It was another common day in the merchant town of Salman, the sun was about to rise, carriages and boats were unloading various goods, from spices and perfumes, to the most mundane of cabbages.
In Salman`s town square, adorned with the beauty and shimmer of the common stone and organized with the wit of a rock, the bi-weekly Salman Square Fair had begun with the first shout of bargain.
In contrast to the calming sea breeze and soft touch of the morning sun, the chaos that insued in that fair was...not that chaotic, aside from the usual "new guy", everyone there already knew where to go and what to do, as most who came to the fair to buy and to sell were merchants of national scale and the wealthiest of the kingdom of Lagua.
But if, and when, there was trouble, the town`s guards would move to resolve the situation, and today, much like all days at the fair, trouble happened.
— Somebody, stop that guy! He stole from Lady Clara!
A young man dressed in fine red clothes screamed inbetween breaths while he failed to give chace to what looked like a shadow that danced inbetween the unfortunately placed stalls.
It seemed nobody cared for his pleas, and after realizing that, the unfit young man started to tear up while he stumbled to get past the stalls, desperate to keep up with the shadow, but it proved useless, he could no longer see it.
Defeated, he stopped to catch his breath and looked up, accepting his fate.
— Lady Clara will 100% kill me...
But a blur passed by his vision, a pink blur, one he could barely catch, but he was pretty sure — Was that one of the guards? — he murmured
— Not any guard, just so you know. — an old merchant said with a small laugh, making the young man jump — She`s the best one you`ll ever see...or not see in you case! Hah! That was a good one!
The young man was shook, but hope came back to his eyes.
And on anothers` eyes, hope was also seen.
With his heartbeat trough the roof, a man covered with dark clothes sat in a dim alleyway, his breath erratic, as if he climbed the tallest of mountains, but at last it was time to relax, and from under his clothes, where he kept a holster, he took a small purse encrusted with jewels and detailed in gold.
His eyes closed, and with a breath of relief all tention left his body.
— Finally...
He muttered the word under his breath before looking up with a smile, but doing that, his body tensioned up once again.
He jumped away from the alleyway while throwing a small red stone into it, his hand glowed with a tinge of red, and reacting to that glow, the small stone bursted into a wall of flames.
— You won`t catch me! I can`t...
He once again took the form of a shadow and tried to sneak trough the streets, alleys and poeple, all to lose his persuer, but it was all for naught as his vision that was once of the street bacame that of the ground, he felt a pressure pressing on his back that made him unable to get up, and without hesitation, he grabbed a shiv from his chest and shoved into his persuer`s throat.
— Hey! You can`t be doing that! I need to read you your rights!
The voice of a young woman sent shivers down the thief`s spine.
His arm he thrusted with the shiv was being held, his freedom was being robbed, all he wanted to do now was to see who was the person responsible for his capture.
With all his strength, he turned his face to reveal the long, pink hairs that reached his back, the deep green eyes that pierced his soul and the small badge in her chest that said...
— So...um...I`m Serena Merlah, Salman City Guard, and you are under arrest for theft, you are...uh...hereby...uhm...
So he knew there was no escape from this, and without resistance, he heard the girl stumble trough her words, regret and tears masking his face.