It was a lovely, dewey, sunny morning, when the roof caved in. Sita was busy in the kitchen, and Ram and Lakshman outside, either tending to their bows, or practicing their archery. Suddenly, a loud noise echoed, and both turned around nimbly, only to see their durable and grass thatched roof cave in front of them. Ram felt his heart hammering loudly as he paused for a second, the loud sound still ringing in his ears.

"SITA!" Ram cried out loud harshly, running into the hut and throwing planks of wood and grass aside. There were crushed pots, filled with spices and berries, containers full of food were knocked over, lids opened, and a large keg of drinking water was flowing on the ground freely, but Ram just pawed through everything carelessly so that he could see his wife. Her body wasn't anywhere, though.

"Bhaiyya?" Ram heard a voice, and turned around, tears flowing out of his eyes. Angry tears. Solemn tears. Somber tears. It had been thirteen years since they had left Ayodhya. They had barely a year left to go, only a little less, in fact. How was it that Sita was lost in their final months of hardship? "Bhaiyya?" he heard the call again, and stepped outside, face directed towards the ground. "Bhabhi escaped."

Ram looked up, dragging his eyes from the ground immediately, only to see Sita's concerned face. "I managed to run out as I heard a rumble from the roof," she cried as Ram bound forward and lifted her up into the air, squeezing her tightly. "I'm alright, I'm alright." she murmured, rubbing his back soothingly. "Aw, don't cry." She wiped away his tears and smiled at him toothily.

"I thought you were gone," Ram whispered. "Only a few more months left in this forest, Sitae, and I thought that you were gone! I was cursing my luck-and-and-I was cursing my luck that you had to go through so much, and you couldn't even catch one last glimpse of Ayodhya, or the throne. I felt like killing myself! It wouldn't have been worth going back without you." He hugged her tightly again.

Meanwhile, Lakshman was examining the roof, peering up at it from the ground as he set down his bow on the porch, giving the lovers their space. "Mmm, I'll have to fix that. The cottage isn't safe with a half collapsed roof." He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "That's two times now. I wonder about the quality of roof planks here. Perhaps the wood I'm using is a bit more flimsy than I thought it would be..." he trailed off and sighed.

"Well, do you need anything?" Ram asked tentatively. Lakshman shook his head, grabbed a ladder that Sita and Ram had made for him out of logs and twine (which he had practically jumped up and down from excitement while receiving), and set it next to the roof. "Alright, you can work on the thatching, Sita and I will be outside." He sent a nod towards his brother. It was best to leave each to their own.

As the sun rose out of the shadows of the dawn, the planks were set again, and Sita was cleared to go inside. While she had practically fainted at all of the broken pots and spilled food, and the inside of the hut was a little flooded, Ram had walked in, and Sita immediately stopped her lamenting in order to push him out. "What kind of wife would I be," she began. "If I forced my husband to walk through his flooded home! Let me."

Lakshman worked on the thatching, sitting on the roof under the beating rays of golden sun, and finally the hut was unflooded and Sita began to work on remolding some of the pots and gathering the berries and fruits that were still salvageable off of the dirt floors. Ram was outside, stringing his bow, occasionally looking up uneasily at the roof and exhaling in alarm every time his brother moved. None of the three knew of the trouble that was, most literally, approaching them with interest.

But trouble there was, and in a large amount too. In fact, trouble arrived in the form of Ravan, King of Lanka's sister, Surpanakha. Not that the three of them had never seen Ravan's accomplices and friends before, no they had seen Agnihotri, ruler of Mahisthami, and many of Ravan's demons the brothers had defeated, and in fact, they had seen the grand king of the island nation at Sita's Swayamvar itself!

Surpanakha was Ravan's beloved sister. She was also, coincidentally, a demoness. And an ugly one at that. Legend was that she had once performed extreme penance for the God Bramha, and had chosen to be able to change forms, which she often used to hunt and trick people. All in all, she was not a nice demoness. She had no mercy. She had no feelings. Well, she once had no feelings.

Now, she looked upon Ram, the dark skinned, tall, blue eyed prince. It was not stressed enough in Ayodhya, or anywhere else for that mind, but Ram was one of the most handsome men on the Earth, perhaps the most handsome. Dasharath had always been a heartthrob for the ladies, with his golden skin and greek God-like physique. But he was nothing compared to the clueless Ram, his son.

Even without his jewelry and crowns and silk clothes, he still struck the figure of a prince. The luster of a royal is never lost, not in the clothes of a peasant, not without the comforting shade of a palanquin, in the beating sun of the Chitrakoot forest. And only goodness knew, this was quite a shiny luster indeed. Ram, shone everywhere with his perfect, dark, tall, lion-like, unconventional, but certainly not uninvited appearance. And Surpanakha was completely and utterly smitten with him.

-----O----

Ram, meanwhile, was busy stringing his bow, humming a light lullaby to himself. He picked up the wooden beast of a bow and strummed it like a ukulele, before putting it on his shoulder and working on sharpening his arrows. Everything was fine for him, rumbling along like a well oiled machine. His wife was inside, cleaning everything up. Soon she wouldn't have to. His brother was on the roof, thatching it. Thankfully, he wasn't scared of heights. And Ram was busy doing what he did best; stringing bows.

Suddenly, came a rustle of the leaves in the forest. Ram's head shot up confusedly, his hands tightening. Normally, not many demons and demonesses got past the security line he had drawn around the forest. It wasn't as strong as some, but it was powerful enough to stop most. He just had not made it to the par of Ravan's sister, because, quite frankly, who knew that Ravan had a sister? Didn't come across much as the brotherly type.

But in stepped in a maiden. She looked around cautiously, before seemingly spotting him and walking up. Ram set down his bow a bit hesitantly, but he knew enough from his teachings that women should not immediately be harmed. She walked up to him, crossed her arms across her chest, and opened her mouth widely to speak, and Ram tilted his head to hear her clearly. He had no reason to. She was quite straightforward. "I am Surpanakha, princess of Lanka, and I am in love with you. I want to marry you."

Ram blinked. Once, twice. Had he heard that clearly? Ram put a finger in his ear, wiggled it a little, and brought it out again, but the same echo of words still rang. Ram looked up towards the roof, where Lakshman had stuffed two pieces of cotton in his ears, and was still working on thatching with focus in his eyes. Something told him that he was not even pretending this time, and actually could not hear the situation. Then he looked inside the hut a bit confusedly, but if Sita had heard or seen the woman, she made no clue to it. Ram turned back to the maiden. "Sorry, um, I must deny. Do you need some directions out of the forest?"

Surpanakha, was, frankly, quite surprised. Usually, demons walked up to her with marriage proposals and now this mere mortal dared insult her by refusing? That was alright, he was quite handsome, and so she was most definitely going to try again. She tilted her head, raised an eyebrow and spoke again. "No. I want to marry you. And so I am going to marry you. Why not?"

Ram burst into a coughing fit. Wow, she was most definitely blunt about that. "I am sorry. But I cannot marry you. I don't even know how you even saw me? Besides, you are a young woman. I think that you need a way out of this forest, filled with rakshasas and demons and whatnot, you know?" he coughed again, tentatively. "I can have someone escort you out, perhaps?"

Surpanakha raised an eyebrow and folded her hands behind her. Well, now she was really getting angry. This mortal dared tell her what to do? And what was that? Was he actually denying her? Surphanakha felt like flipping her hair sassily like she normally would, but her eyes began to blaze, and behind her body, her fists clenched, and her claws began to show a little bit. She married whom she wished to, and she wished to marry him! "I am going to marry you because I love you, and I am not going anywhere." she hissed, eyes flashing. No matter if she had to burn down his stupid hut and that random man on top. The random man who still had no clue of exactly what was happening, but had finally noticed the loud voices, and with narrowed eyes, removed the cotton in his ears and brushed his hands off, standing up.

He was about to politely decline again, and grab his bow just to be a little threatening (though he would have never even touched her), and perhaps even tell her that he had a wife when the wife he was talking about stepped out of the hut curiously. "Ram?" she asked softly, patting his arm. "The hut is cleaned and the food is ready."
Ram was hungry. But he was also cautious. And the reason for that was that the seemingly harmless maiden in front of him was starting to catch fire, at least in her eyes. They were burning an inferno just like a bloodthirsty demon would. Were those claws she was hiding behind her back? No, perhaps a trick of the mind. Sita looked at the maiden curiously, wondering if she was in need of some help in the large forest. It must have been horrendous to walk in on their own. "Hello!" she began, putting her hand forward in a friendly manner. "I'm Sita, Ram's wife. Would you need some food?" Before Ram could quickly stuff her inside the hut and grab his bow, Sita had spoken, and he winced, turning back towards the maiden, about to speak again. This was definitely not a good development.

Surpanakha clenched her fists, and her eyes widened till they turned completely red. So this was the reason that he would not marry her. This tiny, puny, mortal woman. Granted, she was quite beautiful, but Surpanakha simply saw her as a threat. A threat which needed to be eliminated. Her eyes narrowed. This was not the first time she had killed a mortal. "So this is the reason you refuse to marry me?" she hissed quietly, flexing her fingers.

Sita turned towards Ram confusedly. Marry? He glanced back at her with the same confusion visible in his eyes, as well as some guilt. Sita would have shrugged if she didn't know that the woman in front of her could have the motive to harm her in some way. She believed her husband enough to trust him not to marry someone else, and apparently, her trust was placed in someone good, if this woman was telling the truth, and he had truly declined her, which she knew that he had.

Surpanakha was burning some more as the two lovebirds glanced at each other. "If this puny little mortal is the reason you refuse to marry me, then let me make it simple for you. I WILL KILL HER!" And with that, Surpanakha rushed forward, eyes bright red, claws extending from her hands like sharp daggers. Sita cried out and stumbled back as Ram startled, not having expected the seemingly harmless maiden to attack. In his mind, women were not violent, and they definitely were not to be hurt unless the situation was dire (which this one was, but he had certainly not expected it!). But not in Lakshman's.

Lakshman's mindset was very simple. Anyone hurts family members, I hurt them. It didn't matter if it was a man or a woman, elderly or young. Now, he saw a stranger, with claws, nonetheless, rushing towards his sister-in-law. Sita, although certainly not a damsel in distress and helpless (she could be very fierce and quick, harsh like a warrior with words, as he was to discover later), would not be able to counter an attack from a demoness. Ram bhaiyya had his eyes widened and arms outstretched. Lakshman saw, and Lakshman acted, and he drew his dagger from his waistband.

The sharp tool went flying, arcing, through the air, acting against the wind, the thick, heavy obstacle of air, and rushed towards Surpanakha at the speed of light. With barely a second to spare, it sliced off her nose mercilessly and painfully. A loud shriek echoed throughout the air, and Sita immediately barreled into Ram, her shoulders shaking with fright. Surpanakha put a hand to her nose, and looked at it, finding blood, red and flowing. And then she did what all women would do. She shrieked. "MY BROTHER WILL AVENGE I! THOU SHALT BE KILLED, AND THY WIFE BE MUTILATED! TAKE THY WORD FOR IT!" She flew away with a loud whoosh, leaving a small pool of blood.

Ram looked at Sita, patting her down with his eyes, making sure that she was okay, before he turned his head to look up at Lakshman. He was standing on the roof, his dark silhouette visible, tall and fearsome. He climbed down from the roof, and picked up his dagger slowly, putting it back in his waistband after wiping it off. Ram looked back up at the roof, which was fully thatched, then back at his brother, who teetered from foot to foot. "Sorry, bhaiyya-" Ram cut him off by hugging him.

"Don't say sorry, Lakshman. You may have just saved Sita from mutilation by the hands of that demoness." he eyed the sky uneasily. "Perhaps I could have been more gentle, however, in my rejection. I am afraid, Laksh, Sitae, that we may have just started an era of tension between us and the demons." He turned back around, brooding. "Vengeance, she spoke of vengeance. She said she was the princess of Lanka, didn't she?"

Sita looked up. "Lanka? The island off the coast of the mainland? Aren't the cities built of gold, and remember? The king came to my Swayamvar to try to win my hand. Apparently, Mandavi said that he was very powerful. He has a wife named Mandodari, and she also said that he has three siblings." She peered off. "It is highly possible, Raghav, that perhaps she is his sister." Ram nodded, stepping back to sit on the porch.

His heart hammered with a tenseness that he had forgotten, after thirteen years of relative peace and ease in the friendly clearings of the Chitrakoot jungle. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as if he was fighting Tadaka and Marich and Subahu again back around the yagna, as if he was defeating demons in Gurukul, as if he was in the war against Mahisthami, all over again. The itch to grab his bow and release arrows reappeared, an itch quite hard not to scratch, and Ram rolled his head around to stop his scrabbling fingers from doing something he would regret. His heart still beat with a terrible pace as he went inside to wash his face. The beating of war.

A/N- I cannot believe it. I truly cannot believe it. I never thought-never expected-never believed. I thought I would quit this story before then, and just give you guys an unfinished mess, but I didn't! Alright, so now it's going to become fast-paced, quicker, less dragging. I am nearing the 100 mark for chapters, and I do not plan to leave you all on a 200 chapter cliffhanger. Granted, I probably don't have enough material for 200 chapters, but I'm not so sure. Anything can happen, and I have learned that from this story.

One thing you may notice is that I had a distinct uncomfortable feeling radiating through my words, because I just did not like writing this chapter. It was very quick and nice, pleasant almost, to write, but no. NO! Ram is a god of Hindu mythology, for goodness sake! It's a bit weird to write him like this. I just put in some humor instead.

Another thing is that, unlike many authors, I think that Surpanakha was evil. Some tales, like Harry Potter, are complex for me, because there are heroes (Harry), heroes like villains(Snape), villains like heroes(Draco), and villains (Voldemort). This is not that. For me, the Ramayan is black and white, with the exception of some characters like Indrajit and Sulochana, who may still be alright. Not Surpanakha. She is evil. And I will write her as such. Each to their own.

Also, I am baaack from my hiatus (finally). One thing I have learned is that a hiatus is not good for chapter build up. I barely got 4 written. Ah well. Atleast I have something!