Sitting in the royal garden, under the cloudy weather of the time with the mellow morning sunlight, Devi Sita admired the trees, bushes and flowers.

Everything reminded her of Chitrakoot and the pleasant time she spent with her husband there. Although life was very comfortable in Ayodhya, she still missed the time when Shri Ram was only hers and hers alone.

In Chitrakoot he used to be in front of her eyes at every moment, but now as a king a lot of responsibilities prevented him from spending as much time with her as earlier.

She didn't complain, she in fact encouraged him to follow his Raj-dharma but a part of her missed the forest life. She wanted to back to the jungles once again.

Soon she was brought out of the her thoughts when the familiar sounds of anklets fell on her ears.

"Shiromani !" She smiled looking at Rameshwari.

"Sitey Maa !" The Ram-Suta giggled coming towards her with a bunch of flowers in her hands.

"Pranaam." Rameshwari touched her feet.

"Kalyanamastu." Devi Sita smiled keeping an affectionate hand on the Ram-suta's head.

"Yeh aapke liye." She said giving her the flowers as if offering it to a deity.

Devi Sita chuckled taking the flowers from her, be it Shri Ram or his precious daughter, neither of them left an opportunity to pamper her these days, in whatever manner possible for them.

Rameshwari smiled as she eagerly kept her hands on Devi Sita's womb, trying to feel any movement.

"Sitey Maa, kya mere bhai nidra mei hai ?" Rameshwari asked innocently.

"Putri Shiromani, 9 mahine purn hone tum samajh lo woh nidra mei hi rahenge. Aur tumhe kaise pata ki tumhe bhai hi milenge ?" Devi Sita asked with a smile.

"Aise hi." Rameshwari shrugged her shoulders.

----

In the royal court of Ayodhya, Shri Ram was being entertained by some artists and story-tellers. He used these men as his eyes and ears to learn about the happenings, talks and gossip of the kingdom.

"Batao Bhadra, praja mere, Sita, Lakshman, Rameshwari aur anya Raj-parivaar ke sadasyo ke baare mei kya sochti hai ? Ek Raja ko sadev pata hona chahiye ki uski praja mei kya baate ho rahi hai. Nisankoch hoke batao. Mai woh karunga jo praja ko sukh de, aur jo praja ko sukh na de mai uska parityaag kardunga." Shri Ram inquired to the one named Bhadra among the artists and story-tellers.

"Praja sadev Lanka mei dikhaye aapke parakram aur Rajkumari ke divyata ke charche karti hai." Bhadra said but abruptly stopped.

He was hesitant of saying what he was about to say next. Shri Ram noticed his unease.

"Jo bhi bolna hai, nisankoch hoke bolo. Mai tumhe abhaye-daan deta hu." He said.

"Maharaj, praja Maharani ke charitra par shanka kar rahi hai." Bhadra said.

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A/N

So let me make it clear, that in Valmiki Ramayan, the question on Mata Sita's character wasn't raised by a single dhobi....

The questions were raised by a lot of people.