The boat was docked and placed again on the edge of the river, and by the night, the trio continued to walk, Ram first, then Sita, and lastly, Lakshman. The bank of the Sarayu did not welcome them into the lush forest as they had thought (and hoped), but instead, it was a barren land, plantless, treeless, lifeless, and occasionally they came past pieces of cloth that could only have belonged to a human, some skulls, man-made material, and Sita shuddered in alarm.

They continued walking into dawn, and soon, it was afternoon. The sun beat down on them, and made the dirt cracked and hard. They continued to walk in the forest, Sita not complaining even once about how humid it was, or how the sun was so bright that it blinded them, or the burning heat of the ground, and Ram marveled at how she had adapted so quickly, she a princess, growing up in luxury and love, to this place, where the shade was scarce, and the cool arbors of the trees in the forest was at least a mile away. Visible, but unreachable, like following a rainbow.

Sita did not utter a word when she saw the skull of what seemed like a human, only darted her eyes away in fright. She did not utter a word when the wind blew dust into their noses and eyes, only covered her face with a cloth. She did not speak even, when she felt a little bit hungry, but Ram could tell when she pressed her tummy a little bit, and pouted, and felt like laughing and going to the kitchen and getting something, when he remembered that there was no kitchen. There was no palace. There was no food. But Sita did not complain.

However, when a little ashram, with a small cluster of trees was visible, Sita cleared her throat lightly. Ram looked up at the sound, then followed her eyes right under the trees, where they would not be seen from the people inside the ashram, but they could still sit under shade. Ram swallowed hard. "You know, Sita, we must keep walking. There are many rakshasas here, you know? Rakshasas that eat brahmins."

Lakshman blinked confusedly, and retraced his steps back to Ram, looking into the face of his brother with absolute befuddlement. He could not conceive that any demons were hiding around there, brahmins if they were or not, for there were no trees, boulders, or for that matter any hiding places there! Just open, barren, plant-free land with cracked dust. "But we are not brahmins," Lakshman began.

Sita nodded. "And my feet hurt," she added hopefully, and successfully voted out, Ram sighed and nodded reluctantly, leading his brother and wife under the trees, where they sat down exhaustedly. "Arya, it has been ages since we saw the riverbank, or anything! Once we rest, we must continue. I think that the forest is nearing, and with it, some shade and perhaps even some food! If I have high hopes, we may encounter a river too!"

Ram, however, was looking back to where the ashram was. "You know, Sita, perhaps we should introduce ourselves to this sage whose trees' shade we are stealing like this." Ram squinted a little bit. "It looks like a nice hermitage, albeit an empty one. Remember Guru Vishwamitra's hermitage? It was so huge, filled and bustling with people. This one is deprived sorrowfully of all people. That's a pity."

Sita sighed. "Yes, it is. I've already had a lack of conversation with people. Albeit, I had no energy to talk, since we were walking, but now that I am under the shade and rested again, I need to talk with someone, Raghav, and Lakshman is very boring, and so are you!" Ram burst into laughter as Sita fanned herself playfully and jokingly. Ram shook his head and turned towards Lakshman, who was listening to the whole scene amusedly.

"Laksh, why don't you go and introduce us, say that we could not leave without introducing ourselves and apologize for staying here without permission. It's a sunny day anyways, and we'd better get going before evening falls again!" Lakshman nodded, and got up, stepping into the forest of trees and respectfully making himself known at the entrance. Eventually, a sage came out to meet with him.

"Er-salutations." Lakshman murmured, wishing more than ever that he was better with words, and wished that he had just read the dictionary of good conversation words that Bharat had recommended. Oh well. If he offended a sage again and only this time managed to get killed, when he could least afford to die, then his bad luck would truly be cemented in history. "My bhaiyya and bhabhi wanted to introduce themselves. We come from Ayodhya, perhaps you have heard of us? There's Yuvraj Ram, Yuvrani Sita, and me. I mean-er-Rajkumar Lakshman." The sage widened his eyes in recognition, and nodded.

"Yes! Yes! Indeed, we have heard of you! Weren't you the three who had been exiled by Raja Dasharath? Yes, sad indeed. Please, tell your brother and sister to come into our humble hut!" Lakshman nodded, and walked back to his family, regaling most woefully his tale of having to hold a conversation with a human being, before finally informing them that they had been invited inside by that very human being.

Ram led Sita curiously and gratefully into the small hut, followed dutifully by Lakshman, where the Guru welcomed them most graciously. "Hello, hello, welcome." he began, once they had all sat down. "I have heard of your situation, most sorrowful indeed." The sage nodded, rubbing his beard thoughtfully as Sita looked around, her eyes darting around the small cottage in excitement.

"No, sir! None of us think it's sad." Ram piped up, looking at the sadhu's feet respectfully. "We are just fulfilling our father's wish and keeping up his family name and honor and respectability, as well as the one of our kingdom's." Ram cleared his throat, and they all sat in silence. Sita looked at her hands that sat in her lap. The hut protected her from the sun, but it was quite empty and silent.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir," the sage looked up curiously. "Why is such a lovely and sweet cottage, placed in a beautiful and amazing area, truly, so empty? Were there once people here?" she asked tentatively. The sadhu (sage) looked up, and shook his head sadly, as if thinking of happier, better times, when the cottage was filled with people. Lakshman, indeed, thought that if there were once people there, they must have been quite cramped together.

"Yes, putri, there were once an entire family of sages and wise men here. They were good and kind and merciful. Then, a clan of rakshasas and demons came here. We were attacked, in great numbers, and the demons carried the sages away, over the mountains, even, where they must have been slaughtered and eaten. I was away during this time, and when I returned, I found devastation. I searched around for answers, and found them too."

"Now I stay here, alone, and I worry, I worry terribly bad, not only for myself, because now I have no defense in numbers, but for others. Do you know that next week, more sages will show up here to meditate and make their homes here? I regret inviting them, but truly, what could I do? They were searching for a hermitage, and they are good men. I could not, in all of my dharma, deny them! Now they too might be hurt."

Ram's mind buzzed in thought as he looked upon the sage's feet. His eyes darted towards the bow in his hand, then back towards the sage again. Wasn't he well trained in combat, trained by Guru Vishwamitra, the master himself? Wasn't he one of great prowess (though he did not like to brag), of the bow and arrow and many other astras granted to him by grateful rishis?

"We can help," Ram began. "We can defeat any monsters that come here to harm you. Perhaps we can even make ourselves a little cottage in the forest a few miles away, and whenever you are in danger, we could run forward and help you! It is our dharma to protect people in need, and, as kshatriyas, that too, trained well in battle being the king's sons, we could defeat monsters so that you may live in peace."

The rishi muni looked up, eyes shining. "I-I-that would be-" he nodded wordlessly. Ram and Sita glanced at each other for a moment before turning back to the sage. The air suddenly seemed lightened, and the sage suddenly looked elderly, aged, weak, frail. His hands trembled, and he let out a shaky breath, nodding as the three stepped out of the cottage. "Bless you, son." he murmured, raising his hand. "Bless you and your wife and your family."

"Woah," Lakshman breathed. Ram quickly turned his head and stepped out. Something fascinating to the twins may be something potentially lethal. For example, when both Lakshman and Shatrughan had been intrigued by a bomb. Ram felt a pang in his heart. The twins. Shatrughan. What must he be doing? Had he returned to Ayodhya with Bharat, only to find his elder brother and partner-in-crime missing? Ram exhaled a breath, closing his eyes tightly shut as he felt a hand slip into his.

"Raghav?" he heard the whisper of Sita, and swallowed hard. He had promised to be strong, hadn't he? "Dasharathnandan, are you alright?" Ram did not answer at that moment, and a silence rested in between the two of them. Finally, still not opening his eyes, Ram nodded. He felt a squeeze in his hand, and smiled sadly at his wife. "Good," she murmured, nodding. "That is good." Ram turned to face his brother, who had turned away respectfully at the conversation.

Finally, Ram looked up to see what had astonished Lakshman, and found a forest. The forest that they had been chasing for ages. Ram swallowed hard, and suddenly, his dry throat felt watered, his tired self rested. He took a step on the grass, and then another, looking back to check that he had not imagined the barren desert. He had not. Right there, behind him, was the same desert, abruptly stopping, and starting a green forest.

He nodded towards Sita again, and they entered first, hand in hand, Lakshman following with his head down to look at the ground. The ground was cool, anything was better than the desert, but it was covered with small, sharp rocks, and splintered wood chips. Lakshman moved his head up, eyes narrowing as Sita out her foot on the sharp objects. Swallowing hard, he cleared his throat and tapped his brother's shoulder.

"Er-perhaps I should walk at the first, bhaiyya," he proposed. "I could keep an eye out for monsters and demons and what not." Ram nodded bemusedly, but certainly, and let Lakshman walk first. Sita noticed, with her next step, that the soil was much softer to step on, and smiled a little bit to herself as Ram looked around. The sacrifices good men made, to ensure other's comfort, was it not?

"We can make our homes here, Sita. We can make a life here. You see, right there we could hunt," he pointed towards a path in the woods. "And perhaps we could bathe over there." He paused at the blue stream of water. "Look! Look! Look at the path of bushes!" Sita nodded as she looked interestedly at the small red berries as Ram darted his head around, eager to make the forest his new home.

"Yes, yes, I think this forest would be perfect! It is lush and beautiful and abundant with fruit and food and water. It is perfect! It rivals the luxuries of Ayodhya, truly." She leaned down and picked up a tiger lily, twirling it around in her fingers. "And the flowers? So exquisite. It is almost as if Papa has dropped them on us from his own garden." She raised the flower to eye level. "But I know he couldn't. All the tiger lillies in our gardens are orange, and this one is a pinkish red. Urmila's favorite-"

She quickly cut herself off and cleared her throat, but thankfully, Lakshman didn't seem to have heard, and she breathed a sigh of relief. To remind one of the beloved they had lost for fourteen years was cruel. Ram squeezed her hand tightly, and they continued to walk through the lively place, chattering together as the birds chirped excitedly at the new arrivals.

A/N-Yay! They have finally arrived at the forest! I'll try not to make this drag out, but truly, I am not looking forward to writing about Bharat and Shatrughan and everyone back at Ayodhya, because it's going to be a little tough. All I wanted to do was give a nice start to this era, which I plan to make playful. Not many things will be playful after this.