3 years had passed, and Ayodhya was a much happier place than it had been before. Laughter filled the air on work days as well as evenings, the trade market was doing well, and the people were happy as their king was happy. King Dasharath, so to speak was, at the moment, playing with his Ram, while the other three toddlers toddled about. Bharat was busy shaking a toy rattle, and giggli every time it jingled, while Kaikeyi and her servant, Manthara, laughed. It is important that you know a bit more about Manthara.

A hunchback, she was Kaikeyi's nursemaid back in Kekeya, which is where the queen was from. Kaikeyi considered her equal to a mother, and upon her insistence, Manthara had accompanied her to Kosala after Kaikeyi had gotten married, and was supportive of everything she did, appearing to love the kingdom as her own. However, Manthara was afraid that her little princess would be ignored in favor of Kaushalya, or even Sumitra. After the babies were born, she became even more so.

While the eldest two were playing and laughing, the twins were busy wrestling. Shatrughan, always a bit more animated than his older brother, had started it, snatching Lakshman's toy sword away from him. Lakshman, of course, had wrung it back. So, the match began, and Sumitra tried to intervene in vain as they fought playfully. In the background, sage Vashishta shook his head at the innocence of the children. Hopefully, it would last.

"Oh, Lakshman! Stop it!" Sumitra cried eventually, after the elder twin had accidentally punched poor Shatrughan. To everyone's surprise, he stopped, shoulders drooping slightly as Shatrughan held victoriously onto his sword. This wasn't normal, as he usually refused to, and would continue fighting until Sumitra had to pry them apart.

He sighed. God, his twin was really a mood. Everything he had, the other would snatch. It all started with a toy elephant, which Shatrughan had fallen in love with, and once Lakshman had unknowingly allowed him to play with it, he never saw it again! Then a little silver anklet, which Shatrughan had stolen, and was now on his foot 24/7. And now this? He might as well give up and start stealing his twin's stuff too if he wanted to have anything left by the time Shatru was done.

Shatrughan, however, had a different perspective. Why were all of his brother's things so amazing? All he got was stupid gold jewelry, necklaces and crowns, and useless toys like rattles while Laksh got all of the beautifully crafted toy weapons and little silver jingle bells. It was wrong to be a thief, and he knew that when Laksh had seemed devastated when he took the sword, but what could he do? Toys were awesome, and he couldn't help it if Lakshman had the better things.

While the twin's antics were entertaining everyone, Dasharath's eyes wouldn't leave Ram. Manthara narrowed her eyes at Dasharath's capture of attention. That Ram, he really ruined everything. When baby Bharat was born, in all of his beautifulness, Manthara really thought that maybe the raja would pay attention to him more. But no, always Ram.

"Look queen," she murmured to Kaikeyi, who looked up. "Why isn't the king playing with Bharat? Only Ram, always Ram. Don't you feel angry, that your son won't get recognition?" Kaikeyi laughed.

"Good joke Manthara!" Manthara grumbled, and tried again.

"I am not joking, good queen. Think of your son!" Kaikeyi looked up again, but decided to humor her nursemaid.

"Ram is my son too! Bharat gets attention, definitely! From us! We are enough, don't you think? Besides, poor Shatrughan has to share his mother's attention with Lakshman!"

Lakshman overheard this. Yes, always poor Shatrughan! Poor Shatrughan had no toys he liked, so he stole Lakshman's toys! That was okay, since Shatrughan was so....poor!

Manthara suddenly had a wicked plan. What if Ram did something mischievous? Of course, perfect baby Ram would do no such thing, but if she could stage it....then Bharat would be Dasharath's next choice!

"Excuse me, queen, I have to use the restroom!" Kaikeyi nodded, and Manthara limped away, picked up a pebble, and hid behind a column, peeking out slowly. Ugh, that Lakshman was always watching her with narrowed eyes. Did he have nothing better to do?

"Perfect," she whispered, as Dasharath had turned his attention away from the firstborn towards Kaikeyi. She tossed the pebble, aiming for Dasharath's head in such a way that it would look like Ram had done it.

"Ouch!" the king cried, rubbing his temple slowly.

"What is it, Dasharath?" asked Sumitra, walking over and leaning in to check the wound, where a few drops of blood were trailing down.

"Pebble!" cried Kaushalya, and picked it up, then turned towards Ram, who was laughing. Not at the king's predicament, but at Bharat's antics, as he was avidly reading a book his mother had been skimming through boredly. As if a three-year-old could actually read!

"Ram, did you...?" Kaushalya left the next part unsaid as the boy's confused expression spoke for him. "No, he didn't. Well then, who did?" And then, Kaushalya turned towards the twins, who were again wrestling for each other. Lakshman, however, chose the wrong time to glance away, hoping for a bit of justice for his toys, and caught Kaushalya's eyes.

"Did Laksh do it?" Sumitra asked, and Kaushalya sighed. "It does seem so, Sumi." Widening her eyes, Kaikeyi shook her head frantically.

"No, Laksh was busy wrestling, wasn't he? What about Bharat?" Lakshman, who had caught onto what the queens were saying, stepped in front of his elder brother, and crossed his arms stubbornly. Only Vashishta spotted this, and smiled to himself.

Lakshman was still going over the injustice of it all! If it could have been him, it could also have been Shatrughan! But no. Poor Shatrughan was a little angel, now wasn't he?

"Bharat wouldn't! He was reading!" Manthara was back at Kaikeyi's side now, and rushed to defend her charge.

"It was just the wind!" Dasharath insisted, but the argument continued on, until it was decided that the culprit was Lakshman. As Sumitra led him away, Ram, Bharat, and Shatrughan weren't too happy.

"Bhaiyya?" Bharat whispered. "Laksh couldn't have done it, he was busy trying to get his sword back. I'm not so sure about Shatrughan...he is a bit mischievous." Ram nodded slowly. Shatrughan shook his head.

"No, I was busy stealing Laksh's sword. It wasn't me." he defended.

"No, I don't think any of us did it. It must have been the wind. Come on, let's follow Sumitra Maa!" And so, unnoticed by anyone, the remaining sons of Dasharath followed Sumitra and her really unlucky son.

Lakshman, meanwhile, was thinking. Manthara, no. Don't go accusing women, Lakshman! She was just peeking behind a column, which isn't suspicious. At all... Lakshman sighed. It really isn't my day, is it?

Sumitra walked out of the twins' room, and Ram and Bharat stumbled right in.

"Oh, hi!" Lakshman stood up from his bed. "I didn't do it! Actually, I don't think even Ghan did it. Not so sure about Manth-" he stopped himself. "I mean, the wind! The wind wasn't exactly innocent!"

Ram, Bharat, and Shatrughan crawled onto the bed, and when Sumitra returned, looking for the boys, she found them all sleeping, and slowly closed the door behind them. Now only if Lakshman would stop arguing with poor Shatrughan!

Meaning of Title

If you are familiar with the Ramayana epic, you know that Manthara poisoned Kaikeyi's mind in favor of Bharat. Here is the origin, how she first started to try to get Kaikeyi envious of Ram. Here, she rebuked the servant maid, but, as most of us know, she didn't when it came to Ram's coronation, and that's why he was exiled. I was actually considering naming it "Poor Shatrughan", but I'm trying to keep it philosophical here! That was just something I added in for humor, and it won't be ongoing, just something for this chapter.

A/N: I like switching Points of View, as I think it adds a lot of humor. It might be annoying, so do let me know in the comments if you find it so. I'll try to include it less if you don't like it.