Desert Flame

One ' ۱

The caravan had stopped at an oasis to rest for the night and everyone was busy setting up their tents before dinner was served. Afaaf sat idly by the fire thinking back to the events of the day. They had been travelling for two days now and the journey so far had been a pleasant one.

She could recall the bothersome argument she had with her brother that evening about the perfect place to light the fire. Absurd really, because her dear brother was nowhere to be seen and she was sure he would be wasting the night away with his fellow soldiers.

But despite herself, Afaaf heaved a contented sigh, grateful to her Lord for the keeping the caravan safe so far. Her eyes traversed over the far stretched desert in front of her, the sand particles reflecting moonlight as if lightly chatting back with the moon itself.

Wiggling her feet into the sand she closed her eyes, the cool sensation relaxing her body. Though her mind kept wandering to the proposal her father had brought forth a day before the journey started.

Marriage was an idea familiar to her from a very young age, but she also wasn't naive to the obligations that came with it. Certain Parts of life one had to sacrificed and if she was being honest with herself, she was ready for none of that.

She drew patterns in the sand with her fingers and the stars smiled, aware that her heart's turmoil weaved threads of loneliness that voyaged across the universe and blended into stardust, demanding to be interpreted by it.

"Afaaf?" Her mother called out to her from the nearby log she was sitting on.

"Yes, ummi?" She replied without looking in her direction.

"Come, help me spread this mat for us to have dinner on." Rolling out a thick rug from beside her, the mother motioned the daughter over with a flick of her hand.

When they were done setting everything up her mother asked, "What upsets you, daughter? You are exceptionally quiet today." Both now sat comfortably on the rug.

Afaaf hesitated. "I have been thinking about the proposal." She replied, deciding to openly disclose her unease, knowing it was no use delaying the conversation she was bound to have with her mother. "It seems as though we were rushing things without thinking them through properly."

Her mother stopped whatever she was doing and regarded her, and though Afaaf could feel the tenderness in her gaze, there was also a strictness to it she couldn't deny.

"Your father only wants the best for you, for all of us. Have some faith in him."

"I fail to see how, you being married to father doesn't change the fact that I am bint Burhan." Her worry and irritation combined let her tongue loose and she only realised it after she had spoken those words out loud.

Her instinct was to apologise and to explain herself, but she held back knowing what she had said was only the truth worth mentioning. That she carried her father's deeds with his name and wherever she went, it followed her.

Halima sighed, raising her hand to gently stroke her daughter's hair, pleasantly surprising her.

"The day I married Abbas, he promised to love and care for you as if you were his own, and I have yet to see him break his promise." Afaaf forced her tears back. Her father had undoubtedly cherished her like his own and had never once made her feel any less. Guilt creeped through her at the thought that she had unknowingly accused her father of being insincere towards her or her mother.