The Power of Love

Life in the Forest

Now, a couple of days after the Doctor met Rama and Sita they continued to walk around the beautiful forest they were in to see what all beautiful landscapes they could find.

Throughout their hike they saw beautiful flowers and greenery, with trees as tall and old as time. Then suddenly, a strange woman appeared out of a thorny and eerie grove of trees. The Doctor jumped in front of Rama and Sita in order to protect them from the odd woman and said, "Hello there, who might you be and why are you wandering alone in the forest?" to which the woman replied "I am Kamavalli, sister of Ravana."

From the corner of his eye the Doctor saw both Rama and Sita immediately tense up so he asked, "What's the matter with you two? Do you know this Ravana character?" and both Rama and Sita shook their heads yes. The Doctor said, "Well, go on then, explain."

Sita spoke up, "Ravana was a demon, and that made his sister a demon as well."

Kamavalli interjected, "I promise I am no longer a demon. I rejected that way of life long ago. I only want to live in peace, please believe me."

Sita did not believe Kamavalli and in anger walked away. While Sita was away, Rama and the Doctor continued to speak with Kamavalli and tried to learn more about her. They both decided that it was not safe for Kamavalli to be wandering the forest by herself and that she should accompany them until they found another place for her to stay.

Unbeknownst to Rama and the Doctor, but this was secretly Kamavalli's master plan. For she had heard how strong and handsome Rama was and she was determined to make him fall in love with her and get him to go over to the demon way of life so they could rule together. She decided she would declare her love for Rama while Sita was gone so she would not get in the way.

Now, Kamavalli loved to talk herself through all of her thoughts and actions in order to truly remember what exactly she was going to do. Kamavalli walked up to the Doctor and Rama and said, "Hello, I'm rather thirsty and I see that you are almost out of water. I'll go get some for all of us." Being rather thirsty themselves, the Doctor and Rama both nodded.

After a decent amount of time had passed Rama spoke up, "Don't you think it is taking Kamavalli a long time to get some water? I wonder if she has gotten lost in the forest? Doctor, would you go see if you can find her? I want to wait for Sita. She was extremely mad when she walked off." The Doctor agreed to go find Kamavalli and set off to look for her.

While she was talking through her devious plan at the river, the Doctor walked by, but Kamavalli didn't see him. At first he was going to go talk to her to see what was taking so long, but once he heard what she was saying he decided to stay hidden and listen.

After the Doctor heard all of Kamavalli's plan he knew he had to stop her. He couldn't let Rama be captured by demons and he knew how much Rama and Sita loved each other. Then, the Doctor walked up to Kamavalli and said, "Hi there, Kamavalli. Sita has just returned from gathering berries for us to eat and Rama is off trying to find a rabbit or deer for us as well. So I figured since it was just us, we could have a little chat. What do you say?"

Unsuspecting, Kamavalli walked over to the Doctor. "So how long have you and your brother been estranged?" the Doctor walked closer and closer to Kamavalli. Before Kamavalli had a chance to answer, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at a tree and turned it on. This caused a big branch to break and it fell on Kamavalli which restrained her movement. Shocked, Kamavalli said "Oh, Doctor. Why did you do this to me?"

"Kamavalli, I know what you are planning to do with Rama. You think you are such a sneaky, little minx, don't you? I saw right through your plan straight from the beginning. Now, you know I can't let you go through with this, don't you? Rama and Sita are my friends, and I protect my friends. So here is the plan: you are going to go back to wherever you came from and never return, because if you do I will be here waiting for you and next time I won't be as nice." The Doctor said this with a determined look on his face. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the branch again and it broke. Kamavalli turned to the Doctor and said, "You are going to regret this", and then proceeded to run away as fast as she could.

When the Doctor emerged from the forest where he and Kamavalli had been speaking, he heard Rama and Sita calling out for him. He popped out, which scared Rama and Sita but they were relieved to see him. Sita asked, "Where is Kamavalli?" with a bitter undertone to which the Doctor responded, "Oh, she decided to go on about her business. She said she knew of a place close by for her to stay so she won't be alone for long."

Rule #1 - The Doctor Lies

Rama and Sita thought nothing of what the Doctor had said because he had been so kind to them the past week or so. The Doctor also did not want to worry Rama or Sita about Kamavalli and her plan, so he just thought it best to bend the truth a little bit.

The Doctor was ready to leave the forest and get Rama and Sita as far away from Kamavalli as he could so he persuaded Rama and Sita to hop in his TARDIS and they would go to another part of India just as beautiful as the forest they had been in.

All three of them walked into the TARDIS and it disappeared with them inside. *click to hear noise*

A little while later, Kamavalli stopped running when she found her brother Ravana. She told Ravana about what happened and all about the Doctor, Rama and Sita. She described them all in detail. In hearing about how horrible the Doctor had been to his sister, Ravana decided he needed to get revenge. He also decided after hearing about Sita's beauty that he had to have her and that he would have her even if it meant he had to kidnap Sita. So Ravana came up with a plan of his own.

Rama, Sita, and the Doctor had no idea what was about to happen...

One version of the Screwdriver

Side Note: Sonic Screwdriver - this is the only equipment that the Doctor uses to help him. He despises all weapons and refuses to use one. He modified and ostensibly upgraded it over the years, giving it an increasing number of applications. Early versions were used mainly for the picking of locks and for projecting sound so as to, for example, detonate objects and fry circuitry. Now, it has many more uses. While, it typically does not work on wood I decided for this story's purpose the Doctor had modified it for his trip to India.

Bibliography:

Title: The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic

Author: Kamban / R. K. Narayan

Year: 1972

Authors Note:

I decided to follow the Ramayana and Sita's abduction for my stories. I thought it would be interesting to see how the Doctor would play out in place of Rama's brother. So in the original, Kamavalli bluntly tells Rama about her love for him and then decides the only way they can be together is to kill Sita and while Kamavalli is stalking Sita, Lakshmana captures her and tortures her almost until death. Once Lakshmana decided to let her go, she runs to Khara to tell him what happened and she decided to have his and Ravana's armies attack Rama and Sita, but Rama defeats them. This is when Kamavalli flees to Ravana, which is when he decides he has to have Sita for himself. I wanted to keep most of the original story of Kamavalli because that is how Ravana comes into the story. I decided I did not want the Doctor to harm Kamavalli as Lakshmana did because that is not in the Doctor's nature. He is a more gentle character who prefers to use his sonic screwdriver rather than an actual weapon. Also I did not include the demon army in the story because I am thinking of incorporating it into my next one.