King he might be, he was still a young man in a strange city. Stone walls closed in on him; and everywhere, too many people, too much noise. He hungered for a moment of quiet, and a breath of air; a blessed glimpse of green to remind him of his home.

He found these things at last, in rooftop garden, high above the city, tucked behind a carved archway. He found also a young woman, dark haired with eyes of grey, hoping to catch a whiff of salt air – the scent of her home.

Shy at first, they sat and talked. He told her of a great sea of grass, and the thunder of hoofbeats in his blood. She spoke of the thousand colors of the ocean in all its moods. We are all children of the sea, she said, for do we not sleep in a bed of salt water in our mother’s womb, dreaming of this life? He wondered at that, but her voice was like music to him.

When they met again, that evening, he took her hand, and did not let go. She wondered at that, but after a while, she entwined her fingers with his.

~~
For Melina - The first of a series of romantic drabbles. Quite a change for me, but very fun to write! It was very liberating to give my inner romantic free rein.