Week 3 Story: Sita and Rama-- A Meet-Cute

Sita sighed deeply, looking out the window, as one of her many assistants continued rambling on about her princess duties for the day. She heard something about diplomacy, something about a dinner she had to attend. Day in and day out, it was the same thing. She grew tired of it all. With a dismissive wave of her hand, she stood and exited the room, leaving the poor attendant confused, following after her, muttering anxiously after the princess.

            “Princess Sita, don’t forget you are to visit the garden today,” she called.

            “I never forget,” Sita said with a charming grin, fit to quell the other’s worries. “I always do what I must, yes? Let’s just go now.” She gestured for her to follow behind, Sita’s arm of bangles twinkling together as she moved. Her attendant followed along quietly.

            It wasn’t that she disliked being royalty, she was rather fond of it. She was wealthy, beautiful, had no real problems so to speak, she was aware she was living a privileged lifestyle, but still she wanted more. The walk to the garden was uneventful. The two passed the time with mundane chatter about the evening to come. Sita was bored. Finally, the luscious garden was in view.

            Even at a distance, she could smell the sweet fragrance of flowers as they approached. Lilies, roses, jasmine, and others sprouted throughout. People were scattered around, some with flowers of their own in their dark hair. It reminded her of being a child, plaiting various flowers into her own long hair. It made her long for a life of simple pleasures.

            As she admired the blooms, running her hands over them from time to time, she was met with a blunt pain on her shoulder. She winced, recoiling a few paces.

            “Excuse me,” the man who ran into her said, bowing his head slightly. Sita would’ve been more annoyed that he had not been watching where he was going had he not been so… handsome. He had a valiant, radiant glow about him. Dark hair, almost blue hair hung around his shoulders, framing his face. He smiled warmly at her, his brown eyes gazing into hers. He had a smile that connected with his eyes, she trusted him immediately.

            “This is THE princess Sita! You should watch where you’re going next time!” Sita’s attendant scolded. Sita would’ve been annoyed by this too, but the man looked so embarrassed, it was cute.

            “My humblest apologies, princess,” he bowed fiercely this time.

            “No need to apologize. I must ask what your name is however.”

            “Rama,” he said, straightening up, extending a hand. She took it. He wasn’t scared of her. His skin was warm, reminding her of what it felt like to bask in the sun.

            “Nice to meet you, Rama.” She was disappointed that she hadn’t stayed around longer, but somehow Sita knew that this man was the answer her heart had been looking for. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him give her a small wave as she left. She would be seeing him again.

Author’s Note: Hello! Definitely took some liberties with this one, but tried to maintain the integrity of the source. I enjoy reading the Ramayana, but I always want more from Sita and want to see Rama being a little less perfect, so I characterized them how I would like to see them. I focused more on Sita's point of view of their meeting and decided that their little to no interaction when deciding that they were in love was not good enough for me. I love character interaction, so I added them talking, him running into her, instead of just locking eyes and fate doing its thing. Basically, I retold their meeting with more interactions and more Sita. Woo! 

Based on "Sita" from the Divine Archer by F. J. Gould 

Rama and Sita in a forest (Wikimedia Commons)