Lakshmana Sees Ram Measure the Bow

Lakshmana watches the jewel of Raghu's line turn his gaze toward Hara's bow. No one else reads the glance with the same intimacy. The younger brother knows the deed has already entered Ram's will.

Ecstasy rises across Lakshmana's body. Every hair thrills as the force restrained moments earlier finds a new expression, no longer an offer to act but a proclamation of what Ram is about to do.

He speaks words so weighty that they press upon the frame of the cosmos. Before Ram's hand reaches the weapon, Lakshmana addresses the beings imagined to support the world, preparing earth itself for the sound and force that will follow. Devotion has recognized the instant before history does.

Lakshmana reads one glance, and the foundations of creation receive warning.