Khalila II

PA 1 – May

They left the city by noon the next day, having camped outside the walls overnight. Jamal wanted to leave as soon as possible, no matter what deal he’d come to with the King, and so they began their trek down the mountain.

They moved slowly, taking care not to lose their footing. While there was definitely a path they could follow, in many places it was overgrown, crumbling, and unsafe, forcing them to leave and come back at a different point multiple times.

At one point, around the time the sun began to set, they found themselves along a cliff face, at the very edge of the mountains. They’d stopped for a moment to rest, taking in the view as they refilled their stomachs.

The sky was a brilliant orange and yellow, with the red sun hanging low in the west. Far below them, the landscape opened up, a sea of sand extending out across the horizon, reflecting the golden sky. Far out near the horizon, what looked to be small rolling hills rose from the mostly flat terrain, though the blinding colors of the sunset made it impossible to tell for sure.

“Damn,” Fei grunted, taking a swig of his water flask. “Don’t see a view like that every day.”

“Mhm,” Yue hummed quietly in agreement. “…Y’know, sometimes I wonder if it would have been better if we’d stayed back with the tribe back home. That maybe we’d still…” she glanced down at her hand, before shaking her head. “Regardless. It’s moments like these that make me realize how beautiful the world is. How big the world is. Back home, I thought I’d seen everything. It’s only now I realize how little I’ve truly seen. …No, it’s not that I’ve realized how little I’ve seen, but that I’ve only just realized I can’t comprehend how much I will see.”

“…The world’s a lot bigger than we ever could’ve imagined, huh?” Ishi whispered.

They remained quiet for the rest of their break, each lost in their own thoughts. But eventually they had to keep moving, their goal to reach the foot of the mountain by the time the sun truly set.

So they continued, making their way down the mountain.

--

They hit the foot of the mountain about an hour after sunset, transitioning from the rocky, sandblasted cliffs to the sandy ground. The rapidly cooling air seemed to have given everyone a second wind, everyone awake and alert as they took their first steps into the desert.

Steps that took a bit longer than they expected to get used to.

They only just realized how unprepared they were for the desert once they’d taken their first steps into it. The loose, gravelly sands constantly shifted beneath their feet, knocking them off balance with every step. The first few hours in the desert were by far the worst.

Khalila fared a bit better than the others, what with the fact she still had her old tennis shoes (though they were beginning to show signs of falling apart as is), and having lived in a desert country all her life, but even she had difficulties readjusting to the new environment.

However, the further they got into the desert, the… odder the place began to feel.

“Y’know,” Jamal drawled, “when I heard that we were going to a place called the ‘dry lands,’ I expected it to be a bit more, well, dry.”

“Well, maybe they just haven’t seen anything else,” Yue offered. “I mean, this seems pretty ‘dry’ to me.”

The desert, despite what she’d originally imagined, was much less, ah, deserty than she’d imagined. While the ground was sand, it seemed to shift constantly between small, shifting grains and larger, wetter clumps. Bushes and brambles grew consistently from the sand, and every hour or so they’d stumble across a patch of greenery that almost tricked them into thinking they’d left the desert entirely.

“Compared to the deserts I’ve been to back home, this is practically a swamp!” Jamal scoffed.

Khalila perked up, an awkward sort of hope in her chest. “You lived in a desert?” She asked quickly. “Were you… were you from Maghrib?”

Jamal blinked, startled, before turning down to look at her with a soft smile. “Ah, no, sorry. I’m actually from America—my aunt lived in Arizona, see, so I’d visit her often when I was younger.”

Oh. She felt herself slump a bit. She should’ve—she should’ve expected that.

“Still, if you feel you’re up for it, I’d like to hear about what your home was like,” Jamal asked her slowly. “You said Maghrib, right? That’s like northern Africa, yeah? Is that where you’re from?”

“Ah,” she stuttered, suddenly less confident now that she realized she’d been wrong. “Um, yes. My home was south of Marrakesh. That’s in Morocco.”

“Morocco, huh?” he mused, tapping his leg. “I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard it’s a beautiful country. It’s the one with those cone-things, right?”

“Cone-things…?”

“Yeah, you know! With the spices?”

“…No?”

“Ah,” Jamal chuckled awkwardly. “Maybe I don’t know as much about Morocco as I thought.”

She tilted her head, confused.

“Well, since I seem to be pretty ignorant, why don’t you help me out? You’ve lived there all your life, yeah? So what’s it like?”

She looked up, meeting his eyes. His expression was earnest, but despite herself she flinched, starting to curl in on herself before she forced herself to stop.

“Ah, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Jamal quickly reassured her. “I won’t make you do it if you aren’t comfortable.”

“…Marrakesh is very hot,” she forced herself to speak, enunciating every word to make sure she didn’t stutter. “And dry. My house was in a desert, near all the farms. Mama worked pharmacy, while Papa went into the city every day to do his airport job…”

And so, slowly at first, she began talking about home. About the searing summer sun, and the chill of a winter night, and the neighbor’s dog that kept barking at Kyti. About the big farms across the road and the Mosque she’d go to pray at every day. She talked about her family, and her friends, and her life.

At some point she realized she was crying. But she didn’t stop talking. She couldn’t stop talking. Even as Ishi pressed her into his side, even as they slowly trudged through the desert, she continued to talk about home.

And, when there was nothing left to say, she grew quiet, the only sound the occasional sniffle.

“…I’m never going to see them again, are I?” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “They’re gone. Forever.”

Even under the pale light of the half-moon above them, she could see Jamal’s face twist, first in sorrow and then into a painful resignation.

“Yeah,” he whispered almost too softly to hear. “Yeah. Everyone’s gone.”

--

That night they set up camp next to a small lake, the third they’d come across since they set out. Maybe that was why the desert was so green—despite how sandy and dry it might have seemed at first glance, there appeared to be a significant amount of underground water running through the lands.

They probably could have gotten further, but at some point Gigi had woken up in her pack, and had proceeded to squirm and shuffle until they’d been forced to stop.

Khalila felt a little bad about that, but Ishi reassured her that it was fine—it wasn’t like they were on a time limit anyway.

“You’re a beautiful little girl, aren’t you,” she murmurs, running her fingers through Gigi’s fur. The kitten purred lightly on her lap, eyes lidded and tongue sticking out slightly. “Yes you are. A lazy, beautiful girl. You just want your scritches, don’t you?”

Gigi flopped over onto her side, causing Khalila to giggle.

“Here you go~” she smiled, scratching behind the kitten’s ears. “Oh, you like that, don’t you?”

It was nice, in a way, to have this break. This evening had been exhausting, and she needed—she just needed some space from everyone, for a bit. Even from Ishi. Just some time to herself. Time to think, time to not think. Just her and cute little Gigi.

She absently poked at Gigi’s paws, playing with her wittle feetsies.

Suddenly Gigi shot up, snapping at her finger, causing her to yelp and fall backward. At the same time the kitten jumped out of her lap, trotting over to the lake before laying down, lapping at the water.

“Khalila?” Ishi called out to her, his voice sounded surprisingly worried. “Are you alright!?”

“It’s fine,” she reassured him frantically. “I’m okay! I just pushed a little too far. It happens sometimes with kitties.”

He gave her a worried look, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he merely sat down next to her, joining her in watching Gigi walk down by the lake.

The kitten was staring into the water with incredible focus, one paw raised expectantly in the air. Every once in a while, she’d slam her paw down into the lake, splashing water everywhere. The splash would spook her, causing her to jump back with a hiss, before calming down and slowly stalking her way back to the lake’s edge.

After a few moments of watching the kitten, Ishi moved suddenly, placing a hand on her shoulder softly. She turned to look up at him, meeting his worried eyes with her own confused ones.

“…Are you really alright, Khalila?” he asked softly, his raspy voice somewhat soothing.

She opened her mouth, ready to respond, but—

There is blood. There are screams. There is death.

She runs. She grows tired. Her legs break. Muscles pull. Branches and rocks carve line into her skin as she runs past them. She does not stop running.

But eventually the panic fades. The fear drains away. And all that is left is anguish.

She is on a beach. She doesn’t remember getting here. She doesn’t care.

She cries.

Someone finds her. She is scared. She is saved.

There is blood. There are screams. There is death.

She is not saved.

—She closes her mouth.

Slowly, fat tears begin to roll down her cheeks.

Ah, she’d thought she was done crying today. This is why—this is why she wanted to be alone. To just… to have some time to not think about everything.

But now it’s too late. A choked sob escapes her, and soon she’s curled into Ishi’s side, bawling her eyes out.

The man says nothing, merely holding her tighter as she cries.

“Mreow?”

She’s startled out of her tears, blinking past them to see Gigi sitting in front of her. The orange kitten is staring at her, head tilted slightly.

She hiccups, feeling the tears building up in her again.

But Gigi ignores her, padding her way closer and crawls into her lap, curling up into a ball and plopping down right there.

Despite herself, Khalila can’t help but giggle. Placing a hand on Gigi, she begins running her hand through her fur once more, giggling uncontrollably.

Soon she yawns, her eyes feeling heavy. She feels exhausted. She knows she should get up, and return to her tent.

But she doesn’t. Instead she finds herself falling asleep right there, leaning against Ishi, with the purrs of her kitten rumbling against her stomach.

She does not dream, and she is happier for it.

9,872 God-Kings Remain