Hearts Of Gold

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"Have you heard the story of this lake, Asfand?" she asks him.

"The story of a human prince who fell in love with a fairy princess?"

"Yes."

"I only know this lake is named after the prince, but I never had the pleasure of knowing details of the story." He takes a step closer to her. "Do you know of it?"

Again, she can only nod.

"Would you narrate it to me?"

"You've been here before but you don't know the story of it?" she states in surprise.

"I don't believe in myths and legends."

"Yet you're asking me to entertain you with it."

This brings a small smile on his lips. "If you're the storyteller, maybe I'll start believing in tales I've considered a lie before."

She has to bite down her own smile as she steals another glimpse of him. Turning away from him, she starts walking along the side of lake and he quietly follows after her, maintaining enough distance between them which is respectful but where he can hear her speaking to him.

"The lake is named after an Egyptian prince Saif-ul-Maluk, the sword of the kings, who lived long ago," she begins to tell him the story. "It is said that he was one of the most handsome men, born in riches, and the best of fighters. Then one day he had a dream. In his dream he saw fairies bathing in this lake, one of them with a face like a full moon and her beauty like no other— the queen among them, Badi-ul-Jamal or Badri Jamala. She bewitched him right away. And when Saif woke up from his dream, he set out on a journey to find her."

"He fell in love with a woman he saw in a dream?" Asfandyar interrupts. "That's why I don't believe in folklore."

"Not everything is to be believed. Some things are to learn from," Brekhna responds.

"What does one learn from myths, janaan (beloved)?"

She throws him a glare over her shoulder, partly for interrupting the story and partly for the informal endearment. Sometimes, he flusters her in ways that sends her into a panic and confusion more than just sounding lovely to her.

"Don't call me that," she forbids sternly.

"Why not?"

"We're not married yet. Be a little more modest."

"We don't have to be married to be beloved to each other."

She hugs her shawl closer to her, feeling her cheeks heating up. "Do you want to hear the story or not?"

"Please, continue."

"So the prince roamed for six years in search of the fairy and the emerald lake surrounded by tall, white mountains, asking everyone in the streets of Egypt about it until one day he comes across a saint. The saint gave him a magic cap, Sulaimani cap, that could take him to the lake. But he warned him of the trials and tribulations that may come in the way to achieve his love, and to pray so he may succeed since she was a fairy and a human eye could not see her. They say this lake is a place of fairies and demons."

"Never heard of a single soul who has seen a fairy or demon here," Asfandyar interjects.

"Why, do you want to see one?" Brekhna looks back at him again, smiling. "It is also said they come out on the night of full moon every lunar month, bright lights dancing above the lake and disappearing among the rocks."

"If lights in the atmosphere can be called fairies and demons."

"Still, I would like to see the lake at night." She sighs dreamily, continuing with her story, "Anyways, with the help of the magic cap, Saif finally found the lake. He was overjoyed and now hoped to find the fairy too. So he prayed for forty consecutive days, and became weak with thirst, hunger and sleeplessness. And then one night when the moon was full, he finally saw the fairy coming to the lake— and they finally met. He told her about his dream, and she told him he wasn't the only one who dreamt it— that she thought he wasn't even real until then. But there was a problem."