The Ayodhya Family was travelling for around two days and now Lakshman was full on frustrated chariots were never his thing on the other hand Ram was very excited about going to Mithila-The city of Wisdom. Laksh was fine with the plan but not this travelling was getting on his nerves. Ram who was on the same chariot with him could easily sense his uneasiness.

"What's the matter Laksh? "

"umm. Nothing "

"Lakshhh! "

"Why are we going to Mithila for soo long. I wanted to spend my vacation at Ayodhya with my family."

"I understand Laksh but Rajrishi's daughters invited pitashree and he had to agree to their wish. Also Mithila is a great place. Don't you remember Guru Vashisht praising Mithila and Rajrishi's family a lot of times during his lectures. "

"I know Bhaiya and i am glad to get a chance to visit Mithila but its just that we were meeting are family after two years and after this still five years are left for our education i wanted to enjoy this time to the fullest with my family and not with some girls playing around with dolls. "

"So this is the real problem you want to spend time with someone who weilds weapons and not dolls."

"I wish but pitashree told me he has no son and only daughter so we will find only dolls"

"Don't be so obvious Laksh. You never know what destiny has in store for you."

"A princess with a weapon is the last thing Mithila would show us bhaiya"

Just then King Dashrath declared

"Let's call of the day. We will resume our journey tomorrow before sunrise. Mithila is only a few kilometres away. We will reach there by tomorrow afternoon if we start before sunrise"

Camps were set for the night. All five of them were in same tent having dinner and talking stuff. After some time Ram and Laksh got up to leave for their tent to sleep as it was already too late.

In hurry Laksh accidently banged his foot against a box while leaving.

"Aah!! " screamed Laksh

"Laksh are you fine? Where were you looking while walking" questioned Kaushalya while checking his foot.

"What is this box doing here. What is in this box? " asked Lakshman gasping.

"Dolls"

"Dolls? " questioned Ram

"Yes dolls for Rajrishi's daughters as a gift from us. " said Sumitra.

Lakshman who was now relieved was staring at Ram while the later just ignored his stare and pretended as if nothing happened . Yawning he moved out of the tent ignoring his stare.

"I am very tired. I am going to sleep. Goodnight everyone. Laksh come soon" Ram said ignoring Laksh's glare and moved out while Lakshman stood up and followed him fast.

The rest three were standing there confused as to what was happening.

........................................................................

Next Day

Next morning Ram requested his parents to allow them to travel on horses because he did not want Lakshman to crib. Already dolls scene was enough for him.

Now Lakshman was all energetic riding horses was his favourite thing.

After about 4 to 5 hours they reached Mithila's border. It was already around afternoon.

Entering Mithila they all were very happy. Mithila was indeed extremely beautiful. Amidst nature its geographical location was its attraction. Bounded in the north by the Himalayas , and in the south, west and east by the Ganges. Its was breathtakingly beautiful with a perfect combination of Mountains and plains.

"Wow!! I thought the way was soo beautiful but our destination is breathtaking." exclaimed Kaushalya.

All agreed to this.

"We should keep moving. The Palace is still far away" said the king

"Pitashree please allow me and Ram Bhaiya to roam around for a while here at this beautiful place. You three proceed we will follow you after sometime. This place is so beautiful and perfect for horse riding. Please! Please! Please!!" Lakshman requested with puppy eyes

"Okay! Okay! Fine! But be quick and don't get lost please"

"We won't. Promise. Come on Ram Bhaiya "

And with this both of them raced off on their respective horses.

"Be careful!! You both" shouted Sumitra and Kaushalya from behind.

........................................................................

At the Palace

Rajrishi Janak and Queen Sunaina were eagerly waiting for their arrival at the entrance with Arti thali.

Just then the Royal caravan entered and got down the King and his evercharming two queens.

Queen Sunaina did the arti of the three of them followed by tilak.

Both the kings hugged each other tightly.

"Finally we met Rajrishi" exclaimed Dashrath

"Indeed! Finally after so long"

On the other hand the Queens also greeted and hugged each other.

"I hope you didn't find any difficulty reaching" asked Janak

"No not at all Rajrishi. Infact if we knew the way and the destination is so beautiful we would have visited Mithila at least 20 times by now. Truly everything here is soo beautiful amidst nature and the gardens so well maintained. Even Ayodhya's palace has a lot of gardens but you entire kingdom is around nature and the solace which we hardly find there"
said Sumitra.

All laughed and agreed to her statement.

"But where are your sons. We are eager to meet them as well. "questioned Sunaina

"They were lured by your Kingdom so they went for horse riding. They would reach in an hour or so" answered Dashrath.

"Okay! We are glad that they liked. You all should come inside. "

As they entered and while the couple was showing them around the palace. King Dashrath exclaimed
"Rajrishi I am very upset with you."

Janak tensed
"But why? "

In a stern voice he replied
"First you lure us to visit you and then you do this to us."

Janak and Sunaina eye each other worriedly.

"What happened Ayodhyanaresh? Did we do something wrong? Why are you Upset? " asked a worried Sunaina

"wrong? Very wrong...... You showed us the entire palace. Its half an hour since our arrival but we haven't met our daughters yet. Where are they. They invited us and know they don't want to meet us. That's very wrong"

The three of them laughed and Janak and Sunaina relaxed.

"where are they Rajrishi? " questioned Kaushalya.

Just then two small pairs of hands touched their feet.

"We are here. "

The three of them looked down and saw Sita and Urmila touching their feet. They were in awe and immediately blessed them with every possible happiness.

"Where were you two" questioned Sunaina

"Maa we went to bring gifts for them"
answered Urmila

Both Sita and Urmila took out three white lotuses and offered it to each of them.

"Thank you soo much my lovely daughters. But why these lotuses?"
questioned Dashrath

"White is a symbol of peace and harmony so this is our prayer to Mahadev that Ayodhya should always be at peace and harmony" both Sita and Urmila explained

Dashrath picked Urmila in his arms while Kaushalya and Sumitra bended to Sita's level to hug her.

"If you both will do such sweet things and talk like this you will steal our hearts and i am afraid then it would be very difficult for us to leave you both. Do you want us to stay here always? Tell me?? " exclaimed Kaushalya while others smiled

"Didi we can take them with us also" giggled Sumitra.

Everyone had a hearty laugh then everyone retired to their chamber for rest before the welcome pooja.

Sunaina told Sita and Urmila to bring some flowers from the backyard which is at the backside of the palace.

........................................................................

At Garden

While collecting flowers Urmila did not realise when her face got coloured with the natural colours of flowers

Sita saw this and started laughing.

"Di what's wrong with you? Why are you laughing? " questioned a confused Urmila

Sita while laughing took her to a nearby pond and when she saw her reflection for a moment even she was not able to recognise herself.

"Urmi...You..... Your face... Your face Urmi😂" said Sita still giggling

"Huh!!! You can laugh i am going. I won't talk to you "

"Okay sorry!sorry! Now hurry up we still have to collect a lot more flowers yhen we have to clean you as well" said Sita now trying to supress her giggles.

"You can laugh properly i am going to other side to collect the flowers. When you find my face less funny you can find me"

With this she went to other direction.

Sita was still giggling but anyhow continued with her work.

Urmila also was collecting flowers when she saw a boy in plain clothes moving around. In order to find his identity she walked towards the guy only to hear him complaining

"What was the need to come here. I told them i don't want to be around crybabies and play those silly games with girls. And now i am stuck at this messy jungle. Huh"

"How dare he call my garden messy jungle. I will show him now" thought Urmila

Her face was already covered with some colours. To enhance her look she took a dry hibiscus crushed it and applied the colour on her face in a scary manner. She brought her long hair forword in front of her face and now her look was ccomplete to scare the hell out of someone.

Lakshman was now panicking as the day was about the set. Ram Bhaiya was also finding the way on the other side. They entered the palace from the back side as during riding they lost their way from front side. With much difficulty they found the back way and the gatekeeper told him the palace his 4 to 5 km away. The backyard was big and confusing and they were not able to find the way insted they kept roaming round and round. Now it already started getting dark he heard a voice

"Sunnniyyyeeee!!!!!! Aap kon haiii? "

Laksh turned to see who it was and the sight infront of him scared the hell out of Lakshman. He screamed loudly.

A girl with eyes rolled upwards and blood driping from her face was behind him.

He lost his balance and fell in mud.

______________________________________

What will happen now?

How will Siya Ram meet??

Stay tuned to find out.

Do vote, comment and share. Hope you like the chapter.

And thanks to my friends Sharvithewriter KavyaKrishnappa
Siyagargi for their support.