It was a party as usual. Curvy demonesses, with long, black hair, and small, red eyes, danced along the edges as perverted generals feasted on mead and nectar. Wine and alcohol spilled on the shiny white tablecloth. High ranking officials clinked their glasses together, and guards, who had also been snuck some alcohol, thumped their spears against the ground. At the head of this table sat Ravan, the King of Lanka.

He was of immense size. He had brown hair, not black, which formed a large beard. His ten heads didn't show at that point. He wore a shining golden armor that plated across his vast chest, and his curly hair was tucked under his humongous crown, adorned with two horns. From his mouth escaped a loud booming laughs he watched his best demons enjoy themselves under his watch. He was King of the Demons. King of the most marvelous city in the world. He was Ravan. The very demon Vishnu vowed to destroy.

But his head immediately darted up from his meat when Surpanakha stormed in, with large white bandages on her nose. Ravan raised a fist and all the partying, music, and laughter stopped. Even drunken generals knew to follow the orders of their king. Surpanakha's eyes narrowed shrewdly as she looked at the celebrations around her. All so happy. All so careless and carefree. As she was before she lost her nose.

She walked up to Ravan, eyes flashing with anger, and crossed her arms across her chest. "What has happened?" he asked gruffly, his eyes darting to her nose, which seemingly was still there through the mound of bandages. "Sister, why have you taken the burden of coming to my island? To join the party perhaps? I mean, we have plenty of space here!" He spread his arms out and everybody burst into sluggish laughter.

Surpanakha gritted her teeth. Her brother was ferocious, but when he was carefree, no one could take him seriously. "This has happened to me." she spat out, and with a pull of her bandages, everything fell off, revealing a mass of blood, flesh, and a source of humiliation for the spoiled rakshasi princess, but certainly not a nose. "While you were celebrating and dancing, I was getting mutilated by a-"

Ravan cut her off, immediately standing up and hitting his fists on the table so that the loud thumping sound echoed throughout the long, narrow room, and the wooden table splintered underneath his hands. "WHO?" he roared. "Who was it that dared attempt to invoke my wrath by harming my sister?!" Ravan was not an overprotective brother like Khar and Dushan. He just didn't like anyone hurting his sister, and thus challenging him. Surpanakha smirked internally, but walked closer, pretending to make her feet tremble and her lips quiver.

"I was going towards the Chitrakoot forest. It's very lush and thick, and I didn't think anyone would be there, so I went in, thinking myself quite safe under your most great protection, brother," Ravan puffed his chest out, flattered, and Surpanakha almost smiled, before hastily continuing her tale of woes. "I was looking for food and a good place for our army to forage, when I found a cottage. I went inside, of course. There, one man mutilated my nose!"

Ravan shook his head, walking back. "You shouldn't just walk into a cottage like it's your own, Surpanakha. You should burn it first, make sure everyone inside is dead, and then you should walk in. No wonder you were mutilated! They were mere mortals, of course! They know no better than to invoke my wrath! But you must understand, some of this is obviously your fault too. Walking into cottages like they're your own!" He shrugged.

Surpanakha seethed. If only there was another way. Then she blinked. But there was! "Two mortal men were inside the cottage. One was married, and his wife was there, and one was not. The one that was not married cut off my nose. But-" she leaned in closer, her eyes wide. "I only paid attention to the woman! I planned to take her back to Lanka for you! That is why I went into the cottage in the first place! I thought that someone as great as the very King of Lanka deserved a queen as great!"

Ravan's interest was stroked. A new queen, a new queen. Hmmm.... He had a Chief Queen, Mandodari, who was rumored to be the most beautiful demoness ever on the planet, and she truly was. And he had thousands of concubines, thousands if not millions of them, all of whom dedicated their life to serving the king of Lanka most gladly. But perhaps Mandodari and all of those thousands of millions of women were a bit rusty. And Surpanakha did want to bring her to him. "Tell me more about this woman..." Ravan urged.

Surpanakha's eyes gleamed as she leaned in closer. "The most beautiful woman on the planet, Ravan bhaiyya, the most beautiful woman on this planet. Her name is Sita! Her husband's name is Ram, and her brother-in-law's is Lakshman. Short, with long, dark brown hair that reaches the small of her back. A tiny, tiny waist, and hands so delicate, they're like flower petals! Eyes so large, they look like leaves! Skin so golden and fair, it shines! Lips that are red and plump, and a tiny, sharp nose!"

She leaned back as Ravan's eyes widened with excitement of her every single word, and she leaned back into the table. "And you know what? Her husband's life revolves around her! If you take her, kidnap her and make her your queen, not only will she become yours, and only yours, but the heinous crime against your sister, who was under your protection and was thus violated, will be avenged!"

Ravan stood up immediately, his fists clenching. "Yes, that is a plan indeed, Surpanakha! Great idea! You stay here, mind you, don't go anywhere, and we shall see if our medics can cure you! And I shall go to Marich, our best trickster and shape-shifter! We shall get me a new queen-I mean, we shall avenge the violence meted against you! No one gets away with offending the King of Lanka!" he marched off, leaving his scheming sister and drunken generals behind in the Dining Hall as he stormed down the corridors.

-----O-----

Lakshman had no corridors to storm through, but he had a forest instead. And that was what he did. He stormed through the forest. Ram chased after him, laughing, apologizing over and over again for teasing him, but Lakshman just held his head high, and brushed the vines aside so that they hit whoever was coming next. Somewhere way behind them, Sita stared after the two quarrelling brothers, shaking her head.

"Those two," she laughed. "Acting like little children!" She turned back to her pottery, and frowned, putting one hand to wipe away her forehead. "I wonder if Ram will like this to collect the water. It is quite pretty, but perhaps it is heavy?" She lifted it up and weighed it for a moment in her hands. "But he's very strong. He should be able to-" She hummed, walking around in circles. Unlike Ram, she always planned birthday presents for her spouse ahead of time.

Suddenly, a shard of pottery penetrated the soft skin of her foot, and she screamed in alarm. Eyes widening, Sita quickly hid the pot right as a wide-eyed Ram burst through the trees, looking around, before finally catching the form of Sita, and exhaling, his entire body seeming to relax. "I thought someone had taken you." he breathed, hugging her tightly. "I thought someone had kidnapped you."
Lakshman walked through, all teasing forgotten as he looked grimly around. "We have killed a lot of demons throughout our fourteen years in this forest, bhaiyya," he murmured. "Perhaps we should set up a safety around this hut. We may be able to defend ourselves, but except for some things, I don't think that Sita bhabhi can." Sita would normally put her chin up like Urmila and say that she very well could defend herself. But it was true. She couldn't, not against a demon.

And from that day forward, Ram began to practice his running, Sita her self defense skills, and trying to reduce her gullibility, and Lakshman on his magical "rekha" or barrier drawing skills. All of which would have helped. If they weren't going against the King of Lanka.

----O----

One might remember Marich. He was the demon that had attacked Ram and Lakshman, looking for vengeance. Now he was a calm, peaceful tapasvi underneath a tree, searching for true peace in his life, and trying to do his dharma of not committing any more harm to anyone. He took deep, steady breaths, and did not appear to notice as Ravan stormed over, and shook his shoulders. Finally, Marich's eyes snapped open.

"You will help me trick Ram and Lakshman into kidnapping their wife, Sita!" Ram laughed, turning around in twirls, seeming drugged on the thought of gaining a new queen, that too, the most beautiful woman on the planet. Marich watched him with widened eyes, finally getting out of his meditation position, and sitting, relaxed. That name triggered memories.

Flashback

"AAAAAAH!" Marich the tiny giant roared as he flew over the Indian Ocean. He could see himself approaching a small island. A small island that he knew to be Lanka. His mother and brother, Tadaka and Subahu, often spoke with gleeful faces and longing eyes of Lanka, it's shining kingdoms and houses, its large palaces, and its king, whom he remembered, his mother harbored a large crush on.

His mother and brother. Thinking of them triggered memories that he did not want to relive. How he walked home, only to find his brother's mutilated body, then his mother's. Dead. Decaying. He had not been there to defend them. Marich felt tears escaping from his eyes as he crash landed into a tree, not even feeling the pain that threatened to arc through his body and make blood flow out of his wounds.

"That's it." Marich sniffled after a few minutes passed by. He sat up, a bit dizzy, and looked around. The glory of Lanka didn't seem so glorious anymore, not without the expected raving of his mother and brother. "That's it! God must have spared me for a reason, and that reason is to do good in the world! No more vengeance! No more harm! From now on, I shall only do good! I don't get paid enough for this!"

But images of those two brothers always haunted him when even a single evil thought crossed his mind, and he would remind himself that at only seventeen and nineteen, both were able to defeat an entire army of demons. One fair, and one dark, both of whom seemed divine. Lakshman, and Ram. Those two names invoke a fear that his mind could not extinguish, and would not ever manage to either.

Present

"I-I'm afraid that I cannot!" Marich cried, stumbling back and shaking his head repeatedly, sweat trailing down his face as he looked away from Lankesh, not being able to face the man. Ravan whirled around, eyebrows raised in anger and confusion.

"Well, why not? You're the best shapeshifter that we have! All demons should stay together, right? And aren't these the same men that killed your mother and your brother? Aren't you seething for revenge? Well, this is the way to get it, Marich! Don't let one moment of indecisiveness ruin your only chance!" he cried, raising his hands into the air angrily.

"Well that's the point!' Marich cried. "They defeated my mother and brother! You know how hard that is, sire? They are superhuman, and I cannot do anything about it! I have sworn a life of peace and well-doing! I cannot go against the men who have spared my life if anything, I can't go against my promise!" Marich turned away, not being able to face the man that offered him asylum in his land, feeling ashamed of refusing him.

Ravan straightened, and his fists clenched menacingly as he looked upon the tiny giant. "How dare you? I have always considered you akin to an uncle! But I will not hesitate at killing my own family if they refuse me! They have hurt my sister, they have hurt Surpanakha, they have destroyed my pride! They have dared touch my family! My family! I am the king of the demons! I need to avenge myself!"

Marich's defense was crumbling, and he turned up towards Ravan. "But that isn't the reason you are taking Sita, is it? Not to avenge your sister! You are doing it for your own means!" When Ravan's glower and murderous spirit only seemed to increase, Marich finally agreed. "Alright. Alright, I shall do it. I shall do it, you need not worry. I am doing it for the man who has offered me a place here, among my own." Ravan beamed and walked away, leaving Marich to stare at the sky, heart beating calmly. "May God save my soul, for I know it shall depart this Earth soon," the demon murmured, shutting his eyes tightly.

A/N- Phew! This chapter was a breeze! Not in terms of importance, of course, because it very much is very, very important. But it wasn't as long and hard to write as say, "The Farewell", which was a hard one, and a long one! I am a bit scared as I move onto the next chapter, because everything following it will start moving very fast. At this rate, this story may not even reach 100 chapters before it's completely over!

Ah well, I still have 3 ideas for new stories, all on the Ramayana, thank goodness! Well, technically two unpublished ones. Or else, imagine! I have nothing to do! Mind you, the others will be much, much smaller than whatever this monster will turn out to be. And maybe not daily updates. Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Maybe alternate day updates. 

Oh my goodness. I just read @Ramayana_lover's chapter (in case you have not seen their book (which I doubt) It is called Inseperable Princes, and it is the best), and I am not excited to write the next few. Mostly becauuuuuuuseeeee, the fun is going to end. Except for a few flashbacks, no more fun days in this book. Ah well. They were fun while they lasted.