The Inseparable Princes

93. If Memories Could Bring You Back

Hanuman stood before the enormous mountain, staring at the herbs that glowed. He saw a few distinct glows, seeming like each species had a particular identity. But Hanuman didn't want to take any chance. What if he took the wrong herbs? What if he missed one of the herbs he needed to take along? There wasn't enough time for him to come back and take the right herbs again. There was no room for mistakes.

Hanuman grew up in size once again. He towered over all the mountains that existed in the range of the Himalayas, and once he thought he was large enough to carry a mountain on his hand, he stopped growing and broke off the mountaintop and flew away, back to Lanka. Back to everyone else. Back to his Lord.

★★★

Shatrughna paced towards Bharata, who was walking towards the private chambers in the palace, his shoulders slumped wearily. Shatrughna thought he could see a glint in his brother's eyes. But the glint seemed a little too harsh, and it certainly wasn't that happy glint he otherwise saw in his brother's eyes. It was too much of a reflection. His brother was either wearing spectacles (which he wasn't) or was crying.

"Bhaiya! What's wrong?" he asked, holding Bharata by the shoulders, while pretending like in his head, nothing was wrong at all. Bharata, however, refused to respond. He didn't even dare to look up at his brother. His Shatru, from whom he could never hide a thing. "Bhaiya?" said Shatrughna softly, as Bharata broke down into silent sobs all of a sudden. He couldn't do anything but that. Shatrughna's face was unreadable and blank. He wanted to know what was wrong, but he thoight he already knew. It was just a confirmation for him.

"It-It's all my fault!" cried Bharata, not knowing whether to feel guilty, or sorrowful, or angry, in the situation he was in. He wasn't able to think clearly. He didn't even have an idea that he was just scaring his brother more and more with every broken phrase he was saying. Shatrughna, however, being very characterestic of a Saumitra, hugged his brother without even asking him a single question. He needed his brother to stop crying first. He didn't care about himself, but certainly did care about the fact that his brother was crying. After a few pats on the back, Bharata stopped crying and looked at his brother. And then, the next moment, he hung his head down, as if in shame.

"What is the meaning of this, huh? Stop hiding your face!" Shatrughna snapped. But when his brother looked up at him, he softened. "Why are you crying, Bhaiya? There must be some reason. Why?" Bharata sighed.

★★★

Kaushalya wasn't processing anything. She wasn't processing a single thing. She just sat in her seat (obviously! where else would she sit!), her mouth slightly open in shock. She didn't know how this had happened, and therefore, didn't know how to react. What would she say? That it was her sons' fault that her daughter had been abducted? No, it wasn't their fault. What could they have done? They had been deceived, and they couldn't even have done anything about it. It was not their fault, it couldn't be.

Sumitra. She wasn't ready for this. She was ready to hear of a news about her Lakshmana, but nothing about her daughter, for she trusted her sons. She expected them to shield her from the world under any circumstances. That hadn't happened. Had her son not followed her order? The order that Sita would be his mother, his Sumitra from the first day of the exile? Had he forgotten it, perhaps?

Kaikeyi felt the need to walk out of the room. She hated it. She felt claustrophobic, like there was the entire population of the world was telling her how she had been wrong all through. She hadn't, really. She had been wrong that one night, but otherwise, she had always loved her Rama and her Sita too. And the fact that both of them, and not to forget Lakshmana, were suffering, thanks to her conspiracy, was just a brutal stab. She didn't think she could take it. She thought that it was better to die.