Genre: Slice of Life

Someone had drenched the sky in deep orange dye and left it to dry amongst the clouds. The leaves danced as the evening settled into the heavens, watching upon them all with a sleepy eye.

Near the earthen banks of the Sarayu, Ram dipped his feet into the cool water. An exhale left his mouth when the gentle current began to slowly sweep away the mud that had collected at his soft heels, and he reached down and let the palm of his hand create ripples in the undisturbed river.

A noise caught his ears and his head snapped up abruptly, only for it to be followed by a tinkling laughter. Perhaps it was the relief of clear water and clouded skies after a day of being unused to relentless sun, or perhaps it was the joy of his wife, but something made an wide smile grow on his serene face.

Keeping his legs still, he turned around to watch the promising spectacle with amusement.

Sita seemed overcome with a bout of giggles, clapping her bangle-adorned hands with increasing fevor.

 Lakshman was juggling a trio of bucktoothed chipmunks that did little twirls in the air each time they ascended, like acrobats.

And it seemed like Ram wasn't the only one curious by their antics.

Large deer, bearing their tree-like antlers, tentatively stepped from the dark shelter of the low hanging trees. Squirrels, birds, even other chipmunks crawled down from the branches to settle on the ground, closer to their little camp.

Ram leaned back on his elbows slightly on the wet sand of the riverbank to watch, his head tilted with adoring love at his wife and brother. Behind his silhouette, the sun set slowly, pulled by the horizon in a tantalizing tug of war.

They were all bathed in a soft orange glow emitted from the vast expanse of sky above them. To Ram, it felt like a scene from the depths of heaven. The only palace he ever needed was displayed before him. 

So what if he had left behind a throne and the luxuries of a king? The royal treasury must have been quivering in front of the riches he found here, in the unassuming corners of a jungle. 

His smile soon grew into joyous laughter, and he watched with a strange wistfulness, folding his long arms over his upturned knees.

Sita's attention drifted from the circusmaster and his miniature troupe to her love, and she beckoned him with a large smile and an enthusiastic pat to the humble ground next to her.

Without hesitation, Ram lifted his dripping wet feet from the Sarayu to stand up, walking towards her without looking back at the opposite shores.

He left behind large, dark footprints, etched deep into the forest floor. 

Ram lifted his feet, cleansing himself of the last of Ayodhya, and walked with large, eager paces towards his new kingdom.

A/N-My first Slice of Life ficlet! Was it ok? I think the point of Slice of Life things are to not have a moral or something, but my Bharat-side just had to shove in some lesson of life in there, so don't mind that. 

Oh! And meet my new signing off GIF!