Spies in the Lanes
The reign is young and going well. Rāma, following the manuals of kingship, keeps men who move through Ayodhyā at night and report what people say when no one official is listening. He asks Bhadra, one of them, for the unflattering version — what are they saying about me, and about the queen. Bhadra does not want to answer. Rāma insists. There is talk, Bhadra says. About Laṅkā. About how long she was there, and in whose house, and what a man ought to do afterwards. Sītā is pregnant. The talk has been going on for some time.
✦ Visual cue — A narrow lamplit lane at night, two cloaked figures listening at the edge of a doorway conversation, deep shadow, small pools of oil-lamp light.