To begin, your typical disclaimer. I don't own anyone you recognize. I do own Khalira and her family, Esther, Aaron, and anyone else that you don't recognize.
Author's Note: Each chapter is told from a different character's viewpoint. If you don't recognize anyone, be patient. This is the story of the parents. The title is taken from Deuteronomy 24:16 and Exodus 20:5. The children should not be punished for the sins of the parents, but they still have to live with the consequences of the parents' actions.
Khalira
When I was born they called me beautiful
Between the seven mountains and the sea
The sea whose amber waters never change
The mountains silent in their majesty
Where all my kind are born.
We are the djinn, those creatures of the lamp
Who answer to the seven royal mothers
They rule our race by right of parentage
No djinn survives that has been born to others.
Fiala, first in birth and first in power
Aliya, queen of all that ride the water
Fatima, one who never birthed a son
Adara, one who never birthed a daughter
Lakia, treasurer of djinness gold
Saira, she who wanders far and wide
Ashia, last of birth but not of place
By these the desert's genies are supplied.
My birthing was a shock for all the djinn
Fiala's last had come twelve years ago.
Two hundred years is more the usual gap
My sister Eden should have had it so.
I cannot really blame her for my life
She loved me when the others couldn't see
The way I acted sprung in part from pride
The other part from burning jealously.
When I was born, I laughed instead of cried.
My sister laughed as well, and Mother kissed her.
'Twas then Fatima spoke those hateful words:
"I'm sure she'll be as perfect as her sister."
