Zarqa opened the window and leaned on the sill, breathing in the cool night air. Arslan had already gone to sleep, plagued by the words of his cousin; he didn't even ask her to read him a story. He wanted to sleep on those words.
She couldn't shake the vision she had seen of Shapur herself. It was something that had chased sleep away from her eyes that night, which was why she was leaning on the ledge of her window, admiring the night sky, and thinking about her friends.
They were there.
They actually were there.
Sindbad, Jaber, Ali Baba's, even Harun and Aladdin.
What were the odds, right?
Seeing them after months of separation made her heart swell with joy. She would have liked to run to them the moment her eyes landed on them. Albeit she couldn't.
She couldn't forget who she was then and there.
She was Arslan's attendant.
She had to stay by his side.
