By the way, I don't own the Prince of Persia characters. This is a non-profit story, written for my own amusement and the amusement of others.

Chapter 1

'Just call me… Kakolukia.' The young soldier said, smiling mysteriously. Then he slid down the tree trunk and was lost in the undergrowth of the forest. The woman stood at her balcony for a moment longer, her eyes wide at the sound of the word that she thought only she knew.

Farah opened her eyes. Sighing deeply, she turned onto her side and pondered her dream. It had been three months to the day that the Persian army had left her father's borders without warning and returned to their homeland. Yet she still could not stop thinking and dreaming about the young soldier that had visited her the morning that they left, killed the traitorous vizier, and returned to her the Dagger of Time. And then there was that ridiculous tale that he had told her, about him releasing the Sands of Time, and the relationship that they had had. Of course he was lying, but something was refusing to let her forget it. If it was a lie, why tell it her in the first place? And how did he know the word that her mother had told her before she died? Farah sighed, then closed her eyes again.

Brown hair, blue eyes, a short brown beard, a blue uniform. He stood before her, legs slightly apart, breathing heavily from his run through the jungle, asking her to hear out his story. The dream shifts, and he is fighting the traitorous vizier's doppelgangers, his muscles rippling under his uniform as he twists over the puppets head and delivers devastating blows on its back. The dream shifts again, and he is stood over the body of the vizier, breathing heavily after his fight, then straightens and turns to Farah. The conversation plays out, as it has before, and the sleeper waits for the inevitable moment when he hands her the dagger. But the dream changes. He leans in and quickly kisses her, and she admonishes him. Then, somehow, the scene rewinds, and Farah knows that he has used the Dagger. The conversation plays out once more, he hands her the Dagger, then slides down the tree and out of sight.

Farah opened her eyes once more. Panting, she swung her legs out of bed. She had never seen that before, but somehow, she knew that it was the truth. Her memory was beginning to fight the Sands, and she suddenly realised that what he had told her might be the truth. She had to find out.

'Nona!' She called. Her slave ran in from the next room, a tall girl with short dark hair, dressed in the red breastband and skirt of a high-ranking slave and carrying a protective dagger.

'Yes princess?' She said, making the gesture of subservience by kneeling down and touching her forehead to the floor.

'Get me my red sari for today, I think.' Nona nodded and bowed low, then scurried off to do her mistresses bidding while Farah walked through to her adjoining room where four young women attended her bath. Slipping off her sleeping muslin, she stepped down into the warm water and lay back, savouring the smell of the scented oils and flower petals that the girls had put in.

'Will there be anything else, mistress?' One of the girls murmured, making the salaam gesture. Around the room, the other girls put their hands into the praying position and bowed low with her.

'No, that's it for now. But be ready when I call.' Farah sighed dreamily, letting the warm water relax her.

'Yes mistress.' The girl murmured, and walked backwards out of the room with her head bowed. The others followed suit.

Farah closed her eyes, sighed, then opened them again. Pulling her legs under her, she swam to the centre of the bath and dived. A few seconds later, she resurfaced. Dipping her head back, she swept her dark hair from her face and swam to the edge. Reaching up, she took the soapstone that Nona held out for her.

'You know, the oils alone clean you enough. You don't have to use that thing as well.' Nona gently chided her.

'Who are you, my mother?' Farah retorted to her long time friend and servant, although she treated her as an equal. 'Where are the other girls?'

'I sent them away.' Nona said, taking off her thin sandals and hitching her skirts up. Sitting at the side of the bath, she swung her legs in and began to wash as well. Farah looked at her as she washed.

'If you get caught, I would have to have you killed.' Farah reproached her.

'Yes well, I haven't been caught in ten years. I doubt if they will catch me now.' Nona retorted. Farah giggled, remembering the day she had been given Nona as a slave and invited her to share her bath, then yelled at the guard for attacking her new best friend. They were only nine at the time.

'How did you sleep last night?' Nona interrupted her memory. Farah smiled brightly.

'Like a baby.'

'Liar.' Nona stated bluntly. 'I know you better than you know yourself sometimes. You had that dream again, didn't you? The one with the soldier who told you the tale.'

'Yes I did.' Farah admitted, looking down.

'You have to stop thinking about him!' Nona hissed. 'If your father found out that you loved a mere soldier who had entered your private bedchamber he would have your head!'

'I don't love him!' Farah answered hotly.

'Yes, you do! You dream about him, you can't stop thinking about him, you talk about him all the time – you're obsessed with him!' Nona said in a frantic undertone.

'Do I? Well, even if I did, my father wouldn't notice a thing! He's too busy with trying to find out why the Persians withdrew and haven't attacked yet.' Farah said in a soft voice.

'It changed last night.' She continued. Nona, despite her misgivings, looked interested. 'Well, this morning when I was half asleep.'

'What happened?' Nona prodded.

'Before he gave me the Dagger, he kissed me.' Farah murmured, looking from under her lowered lashes at Nona.

'And?' Nona almost shrieked.

'I told him that he assumed too much, and he used the Da-' Farah caught herself before she mentioned the Dagger's powers. There were some things she would not even tell Nona, for her sake as well as everyone else's.

'He used magic to turn back time, then it played out as normal.' She finished. Nona sat back, and let out the breath she had been holding.

'How did it feel, when he kissed you?' She finally asked, after a long silence.

Farah paused before answering, thinking long and hard about her answer.

'It felt…right.'