Malika

0.1 A Kingdom In The Past

"What is your palace in Qahira like?"

"How shall I describe it?" He gives her a soft smile. "How does one describe their home to someone?"

"One describe it as their home makes them feel," she suggests.

His smiles broadens slightly and he looks up at the sky. "My palace is beautiful to the eyes, Amira. But to my heart, I think it has been a little cold."

"How come?" she poses with interest.

"Every night when I return to it, it greets me with silence. Every morning when I leave, there's nothing awaiting me to return." He ties his hands behind it's back. "It can get very lonely sometimes."

She gazes at him, the way sunlight grazes his lashes, then falls around the shadows over his cheekbone.

"Then don't you think you should get married, sayidi?"

He looks at her. There are no words spoken. If there are, she does not remember. Whether the moment stretched or it evaporated in a blink, she cannot recall that either.

And how is it that time changes? A heart changes? What one never has thought of, such things happen. Where two roads intersect. Where two souls entwine. She might never understand. She may never know when she stepped from one page of her life into the next. Life after all is a river always flowing. Who has ever known when the water has changed? But that at the beginning and end of the river it is not the same.

So they marry. And she never would have thought when she had first seen him of something like this which could come true. But then suddenly he was a dream she was chasing. And how it has come true.

"Halah."

The first time he says her name it comes to her like a song-- something so sweet that her ears cannot be tired of hearing. And his name-- something so holy she's not sure of how to recite.

"Do you like my palace, Halah?" he asks her.

"I love it." She looks at the gardens before her from the balcony of their chamber. "It's more beautiful than I thought."

"It doesn't have as many flowers as the palace of Baghdad. But it has you." He steps closer and caresses her cheek, his eyes growing fonder as they swim into hers. "The most beautiful of all flowers."

Her face feels warm. She's sure she is blushing as her lips pull up into a grin.

He leans forward to kiss her temple. His hand drops from her cheek and she takes it in both of hers.

"Marwan?"

"Yes, my beloved?"

"I hope your home is no more cold to your heart."

Is it time passing or is it life? She never bothered figuring out before. But that as they pass they give and take a lot from one, as if trading with one, until dawn adds to dawn and days feel different-- life is different.

Some things come as a blessing-- a joy and a gift. Some things change life in such way where the heart has been to heaven before the eyes can see it. Such things make life worth to live for.

"My son."

It feels like a dream. Even though he's real. Even though she has waited for this day so long. Yet holding him feels unreal. It is like carrying too many emotions all at once-- something almost humanly impossible.

Marwan grins at the baby and takes him in his arms.

"I name you Adam, my son. You're Adam ibn Marwan Al Kurdiya. May my Lord bless your fate, raise you in ranks, grant you honor, and make you among those who succeed."