Lakshman's Daughter

The Beginning

A quick breeze of the cold autumn air swiped past, and the leaves that remained on the trees rustled. The big glass windows creaked eerily as another cold gust of air followed. As the wolves howl and the spotted owls on the oak trees hoot along in chorus, a warrior speaks to his foe.

"I, the Son of King Dasharath, Prince Ram, promise to kill you Raavan, with this celestial arrow gifted to me by the Gods and free the three realms from your atrocity!" a little boy, of six years spoke. He was wearing his red shawl around his neck like a cape and had his father's arrow in his little hands without a bow, aiming it at his innocent brother.

"Angad don't!" the latter shouted as he tried to move away. "I told you I don't want to play now!"

"I am not Angad! I am the Son of King Dasharath, Prince Ram! And you are Raavan!" Angad said like a warrior, jumping up and down like an enthusiastic monkey, trying to catch his twin brother Chandraketu. "Today I will kill you Raavan!"

"Someone save me! Angad has gone mad!" Chandra shouted panting and ran on his heels, around their shared bedroom. Chandra who had clear and tranquil eyes was different from his energetic twin brother Angad, he was a quiet boy who preferred to spend his time reading different scrolls and manuscripts rich with information and tales from different lands. Angad, well known for his messy hair and energetic attitude loved adventure and admired sword fights and archery duels.

"What's going on?" A commanding voice came and the two running boys screeched to a halt.

"Brother!" Chandra cried and hugged his seven year old cousin brother Luv tightly. "Angad is trying to kill me!"

"No! I'm not!" Angad said as he dropped the arrow in his hand and took off the cape around his neck " the Son of King Dasharath, Prince Ram is trying to kill Raavan! And the two of us were just playing!"

"I told you I wasn't interested in playing, but still you were aiming father's arrows at me and chased me around!" Chandra exclaimed. "And you know you are not supposed to touch his arrows! He will punish us!"

"He's right!" Kush agreed nodding. "Your father has warned us"

"But how did he get those arrows?" Luv asked Kush curiously.

"I borrowed one yesterday when he was practicing in the arena" Angad added.

"Liar! Liar! Dhoti on fire!" Chandra complained. "He didn't borrow it! He stole it from father's quiver!"

Angad glared at Chandra angrily, and came running and was about to lounge at him, the same way a lion does when it's about to take down its prey. Chandra squealed and went to seek shelter behind Luv, meanwhile Kush managed to keep Angad away.

"What is wrong with you?" Kush asked Angad. "He's your brother. You don't scare him like this, even for your own entertainment."

"He's right Angad!" Luv said, much to Angad's disappointment, as he held Chandra securely. "What you did was wrong. You should apologize to Chandra"

Kush leaned infront to Angad and whispered. "If you apologize wholeheartedly and promise to never do this, then I'll give you my share of the lunch dessert, and play along with you from tomorrow night onwards."

Angad, just like his father, loved desserts especially his Aunt Mandavi's sweets, agreed right away, with a smile on his face.

He walked towards Chandra, with open arms. "Chand, won't you forgive your brother? I am sorry and I promise I won't force you to play. And even if you want to play, then you can be Prince Ram. I won't mind being Raavan"

Chandra looked at Luv and he nodded with approval, and the next moment Chandra went running to Angad, and hugged him. Angad smiled and started place little kisses on Chandra's face. Chandra giggled and tried to push his twin away, but he didn't want to, so he stood still like a pillar until Angad was done kissing his face.