by Sophia Lynn
“You slap me, and then when against all the odds we meet again, you run from me, making me chase you across all of creation. What the hell, Bedelia?”
“Well, I wasn't sure we had anything to say to each other.” Whether it was the lack of air or something genuinely funny about the situation, she started to smile as well.
“You could have said 'I don't want to speak to you again,' which would have been fair. I suppose you could have slapped me again, which would not have been pleasant, but which would have been within your rights to do after how I acted. I might have preferred a 'hello,' but apparently that was something that was really off the table from the beginning.”
“You...you're sorry for how you acted?” she asked tentatively, and she was startled when he nodded.
“I am. There was... Well, we don't even have to go into what I was doing and what I was thinking. I should not have asked that of you no matter what I had thought, and I am sorry that I did it. It was a poor choice on my part to say the least. I apologize, and though you are in no way bound to do so, I hope you accept my apology.”
It seemed so strange that a man like Jahin could think to apologize to her, and after a moment, Bedelia nodded cautiously.
“All right. I accept your apology.”
“Thank you. And if you are done running, perhaps now we can stop and say hello.”
“Hello, Jahin,” Bedelia said obediently, and then she laughed at the face he made.
“Hello, Bedelia, how nice to see you again. Fancy meeting you in an alley where someone is unloading a great deal of ham and sausage.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, ignoring his quip. “I mean, I assume that you were buying horses in Masir, but what brings you up to Cechon?”
He tilted his head slightly, studying her in a way that made her feel briefly self-conscious. Then, almost hesitantly, as if he were afraid she was going to refuse, he slowly offered her his arm. She accepted, and then they were walking down the street, her hand snugged on his arm as if this was a normal thing that they did every day.
“I have been thinking of you a great deal,” he confessed, and she glanced up at him to see if he was joking.
“Really?” she asked skeptically. “Amidst all the beautiful women that you have been courting?”
He had the grace to flinch. “I suppose I deserved that. The truth of the matter is that when I was with you... I wanted to get to know you better. I wanted to learn more about you. I think I chose a short cut instead of trying to figure out how to do it best.”
She thought about what he had said for a moment. Bedelia could imagine how that might make sense. “So what are you going to try to do now?”
“I think it rather depends on you. I...would like to get to know you better. Talk to you. See you. But only if you wish, and only if it makes you happy. After all, I'm not actually interested in getting slapped again.”
He said the last so calmly and matter-of-factly that it took her a moment to realize he was joking. She looked up at him wide-eyed, and then she laughed.
“All right, you've made your case,” she said. “I'm in. I would like to see you and talk to you as well...”
Is that really all you want to do? She told the voice in her head to shut up, because it didn't matter if it wasn't a fairytale. She could have a friend, couldn't she? That was what Jahin was offering, and she wanted badly to accept. However, there was something else in the back of her mind, something that said maybe...
It wasn't happening, and it would be wrong to say yes just because she thought there might have been more to it. That would be a lie at best, and a disaster at worst. After all, there was nothing wrong with having friends, especially friends who were as clever and funny as Jahin was.
“You never told me what it was you were doing here,” she said.
“Ah yes. Well, as the sheikh of Muneazil, I have a number of duties that I must attend to, and one of those duties is to open the festivities here in Cechon. There are a few other duties I perform that are similar, but the one that I do here is one of the oldest around. When I begin the festivities at nightfall, it is meant to ensure a successful year for the town and for the country at large.”
She tilted her head to one side. The way he spoke, perfectly matter-of-fact, made her wonder what he thought about it all.
“Is that a thing you believe in? That if you open the festivities, people are going to be better off?”
He shot her an amused look. “I'll tell you what I told the people who would much rather have me back in the capital right now. I will say that one way or another, this has been a part of the job of sheikh for a very long time, and I am not interested in the least in ending that tradition. Basically, if it's not broken, why fix it?”
She laughed a little at his statement.
“No, that makes perfect sense to me,” she said with a smile.
“Does that appease your curiosity? Will I see this in the next book that the reprehensible Miller writes?”
Bedelia was already shaking her head. She had come to this decision some time ago, and she was certain about it.
“I'll tell him about how the roofs might be a good choice for a chase scene or how the green lanterns give everything a really frightening glow. The things that you have told me... I'm probably flattering myself, but, well, they're mine.”
She was prepared for him to laugh at her, but instead he shot her a look that was oddly sweet.
“I am glad,” he said simply.
As they walked down the street, she could tell that preparations were coming to a head. Vendors were making sure their stalls were in order, and people who were vending food were making sure that everything looked and smelled amazing. Despite how tantalizing the meat on spits and beautifully arranged fruit looked, however, no one was taking a single bite.
When Bedelia commented on it, Jahin smiled slightly.
“They're not going to, either. People don't starve themselves on this festival, but food that is made for this festival is only eaten once the festival begins. There are some foods that are only prepared for this festival alone; they are only made once a year.”
Something about that thought, of food that was so precious or significant that it was only prepared once every year, struck her. It made Bedelia glance up at Jahin, thinking about it. She could only imagine how one might wait all year for a special treat, only to realize upon eating it that it would be a full year before you could taste it again. You would think of it, and you would dream of it, and throughout all of it, you would be sure to love it.
“Here, let me show you something...”
He led her down a few streets, and then to her surprise, she was confronted by an enormous citadel, a grand building three stories tall and built directly into the rock.
“The Shining Star,” she whispered in awe, and Jahin looked at her with a small smile.
“You know it then,” he said warmly. “The home of my ancestors, or some of them, at any rate. This is the place where we came first when we wanted to keep people safe. When we wanted them to know that we were powerful and strong and would protect them. This place, more than any other.”
“This is what I came to Masir to see,” she said quietly, “but I will admit that some part of me came to see it because of you.”
He gave her a gentle look at that, something warm enough to make her smile, then they continued their walk together, arm-in-arm through the descending night.
It would be all right, she decided. It will be all right. I know it will be.
Walking through the dusk with a man who made something flutter inside her like the wings of a bird, she felt strangely at peace, even if she had no idea what the next thing would bring.
Chapter Six
Almost four hours later, she had quickly decided that things weren't going to be all right after all.
They had spent an enjoyable time together, eating and talking, keeping to safe topics and making sure that neither felt too uncomfort
able or nervous. Of course it was just an accident when her hand brushed against his as they shared an excellent meal of kebabs and greens. Of course their legs only ended up pressed against each other because the booth was so narrow.
In fairly short order, however, Bedelia had to admit that things were burning, even if the burn was slow, even if she was the only one who had noticed it. She was, as her Iowan grandmother would have said it, playing with fire, and it would be far better to excuse herself before it got more risky. However, she told herself this was fine. This was limited. They were friends, nothing more, and nothing was going to happen between them, nothing at all. She was confident in that, so confident that when Jahin asked her to stand close as he opened the festival, she agreed without thinking of it.
“It is not a long or onerous ceremony,” he said. “And afterward I would very much like to speak to you more. Perhaps if you stay close, I will not have to risk chasing you across the town.”
She blushed a little, nodding.
“I'm not planning on running,” she said with a toss of her head. “At least, I am not planning on running unless you do something particularly foolish.”
Almost every other man she had ever met would have been offended or irritated. Jahin, however, only smiled at her, tipping her a wink.
“I am foolish on a fairly regular basis,” he said with a smile. “So I suppose I had better get good at running.”
He was opening the festival in front of the citadel, where an enormous stage had been erected. The people of Masir and the people who had come from distant parts of the country to be a part of this ancient festival were gathered in front of it by dusk, and by dark, Bedelia could see that the square in front of the platform was utterly packed with people. If she hadn't been with Jahin on the platform, pushed towards the back with a few town officials and Jahin's discreet bodyguards and assistants, she might have worried about being trampled.
There was something deeply human and historic about the scene in front of her. Night had fallen, and the stars above were bright now that the electric lights had been doused for the occasion. The platform that she was standing on was lit with torchlight, and out of the dark shadows, the mayor of the town, a round man who had obviously been drinking, stepped forward.
It only took a few moments before Bedelia realized that she didn't understand what was being said at all. Her Arabic was passable, even good, but this seemed to be some other dialect, one that slipped and slid around without her being able to grasp it at all.
Well, it's probably not that important that I understand it, she thought.
The mayor finished with what he had to say, and then he came back to the sidelines, where he stood with her. Up close, it was even easier to tell that he had been drinking, and she was relieved when all he seemed to want to do was to wink at her. He had seen her and Jahin standing closely together earlier in the day, and she supposed that was all that was necessary for someone to think that they were together in this part of the world.
There was a gasp and a cheer as Jahin stepped out under the flickering light of the torches. He was dressed in his suit, but there was still something about him that fit perfectly into this place and this time. He was doing what his ancestors had done for decades, and unless Bedelia missed her guess, he was doing it very well. She felt a deep pulse inside her pull her towards him, and she couldn't imagine what it was to be standing up in front of all those people the way he was.
He started speaking, and he was using that same dialect that the mayor had used. She could not understand it at all, and she hugged herself a little bit, feeling like more of an outsider than ever.
He spoke, and his voice was low, but there was a power to it that made it resonate. He walked right up to the edge of the platform, coming face-to-face with the people below. When he spoke, they were hushed and waiting, and when he stopped, they cheered. There was a connection between them, people to lord, and she could feel it as well, a kind of gravity that he exerted.
He said something, the crowd roared with laughter, and for a moment, she thought he was done. He started to walk away from the crowd, and then suddenly everything shifted. She heard the mayor's boozy laugh, and she felt a hard shove from behind that put her straight in Jahin's path. She stumbled, and she would have fallen if he hadn't wrapped his arms around her. It was strange. One moment she was falling, and the next she was perfectly, utterly safe.
She looked up into his copper eyes in the torchlight, beautiful and bewitching, and in that strange and wild moment, she knew that a part of her would always belong to him. He watched her, and for one insane moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. That was foolishness, of course, and he pulled her to her feet. That was when the crowd broke into a loud and raucous chant.
"What are they saying?" Bedelia asked, unable to stop herself from pressing against Jahin's body.
"They're telling us to kiss," Jahin said with an exasperated smile. "It's an old tradition, one that goes back a very long ways."
The moment he said the word “kiss,” Bedelia felt her cheeks heat up. She was still warm from the dancing, but she knew that this heat was entirely different, something that started from deep within her and swelled to cover her entire body. It was something that she was becoming quite used to after spending any amount of time with Jahin, apparently.
"Well, we can't really," she started to say, but then the crowd grew louder, and Jahin looked at her with a wry smile. She was convinced he was going to tell her to hop down off of the platform, but instead, he took her in his arms. He was as quick and as strong as she remembered him being, and when she looked up into his extraordinary copper eyes, she was convinced that they were lit from within by some kind of heavenly fire.
"Sorry about this," he muttered, and she had just enough time to think that he didn't sound sorry at all, before his mouth swept down on hers. There was no artifice about the kiss. There was no gentle peck to calm the crowd, there was no show where his mouth stayed a centimeter from hers. This was real in every way that mattered, and Bedelia felt herself swept away in the passion of the crowd, in the feel of his lips on hers, in the way his mouth claimed her completely. She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep her balance, but after a moment of shock, she found herself kissing him in return, giving herself up to him with a deep and passionate need.
Bedelia barely noticed as the crowd let up a wild cheer, and when Jahin drew back from her, she looked at him wild-eyed. For a moment, she couldn't understand why he had stopped, and then she remembered where they were and blushed anew.
"I..."
"Come on," he said, taking her hand. "We should go."
She had no time to protest before he dragged her down off the platform, making their way to the quiet of the old palace behind them. The guards at the door let them through with a nod, and when the door shut out the crowd, they were suddenly bathed in a silence so deep that it felt like heavy velvet.
"Why did we have to leave?" Bedelia asked once she had gotten her breath back. "We could have stayed..."
"I suppose we could have," Jahin said with amusement, "but if we hadn't gotten out of there right then, I believe they would have started shouting things that were perhaps more graphic than you cared to indulge."
"More graphic..."
At first she had no idea what he meant, but then her mind filled in the blanks. Bedelia's hands flew up to cover her mouth, and she gazed at Jahin wide-eyed.
"Surely not!" she said, and he laughed at her. She could imagine how unworldly and prim she looked then, and she hadn't thought that she would be able to blush harder, but yet here she was.
"Perhaps not," he relented, "but I think you were studying the history of this festival, no?"
"I was," she said indignantly. "It had nothing to do with...with public displays..."
"So what was it really about?" he asked with amusement
"Why, fertility, and growth...and...and..." Bedelia trailed off before making a face. "Oh, that was obvio
us, wasn't it?"
"It was," he said with assurance. "Those are the old ways, and I'm sure no one would have done anything. However, I do believe that some things are hardwired into people. There are some things which simply feel right, and once upon a time, the people of the mountains watched as their great lord took a young girl's virginity on the night of the full moon."
Bedelia shivered. It was all too easy to imagine. She had danced the village dances, she had laughed and eaten and caught the eye of the great lord. The kiss was the innocent ghost of a much older tradition, one with a very dark shadow.
"And now?" she found herself asking.
"This is a place that my family came to every year," he said. "My mother and father before they died, my aunts and uncles, my cousins and I, we would all marvel at the past here. Do you want to see my favorite spot?"
"I would like that very much," she said softly.
He took her by the hand again and led her through the open foyer and up a long, wide flight of stairs. Through what felt like a maze of rooms, he led her through the dim corridors, and then as he opened one door, he led her into moonlight.
It was a terrace, one high up in the sky, and it was completely open to the stars and the enormous, honey-gold moon far above. There were small benches scattered here and there, and most lovely of all, a small garden growing lush and green along one side.
"What a beautiful place," she murmured, looking around in wonder. "Did you come up here often?"
"I did," he said. "At night, as we are coming now, and often I found myself looking up into the sky, gazing at the moon and wondering at all the people who would look up at it after me, and all those who had come before."
"And here we are," Bedelia said.
"Yes," Jahin agreed. "Here we are."
When he turned her so that she faced him and bent down to her, it felt like fate and magic. She tilted her chin up to meet him, and this time, their kiss was almost solemn, gentle and quiet. Instead of the ravishment that had occurred earlier in front of the shouting crowd, this kiss was exploratory. Slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, his tongue pressed between her lips, sliding into the warmth of her mouth and stroking against hers. Bedelia had never understood before how someone could find this gesture so erotic, but now, hanging on to him so she didn't fall over, a pulse of heat ringing through her body, she understood completely.