Hanuman walked at a quick, brisk pace, and Ram and Lakshman followed, not even seeming out of breath. The former looked excited at the prospect of allies, and the latter, cautious, though he was optimistic seeing as the monkey named Hanuman or Pawan (he couldn't remember), hadn't attacked them yet. "Just this way, please. Raja Sugriv will meet you in a second!" Hanuman led them to a cave, where, at the mouth, they sat.

Hanuman felt strangely tranquil as he observed the two humans from the corner of his eye. One was dark, muscular, strong, and held on tightly onto a bow, but radiated a calm aura, calm enough for how frantic he had to have been for his wife. Hanuman felt something divine, something completely otherworldly, off of him, and something drew him to the man as if he was his life's purpose. Ram? That name sounded familiar, as if it had been beating in his heart since birth. Was he destined to help this man? Hanuman hoped so; he wanted to save that princess from Ravan before anything happened. From Rajkumar Lakshman's description, she seemed quite kind indeed.

Speaking of Rajkumar Lakshman, appearance wise, he was different from Ram enough that Hanuman, at first glance, would not have thought them brothers. He was fair, very fair for a man working in the forests, and tall; one of the tallest men Hanuman had ever seen. He had as dark eyes as Ram had icy blue, and was lean. And he seemed weirdly cautious; enough to have one hand poised close to his dagger. This was the one that had told him about his brother's plight. Hanuman smiled softly. Men were so unusual, but not these two. They seemed good. Devoted. Loyal.

Finally, a loud thumping, and a small amount of chattering echoed from inside the cave, and Hanuman looked up, before glancing at Ram and Lakshman, who were busy staring apprehensively at the cave; well, at least the latter was, for the former looked more eager than anything. "I think that means that Raja Sugriv is ready, Ram and Lakshman sir. Let us go!" He jumped up, and the princes did so slowly, before Lakshman, with a small smile, put a hand on Ram's shoulder and gave him a small smile. Ram let go of a breath, and nodded, letting himself follow Hanuman into the dark crevice, Lakshman taking up the rear.

The mountain was large, but it seemed not nearly large enough for this cave to be accommodated inside it, for it was huge! Humongous! It was large, dark, and Ram could barely see through it till it seemed one monkey had lit up a fire. Suddenly, he felt as if he could see the entire monkey population of the Earth (but that was not the case; Ram had just never seen so many monkeys at once before). Small, large, tall, thin, wide plump, muscular, lean! What a variation! And they all looked back at Ram with curious eyes.

Finally, one walked forward, one wearing a small crown. "Hanuman has told me that perhaps we could be allies," he spoke, with a calm, silky smooth voice, beckoning the two to sit down. "You see, I think that we could help each other! My name is Sugriv, and I am a prince who should be king, I suppose similar to you." He looked towards Hanuman. "You have told me their stories, and perhaps now I could tell them mine." Hanuman nodded.

Sugriv, rather, Raj(kumar?)a Sugriv turned towards the brothers and began to speak in a tired, weary old voice that made the two feel that he had relayed the story many times before. "You see, I have a brother named Vali. We were very close, many years ago! Did everything together! You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but it's true. He was the older one, and soon he got crowned king. I, of course, expected that, and was fine with it! But then, something terrible happened-" he took a deep breath.

"We got news that a monster was devastating the bottom part of Kishkindha, our kingdom, you know? So the two of us, the king and his younger brother, went to stop it! The rakshas went into a cave, and Vali followed, telling me to man the entrance. I did so hesitantly, for I too wanted to fight, but I do as I'm told. Suddenly, I heard a roar! A loud roar!" A loud roar echoed through the cave, and Sugriv rolled his eyes. "Give me a second, please." Then he turned around. "That was not necessary, Neel."

Neel the monkey hopped down, and looked at the king. "Oh." Then he jumped away as Sugriv shaked his head.

"Anyways, as I was saying, a loud roar! And then blood, a lot of blood. I did what any reasonable monkey would do! I thought that the rakshas was shouting a cry of victory against my brother! I took a few seconds to mourn before closing the cave with a boulder and going back to Kishkindha, taking Vali's crown with tears in my eyes But lo and behold! Vali showed up, saying that it was the demon's cry of pain that I heard, and that he had defeated it, and that I was part of a conspiracy to take his throne!"

Sugriv shook his head, sitting back with a somber expression clad on his face. "He threw me out of the kingdom! Beat me out! He chased me too, planned to kill me without even hearing my explanation, for I wanted to give the crown back to him truly. But I ran into the Rishyamukha Mountain, where there is a fable that Vali cannot enter without dying. So you see, it is only I and my closest allies that are here, without anything to our names. He took my wife, Ruma as part of his harem. But, perhaps if you could help us eliminate him, I could help you find Devi Sita." He looked between the brothers hopefully.

Lakshman cleared his throat, nudging Ram, who seemed lost in some universe, tears clouding his eyes. To Lakshman, this Vali seemed like a mix of Bharat (taking the throne), Kaikeyi (thinking that Ram was part of some conspiracy and throwing him out of his own kingdom), and Ravan (taking Ram's wife). Either way, it wasn't a good mixture to him. Now only if Ram would just speak, make an alliance like he was so good at doing, then they could find Sita bhabhi! Unlike when Ram did not speak when he first met Sita, Lakshman would absolutely not speak for him this time! He would probably insult the entire monkey population, have them wage war on Sugriv, get them killed, and ruin Kosala's name all in one sentence.

Finally, Ram jumped out of his trance, and nodded. "We would very much love to make this alliance, Raja Sugriv. I do think that we can help each other very much. Sita is delicate. I worry about her. What if she is harmed? Our fates are similar, perhaps that is why they are entwined." Ram shrugged. "I do think that we are very useful allies to each other. Let us shake on it." he held his hand out, and Sugriv shook it eagerly.

But Lakshman hissed something in Ram's ear that made his smile disappear. Ram turned towards Sugriv, frowning. "But-how do you know where Sita is? And what she looks like? How could you possibly find her? We don't even know where she is! I don't know where Lanka is! I understand that you have a lot of men-monkeys, I mean, in your subjects. But Ravan is quite powerful, a demon of illusions. How?"

Sugriv swallowed hard, before moving his hands around in the air. "Sir, we saw a chariot, a golden one, rushing through the sky. We saw a large demon, with horns on his crown, laughing loudly, so I suppose we heard him too. And we saw a woman, screaming loudly, calling for you and your brother-by name too-to save her from the wretch, and that she would be waiting wherever he took her."

Ram took a deep breath, inhaled it sharply, and wrung his hands. "Sita," he whispered, biting his lip as he thought of her.

Sugriv nodded. "I did think that she was in danger, so we tried to follow her from the ground. None of us could fly, however, so we couldn't do anything. However, the good Lady saw us, and began to remove her jewelry, making a train of jewels down till she had no more left. If you wish, we could give them to you?" Ram nodded quickly, seeming ready to break down, and Sugriv took the jewels from Nal the monkey's hands, and handed it to the distraught crown prince. "Here."
Ram burst into tears, those that flowed freely from his eyes, down his face, those that he made no effort to wipe away, from his sorrow was so extreme.

Flashback

"Raghav? Raghav?" cried Sita down the halls, before she disappeared back into their rooms, frowning. Everything looked normal, pristine and perfect, but she continued her survey to try and find her husband, when suddenly, she let out a squeak; somebody had covered her ears. Sita jumped in alarm, but calmed down immediately when she recognized his hands. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Ram burst into laughter. "I just wanted to scare you!" Sita pouted at him, playfully swatting him, and Ram rolled his eyes. "Well, that, and I wanted to give you this." He took out a long necklace, whose each chain was embedded with a small crystal, gem, or precious jewel. Sita let out a gasp, and shook her head, moving back. Ram was the one to pout this time, pretending to throw away the necklace. "This is trash if you don't wear it! You are made to make jewelry look better, not the other way around!"

Sita sighed. "You're too charming. And deceitful. Hold your hands out! I know you've still got that necklace!" Ram held his hands out, and smiled in a way that showed his large dimple, and Sita exhaled. "Alright, alright, I'll wear it! You're just too cute!" She took his cheeks and pinched them, before finally letting Ram put the necklace on her.

Present

He took the jewels in his hand, but his eyes and mind were too clouded with thoughts of her, that he couldn't bear to, and he shook his head, handing them to a grimacing Lakshman, who tried his best with a pat on the back, and not much else, knowing from days now, of experience, that nothing but time could hear these wounds of his brother's. "Here, Lakshman." Ram managed to say. "I can't identify them, you try to!"

With trembling hands, Lakshman unraveled one of the sacks of jewels. He was no specialist in jewelry, or anything other than warfare truly, but he tried as he picked up the first maang tikka. He set it aside. The second. Then, finally, he picked up an anklet, and held it to the sky, nodding his head. "I can only recognize this, and a toe ring, bhaiyya." he said shakily, holding up a toe ring with a glistening ruby. "I always took her blessings before collecting firewood, and saw these two. They could not be anyone else's, bhaiyya. These are Sita bhabhi's. Never presumed to look at the other jewels." Lakshman never allowed his eyes to travel up from Sita's feet. Thinking that he had not done his job well, Lakshman put the jewels back. "Sorry, bhaiyya."

But Ram shook his head, wiping away the last of his tears. He clenched his jaw, for he could feel the apprehension rolling off of Sugriv in heavy, thick waves. How could a man so emotional kill the great and mighty Vali? "I agree to this." Ram said tightly, clearing his throat. "I look forward to completing this alliance, this friendship. You find me Sita, and I shall kill Vali and restore your throne."

With another clear of the throat, Sugriv stood up, his figure towering over Ram not unkindly. Ram too stood up along with Lakshman, and nodded at the both of them. "Remember," Sugriv warned. "Vali is very mighty, and very large. He is also very hard to kill. I'm scared not only for my own safety, but for yours as well."

Before Lakshman could bite back with something scathing that would probably reduce even the mighty Vali to death by embarrassment (Ram wondered later why he hadn't just told his brother to go to Kishkindha and randomly insult Vali. Wouldn't the job have been done?), Ram cut in, nodding. "I have killed Tadaka, Marich, and Subahu. I have killed Khar, Dushan, and their fourteen thousands strong army. While I am not underestimating your brother, Raja Sugriv, not by a long shot, nor am I bragging, for I truly don't wish to come across as that, don't underestimate me."

A/N- You know, at this part, I always think, Poor Neel! I mean, I would have added some dramatization to Sugriv's retelling too, right? Who wouldn't? Tell me, would you have not taken up the chance, would you have been able to resist adding a bit of onomatopoeias to the tale? I think not! It may just be that it's just me. Either way, I tried to add some humor into this chapter. I'm not as funny as @lakshmila4ardi, who does make me wheeze while laughing sometimes, but I guess this chapter wasn't meant to be funny either, was it?