"Ram bhaiyya, it seems so nice outside, in the kingdom." Bharat said, dreamily looking out the window, hand resting lazily on his chin. "Outside the gates of this stupid palace, its confinements, all the soldiers." Ram laughed at this innocent statement of Bharat's, slapping a hand on his muscular shoulder.

"You are angered by the soldiers? Ah, mere priya Bharat. You shouldn't be. They are there for our protection. I myself do not like the amount our parents are feeding us. I'll lose all of my energy eating." Shatrughan walked into the room and heard what they were saying, dragging in a bag of paintballs.

"They didn't seem to protect me against Maa Sumitra's wrath either. They laughed at it, actually. Traitors! Oh, why did I have to do that prank, why?" Shatrughan whined.

"That's what I ask myself every single day." Bharat muttered, and Shatrughan scowled at him, elbowing him hard.

"Why are you all in our room anyways? That's right in our room. We have to share a room because we're twins!" exclaimed Shatrughan. There were hundreds of rooms in the grand palace, and yet Sumitra insisted that they must share.

Lakshman stormed in, not angry. He just always stormed everywhere he went. He found his three brothers staring out the balcony wistfully, and found it a good time to interrupt before they all accidentally fell off.

"What happened?" he asked, setting down his crown. Ram smiled at his beloved brother's deep voice, whirled around, and grabbed Lakshman, pulling him forward to his balcony.

"We are all angry with the palace. What do you not like about the palace?" he inquired about his dear brother. Lakshman swallowed, teetering from foot to foot, as if feeling guilty. This was why Ram loved his Laksh so much. He tried not to complain.

"Actually, everyone denies getting me a new horse. I love Shaurya, and everything. But he's old, and weak." Lakshman was putting it lightly. Shaurya was twenty-six years old, bony, weak, and his hair and mane were so thin that he looked sickly and could barely walk. Yet, King Dasharath insisted that until the horse died, Lakshman wouldn't get a new one. And Shaurya, true to his name, hung onto life.

"Why don't we sneak out of the palace? Just for a while, of course. " asked Bharat, not thinking about what he was saying. Shatrughan stood up straight and gaped at him. Lakshman raised an eyebrow.

"That's a great idea!" cried Shatrughan, jumping up and down. Ram opened his mouth to protest, but the twins each grabbed a hand of a brother and pulled them out.

Many twists and turns around the palace, and a particularly steep ladder resulting in a skinned knee later, Ram crawled out of a tunnel, Bharat peeking out apprehensively as Shatrughan and Lakshman jumped out excitedly. They had appeared right in the center of Ayodhya. A long path led to the golden palace where the princes had just left. That hadn't caught their attention, however.

Bharat looked around the Ayodhya Market, which he had looked upon for years and years from his bird's eye view window for years and years. A long dirt path separated both sides of the market, where stalls crowded and excited business people advertised their wares. Some of the stalls were covered with bowls of Holi colorful powder. An artist's dream!

Some sold oily, salty, sizzling hot fried fritters covered in mirch and large plates of sweets. Syrup filled gulab jamuns, nutty barfis, goopy jalebis. Shatrughan went to snatch one, but Ram quickly pulled him back with an apologetic smile towards the stall owner. He had made sure to wrap a small, dingy cloth around each of them, though Shatrughan had wanted to parade around the market in all of his princeliness.

"Ram bhaiyya, look!" cried Bharat, pointing towards a large stall covered with paintings of the palace and woods nearby. Shatrughan was practically dancing a happy jig at all the food surrounding him, and even Lakshman, emotionless Lakshman, showed some interest in the weaponry.

Ram's eye had been caught by a long, golden necklace with tiny silver mirrors dangling from the chain. Slipping a coin down to the woman who was selling, he pointed to the jewelry, slipping it into the pocket of his dhoti.

"Aww, romantic are you?" Shatrughan sidled up to him, and began to tease him. Ram rolled his eyes, but he thought unconsciously of the princess who had toured around Gurukul. Sita, her name was? Ram wondered how she was....

Sudden Setting Change

"Sita, what are you thinking about?" hissed ever-curious Mandavi, eager to know. Sita waved her off, dreaming too much about the eldest prince from the hermitage, but Mandavi was stubborn, and pulled her off the bed as Urmila giggled with Shrutakirti from behind.

"Sister is dreaming about a boyyyyyyy!" cried Urmila, dancing around, but Shrutakirti clapped a hand on her mouth, saving her sister from embarrassment. Mandavi shook her head, sticking a tongue out.

"Boys are disgusting. She wouldn't." Mandavi protested. Urmila grinned in, leaning mischievously. "You didn't think that about that Bharat from the ashram." Mandavi swatted at her, blushing lightly when thinking of the shy, quiet one who loved to paint.

"I don't dream of boys." protested Shrutakirti. "Let's stop talking about this. Urmi doesn't either, do you Urmi?" Urmila bit her lip guiltily, and Mandavi's eyes widened. Urmila groaned. She was sure to get teased about this.

"That was four years ago, guys. Forget it." Shrutakirti, innocent and pure as she was, tried, but Mandavi shook her head, pointing towards Sita, who was frowning, thinking deeply.

"Let's leave, Sita is too busy daydreaming about boyyyyysss!" She sang, and ran away quickly before Sita could sit up and catch her.

Sudden Setting Change

"Ram bhaiyya, won't Maa Kaikeyi worry about us?" hissed Bharat, becoming suddenly scared about facing his mother's wrath. Shatrughan was snacking on a fritter that he had bought, he admitted. Ram nodded.

"We mustn't worry our mothers. Come on, Bharat, let's grab the twins and sneak back. I would hate to see the ear twisting Ghan would get." Both shuddered simultaneously at the thought of a furious Maa Kaikeyi.

"ASHVA!!!!!!!!" cried a man, running towards the market. Lakshman looked at Ram like 'Is he mad?' However, the man was completely right in being scared. Heavy hoof-beats could be heard, and Ram whisked Bharat out of the path just as a black thing blurred by.

"What was that?" asked Bharat in horror.

"A horse, you idiot." whispered Lakshman. The horse blurred past again, and Bharat peeked out to see that it was rearing and turning around again.

"Why is he running around like that?" hissed Ram, clutching onto his necklace tightly. Shatrughan held onto his fritter protectively, and even selfless Bharat pushed his paintbrushes behind him like a parent.

A boy sat in the middle of the road, crying, and no one was going to claim him. The horse came rushing back, and Ram's heart raced. Lakshman's eyes narrowed, and just as the horse was running back, Lakshman paced out.

Grabbing the boy around the stomach, he threw the baby to Ram, who caught him directly, and held his hand out as a shield. Breathing heavily, as the horse neared him, Lakshman leapt up, managed to get on the horse, and pulled its muzzle back.

The crowd let up a gasp, as the cloth covering his face flew away, and his jewelry was revealed. It was pretty obvious he was a prince, and a brave one, son of Dasharath, at that. The horse continued neighing and eventually, Lakshman got annoyed.

"SHUT UP!" he roared, and surprisingly, the horse stopped neighing, trying to throw him off, and trying to kill anyone in his path. Ram thought that this was the right time to walk out, calm everyone down, assure them that Lakshman did not speak horse, et cetera, and he removed his cloth as well, Bharat and Shatrughan following him.

"C-crown p-prince Ram." someone in the crowd stuttered, recognizing his kind face. Ram smiled and nodded. "That one behind him is Prince Bharat, the one that paints for all of us." another person shouted. Bharat waved shyly. "There is our shaytaan Prince Shatrughan!" cried someone; Shatrughan was well-known around the kingdom for his humor, and did a happy little jig at being recognized as mischievous.

"Which means the one on the horse is the scary Prince Lakshman." Lakshman looked up immediately from the horse as Bharat choked.

"You all know him as 'the scary prince Lakshman?" Ram asked, humored, as Lakshman jumped off the horse. The crowd gave a collective nod. Lakshman scowled darkly at Shatrughan, who was trying not to laugh, and turned towards Ram eagerly, something that he didn't usually do.

"Do you think Father will let me keep the horse, bhaiyya? I bet my old one is dead by now, and this one is young and spry. See?" Shatrughan was trying to get the horse angry again, not a wise move as he reared up, and Lakshman barely pushed him out of the way.

"Young and spry? He almost killed me!" squeaked Shatrughan, as Lakshman calmed the horse down before it trampled him.

"Yes." Bharat said. "He is your spirit animal, brother. He has your temper." Shatrughan took that very seriously.

"Ah, I thought that was a snake, his spirit animal. You know, snakes always slither away from him, like they are scared." Lakshman clapped a hand on his mouth.

"Stop spreading rumors, Ghan. Next thing you know, they'll be calling me the "serpent prince Lakshman." The crowd had a good laugh, decided that the scary prince was not too bad at all, and let the princes quickly escape before a messenger came out to see what all the fuss was about.

Raja Dasharath let him keep the horse, mostly because the horse almost trampled him over when he tried to let it go, and only the third prince could calm it down. Bharat managed to escape the ear-twisting, but the twins were not so lucky, even though Ram tried to bail them out. And across the kingdom of Kosala, word was spread about the "scary serpent chili-pepper consuming prince Lakshman." Shatrughan had found a way to get the word out.

Bonus Scene

"Urmila, have you gone mad?" cried Shrutakirti, clapping a hand on her mouth in fright for her cousin. "Get down from there." Urmila refused to get off the peak of the sharp mountaintop, one hand on her hip, the other resting on her forehead as she stared at the horizon.

"I feel like there is something important to see, and if I stay up for just a second longer, I'll see it." That moment, Lakshman threw a smoke bomb into the sky that spelled out the name "Lakshatru". Shrutakirti stared at it in awe as well.

"How on Earth did you know?" she squealed, and Urmila smiled, not giving a response, just stepping off the peak, and knowing that she would paint it. And keep the painting forever and ever. In Ayodhya, Lakshman and Shatrughan threw a hand around each other as they stared at the sky, imprinting the image in their minds.

A/N-Yes, I am introducing some Lakshmila and Shatru-Kirti, because I'm going to love writing about them. Heck, I've even added in some Bharma (Which I'm assuming is the ship name for Bharat and Mandavi).

What is your favorite Ramayan ship?