The entire next day, Sita was restless, pacing around, flabbergasted by her own manners, terrible she thought they were! She hadn't even introduced herself to the poor princes, and she definitely ought to! They must think that her father raised horrible children, and she would not allow such disgrace to fall upon his name.

"We ought to introduce ourselves again!" Sita cried, getting up quickly from her bed as her sisters looked up. She still felt terrible about abruptly running away from the two princes just about feeling flustered. If she continued doing this, she would be a terrible wife!

"Oh finally! We weren't quite sure what was troubling you, and Urmila guessed princes." Mandavi handed over a coin to Urmila frustratedly and she grinned. Shrutakirti looked up from her embroidery curiously, eager to meet the visitors in person.

"Wait, we want to come this time too!" cried Shrutakirti, and Mandavi agreed, sitting up. Urmila rolled her eyes. What were they missing out on, just two lovebirds and a boring brother. Sita would surely disagree.

"Okay, that would make it less awkward as well." Sita was quick to agree, much to Urmila's confusion, and dragged along Mandavi and Shrutakirti down the stairs, past the guards, out the gates, and into the flower garden, where they hid behind the bushes as Ram and Lakshman continued talking and laughing together.

"Well, go on!" urged Mandavi to Sita. Sita shook her head, turning a light red with uncharacteristic shyness. Mandavi turned towards Shrutakirti. "You were always excited about speaking, you lead us!"Shrutakirti shook her head as well, with characteristic shyness. Mandavi scowled. "Well, someone has to do it." And with that, Mandavi pushed Urmila out, and Urmila had grasped onto Sita's hand.

"Erm, hi!" Sita squeaked, and Ram turned around slowly, raising an eyebrow. Mandavi and Shrutakirti had stepped out of the hiding place again, to support their sister. "We're sorry for leaving so abruptly last time, father had some important business." Urmila cleared her throat, feeling that her sister's acting was horrible.

"She's Sita, and she'll choose her husband in the Swayamvar that's happening two days after this." Lakshman froze. Oh no, she was Sita? He had to convince his brother to attend the wedding, and more importantly, compete! And one way to do that was get them to talk to each other! He poked Ram's shoulder pointedly, gesturing for him to acknowledge their presence, as he was too busy staring.

"Er, right. Hello Sita! I'm Ram, Crown Prince of Kosala, son of Dashrath. This is my brother, Lakshman, third prince of Kosala. It's nice to meet you! And who are these...?" Ram trailed off. Urmila sensed Lakshman's plan, and scowled. As if he had a right to mess with their lives! But something told her to stay silent, and so she did, very reluctantly.

"Well, that's Mandavi, eldest daughter of Kushadwaj, who is my father's younger brother. Then Urmila, my younger sister." Lakshman chewed on his lip at the name. "And there's Shrutakirti, the youngest of us." Sita finished, inhaling sharply.

"Let us show you the best flowers!" cried Shrutakirti. "Red ones, with gold trim. Have you seen them?" Ram shook his head, and an excitable Shrutakirti began to lead them towards her favorite place in the flower garden as Sita and Ram began to speak to each other.

"Wow, your favorite flower is the lotus? Mine too!" Ram said and Lakshman raised an eyebrow. If they continued finding common things among themselves, they would officially be more similar than he and his twin, practically the same person! Urmila poked his arm, and he turned towards her quickly, eyebrows raised.

"Why don't you speak, you are such a boring person, self-righteous indeed. You act as if you're doing us a very big favor, coming here." she snapped sharply. "Why do you frown all the time, as if everything displeases you? You have no right to be displeased!" Despite her outburst, Sita didn't notice her as normal, and Urmila couldn't help but feel hurt, as if she wasn't worth noticing.

"If you must know," Lakshman snarled, sharpening his dagger, "I do not speak to you because I do not find you particularly special that I should exchange words. You obviously do not want to speak with me, and so I consider this conversation done." And with those words, he went right back to ignoring her presence.

Surprisingly for him, the words he spoke left a bitter, unusual taste in his mouth, and when he turned his face pointedly away from her, he blanched. For someone who was so very well experienced and seasoned with the art of verbally disarming someone, it was quite unusual for him to feel this guilt, this burning guilt, this poisonous guilt, this acidic guilt, god how he hated this guilt!

"I hate you and your brother, you know?" Urmila stated again, glaring at the crown prince's back as he laughed with her sister. "You come here, meddle with our lives as if you are entitled to it." Lakshman did not respond to that, only stiffened slightly. He understood everything that was running through her mind, her apprehension. He used to be like that when he was younger, angry whenever someone stole Ram bhaiyya's or Maa Sumitra's attention. Childish times, I'm not like that anymore! Look, I'm literally setting up my brother with someone!

Urmila folded her arms and huffed at his silence as Shrutakirti showed everyone else the flowers, pointing towards the lotus lovingly, and Ram and Sita immediately went towards the attraction, oohing and aahing, looking as if they were as much in love with the flowers as they obviously were with each other.

Urmila scowled again. "I don't like the way your brother is looking towards my sister." Lakshman looked up again, up to where the two had started their staring contest again, looking lost in the other's eyes, and exhaled victoriously. At this rate, Ram bhaiyya was so going to get married at twenty, and would have a good companion!

He opened his mouth to say something insulting, something deliciously mean, rude, hurtful,but something in him stopped his words, pulling the sound from his throat. Why would he say something like that to her? Had he not once been like that as well, wanting all the attention of his brother as she wanted her sister's? Lakshman found it most unusual that these thoughts were entering his head without welcome, as situations like this had certainly not stopped him from his rude words before! But something about this princess was different, something about the way her shoulders slumped made him feel that there was real, meaningful emotion in her outbursts, that she was almost, in a way, confiding in him. And so, he decided to make her laugh.

"Well, if you don't like that, you really won't like my brother, Shatrughan." He smiled unconsciously at the thoughts of his pranks, and Urmila peered closer at him. He seemed better-looking, kinder, more human, when he smiled.
"He's a flirt, a complete flirt!" At this point, Mandavi had drifted closer as well, eager to listen to stories. "He flirts with the servant maids, flirts with the subjects, and even tried to flirt with this one princess we were showing around the palace. She was really annoying, mind you, he was just trying to distract her, but even here, his subconsciousness is to flirt." He looked up reminiscently.

"He calls it his "charm". Claims it works on everyone, from Maa Sumitra to Maa Kaushalya, and that it even works on Ram bhaiyya and Bharat bhaiyya. Maa Kaikeyi usually falls for it mind you, so he does have some talent I suppose." Urmila could already feel a smile blossoming on her face, and wondered how she was smiling at something a person whom she thoroughly disliked had said.

"Is he kind?" wondered Shrutakirti, who had removed her attention from the flowers. Lakshman looked up quickly, and removed the smile from his face consciously, resuming his cold, emotionless mask, and Urmila felt a flood of disappointment wash over her.

"Yes, I suppose he is. Pranks Bharat all the time though, and half of my shoulder dislocations are because of him." Shrutakirti blanched, shaking her head, and walked away. Mandavi pouted as it was obvious he had stopped speaking, and Urmila felt worry enclose her at the thought of shoulder dislocations, though she did not figure out why. He was so much more exciting when he talked, and she was determined to make him talk more!

"You're very tall, you know. It's not fair." snapped Urmila, pouting at her terrible short fate, and trying to get some more words out of him. Lakshman took the bait and began to talk again.

"Well, actually, my mother is very short, Maa Kaikeyi is the tallest, you see, but even she is not that remarkable in height. She can't understand how I became so tall, as even my father isn't nearly as tall as I. I am the tallest among my brothers, though Shatrughan is only a few inches shorter." he looked off as he thought hard about it. "You know, now that I think about it, I might be the tallest person I've ever seen!"

"I thought you said I wasn't worth sharing your words with." Urmila voiced, before chiding herself. Now he wouldn't speak to her at all, and his words were ever so entertaining! Lakshman turned towards her and frowned for a moment.

"But, don't opinions change?" he left that between them, before staying silent, much to Urmila's disappointment. Yes, opinions change, Lakshman, he told himself, but they don't this fast! What has gotten into you? Why are you speaking with her so much? And WHY are you so suddenly happy?

As Ram and Urmila continued conversing animatedly, paying attention not to their surroundings, Urmila felt a tear trail down her face. Not because of the brothers, but because of her sister's marriage. She would be married off to someone whom she hadn't even met before, let alone cared for, and would probably be twenty years older than her. And she would be too, someday! They would be separated, never see each other again.

Beside her, she heard a clearing of the throat. "He's going to enter the contest, you know." Urmila turned towards the younger brother as he tried to reassure her. "Ram bhaiyya will win. He cares for her, or at least respects her, they've become acquaintances, and he's twenty, the same age as your sister. And, he'll allow her to visit you." Urmila suddenly felt something in her, admiration for his spirit.

He believed so ferociously in his brother's capability to win the contest and the hand of her sister, and was trying to help her spirits, when she had snapped at him multiple times before. Why was he doing so? Urmila did not care, only marveled at his fierce loyalty towards his family.

They paced slowly towards the lily pond, where Shrutakirti pointed out the lily pads and the frogs. Lakshman leaned in closely, observing the mute creatures,not speaking anymore. Urmila didn't think of him as that terrible now. He was just quiet, too quiet for someone so entertaining!

Lakshman wondered himself how his bhaiyya and hopefully soon-to-be bhabhi's conversation was going. He turned around, and almost smiled at how easily they were conversing, how Ram's hands moved animatedly, and Sita's smile grew wider by the second till it looked like her face would split. Perhaps he could turn around his brother's adamant declination of the marriage contest after all!

That lady, Urmila was it, stood beside him, staring at him quizzically, as if he were something she hadn't quite figured out yet. Many people looked at him that way, and he found he didn't mind it when it came from her. He had surprised himself by the amount he had talked with her, it came so naturally, like he spoke with his brothers, especially Ram bhaiyya. His father hadn't heard him speak so much in one go, and here he was, rambling to a random princess.

"Well, goodbye then! Father's calling us!" Sita muttered sadly an hour later. The brothers waved as they left, and as soon as they were out of sight and earshot, Ram turned a bright red, running a hand through his hair and only reluctantly looking away from the path from which they departed seconds after the final jingle of their anklets echoed in the sorrowful silence.

"Honestly, Ram bhaiyya. If you don't try to compete for her hand now, I'll gladly accept the title of "crazy". You were so overjoyed and animated with her, and I know you're great at acting gracious, but you weren't acting here!" Ram slumped.

"What if I lose? She won't like me, people will laugh at me, and worse, they will laugh at father!" Ram cried half-heartedly, a large part of him really wanting to try for the competition. Lakshman snorted.

"If you don't attend the competition, she'll hate you. Might as well try. Besides, you won't lose, I know it! You can't, you're the strongest, kindest, and the most sensible of all of us!" Ram shook his head good-naturedly; he had never seen Lakshman so excited, even for him, before.

"I-I'll see, okay?" He felt two arms wrap around him tightly, and Lakshman beamed. "Good, Ram bhaiyya, that's all I want! You won't regret it!" As they walked back to their quarters, the younger brother couldn't help thinking that for the first time, he wasn't that bad of a matchmaker at all! And, hopefully, Sita and all of her sisters would come back tomorrow. Especially that Urmila, she was funny.

"Oh, honestly Sita! You definitely should expect him to attend, and win!" Urmila squeaked, pacing after her quick sister as Shrutakirti and Mandavi nodded frantically. Urmila knew he was going to attend, if not for his own thoughts, but for his brother's, who was, Urmila had to agree, not a terrible matchmaker, and had so much confidence in his family that it had spread to her.

"The younger one doesn't smile that much, but he does tell the best stories." Shrutakirti muttered sadly. Urmila nodded agreeably, wondering why he didn't smile. It wasn't as if he had yellowing teeth like some of the guards, and he had plenty to smile about.

"Well, they are nice companions, for boys. They remind me of those boys from gurukul, you remember them?" Mandavi asked. "Trivati told us about these princes earlier. Ram, the great leader and the eldest, whom our Siya Rani has found herself entangled with," Sita blushed, and waved her off. "-and then Lakshman, the tall, cute one who constantly gets injuries." Urmila looked up. Yes, him!

"Didn't she say there were two more as well?" asked Shrutakirti. "Bharat and Shatrughan. She also had brought a carving, though I can't remember who made it." She frowned. "The gold detailing was wonderful, though!" she remembered dreamily, drifting off in one of her Shruta-verses. Urmila felt the excitement in her increase tenfold, wondering who did make that pretty carving and how much it would cost to commission one.

"Either way," Urmila said to herself. "At least I made a new friend." Shrugging she stepped away, happy about a new companion, and possibly, a new brother in-law. Tinkering with her jewelry, Urmila surprised herself by pondering on how she looked today, thoughts of the one particular brother panging her heartstrings like they had never been before.

A/N-Soooo, this chapter was about 1000 words longer than my others, and wow. That was a wow-zer. I just had so many details I wanted to fit in, cram in like stuffing a turkey (which our family doesn't do), that we ended up with an especially long chapter. Well, you guys don't mind, do you? I think not.

I named it "Friendly Alliance" because Lakshman and Urmila got over their differences and are now (hopefully) good friends! Can you see the ragged beginnings of the complicated cloth that is romance? Eh....probably not. But you will soon!

I hope this met your expectations for this chapter. The First meeting one wasn't greaaaat, I understand. It's okay (she tells herself calmly, stress CALMLY). Anyways, the swayamvar choosing will happen (I think) the next to next chapter, because I don't have any filler ideas.

Please, if you want to see anything that takes place before Sita's swayamvar choosing, please give ideas.

In case you suggest anything romantically Lakshmila, try and hold off unless you really want to see it. Right now, I am projecting the two as friends. Urmila is starting to catch some feelings, and is trying to fend them off, and so is Lakshman, but he remains oblivious to it. The main romantic Lakshmila stuff will happen after the wedding. But in case you want any friendly, friends, with a hint of romance stuff, I am open to suggestions! However, that's my only criteria. In case you want to read something that takes place before the Great Bow-Breaking of the century, then request away!

The swayamvar choosing competition thingy will happen in TWO parts. Not one, two. I want to do that because I feel like there's so much emotion in that one event. I'll probably regret it later, when I have to drag on the second part because I overestimated the amount of emotion, and I have nothing left to write about. Let's not think about that.

WE HAVE PASSED 3000 VIEWS. Problem is, since I asked for requests, I can't update a second chapter as I normally do every 1000 views. However, this chapter was much, much longer than my others, so...yay? Besides, the Swayamvar chapters, which collectively will be about 5000 words, will be updated on the same day!

Shoutout to: Maharaani Tishu!!! Your message was really kind, and do not worry! I update every single day (most of the time). I am infamous for having technical issues.