The Inseparable Princes

66. The Take Off

"Now what?" said Nala resignedly. "Who do you think can leap over this? This ocean?"

"I-I can, maybe? I don't really know, but what's the harm in trying?" said Neela.

"What if you don't reach, dumbo?" asked Angada, his expression displaying sheer concern.

"I'll drown in the ocean, that's all. What's the big deal? It's going to be for the greater good anyway." replied the otherwise childish Neela. How on earth was he behaving so matured all of a sudden? Everybody was speechless.

"That won't work, Neel! Firstly, because if something does happen to you, we won't get any information, so we need to make sure that somebody who can very certainly return safely with information. And secondly, Neel, we all really don't want you to be in danger, or perhaps even drown in the ocean and die. We all want you to live, okay?" said Angada. Nala nodded furiously, as Jambavan brooded.

"Hanuman," he began. "Would you want to listen to a story?" Everybody was astonished. A story when everybody was trying to find a way to find Mata Sita? Really?

"Um, don't get me wrong, sir, but I don't think it's the right time for a story. We can do that later, perhaps?" said Hanuman slightly hesitantly.

"No, no! You must listen to this story right away!" insisted Jambavan, as Angada looked ready to explode, not in laughter but in annoyance.

"Sir, please, stories are not the priority for any of us right now! Please stop forcing him to listen to something he is not interested in." said Angada rather harshly. Not everybody had the guts to speak with that intonation to somebody as old and wise as Jambavan, although the prince didn't mean to be rude to the bear king. He was just trying to make sure that things were prioritized, being one of the leaders of the group and the crown prince.

"This is a necessity, Angad. It's required, because otherwise, we can never succeed in what we're here for - finding Maa Sita." said Jambavan and the entire army looked at him with their wide agape mouths. "Oh son of Vayu, do you know of the story when a young Vanara reached up to Surya, the sun?" When Hanuman nodded in a hesitant no, as though it felt extremely familiar, Jambavan continued. "When he got far too close to the sun, Indra used his thunderbolt, namely Vajra, on him." It continued to sound familiar to Hanuman, but the younger Vanaras were so fascinated, their eyes gleaming and glowing, that it looked like they were imagining everything.

The beautiful morning sun, a deep reddish orange, looked exquisite. But it looked more delicious than exquisite to a young, hungry Vanara than it did to anybody else. Nobody else found the sun to be delicious, per se, but this little Vanara, of course, mistook it to be a fruit.

Assuming it to be the best fruit he could ever ask for from the middle of the jungle, with a hop, he flew upwards, towards the mighty, fantastic sun. That monkey, even after having flown for three hundred yojanas, did not feel fatigue of any sort. The courage he showed at the point couldn't be diminished even by the heat and light that the sun emanated, that which increased as the young boy went closer and closer to the star.

However, Indra, the King of the Gods, upon looking at the monkey entering space and potentially causing damage to Sawrgaloka, was filled with fury. Overcome by rage, he released his thunderbolt, his Vajra, at the monkey, who fell to one of the mountaintops on the Earth.

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Vayu, who was the celestial father of that monkey, was wrathful, more wrathful than Indra had been. He stopped the flow of air in the entirety of the Earth, enraged, and thus, all living beings were struggling for life.