Sammu rarely awoke early. Rarer still was the morning he would stay awake, having woken early. But this morning felt different to Sammu. The air was sweet, the sky seemed brighter, and everything within him seemed to push him up and out of bed.
As he splashed water on his face from the washbasin, Sammu considered what might be different this morning. There was nothing he felt he had neglected to do of late, in fact there had been very little of anything to do. His days had been long and dull lately, and filled mostly with drink and dice. Why then did today feel so extraordinarily special?
He strapped on his sandals and decided to head down to the market as he further speculated on the uniqueness of the day. The vendors' carts were just a few blocks from his home, and he was there in no time at all, picking fruit from stalls, but no closer to discovering what made today so incomparable.
And then he saw her, down the street, paying a merchant for some dates. A vision, a raven haired beauty, a spark upon his soul. As she turned and brushed her hair from her eyes of jade, all the strange wonderful color of this day seemed dull. Sammu now knew what made this morning this way, and it was her.
Sammu raced after her as she left the market. His heart halted with fear every time he lost sight of her around a corner or amongst the crowd, and he struggled to hurry and catch her. Eventually she turned down an empty street, and as Sammu ducked around the corner she was less than a block away.
He rushed to her, and time seemed to slow as he entered the trail of he lilac perfume. It was overwhelming and intoxicating, and he felt weak against it, but he spurred himself onward. She walked slowly, but still it felt an eternity to catch her.
Yet finally he did. Sammu caught her arm and turned her about. Her skin, like undisturbed cream, her lips like pink spring blossoms. Time froze entirely for Sammu, lost in the beauty before him.
He was awoken by her scream. Her terrified cries echoed down the street and Sammu saw two guardsmen rushing towards them. Suddenly he was running again. He cursed himself for being so foolish, for being transfixed into stupidity.
A few wrong turns, and Sammu found himself cornered. His attempts to explain fell of deaf ears as the beat and shackled him. Guards had no love for men who preyed on young maidens. As they drug him away, Sammu thought he saw her, staring after him.
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