CHASING MARWA

21-IRON LADY

OMNISCIENT

It was a faithful Thursday morning in Aminu Kano International Airport, a customised white private jet landed safely. The door was opened and the linked staircase sequentially descended from the door. At the end of the stairs, several military men were standing at attention just before a convoy of about ten cars arrived.

A pair of combat boots stepped out from the door of the jet, she looked around her and inhaled the fresh breeze, missing the state she dared not to visit in the past fifteen years. She was dressed in military wears that beautifully complimented her honey-caramel skin, her long hair was packed in a low bun, her eyes were big and dreamy but shielded with Rayban Wayfarer sunglasses, long nose with subtle pink lips like the king's, only that she rarely smiles, her face is always tough.

Ex-Major General Rumaisa Muhammad Baghdad is the king's mother, a stern military woman that doesn't smile even at the funniest of things, but whenever she cracks up, she has the most beautiful smile to ever exist. Even in her early sixties, she never fails to defeat her enemies, either serving for her country or protecting her husband's throne when he was alive.

Everyone knew why she left the palace fifteen years ago, it was the same reason that Zafeer moved to Saudi Arabia to stay with his grandparents, the same thing that broke all the Baghdads. She doesn't do favoritism when showing love to her sons and grandchildren but it's clear that she loves the crowned prince more than anyone else, including her sons combined. They suffered the loss together, they felt it the most.

She descended the stairs with that stern iron lady look, the soldiers saluted as the door of a dark grey Range Rover was pulled open for her and she slides in majestically, legs crossed like a queen on her throne. With a snap of her fingers, the fleet of cars drove off at a uniform speed.

*
The palace was in a state of havoc with many maids and guards who were flying in different directions, trying to make everything look as perfect as possible, just like the woman arriving here today wants it.

Whenever she goes to war or mission and comes back even before the death of her husband, it is a tradition that has always been exercised and adapted to and that is, the royals will dress up in their professional attires according to her demands even though they enjoy it. For example, Turad being a doctor will dress up in a lab coat with a stethoscope hung around his neck and his medicated glasses which he hates using will be perched perfectly on his nose.

"I hate this weird thing, it makes me look funny" Junaid kvetched and adjusted the blonde wig that is used by lawyers. True to his words, the thing made him look like a weird man even though he looks good in black and white attire.

"Look at his head like my drawing board" Sabreen laughed out loud and the others joined, Sabreen and the king were dressed up in the same attire with only a little different because she is an agricultural and he is a civil engineer. The attire was a yellow helmet with a dark blue jumpsuit, he wore that neon green waistcoat while she used the orange one, something both of them hate.

The King and Haroon who was dressed in the funniest form of clothes possible which is an agbada shirt--that form of sleeveless baggy shirt worn by farmers-- along with a hat and cover shoes as he held a hoe in his hand. Haroon Baghdad rarely farms except for watering the flowers in a small garden in his backyard, he was the one who planted and nurtured them.

Haroon Baghdad owns many farmlands, all of them which are enormous and located in different states and countries, many industries invest in his business which is why he is exceptionally rich and good in the commerce sector. Sabreen wants to handle the mechanized part of his farm which is why she is studying a course related to agriculture.