Ten thousand monkeys and bears on a beach, walking around uneasily and animatedly, and chattering with each other not-so occasionally ought to attract a relative (rather, a large) amount of attention, right? Wrong. I suppose Ancient India was pretty weird, because the only attention they attracted was the one of Sampati, and that was good for them, because Sampati was enough to deal with in the first place.

Sampati was a vulture. He had lost his wings. Therefore, it was a bit hard for him to get food that didn't walk on the ground, that wasn't stationary. So, when he saw all the monkeys on the beach, he thought what any of us would if we were wingless vultures; Let me help them like a good charitable vulture would. "What a feast!" he cried (okay, so maybe not). "The Gods themselves must have arranged this for me! This shall last me for the next era or even two!"

But Sampati, just like the twins, just like Angad (though none of those three liked eating monkeys), was crafty and thoughtful. He flew up to monkeys, who, very sensibly, backed away from the vulture who looked beadily between them. Hanuman walked forward, shielding Yuvraj Angad, his first priority, from the vulture's view. "Yes, are you alright Mr. Vulture sir? How can we help you this fine day?" he asked.

Sampati tilted his head. Good. Monkeys with manners were always more pleasant to eat (Not that the author would know. She's never eaten a monkey before, and never plans to). "Hello, my friends! I am Sampati! It is not very normal that I get visitors, especially at this time of day!" Sampati chuckled, and Hanuman thought that he was nice enough, and seemed to exhale for a moment as Sampati studied him curiously. "I was wondering, what brings you to this beach? Besides the great views, however?"

Hanuman looked behind him, and though Jambavan was cautious, he nodded, giving him the go-to that it was alright. Hanuman turned back to Sampati, teetering from foot to foot. "You see, sir, we come here looking for Maa Sita. She is the wife of Prabhu Shri Ram, and she was abducted by the demon king Ravan sometime before when they were exiled in the jungle. Prabhu Ram and his brother, Lakshman, have been looking around for her everywhere, sir, and we are very worried as well. They have sent us North, South, East, and West. We are the South party." he said.

Angad rolled his eyes when Sampati seemed confused, bewildered and choked all the same. "Hanuman! How should he know the entire story like you? Let moi tell it! So..." Angad cleared his throat. "Once upon a time, Yuvraj Ram was banished from Ayodhya for fourteen years, for no reason other than his second mother's oversight in morality. Out of devotion, his wife and his brother followed him. In the forest, after living there for thirteen years, with the stout guardianship of the bird Jatayu, one day, a rakshasi came upon them to kill Maa Sita. They defended themselves, and in vengeance, the rakshasi sent armies towards them."

Angad took a deep breath, before leaning in, eyes shining. "Guess what, Mr. Some Patties? They defeated the armies! But then, one day, the demon King Ravan came along, and he abducted Maa Sita. Since then, Prabhu Shri Ram and his brother have allied with us in order to find Maa Sita with our help and take her back to Ayodhya, where they can rule forever! Doesn't that sound like a motive indeed?"

But Sampati was more concerned with something else that he had heard. "W-W-wait," he began with a stutter and he took in a deep breath as Angad and Hanuman looked curiously and hopefully at each other. "when you said that they moved to the Panchavati forest-you said something about Jatayu, the bird. Their protector. What happened to this Jatayu? Does he still live there? Is he out looking for Maa Sita too, perhaps?"

Jambavan grunted and Hanuman looked down, hands folded, and even Angad's normally optimistic and smiling face went dim like a doused candle in the darkness. And then, then, Sampati knew. He knew. "He passed," Hanuman said. "He passed while trying to save Maa Sita. Prabhu Shri Ram and Lakshman sir cremated him and dispersed his ashes in the nearby river. They thought that it was right to pay the final respects to the bird that had protected them so loyally."

Sampati's eyes watered as he opened his mouth, then closed it. "That river you talked about-" he whispered. "Where he was dispersed. Jatayu's favorite. He always liked to look into it and stare at the fish, not even to eat. He just appreciated the beauty of it all. That was the kind of bird Jatayu was. He always appreciated and noticed the beauty in everything." Hanuman tilted his head, but did not inquire.

But Sampati spoke. "Jatayu is-was my younger brother. He always took care of me before I decided to settle here, and he in the Panchavati. We visited each other sometimes, when it got too dry there, or too rainy here. Never did I think that-that I would never get to see him again. If only I had kept him here." Sampati shifted a little bit, all thoughts of food and feasting gone in mourning for Jatayu.

Angad looked at Hanuman, then back at Sampati, who continued to cry silent tears. "Prabhu Shri Ram and Lakshman bhaiyya always spoke about how he used to tell Maa Sita stories of his elder brother and his brave exploits. He never forgot you, Mister Some Patties, not even in the last moments of his life." When Sampati remained silent, Angad cleared his throat again. "We shall leave you here to mourn. We're off to look for Maa Sita. Salut!"

But Sampati stopped them with a clearing of his throat. "I live here, looking for food." Hanuman nodded at the confused looking Angad, and they walked back to the rock. "I do not move from my post. It is good living here, plenty of food. What I saw, a few months ago, was a sight I had never seen before, not in my many years of being here." Before the jumpy Angad could interrupt with a curious "WHAT?!", Hanuman slapped a hand on his mouth.

"Yes, the thing I saw a few months ago was unique indeed. A few days before the monsoon season, a demon king from the island over yonder-" Sampati gestured a wing over towards where the ocean ended and Jambavan had thought, only moments ago, that he saw land. "He climbed aboard his flying chariot and headed towards the mainland. Now that I think about it, it did seem to be around where the Panchavati is. Then, a few hours later, he came back on his flying chariot with a screaming maiden, who was struggling to get away from him. Do you think that may be Maa Sita?"

With that cryptic message, Sampati left, walking away as Jambavan stared after him solemnly. "Oh how painful it is, to lose a brother, a caretaker, a companion and a friend all at once? However, we have found Maa Sita. She is on the island of Lanka, surely held captive by Ravan, that diabolical man-eater and blood-drinker. No wonder we haven't been able to find her. We cannot even see her?"

Angad, however, sat down, cross-legged. "We cannot get there, Jambavan sir. There is no way. But we cannot go back. We have not exhausted our resources. We have not returned having scoured every place for her. And we cannot return with her. If we go back, that would be a stout disobeyal of Raja Sugriv, my uncle, and dharma itself. I choose to sit here and slowly meditate and starve to my death."

He took in a deep breath, and the rest of the vanar army followed, sitting down cross legged, rather starving themselves to death and taking hardships and troubles than betray their Raja Sugriv and the men that had allowed him to take his place on the throne. Besides, something divine and auspicious came off of Ram in waves that made them want to follow him, because he was just so good at heart.

Jambavan sat down, but Hanuman still stared at the strip of land that now he too could see at the edge, it seemed, of the world. "What good is starvation-" he cried. "WHAT GOOD?! We are not helping Prabhu Shri Ram! This is a selfish act! We should drown, trying to get across to Lanka, but we should not just sit here on this comfortable sand, resting, when we could be trying to get to Maa Sita!"

Hanuman looked between them. "We promised Prabhu Shri Ram that we would try our absolute best to find Maa Sita! We even have gone so far as to know where she is, which, mind you, no one else does! He may never find Maa Sita if we just sit here lazily! We should jump to Lanka! We should go and shake their souls! We should litter their oceans with drowned bodies if none of us can swim! We should take our last breaths trying to save Maa Sita, not in a drunken state of hunger and devout sacrifice to the king!"

The vanars chattered amongst each other as Angad stood up, eyes burning and spirit kindled again. "Yes, yes we should. Let us take a vote, my friends! Let us see who can jump the farthest! We shall send the mightiest first to Lanka, and we shall not stop till the last, weakest one of us goes! We will all drown, but we will NOT LOSE HOPE! Jai Shri Ram!" A loud chant echoed across the army, the sound rippling like music in Hanuman's ears.

Jambavan smiled agedly, nodding his consent. "Let us take a count, shall we!"

One vanar raised his arm eagerly, waving it around in the air. "Five kilometres!"

Another. "Fifteen kilometres, if I try hard enough!"

One more, jumping up and down. "I could do twenty kilometres if I tries, sir."

Neel the monkey who dramatized everything, snorted. "I could do thirty."

Nal jabbed his side angrily with his elbow. "Oh yeah? Well I could do thirty five kilometres! Much more than you could ever dream of!"

Angad crossed his arms. "It isn't much, but I could do fourty five kilometres. Maybe even fifty if I tried hard enough. Is that enough to go to Lanka, Jambavan sir?" The entire army began to chatter in awe at the jumping length of their Yuvraj.

However, Hanuman wanted to go. He wanted to find Maa Sita. He wanted to be the most devoted to Prabhu Shri Ram. And so, Hanuman, the previously not-so boastful monkey, drew himself up and uttered the magic words. "I could do seventy five kilometres, no sweat, no breath! I should be the one to go!"

Jambavan stared at Hanuman thoughtfully. "So, Hanuman, you wish to go instead of Yuvraj Angad, or Nal, or Neel? You wish to go instead of the rest of this army? You can jump seventy-five kilometres?" Hanuman nodded, a bit uncertainly, confused if the wise Jambavan could see through his lie (he could). "Well then," Jambavan cried. "GO!" He gestured to Lanka agitatedly and hopefully.

Hanuman went to the shore, looking behind himself, swallowing hard at seeing the entire army looking at him hopefully, before looking forward again. Hanuman thought he saw the choppy ocean waters, gurgling and foaming. He thought he saw the distant land of Lanka, too distant. He thought that he might even see a rakshasi or rakshas moving around. But the only thing Hanuman knew? He couldn't jump seventy five kilometres. "I was lying! I was lying! I'm sorry! I just wanted to be the one to go! Besides, Yuvraj Angad needs to stay behind! What if he's left unsafe?! I cannot jump seventy-five kilometres, don't do this to me!"

Jambavan burst into laughter. "Of course you can son! Remember your powers?"

Flashback

A young Hanuman, not even of ten years old, jumped around the branches that surrounded a sage, meditating. He sat on one and watched the sage as he muttered things under his breath, attempting to reach enlightenment. "He looks so peaceful," Hanuman murmured with wonder. "I wonder what it must be like if I break that peacefulness! I hope that he won't be too mad!"

Hanuman giggled with excitement and jumped from branch to branch, making them rustle some more. Each, he landed on heavily, so that twins and leaves fluttered to the ground. But Hanuman was nimble, he could shapeshift, and he could change forms. He had been blessed by all the Gods of Heaven, because one time, Hanuman had flown towards the sun, thinking that it was a fruit, and the lord Indra had struck him down with a lightning bolt.

His father, God of the Wind, had been angered by Hanuman's plight, and had removed all of the air from Earth. Needless to say, everyone was dying without oxygen, and so as a plea, each of the Gods blessed his son, Hanuman, with a power. Thus, Hanuman was the most powerful vanar ever to live! And he was most certainly using that to his advantage, yes he was! Hanuman rustled some more, and the tapasvi heard.

Then, Hanuman jumped out of the trees with a roar. "AAAAAH!" cried the sage, throwing his hands up in alarm, before he noticed the snickering monkey. "You dare break my years of penance and meditation! I curse you this, monkey! You shall not remember or be able to use your powers until someone reminds you of them, days later."

Present

When the wise and avid-storyteller of a king of the bears, Jambavan, finished telling his tale, or rather, Hanuman's tale which Hanuman had quite conveniently forgotten, Hanuman pointed at himself. "So....I'm Superman?" When Jambavan opened and closed his mouth, Hanuman waved his hands. "So I can fly? And shapeshift? And-er-what else?"

Angad squeaked. "You can fly and you can shapeshift. What else would you need?"

A/N-Dear Hanuman's story. So, as you can tell, now they all know where Lanka is, who took Sita, and where she is. Which means that the story is gonna get a whole lot more exciting from now on, because everyone knows everything that we know. Alright, that was confusing. Nonetheless, this was an amazing chapter to write down, but it did take some time. I am trying my best to start elongating the chapters again, because as you all know, they were quite short in the vanvass era, both Pre-Ravan and Post-Ravan. Detective Hanuman Era is the redemption.

Okay, so I just want to let you guys know that this era will be short, because Hanuman wasn't a detective for long. I wonder how long I want to keep this? Maybe up until Ram crosses the bridge to Lanka. That would be a nice transitional chapter.

Okay, one thing that some people have noticed is that I have been making Lakshman, and perhaps maybe even some other characters, what some people would call a "Mary Sue", which is overpowerful, and great at everything, and just a perfect character without any flaws in general. Does anyone else maybe feel the same way? I think, what I'm going to do in the next chapter is I'll make some character sketches (not drabbles, mind you) that express the strengths and weaknesses of each character, and will hopefully convince you otherwise! Make sure you read that, because it is important, I think, just to convince everyone that yes, I do like writing about Lakshman, but I don't perceive him as this guiltless, faultless, amazing character. I hope that everyone realizes that, pls.

One more thing: I GOT MY FIRST AWARD! Second Place, Historical Fiction, The Strawberry Milkshake Awards! GAAAAAHHH! I'm just too happy. Thank you all for all of your support and whoever tagged me there so I knew where it was, and Wattpad for teaching me what a shoutout was and everyone else too! Here it is:

Virtual hugs to everyone! I couldn't be more happy! I am soo writing more than 110 chapters now. But not 150. Because I can't possibly extend the Yudhakand thaaaat long, @lakshmila4ardi

That would be impossible.