Sita Swayamvar: A Sita Ramam Fanfic

2. Sita Swayamvar

"Noor! Sita! Wake up," a very familiar voice echoed through the darkness behind her closed eyes. Her mind filled the void with images from the past night–the burning effigy, the retreating crowd, the fire she stepped into, and his silhouette running towards her, his voice.

"Ram!" With a huge gasp, Sita sat upright on her bed, hand stretched forward, a tear on its way across her face. But it wasn't her Lieutenant sitting on her bed, only Rekha. A relief at most, but a subtle disappointment for sure. She eyed her best friend, her usual curls and her concerned face, wrinkled with emotions and layered with torment.

Little sobs escaped her lips at first, and then came a big splash of feelings. Rekha slouched forward and took a crying Sita in her much needed embrace. Drawing calming circles on her back, Rekha said, "It's okay, Noor. Shh, it's alright."

"Ra-Ram," Sita spoke, her words broken between sobs. "Ram was there, Rekha. I saw him there. Why did he have to leave me, Rekha? Why did the entire operation happen? And why did he have to prioritise someone else's life over his! WHY!" Her wails echoed throughout her house, as she buried her face in Rekha's shoulder.

"Noor–"

"Why, Rekha? Why!"

"Because you'd have done the same, Sita."

It wasn't Rekha who spoke. The voice that reverberated through her body and soul, giving her goosebumps was deep and raspy, almost bearing some unknown weight. And this was the same voice she could never mistake. A moment of silence passed, as she passed confused looks at a smiling Rekha. As her eyebrows creased forward, Rekha gestured to her side, towards the entrance to her bedroom.

And there stood in a black shirt and trousers, the man who ruled her world. With a dazed sight, she watched his overgrown beard and chuckled a bit at his messy hair. When her mistful eyes grazed his skin and stopped at the contact of his eyes, she felt as though all the air in her lungs had been vacuumed out.

The thing was she had dreamt of their meeting in numerous settings for so long that anything out of her imagination was real enough to grant her momentary happiness. But in her imagines, every time they'd look each other in the eye, her reverie would break from the tormenting realisation of it all being a facade. For eyes never do lie.

However, this time, she continued staring at him, and his glistening eyes gazed right back into hers. No, this couldn't be true. Ram was there. He really was there. How? Tearing her attention away from his standing figure, she looked at Rekha with perplexity. And she nodded in affirmation, granting her shaken heart an accelerated pace.

"Ra-Ram?"

"Yes, Noor. That's him."

Gasping, she turned to him. "Ram?"

With a short, sorrowful nod, Ram stretched out his arms and broke a smile. And Sita, wasting no time, dropped her legs down, and ran to him. To her solace, her salvation, her home, her Ram. As they collided in the tightest of embraces, she buried her face in his chest and cried her heart out. She felt Ram kiss her on her head and continued snuggling her face into his body as if wanting to be closer than the physicality let them to.

"Ram. Ram, it's you. Ram, oh Ram, it's really you. Tell me this isn't a dream. Tell me, Ram."

"No, it isn't Sita. I'm back." His voice too was laced with much feeling and warmth. After all, he thought their meeting in this lifetime to be the most improbable thing ever. But the hope he clung to couldn't have been any less than the strength and tenacity Sita showed. They both held on to love so firmly that even the universe had to have miracles laid down in their honour.

Ram, wrapped his arms around Sita and gripped her body as close to his as was possible. He couldn't bear a moment's delay or an inch's distance. She was his only family, and deep inside his heart he knew the overwhelming emotions Sita must have felt too.

Time flew by as they embraced each other, clinging to their love. Words could follow later, for their heart needed to be drained right then and there. All the world's mystery was to be undone later, for this moment was claimed by their thirst for their other half.

Ram saved his Sita yet again. And in saving her, he saved himself.