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.

"We need to return this before Uncle Lakshman earns that he is in short of one arrow!" Luv said as he picked up the arrow.

"We'll return it tomorrow morning, when he goes to the Court." Kush added as he took the arrow from Luv, he walked to the bed as he said: "Until then, this can stay under the bed, away from anyone's notice."

"And the two of you should be in bed!" Luv said as he guided the two little boys to their bed. Angad and Chandra lied down on their respective sides of the bed, while Luv and Kush tucked the two of them with a colorful blanket.

"Now go to sleep!" Luv said as he pressed a kiss to Angad and Chandra's foreheads.

"But brother, we can't go to sleep without listening to mother's bedtime stories." Chandra added.

"Yes! Yes!" Angad squealed. "No sleeping until we hear Ma's stories!"

"Either Ma should tell us a story or father should pat us to sleep!" Chandra said.

"You know...." Luv said smiling, as he sat on the edge of the bed. "The two of you are very lucky. You have both your mother and father."

Kush nodded.

"But what's the point!" Angad said disappointed. "We have never seen our parents talk to each other happily. Even though Pa tries to talk with Ma, she always ignores him and walks away."

Chandra sighed and spoke, his playful voice gone, and his was speaking in a heartbroken voice. "I wish if we could see them be happy together"

Luv and Kush exchanged looks. They knew what was wrong. Urmila had despised Lakshman ever since he was ordered to leave, Sita in the jungle. Even though Sita herself proclaimed that Lakshman was forced to abandon her and was only following the orders of his elder brother, Urmila's hatred to Lakshman remained unchanged.

"They will re-unite soon, Chandra!" Luv assured as he adjusted Chandra's pillow.

Chandra smiled.

"Looks like my little mischief makers don't need a story tonight!" Urmila said as she walked in. She was dressed in a simple light blue sari, wearing only a simple necklace on her slender neck. Her long hair was pulled back and neatly braided.

"I want a story! I want a story! I want a story!" Angad shouted gleefully.

"Me too! Me too! Me too!" Chandra chorused.

Urmila nodded and sat on the foot of the bed. "Luv and Kush, both of you can sleep here itself"

They nodded and took the empty spaces beside Angad and Chandra.

"Alright! What story do you want to hear?" Urmila asked as she tucked in Luv and Kush with the blanket her sons shared.

"The crow and the water pitcher!" Chandra exclaimed.

"We heard that a hundred million times, Chandra!" Angad exaggerated as he rolled his beautiful black eyes.

"Ma!" Luv called to Urmila. "Tell us a story we haven't heard of"

"Of course my son!" she said smiling through her beautiful eyes and started to narrate the story of the Peacock and the Crane. Her rich and motherly voice varied into different tones as she mimicked the dialogues said by the Crane and the Peacock. Her gentle and cheerful facial reactions added life to the characters, attracting attention of the listeners, and within no time, even before she could finish the story, the four boys fell asleep. Urmila pressed a soft kiss to each of their foreheads and stood up to leave the chambers when something underneath the bed caught her attention. She bent down and found an arrow from her husband's training set on the cold marbled floor.

She picked it up, and gasped. "These boys!" she muttered under her breath "One day for sure these two are going to get severe punishment from their father!"

She decided to return it herself and took the arrow and walked out of the chambers. Her mind replayed what she heard a as she was about to enter her children's room. "We have never seen our parents talk to each other happily. Your father tries to talk with Ma, she always ignores him and walks away."

Urmila hesitated twice before knocking on Lakshman's chamber door. It has been more than six years since she had been to his- their chambers.

Ever since that fateful day when Lakshman was forced to leave Sita in the forest, Urmila had not only stopped speaking to him, but also moved away from his chambers, into Queen Sumitra's chambers. She spent her days trying to ignore her husband's attempts at persuasion and his growing kindness to her and their unborn child. When her father, Rajrishi Janak, had come to Ayodya to take Urmila with him to Mithila, so she could spend the final weeks of her pregnancy in her maternal house, her consciousness told her to go, but her love for the father of her unborn child made her turn down Janak's request. She spent her days in her mother-in-law's chambers sewing or in the Palace Library reading. During breakfast, lunch and dinner, she would sit quietly, away from Lakshman with eyes lowered, nibbling on the food.

In the nights she would shed silent tears as she recollected the sudden turn of events. Everything was perfect a few minutes, and with a snap of a second, everything shattered into unfixable pieces, immersing everyone's life into gloom, once again. When she went into labour on the middle of a stormy night, she was experiencing the pain inflicted by the turn of events and the pain of delivering her child. Her child- children were born at the end of the storm, only a few seconds before a glorious sunrise. She had delivered two handsome baby boys. One had a resemblance similar to Lakshman's with gentle eyes and soft hair similar to Urmila's. The other baby had looked very much like Urmila, with Lakshman's eyes and his sharp jawline. A perfect amalgam, and a perpetual reminder that they were the children of Lakshman and Urmila.

As she held her babies in her arms she realized her sorrow and depression had vanished within a second. Lakshman walked into the Infirmary to see his newborn babies, she didn't speak a word, and silently let him carry the babies in her arms. Their arms brushed, temptation to look into his eyes flooded her heart, but she turned away refusing to look at him. Years rolled away and she tried her best to avoid him, but her treacherous heart told her to throw her ego and anger aside and go back to him. Sita herself requested Urmila to forgive the innocent Lakshman, a few minutes before she disappeared forever under the earth.

"Come in!" she heard him call before she could manage to knock the door. Her hold on the arrow tightened and she stepped inside. She felt unusual as she walked into their chambers, a place she was well accustomed to, and she kept her eyes lowered as she walked in.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Glossary

D

hoti- a garment worn by men that resembles a baggy pair of trousers

Gulab Jamun- an Indian Sweet

Ma- Mother

Pa- Father