context of me and him and love and all that! We should seriously prank somebody here. It's been six months since the last prank was played. And that too, by Laksh. I'm surprised at how Shatru didn't play any pranks, lately! But we should make up for it. We've been here for nearly eight months, Keerti, it's high time we continued our pranking missions!" said Urmila, and this time, she was fairly successful in convincing her cousin.

"Hmm okay! What's the plan?" asked Shrutakeerti excitedly. It made sense to continue their pranks from Mithila. "We should include Maan!"she squealed.

"No. She'll certainly tell Bharat bhaiya, and he will never let us continue with such things. "He's too innocent na,"

"Hmm... That's not entirely wrong,"

★★★

"What is with my bow!" said Rama frustratedly. He'd been trying to shoot a single arrow to the bullseye for so long, but it wouldn't even hit the last circle.

"Bhaiya, are you unwell or something? Do you not see clearly? I've been watching you practice and the only arrow that hit the board too, hit the last circle! What's wrong?" asked Lakshmana curiously.

"I-I don't know, Laksh!" he said. "Am I doing something wrong? You're good at archery too. Tell me if my technique or something is wrong, Lakshman!" he said, almost frightened that he had lost his skill and knowledge with respect to archery.

"Oh bhaiya, relax! It happens. You are practicing archery all the time, aren't you! Just leave your bow and arrow for a while, I'll massage your feet?" he asked, smiling widely, as though asking a child to go to sleep, leaving his toys for just a while.

"Okay," he said, pouting and looking very upset and helpless, as Shrutakeerti and Urmila hi-fived, although they hated to trouble their Ram Bhaiya.

★★★

"My brushes look like Lakshman's hair!" exclaimed Bharata.

"Very smooth and silky?" asked Shatrughna.

"No! I mean, his hair when he comes back from a battle with Maa Sumitra!" he said angrily.

"Oh what happened?! Why are you so mad? Show me your brushes," said Shatrughna as he grabbed the brushes, that were perfectly fine about two hours back, and now, the were completely unusable. And they were the brushes that were meant for detailing, detailing that Bharata loved to do, for he thought it added just the most excellent touch to his rather raw works, before he polished them with the meticulous detailing. "Umm... Yes, even I, the greatest artist in this world, couldn't possibly adjust painting with these!" proclaimed Shatrughna.

"God! How did this happen?!" said Bharata.

"Someone must have done it!" said Shatrughna.

"Shatru, was it you?!" said Bharata.

"Me? No! Not me!" he cried.

★★★

"Laksh, I want to check those bows once again," said Rama, as they walked to the arena. Upon checking the bowstring, he saw that it had wax, which is why he couldn't hold an arrow firmly, and it would fall off every time. "Wax!" he cried, looking at the bowstring.