The Forbidden Valley had always been a boundary for her people. Beyond that point, the world remained unknown to them except for a selected few. She was glad to be among those who had never seen the temptations of the outside world, but sometimes she would hear her uncle talk about the roads that led into cities with houses as tall as her mountains. She couldn't help but wonder then.

Shahrazad, her seventeen-year-old cousin blew raspberries at the sheep to get them going. Today, it was their turn to take the cattle for grazing even though many times they had been covering other shifts too. But Nazli was not one to complain - someone of her social standing would not dare to anyway.

"I am tired of this every day, Naz!" The older girl knew that a complaint from Shahrazad was due, but they were not even halfway through their chores and complaining would only slow them down. "Palwasha is too busy preparing for her sister's wedding to do her shifts! What about me? I haven't even started on my homework yet! But still, no one wants to cover my shifts!"

Nazli couldn't help, but smile. Her younger cousin - although being born to a very old couple who had little ambition left within them was still very ambitious. Shahrazad dreamed of the outside world - to live among men and women that she would see on the television. She dreamed of finding a job and living in those tall houses. And Nazli knew that she also dreamed of finding someone outside of her tribe. Such a dream for them, however, was next to impossible.

"Oh Naz, did you watch the episode last night?" The sheeps bleated loudly while she only shook her head. "You should have! Hasan has fallen in love with his classmate - that girl who beat him in the architecture competition!"

Who was Hasan anyway? Nazli was sure she had not been watching what her cousin had - she preferred to watch the news. It reminded her that the world outside was dangerous and that she was lucky to be here - hidden behind a huge mountain that protected her by the will of Allah.

Shahrazad continued. "The city girls are so pretty, you know. They have sleek black hair like Baba's horse and can talk back to men! Ha, can you imagine us speaking back to our stupid cousins?"

She could not. Men in her village were rather mellow, preferring to go about their business and maintain harmony. Yet, she had seen them snap and it was never pretty. Shahrazad had born the brunt of her loose tongue more often than any other girl in their tribe. Still, it never deterred her.

"Hey, I heard something by the way." Here it was, Nazli thought with a harsh frown. Gossip that would undoubtedly be about her. They had been herding yesterday and Shahrazad had spoken about Palwasha's sister, Bakhtawara's wedding, and how they had constantly passed snide remarks about being lucky to be wedded at eighteen.

Leaning on her herding stick, Nazli braced herself. "That Palwasha blared like a donkey about how she was next to be getting married next in two months! Pah, as if her Baba can afford another wedding so soon!"

Nazli glared at her with a reprimanding look. Palwasha and Bakhtawara were less than favorable, but their parents were among the few who had never mistreated her. Not to mention, her own parents always reminded her that elders were to be honored.

"I said nothing about her parents!" Shahrazad backtracked quickly, her blue eyes shimmering with guilt. "I am just being honest. Palwasha should stop dreaming in broad daylight."

So should you. Nazli wanted to say bitterly but knew that such a sentiment would destroy her allyship with the only cousin of hers that she got along with. And it was purely out of concern - she wished Shahrazad's dreams would come true but how could she dream of going out there? There was nothing, but chaos in the rest of Pakistan. Once upon a time, Nazli wished she could see Islamabad - the capital city of her country, but that wish had been suppressed long ago.

"They also said that . . ." When the blue-eyed girl hesitated, Nazli prepared herself for the blow. ". . . that you will never get married. That no one would marry you because of your - your - your condition."

It never hurt any less each time she heard it. And it had been years - five exactly since such an incident had occurred in her life. Yet the words whispered by her folk were like the same shards of glass that had stabbed in her back during the accident. She had lost more than a family member in that accident and that pain had subsided over the years. What hadn't left her were the constant reminders that she was now deficient - below anyone in this tribe.

"Well, no man in this tribe is worthy of marrying anyway!" Shahrazad remarked with an upturn of her sharp nose. "Silly men in this tribe see no difference between a goat and a woman!" Nazli didn't know any man who treated a woman any differently than that. Those men in Shahrazad's books and dramas seemed too unrealistic - how could a woman ever talk back to a man and not be struck down? How could a woman be allowed this sort of luxury and respect?

Silence followed soon after as their attention became occupied by chores. But a distance whirring in the distance disturbed their peace. Shahrazad was the first to spot it - pointing towards the blue sky and the white machine that flew overhead.

"Look, Nazli! By Allah, when was the last time we saw a plane?" She laughed, her ocean eyes twinkling with delight. It was a fair question - Nazli only once saw an army plane flying over their village when the gunmen had tried to infiltrate Gilgit from the west. But that had been years ago - not that it affected her tribesmen. They barely cared except a handful few like Shahrazad or Feriha, her four-year-old cousin.

"I wonder what is happening beyond the valley!" The older girl shrugged in response, turning back to the hens that plucked at the ground around her feet. Whatever was happening was unlikely to affect them - they were the forgotten people. No one cared about them and that was fine.